Leviticus 21

Good morning ladies! I am sorry I was quiet last week. The training kept me busy. It was training to do audits of crime laboratories. I enjoy auditing based on operating requirements, so I very much enjoyed the class.

My due date is Thursday, though it is but an arbitrary date in my book. My first was 2 days late, my second was 5 days late. Little miss will get here when she is ready.

S: Leviticus 21:6 They shall be holy to their God, and shall not profane their God’s name, since they offer the oblations of the LORD, the food of their God; so they must be holy.

O/A: God was giving instructions for the priests and high priest to remain holy to Him. He did not want the priests to defile themselves by being near corpses.

 It struck me funny at first that the priests were not allowed to be by a corpse. But then I remembered this is the Old Testament and sins hadn't yet fully been forgiven by Jesus, so the souls hadn't gone to heaven. 

I'm not sure how mch direct contact priests have with the a corpse today. I know they can offer prayers for the sick, and are near the casket at funerals/grave sites. I'm guessing that because of Jesus's death for us, which allows us into heaven, priests can have some sort of presence near a dead person. I feel some digging needs to be done :)

K: Lord, I thank you for all the blessing you have bestowed upon me. Especially for you son, Jesus, who is our high priest. I strive daily to be holy for you, though I admit my struggles. Amen.

~Ada LeDoux~

Leviticus 15

Emailed Friday.

I don't have a specific verse from this chapter. I was intrigued by the woman being unclean for 14 days total once she started her period. But it makes sense to think that she would be clean right around ovulation, in time to make a baby. These 14 days she could give homage to God and pray that she may become pregnant. 

I know how hard it is personally to see the cycle come when you prayed to get pregnant. I also know how devastating it is to see the flow when you are pregnant. Our bodies are just as mysterious as God. 

I want to wish all the mommas very Happy Mother's Day. We all deserve a day of relaxation and love.  

Leviticus 16

Leviticus 16:29-30 This shall be an everlasting ordinance to you: on the tenth day of the seventh month every one of you, whether a native or a resident alien, shall mortify himself and shall do no work. Since on this day atonement is made for you to make you clean, so that you may cleansed of all your sins before the Lord...

So this isn't really a soak, more of another research for me. I was interested in finding out about the 10th day of the 7th month. I know that the Jewish calendar is different from the Gregorian calendar, so it was not July 10. Here is the article that explains it a bit

http://www.new-life.net/faqs/biblical-questions/when-is-the-day-of-atonement-jewish-calendars/

How interesting, and amazing where the biblical dates fall in sync in the Old and New Testament!

I hope you all had a great Mother's Day. Back home, my dad's family always got together to eat on Mother's Day. We got together every holiday and lots in between. We like to eat and enjoy being together. They got together yesterday as usual. Here in AR, my little family cleaned house and put things that had just been placed down in its rightful place. Smaller burst of energy in preparation for baby. Maybe. 

Leviticus 13

This chapter was a bit hard to read only because I kept getting lost with all the "if,then" descriptions of the disease. It seems like there were a lot of rules about leprosy, mostly to protect the rest of the community from a contagious disease. The priests had to be extra careful about their examinations of the skin so as to not rule anything out. Even the clothing was quarantined! 

We have the same quarantine issues today, as we have seen recently with Ebola. Some people didn't heed the warning and it spread more than it should have. I have also heard they may be still having issues with the thought of it still being present longer in the system than first expected. Scary. 

Doctors are not God. But they do issue warnings to protect to community, like God did here. There are many soapboxes to be stood on for and against what doctors say. I'm not touching those issues. Just saying sometimes we should listen to them. They didn't get to where they are in the medical field by accident.

Lord, thank you for all the gifts you have bestowed on us. Thank you for the knowledge you have blessed people with. And thank you for the specialists you have granted extra knowledge with, so that they may help people in need. Amen. 

Leviticus 12

Leviticus 12:4 "and then she shall spend thirty three days more in becoming purified of her blood..."

5... "After which she shall spend sixty-six days in becoming purified of her blood."

Wow. At first reading, my blood boiled. How could God be punishing these women for something that was not totally in their control? If a woman laid with her husband and conceived, she was dirty after giving birth to a child? And 2/3 longer if the child was a girl?

So I had to do some research. I found this site (https://bible.org/seriespage/9-offending-god-clean-and-unclean-part-ii-leviticus-12-15 )which explained a bit more. Here is a quote

"you stop to think about it, most of the conditions which caused the state of uncleanness were those which resulted from the fall. All sickness and death is the result of the fall. Child-bearing is at least related to the curse. Sex was distorted and diminished by the fall, to the point where Adam and Eve were ashamed of their nakedness and fled from God.This first view that sex was “dirty” and unacceptable to God originated with man, as a result of the fall, not God. Thus, we can say that uncleanness was a condition resulting from the fall, from sin, and thus uncleanness also required a sin offering. As the Israelite offered up the sin offering due to uncleanness, he or she also acknowledged their sinful condition inherited from Adam."

They were born with sin because of the fall of Adam and Eve. And not until Jesus's death could we fully be cleansed of our sins. The blood and the small suffering a woman experiences during childbirth is nothing compared to the blood shed and suffering that Christ endured because of man. 

The Old Testament is hard to understand because we don't follow the same rules. But these rules governed and shaped our Christian history. So I am glad be struggling as I read, as it makes me want to learn more and research things.

Leviticus 11

S: Leviticus 11:45 Since I, The Lord, brought you up from the land of Egypt that I might be your God, you shall be holy, because I am holy.

O: God has given the Israelites laws on what they can and cannot eat. He wants them to remain holy by not contaminating themselves with unclean, forbidden animals. 

A: some religions still practice similar rules for food. Catholics are called to abstain from meat on Fridays as a suffering for Christ's sufferings. It's not because anything is "unclean" though. Anyway, God has given us other laws we are to follow to remain holy. He wants us to be holy so that we might be with him in heaven. He created us. Why would he take the time to create each one of us if he didn't want to keep us with him forever?

K: Lord I want to be one of the treasures you keep forever. Help me to remain holy in your laws. Amen.

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I don't have any food allergies or restrictions. When I was nursing Hunter, I noticed he has reflux issues when I consumed dairy. So I avoided dairy. Then when he started whole milk, he had an allergic reaction to cow's milk. We switched him to almond. Luckily, it's nothing scary like peanuts which are everywhere. He can eat foods cooked with milk. He can have a few bites of ice cream and be ok. 
If the word came from God that he didn't want Hunter to drink milk, I would have understood. And maybe that's what was going on when I was nursing. Perhaps God was forewarning me ;)