537 Read the Bible for Yourself 6: How to Read the Law

Restitutio

This is part 6 of the Read the Bible For Yourself.

Tragically, many Christians skip over reading the Torah. They focus on the Gospels or Epistles of the New Testament. However, the first five books of the Bible contain many rich insights into God's heart and how he asked Israel to live. In fact, it's impossible to understand the rest of the Bible, or even Jesus, without first becoming familiar with the Law. This episode will provide you an overview of the Torah's instruction about holiness, sacrifice, justice, and sacred time.

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

https://youtu.be/a9wxI1TWBlE

—— Links ——

• See other episodes in Read the Bible For Yourself
• Check out the class New Covenant Theology to learn more about biblical covenants as well as this podcast episode on the New Covenant and this one responding to typical arguments for Torah observance today
• Other classes are available here, including How We Got the Bible, which explores the manuscript transmission and translation of the Bible
• Get the transcript of this episode
• Support Restitutio by donating here
• Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF
• Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air
• Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library.
• Who is Sean Finnegan? Read his bio here

—— Notes ——

Reading the Law takes work

• Sometimes it’s just weird (Lev 11:20-23)
• Sometimes it’s tedious (Ex 26:7-9)
• Important to focus while reading
• Eliminate distractions
• Read aloud if you can
• Keep track of things (underline, highlight, write notes in the margin)

The books of the Law (Torah)

1. Genesis
2. Exodus
3. Leviticus
4. Numbers
5. Deuteronomy

Four categories of Law

1. Holiness
2. Sacrifice
3. Justice
4. Sacred time

Sinai and the giving of the Law

• God came down on the mountain and spoke audibly (Ex 19:16-21)
• The people agreed to obey and then “stood at a distance” while Moses went up and received the rest of the Law (Ex 20:18-21)

Tabernacle

• The 2nd half of Exodus contains meticulous instructions on how to build the tabernacle and everything that went outside and inside of it.
• The tabernacle is where