Lev. 17-18
Just two…okay, three, quick thoughts from this reading. First, I note how God repeatedly stresses that the laws and the ways He has for His people are different from the cultures around them. And I think that many of the laws that are stated are stated specifically to address a particular practice among those other cultures, which is why they sometimes sound a little strange.
Second, something in the way all of this is said makes me return to that thought that this is not so much a giving of the law as a reiteration of what people once knew was right but have strayed far away from, for whatever that’s worth. Perhaps it’s the first time it is given as actual law, though.
And third, “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.” (Lev 17:11). Indeed – Jesus gives us life by making atonement for us with His own blood.
Mark 9:1-29
Ah, here is that man I relate so well with! Mark 9:24b – “’I believe; help my unbelief!’” There is much in this passage that I don’t understand, but this statement I can easily make my own.