Day 1 (Monday)
Leviticus 1:1-17; 2:1-16 (Burnt Offerings & Grain Offerings)
We have spent the last several weeks reading the story of Joseph, and completing the book of Genesis. The story continues, of course, with the enslavement of the house of Israel in Egypt after Joseph’s death, and with Moses’ birth, adoption by Pharaoh’s daughter, exile into the wilderness, and his ultimate calling by God to lead the people out of Egypt. God humiliates the gods of Egypt in the ten plagues, showing to Pharaoh His power and glory, and giving him nine chances to repent before the tenth plague, the death of the firstborn, after which Pharaoh finally releases the people, only to chase after them once they have left, catching up with them at the Red Sea, where God brings His people across on dry land, but the waters return and drown the Egyptian army as they try to come after them. God then brings His people to Mt. Sinai, where He ordains them as His own priestly people, to serve as a vessel of His presence among all the nations. Through a series of unfaithful acts by the people at large, however, that priestly role comes to the tribe of Levi, and specifically to the household of Aaron, the brother of Moses. At Sinai, the people built the Tabernacle to worship God, according to the model that God had given to Moses on Mt. Sinai, and God gave them instructions regarding how they were to worship Him, establishing both daily offerings, and then particular offerings that were to be made when the people sinned and needed to be cleansed and reconciled to God. These instructions are mostly contained in the book of Leviticus, and we will begin with some elements of these guidelines today, so that we understand something of the worship of God established at Mt. Sinai.
Leviticus 1
The Burnt Offering
1 The Lord summoned Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying: 2 Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: When any of you bring an offering of livestock to the Lord, you shall bring your offering from the herd or from the flock.
3 If the offering is a burnt offering from the herd, you shall offer a male without blemish; you shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, for acceptance in your behalf before the Lord. 4 You shall lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be acceptable in your behalf as atonement for you. 5 The bull shall be slaughtered before the Lord; and Aaron’s sons the priests shall offer the blood, dashing the blood against all sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 6 The burnt offering shall be flayed and cut up into its parts. 7 The sons of the priest Aaron shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. 8 Aaron’s sons the priests shall arrange the parts, with the head and the suet, on the wood that is on the fire on the altar; 9 but its entrails and its legs shall be washed with water. Then the priest shall turn the whole into smoke on the altar as a burnt offering, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the Lord.
10 If your gift for a burnt offering is from the flock, from the sheep or goats, your offering shall be a male without blemish. 11 It shall be slaughtered on the north side of the altar before the Lord, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall dash its blood against all sides of the altar. 12 It shall be cut up into its parts, with its head and its suet, and the priest shall arrange them on the wood that is on the fire on the altar; 13 but the entrails and the legs shall be washed with water. Then the priest shall offer the whole and turn it into smoke on the altar; it is a burnt offering, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the Lord.
14 If your offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, you shall choose your offering from turtledoves or pigeons. 15 The priest shall bring it to the altar and wring off its head, and turn it into smoke on the altar; and its blood shall be drained out against the side of the altar. 16 He shall remove its crop with its contents and throw it at the east side of the altar, in the place for ashes. 17 He shall tear it open by its wings without severing it. Then the priest shall turn it into smoke on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire; it is a burnt offering, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the Lord.
Grain Offerings
2 When anyone presents a grain offering to the Lord, the offering shall be of choice flour; the worshiper shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it, 2 and bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests. After taking from it a handful of the choice flour and oil, with all its frankincense, the priest shall turn this token portion into smoke on the altar, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the Lord. 3 And what is left of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons, a most holy part of the offerings by fire to the Lord.
4 When you present a grain offering baked in the oven, it shall be of choice flour: unleavened cakes mixed with oil, or unleavened wafers spread with oil. 5 If your offering is grain prepared on a griddle, it shall be of choice flour mixed with oil, unleavened; 6 break it in pieces, and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering. 7 If your offering is grain prepared in a pan, it shall be made of choice flour in oil. 8 You shall bring to the Lord the grain offering that is prepared in any of these ways; and when it is presented to the priest, he shall take it to the altar. 9 The priest shall remove from the grain offering its token portion and turn this into smoke on the altar, an offering by fire of pleasing odor to the Lord. 10 And what is left of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the offerings by fire to the Lord.
11 No grain offering that you bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven, for you must not turn any leaven or honey into smoke as an offering by fire to the Lord. 12 You may bring them to the Lord as an offering of choice products, but they shall not be offered on the altar for a pleasing odor. 13 You shall not omit from your grain offerings the salt of the covenant with your God; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.
14 If you bring a grain offering of first fruits to the Lord, you shall bring as the grain offering of your first fruits coarse new grain from fresh ears, parched with fire. 15 You shall add oil to it and lay frankincense on it; it is a grain offering. 16 And the priest shall turn a token portion of it into smoke—some of the coarse grain and oil with all its frankincense; it is an offering by fire to the Lord.
Reading 1
958 words
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (The Leader should point out that this sort of sacrifice is completely and utterly foreign to us. We have never experienced anything like this, at least not overtly, and the extremely bloody nature of this worship strikes us as disgusting and disturbing. However, what we need to understand is that what is being offered to God here is the life of the animal, present in the blood that is poured upon the side of the altar and in the flesh that is burned upon the altar. The life of the animal itself is symbolic of something else, however, which is shown in the fact that the one making the offering rests his hand upon the head of the animal before it is killed; the life of the animal becomes a representation of the life and devotion and faithfulness of the offerer. And then the meat and bones which are burned on the altar are a meal offered to God, sent up as a fragrant smoke for God. The entire action is not one of fear or punishment, but of hospitality. In this sacrifice, the offerer dedicates his own life, and that of his entire household, to God, and offers God a meal, not because God needs to eat, but because hospitality, offering what God has given to us back to God, is what we need to do in relationship with God. If we can recognize these elements, then we can see the connecting points with our own Eucharistic worship, and can also notice the distinctions. In this worship, the fact that what is offered to God is something that God Himself had created is tacitly present, but not explicitly referenced, while in the Eucharist, what we offer to God is explicitly offered back to us as the presence of and communion with God Himself for us. We offer hospitality to Him, but it is He who actually nourishes and feeds and cares for us. Another thing that should be noted here is that there are options for those who can’t afford to offer a sheep or a bull…even a dove, or simply bread, may be offered to God in this way. Finally, these are whole burnt offerings that are described here, but there were many other offerings in which only part of the offering was burned upon the altar, and the rest was given back to the offerer to eat with his household, so that the family literally shared a meal with God.)
2) Where do we see Christ in this text; what is He saying or doing here?
3) Do we see ourselves and the Church in this text; what does it say about us?
4) What do you find difficult about this reading? Is there anything confusing about it, or anything that you dislike? (This is an open question, as always. )
5) Does this reading make you think that you need to change anything in your life?
Day 2 (Wednesday)
Joseph and Aseneth – 10
Last time, we saw the Man from Heaven accept Aseneth’s hospitality, but not actually eat the bread and wine that she offered; instead He told her to bring Him a honeycomb, and when she was unable to do so, He provided a miraculous honeycomb. He spoke, and it came into being, in a way that seems to purposely reference Psalm 33:9. When Aseneth commented that the honeycomb had the same scent as the breath from His mouth, he smiled at her understanding, and after He and she had both eaten from the honeycomb, He touched it, and it become whole again, so that, having been eaten, it remained unconsumed. This time, we will see a final wonder demonstrated for Aseneth, and the Man from Heaven will leave her.
James H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha and the New Testament: Expansions of the “Old Testament” and Legends, Wisdom, and Philosophical Literature, Prayers, Psalms and Odes, Fragments of Lost Judeo-Hellenistic Works, vol. 2 (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 1985), 202–238.
The heavenly man marks the comb with a cross and makes bees, which encircle Aseneth, rise from it
17 (10) And again the man stretched out his right hand and put his (fore)finger on the edge of the comb looking east and drew it over the edge looking west, and the way of his finger (11) became like blood. And he stretched out his hand the second time and put his finger on the edge of the comb looking north and drew it over to the edge looking south, and the way of his finger became like blood. 17x (12) And Aseneth stood at his left (hand) and watched everything that the man was doing.
And the man said to the comb, “Come.” 17y (13) And bees rose from the cells of that comb, and the cells were innumerable, ten thousand (times) ten thousand and thousands upon is thousands. 18 And the bees were white as snow, and their wings like purple and like violet and like scarlet (stuff) and like gold-woven linen cloaks, and golden diadems (were) on their heads, and they had sharp stings, and they would not injure anyone. 19 (14) And all those bees encircled Aseneth from feet to head.
And other bees were great and chosen like their queens, and they rose from the damaged part of the comb and encircled Aseneth’s mouth, and made upon her mouth and her lips a comb similar to the comb which was lying before the man. 20 And all those bees ate of (15) the comb which was on Aseneth’s mouth. And the man said to the bees, “Go off to your place” 21 And all the bees rose and flew and went away into heaven. 22 (16) And those who wanted (17) to injure Aseneth fell to the ground and died. And the man stretched out his staff over the dead bees and said to them, “Rise you, too, and go away to your place.” 23 And the bees who had died rose and went into the court adjoining Aseneth’s house and sought shelter on the fruit-bearing trees.
17 1 (1) And the man said to Aseneth, “Have you seen this thing?” And she said, “Yes, Lord, I have seen all these (things).” 2 (2) And the man said to her, “So will be all my words which I have spoken to you today.” 3 (3) And the man for the third time stretched out his right hand, and touched the damaged part of the comb, and at once fire went up from the table and consumed the comb, but the table it did not injure. 4 And much fragrance came forth from the burning of the comb, and filled the chamber.
The heavenly man blesses Aseneth’s seven virgins
(4) And Aseneth said to the man, “Lord, with me are seven virgins ministering to me, fostered with me from my childhood, born with me in one night, and I love them as my sisters. I will call them, and you will bless them as you have blessed me, too.” 5 (5) And the man said, “Call them.” 6 And Aseneth called the seven virgins and stood them before the man. And the man blessed them and said, “May the Lord God the Most High bless you. And you shall be seven pillars of the City of Refuge, and all the fellow inhabitants of the chosen of that city will rest upon you for ever (and) ever.”
The heavenly man departs
And the man said to Aseneth, “Put this table away.” 7 (6), 8 And Aseneth turned to put the table away, and at once the man went away out of her sight. And Aseneth saw (something) like a chariot of four horses traveling into heaven toward (the) east. And the chariot was like a flame of fire, and the horses like lightning. And the man was standing on that chariot.
9 And Aseneth said, “(What a) foolish and bold (woman) I (am), because I have spoken with frankness and said that a man came into my chamber from heaven; and I did not know that (a) god came to me. And behold, now he is traveling (back) into heaven to his place.” 10 (7) And she said in herself, Be gracious, Lord, to your slave, and spare your maidservant, because I have spoken boldly before you all my words in ignorance.
735 words
Reading 10
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (The Leader should note how remarkable it is that the Man from Heaven marks the sign of the Cross upon the honeycomb, and should guide a discussion about the bees. What they signify is not completely clear, but one option may be that they are signifying those who are in the Church, some of them seeking to be nourished and to dwell in the Church, while others are seeking to do harm to the Church. Thus those who are sent to heaven represent the Saints, while those who harm her and die are also raised, but are sent to a place outside, and thus the bees become a sign of the Resurrection and the judgment. Also, when He touches the honeycomb and it is consumed in fire, it is very like the scene in Judges 13, when the Angel of the Lord touches the food that Sampson’s parents have brought Him, and burns it all up, and then ascends into heaven in the flame.)
2) Where do we see Christ in this text; what is He saying or doing here?
3) Do we see ourselves and the Church in this text; what does it say about us?
4) What do you find difficult about this reading? Is there anything confusing about it, or anything that you dislike? (This is an open question, as always. )
5) Does this reading make you think that you need to change anything in your life?
Day 3 (Friday)
Acts 8:26-40 (Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch)
Last time, we saw Philip go to Samaria fleeing from the persecution of Saul of Tarsus, and as he preached there, great multitudes of the Samaritans embraced the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw the Apostles send Peter & John to pray and lay hands upon them for the receiving of the Holy Spirit, and we saw Simon Magus seek to acquire that same power with money. This time, we will see Philip go to the south, where he will encounter another person who is eager and ready to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch
26 Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) 27 So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” 30 So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. 32 Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:
“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
and like a lamb silent before its shearer,
so he does not open his mouth.
33 In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”
34 The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. 36 As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” 38 He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. 39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
Reading 15 – 362 words
Discussion questions:
1) What did you notice in today’s reading? What surprised you or what was memorable to you? (The Leader should note that the passage this Ethiopian eunuch was reading is recited each Divine Liturgy by the priest as he is preparing the Gifts. It is one of the central Messianic texts of the Old Testament, and foretells exactly what happens to Jesus, with the rejection, the humiliation, and His silence before His accusers, centuries before even the fall of the Temple of Solomon.)
2) Where do we see Christ in this text; what is He saying or doing here?
3) Do we see ourselves and the Church in this text; what does it say about us?
4) What do you find difficult about this reading? Is there anything confusing about it, or anything that you dislike? (This is an open question, as always. )
5) Does this reading make you think that you need to change anything in your life?