Year 7, Day 96: Leviticus 7

Theological Commentary: Click Here

In Leviticus 7 we hear god reinforce the idea that a priest was allowed to claim the portion of the sacrifice that was allotted to him.  Because the priests were focused on sacrifices and the sin of the people, they didn’t have time to do things like farm, hunt, or even buy and sell in the marketplace.  Therefore, when they were serving in the temple they were allotted their portion of the sacrifices.  This is how their families survived when the priest was doing a task that was not related to supporting the survival of the family.

Naturally, priests that did more sacrifices got more share.  Priests that did little work got little share.  There was certainly a need to take turns and make sure that opportunity as spread around.  However, there certainly was a time and a place for working hard and reaping the benefits of one’s work, too.

This is a concept that I can be reminded to bring into modern ministry.  While we may not be making animal sacrifices anymore, that doesn’t mean that we should ignore this passage.  After all, isn’t part of the teaching of the New Testament that we are all priests to serve our God?  If we are priests, then passages like this absolutely apply to us.

What can we learn from them?  Do we not all make sacrifices?  When I sacrifice portions of my time in prayer, I can expect to reap the benefit of that time as my relationship with God grows.  When I sacrifice time contemplating the truth of God’s Word, my relationship with God grows.  When I sacrifice time serving other people, my relationship with God grows.  How many times do we go into some kind of ministry opportunity thinking that we will be giving only to realize that we are also receiving?

We often reap what we so.  Why would a person who doesn’t spend time in the Word of God, who never spends time in prayer, and who never speaks words of mission or discipleship think that they would reap benefits of a spiritual life?  On the other hand, is it any surprise that those who spend hours of their life in prayer, contemplation of God’s Word, and serving others reap benefit after benefit of being in relationship with God?  As priests, we have every opportunity to reap from our share of the sacrifice.  But we have to be willing to get in and do our part.  We have to be willing to participate.

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