Levites and Priests, Offerings and Feasts....

I finished Leviticus a couple days ago! I am moving SOOOO slowly through the Old Testament right now... it's crazy. But, my bible-reading philosophy is "keep going, no matter how slowly and no matter what day it says on the calendar" and if you've ever read the bible through, you know that Leviticus can be a big obstacle... or at least, it can take some perseverance to get through it. So, I am excited to finish it and move onto its close cousin......... Numbers! :-) I actually think that once a person finishes Leviticus and Numbers, there is nothing they can't do. And to think, once upon a time, Jewish children would have to memorize the entire Torah by age 13. Wow. I can't even fathom.

So, anyway... here are some parting words of love from God, from Leviticus 26, that wouldn't hurt anyone to memorize:

“If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops, and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. Your threshing season will overlap with the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will overlap with the season of planting grain. You will eat your fill and live securely in your own land. I will give you peace in the land, and you will be able to sleep with no cause for fear. You will have such a surplus of crops that you will need to clear out the old grain to make room for the new harvest! I will live among you... I will be your God, and you will be my people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the yoke of slavery from your neck so you can walk with your heads held high".