Leviticus 22 – Priests must
respect the offerings made by the people by remaining clean, sacred. Laymen may not eat of the sacred
offerings. Such offerings—holocausts,
votive offering or free-will offerings—must be unblemished males, at least
eight days old.
Leviticus 23 – The holy days that
must be observed are listed in this chapter:
Sabbath – “You may work for six
days, but the seventh must be a day of complete rest, a day for the sacred
assembly on which you do no work at all. Wherever you live, this is a Sabbath
for YHWH” (23:3).
Passover – It “begins at
sundown on the fourteenth day of the first month” (23:5). Seven, the number of perfection par excellence, days of unleavened bread. On the first day a sacred assembly; oblations
offered each day; another assembly on the seventh day. Bring a sheaf of the first fruits to the
priest who will wave it before the Lord.
At the same time, you shall offer an unblemished yearling lamb as
holocaust, a cereal offering and libation (23:5-8).
First Sheaf – The first sheaf of
your harvest should be offered to the priest “and he is to present it to YHWH
with the gesture of offering, so that you may be acceptable” (23:11). There is more detail to the kinds of holocaust offerings
that are to be made, but I am leaving out a lot of this detail.
Pentecost (The Feast
of Weeks) – seven
full weeks after the sheaf is offered (above), bring a new cereal offering (two
loaves of bread of the new harvest), a holocaust of seven yearling lambs, one
young bull and two rams. One male goat
as sin-offering and two yearling lambs as peace offering (23:15-22).
New Year’s Day– The first day of seventh
month—Sabbath rest and sacred assembly, offer oblation (23:24-25).
Day of Atonement – The tenth day of seventh
month. There is to be a sacred assembly.
“You must fast, and you must offer a burnt offering to YHWH. You are not to do
any work that day, for it is the Day of Atonement, on which the rite of
atonement will be performed over you before YHWH you God” (23:27-28). If you
fail to fast you “shall be outlawed from his people” (23:29).
Feast of Booths or
Tabernacles
– The fifteenth day of the seventh month, and it shall last seven days (23:34).
There shall be a sacred assembly on first day, with no work; gather foliage of
trees, palms and myrtle boughs. Make
merry for a week and dwell in booths to remind everyone of the exodus. Offer oblations each of seven days and on
eighth another assembly and offer oblation and do no work (23:35-36).
Concluding Note on Justin
Martyr: Justin
Martyr wrote a second Apology and a very long Dialogue with Trypho, a Jewish
man he met. The dialogue is a very interesting piece but much too long and
repetitive to track on this blog. I identify very much with the mind-set of
Justin Martyr. His philosophical training and approach to the gospel makes him
very easy for a modern reader to identify with. The opening of his Dialogue
with Trypho has such a modern feel –
discussing the deep questions about the meaning of human life and how to
approach such existential matters. I can’t do ALL the writings of any of these
1st and 2nd century Christian writers, though. What is
clear is that it was the Old Testament “prophecies” and the array of “types”
and “figures” that won Justin Martyr over to Christ.
Irenaeus of Lyons
(c.180 AD)
Introduction: Irenaeus was raised in
a Christian family in Asia Minor – probably in Smyrna on the western coast. He
is said to have studied under Polycarp. He moved before 177 AD to Lugdunum in
Gaul (now Lyons in France). In 177, philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius,
authorized or approved a severe local persecution of Christian in that region,
but at the time it happened Irenaeus was en route to Rome with a letter
concerning Montanism. Upon his return to Gaul, he was made Bishop of the city.
Irenaeus’
writings are almost all on the different “heresies” that were plaguing the
church during this time. He wrote against Gnosticism and Marcionism. We don’t
really know how he died. Jerome, and some others after him, thought he had been
martyred, but we really don’t know.
Irenaeus’
writings are very lengthy, but I found a compilation of his writings on
different heresies that I thought would introduce people to him, without making
it all too long. The numbering of the sections corresponds to the parts of his
5 major treatises on heresies that the snippets were taken from.
Selections from the Work Against Heresies
Book I: The Heretics
Preface
1 – He expresses his
concern that people “are introducing among us false stories and vain
genealogies, which serve rather to controversies . . . than to God’s work of
building up in the faith.” Their rhetoric confuses the inexperienced, and they
lead people “away by the pretense of knowledge from Him who constituted and
ordered the universe, as if they had something higher and greater to show them
than the God who made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them.”
It
is difficult for “simple hearers” to distinguish the truth amidst all their
lies.
2 – Their errors are
“craftily decked out in an attractive dress, and made to seem truer than the
truth itself to the inexperienced because of the outer appearance.” Like a
piece of glass that is put forward to resemble a emerald, what they present
needs to be tested.
“So
then, lest some should be made prey of through my fault, like sheep by wolves,
not recognizing them because of their outwardly wearing sheep’s clothing—whom
the Lord warned us to guard against [Matt.7:15]—and because they talk like us,
through thinking very differently” Irenaeus thought it important to familiarize
himself with their thinking so he could show us their sinister ideas.
So
“as well as I can, then, I will briefly and clearly describe the position of
the present false teachers, I mean the followers of Ptolemaeus, who is an
offshoot of the school of Valentinus.” As well as I can, I will try to “how
foreign to the truth are the things they
say.”
3 – He says he is not an
expert in rhetorical skills, but he affirms that “what I write to you out of
love, plainly and truly and simply, you will surely receive in love” and will
be better able to understand. He is writing someone he is sure will be able to
grasp the importance of what he is saying and that he will pass it along to
others, “according to the grace which the Lord has given you, so that men may
no longer be ensnared by” these ideas.
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