March 1 (Leviticus 21–22; Psalm 56; Luke 20)

Summary

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Through the ESV Bible in a Year with Jackie Hill Perry

Episode Summary – March 1 (Leviticus 21–22; Psalm 56; Luke 20)

Episode Overview

This episode of "Through the ESV Bible in a Year" covers three distinct readings: Leviticus 21–22 (priestly regulations and sacrificial laws), Psalm 56 (David’s plea for mercy amid persecution), and Luke 20 (Jesus’ confrontations with religious leaders in the temple). The episode’s purpose is to guide listeners through key passages, highlighting the holiness required of priests, the psalmist’s trust in God, and Jesus’ wisdom and authority in the face of opposition.

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1. Leviticus 21–22: Rules for the Priests and Acceptable Offerings

Timestamps: 00:01–07:08

Key Discussion Points

• Holiness of Priests:
  • The Lord instructs Moses on the strict standards for priests, especially concerning ritual cleanliness and marital choices.
  • Priests must avoid defilement from contact with the dead (except for immediate family) and must not engage in mourning practices linked to pagan rituals (e.g., shaving heads, cutting the body).
  • Marriages are regulated to ensure the priest's holiness: “They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled… For the priest is holy to his God.” (Narrator, 00:44)
• Restrictions for the High Priest:
  • The high priest, distinguished by anointing and special garments, faces even stricter rules—a reflection of his unique role: “He shall not go into any dead bodies, nor make himself unclean, even for his father or for his mother.” (Narrator, 01:40)
• Physical Blemishes and Ritual Participation:
  • Any descendant of Aaron with a physical blemish cannot approach to offer the food offerings, though he may still eat of the holy food: “For no one who has a blemish shall draw near…” (Narrator, 02:17)
• Uncleanliness and Access to Holy Things:
  • Emphasizes need for purity: “If any one of all your offspring… approaches the holy things… while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence.” (Narrator, 03:11)
  • Various forms of uncleanness (contact with dead, bodily emissions) bar participation until ritual cleansing and sundown.
• Laypersons and Priestly Food:
  • Only priests, their households, and certain dependents may eat priestly foods—outsiders are not permitted.
• Requirements for Sacrificial Offerings:
  • Sacrificial animals given to the Lord must be male and without blemish, underscoring God’s perfection: “You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you.” (Narrator, 05:11)
• Concluding Commission:
  • The Lord’s commandments reinforce the purpose: “You shall not profane my holy name… I am the Lord who sanctifies you, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord.” (Narrator, 07:07)

Notable Quotes

• “They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. For they offer the Lord’s food offerings, the bread of their God. Therefore they shall be holy.” (Narrator, 00:23)
• “I am the Lord who sanctifies them.” (God, recurring: 01:40, 03:09, 04:06, 04:13, etc.)

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2. Psalm 56: David’s Trust in God Amid Persecution

Timestamps: 07:11–08:26

Key Discussion Points

• Context:
  • Psalm attributed to David during his capture by the Philistines in Gath.
• Cry for Mercy:
  • David laments being trampled and pursued, expressing vulnerability and an emotional plea for God’s grace: “Be gracious to me, O God, for man tramples on me; all day long an attacker oppresses me.” (Reader, 07:24)
• Affirmation of Trust:
  • Despite fear, David turns to faith: “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?” (Reader, 07:43)
• God’s Care and Record:
  • Emotional depth is shown as David remembers God’s awareness of his suffering: “You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?” (Reader, 08:10)
• Commitment and Thanksgiving:
  • David vows to keep his promises and thank God for deliverance: “I will render thank offerings to you, for you have delivered my soul from death… that I may walk before God in the light of life.” (Reader, 08:20)

Notable Quote

• “In God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (Reader, 07:54)

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3. Luke 20: Challenges to Jesus’ Authority

Timestamps: 08:28–end (approx. 13:00)

Key Discussion Points

• Religious Leaders Challenge Jesus’ Authority:

  • Chief priests, scribes, and elders demand, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” (Reader, 08:34)
  • Jesus redirects, questioning them about John the Baptist, exposing their motives and silencing them: “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” (Jesus, 08:46)

• Parable of the Wicked Tenants:

  • Allegory for Israel’s leaders’ rejection of prophets and, ultimately, God’s son:
    • The tenants repeatedly mistreat servants, finally killing the owner’s son in hopes of gaining the inheritance: “Let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours.” (Reader, 09:50)
    • Jesus rebukes them, referencing Psalm 118: “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” (Jesus, 10:10)

• Religious Leaders Plot Against Jesus:

  • Their anger is palpable: “The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them. But they feared the people.” (Narrator, 10:28)

• Question on Taxes to Caesar:

  • Spies attempt to trap Jesus; he responds:
    • “‘Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?’ They said, ‘Caesar’s.’ He said to them, ‘Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’” (Jesus, 11:00)
    • “Marveling at his answer, they became silent.” (Narrator, 11:06)

• Sadducees’ Question about Resurrection:

  • The scenario of the woman with seven husbands is posed to mock resurrection belief.
  • Jesus clarifies:
    • “But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.” (Jesus, 11:50)
    • “Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.” (Jesus, 12:10)

• Jesus Questions the Scribes:

  • Cites Psalm 110 to confound them on the Messiah’s identity: “David thus calls him Lord, so how is he his son?” (Jesus, 12:36)

• Warning Against Religious Hypocrisy:

  • Jesus warns listeners: “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and love greetings in the marketplaces… who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” (Jesus, 12:44–12:50)

Notable Quotes

• “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Jesus, 11:04)
• “He is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.” (Jesus, 12:10)
• “Beware of the scribes… They will receive the greater condemnation.” (Jesus, 12:44–12:50)

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Memorable Moments & Insights

• God’s Holiness Is Central: Throughout Leviticus, the repeated assertion “I am the Lord who sanctifies you” (multiple instances) drives home God’s perfect standard and the call for distinctiveness among his people.
• Trust Amid Suffering: Psalm 56’s vulnerability—“put my tears in your bottle”—offers reassurance of God’s intimate care.
• Jesus’ Wisdom Disarms Opponents: In Luke 20, Jesus repeatedly turns traps into teaching moments, leaving challengers “marveling at his answer” (11:06) and solidifying his authority and identity as the Son of God.

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Timestamps to Key Segments

• Priests’ Regulations (Leviticus 21–22): 00:01–07:08
• David’s Prayer (Psalm 56): 07:11–08:26
• Jesus Questioned and Teaches (Luke 20): 08:28–end

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All passages reflect the serious call to holiness, the steadfastness of faith under distress, and the supremacy of Christ’s authority—central threads woven throughout this day’s readings.

Transcript

[Narrator/Priest]

A reading from the book of Leviticus. And the Lord said to Moses, speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, no one shall make himself unclean. For the dead among his people, except for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother, or his virgin sister who is near to him because she has had no husband for her. He may make himself unclean. He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself. They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body. They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God. For they offer the Lord's food, offerings, the bread of their God. Therefore they shall be holy. They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled. Neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband. For the priest is holy to his God. You shall sanctify him. For he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you. For I, the Lord, who sanctify you, am holy and the daughter of any priest. If she profanes herself by whoring, profanes

[Reader/Deacon]

her father, she shall be burned with fire.

[Narrator/Priest]

The priest who is chief among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, shall not let the hair of his head hang loose, nor tear his clothes. He shall not go into any dead bodies, nor make himself unclean, even for his father or for his mother. He shall not go out of the sanctuary, lest he profane the sanctuary of his God. For the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is on him.

[God]

I am the Lord.

[Narrator/Priest]

And he shall take a wife in her virginity, a widow, or a divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, or a prostitute. These he shall not marry, but he shall take as his wife a virgin of his own people, that he may not profane his offspring among his people. For I am the Lord who sanctifies him. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, speak to Aaron, saying, none of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the bread of his God. For no one who has a blemish shall draw near a man blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb too long, or

[Reader/Deacon]

a man who has an injured foot

[Narrator/Priest]

or an injured hand, or a hunchback, or a dwarf, or a man with a defect in his sight or an itching disease, or scabs, or Crushed testicles. No man of the offspring of Aaron

[Reader/Deacon]

the priest who has a blemish shall

[Narrator/Priest]

come near to offer the Lord's food offerings. Since he has a blemish, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. He may eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy things. But he shall not go through the veil or approach the altar because he has a blemish. That he may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them. So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his sons, and to all the people of Israel. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, speak to Aaron and his sons so that they abstain from the holy things of the people of Israel which they dedicate to me, so that they do not profane my holy name.

[God]

I am the Lord.

[Narrator/Priest]

Say to them, if any one of all your offspring throughout your generations approaches the holy things that the people of Israel dedicate to the Lord while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence.

[God]

I am the Lord.

[Narrator/Priest]

None of the offspring of Aaron who has a leprous disease or a discharge may eat of the holy things until he is clean. Whoever touches anything that is unclean through contact with the dead, or a man who has had an emission of semen, and whoever touches a swarming thing by which he may be made unclean, or a person from whom he may take uncleanness. Whatever his uncleanness may be, the person who touches such a thing shall be unclean until the evening. And shall not eat of the holy things unless he has bathed his body in water. When the sun goes down, he shall be clean. And afterward he may eat of the holy things, which, because they are his food, he shall not eat what dies of itself or is torn by beasts, and so make himself unclean by it.

[God]

I am the Lord.

[Narrator/Priest]

They shall therefore keep my charge, lest they bear sin for it and die

[Reader/Deacon]

thereby when they profane it.

[Narrator/Priest]

I am the Lord who sanctifies them. A layperson shall not eat of a holy thing. No foreign guest of the priest or hired worker shall eat of a holy thing. But if a priest buys a slave as his property for money, the slave may eat of it, and anyone born in his house may eat of his food. If a priest's daughter marries a layman, she shall not eat of the contribution of the holy things. But if a priest's daughter is widowed or divorced and has no child and returns to her father's house as in

[Reader/Deacon]

her youth, she may eat of her

[Narrator/Priest]

father's food, yet no lay person shall eat of it. And if anyone eats of a holy thing unintentionally, he shall add the fifth of its value to it, and and give the holy thing to the priests. They shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, which they contribute to the Lord, and so cause them to bear iniquity and guilt by eating their holy things, for I am the Lord who sanctifies them. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, speak to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel, and say to them, when anyone of the house of Israel or of the sojourners in Israel presents a burnt offering as his offering, for any of their vows or freewill offerings that they offer to the Lord, if it is to be accepted for you, it shall be a male without blemish of the bulls or the sheep or the goats. You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you. And when anyone offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord to fulfill a vow, or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted, it must be perfect. There shall be no blemish in it. Animals blind or disabled or mutilated, or

[Reader/Deacon]

having a discharge or an itch or

[Narrator/Priest]

scabs, you shall not offer to the Lord or give them to the Lord as a food offering. On the altar you may present a bull or a lamb that has a part too long or too short for a freewill offering. But for a vow offering, it cannot be accepted. Any animal that has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn or cut, you shall not offer to the Lord. You shall not do it within your land. Neither shall you offer as the bread of your God any such animals gotten from a foreigner, since there is a blemish in them because of their mutilation, they will not be accepted for you. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, when an ox or sheep or goat is born, it shall remain seven days with its mother, and from the eighth day on, it shall be acceptable as a food offering to the Lord. But you shall not kill an ox or. Or a sheep and her young in one day. And when you sacrifice a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. It shall be eaten on the same day. You shall leave none of it until morning. I am the Lord, so you shall keep my commandments and do them. I am the Lord, and you shall not profane my holy name that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctifies you, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God.

[God]

I am the Lord.

[Narrator/Priest]

A reading from the book of Psalms to the choirmaster According to the dove of far off terebints, a mictim of David, when the Philistines seized him in gath. Be gracious to me, O God, for

[Reader/Deacon]

man tramples on me all day long. An attacker oppresses me my enemies trample on me all day long, for many attack me proudly when I am afraid. I put my trust in you, in God, whose word I praise, in God I trust I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me? All day long they injure my cause, all their thoughts are against me. For evil they stir up strife, they lurk, they watch my steps as they have waited for my life. For their crime will they escape in wrath? Cast down the peoples, O God. You have kept count of my tossings. Put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book? Then my enemies will turn back in the day. When I call this, I know that God is for me. In God whose word I praise, in the Lord, whose word I praise, in God I trust I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me? I must perform my vows to you, O God. I will render thank offerings to you, for you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

[Narrator/Priest]

A Reading of the Gospel According to

[Reader/Deacon]

Luke One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the Gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority. He answered them, I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? And they discussed it with one another, saying, if we say from heaven, he will say, why did you not believe him? But if we say from man, all the people will stone us to death. For they are convinced that John was a prophet. So they answered that they did not know where it came from. And Jesus said to them, neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. And he began to tell the people this parable. A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants, and went into another country for a long while. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, and so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty handed. And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully and sent him away empty handed. And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, what shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him. But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, this is the air.

[Narrator/Priest]

Let us kill him so that the

[Reader/Deacon]

inheritance may be ours. And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others. When they heard this, they said, surely not. But he looked directly at them and said, what then is this that is written? The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces. And when it falls on anyone, it will crush him. The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour. For they perceived that he had told this parable against them. But they feared the people. So they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be sincere that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor. So they asked him, teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not? But he perceived their craftiness and said to them, show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have? They said, caesar's. He said to them, then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. And they were not able in the presence of the people, to catch him in what he said. But, marveling at his answer, they became silent. There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection. And they asked him a question, saying, teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died without children, and the second and the third took her. And likewise all seven left no children and died afterward. The woman also died in the resurrection. Therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife. And Jesus said to them, the sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die any more, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. But that the dead are raised. Even Moses showed in the passage about

[Narrator/Priest]

the bush, where he calls the Lord

[Reader/Deacon]

the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him. Then some of the scribes answered, teacher, you have spoken well, for they no longer dare to ask him any question. But he said to them, how can they say that the Christ is David's son? For David himself says in the book of Psalms, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. David thus calls him Lord, so how is he his son? And in the hearing of all the people, he said to his disciples, beware of the scribes who like to walk

[Narrator/Priest]

around in long robes and love greetings

[Reader/Deacon]

in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor, at feasts, who devour widows houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.