Journal 2021.

I’ve read through the Bible many times, but this time I’m getting bogged down in parts of Leviticus—a handbook for something that no longer exists. It’s like reading a manual for an outdated computer system or instructions on how to program a VCR. What’s the point or purpose? These rules were for a specific audience—the Levitical priests. Why do I need to study someone else’s handbook just because it’s available? And since there is no temple, there is no opportunity to practice these instructions.

There’s a difference between casual reading for interest, studying for information-gathering, grasping its significance, and attempting to master a subject. Rabbis say studying Torah is the highest and holiest calling, but only 1 percent, the cream of the crop, made it a lifetime achievement. But Jesus is Torah personified. Maybe studying Him is more of what I need. I don’t need to feel guilty if I skip over the priest’s manual today and return to the story.

I do have one take-away, however, from Leviticus: “Ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (11:45 KJV). I’ve always read “be holy” as if it were a command about superior moral qualities. But the text is a statement: “You shall be holy.” Here’s what I found from the Jewish Bible Commentary.

God’s holiness is His essential “otherness,” His being separate from all that is not divine; humans are not called upon to be holy in this sense (the text doesn’t say, ‘as I am holy’). Holiness in humans, as in time, space, objects, and speech, is the state of belonging to the deity, being designated God’s “personal” property . . . Israel is holy simply by virtue of having been chosen.