Latest / Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan / May 1, 2026 - Leviticus 14 & Psalm 93

Transcript

May 1, 2026 - Leviticus 14 & Psalm 93 · Lamp and Light Bible Reading Plan

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Lamp and Light Bywording Plan, where we are seeking to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength with God's word lighting the way.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Josiah Smith, joined by Tyler Sanborn.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Today is Friday, May 1st, 2026.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: Here's a quick summary of Leviticus 14.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Leviticus 14 details all of the specific laws for the procedures that were to be enacted for the cleansing of lepers.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this was after they had been healed of their skin condition of whatever variety it might have been.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: So after it has been healed and it seems to be in remission, at that point, then and only then, it says in verse 3, if the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person, then the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two live, clean birds and cedar wood and scarlet yarn and hyssop.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it continues for the rest of the chapter to detail what the procedure is to be, both for them as an individual, but also for their household.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's also detailed here in Leviticus 14.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: So it's all about the procedures when someone is healed of their leprous skin condition.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Here is what they are to do.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Go to the priest and all of the things that are to follow.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: Listen intently to God's written word.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_01: Psalm 93.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: The Lord is robed, he has put on strength as his belt.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, the world is established, it shall never be moved.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: Your throne is established from of old.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: You are from everlasting.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_01: The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: The floods lift up their roaring, mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: Your decrees are very trustworthy.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you're anything like Tyler and I, you are probably scratching your head at this point in Leviticus, if you haven't already, with all of these different laws, laws about childbirth, laws about food, laws about these different skin conditions.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: We are swimming in some waters that in a lot of ways are very unfamiliar, not even a lot of ways, many ways are very unfamiliar to us as New Testament, New Covenant Christians.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: These are things that are so foreign to us.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: And so the temptation is for us to just sort of block it out, ignore it, dismiss it, downplay it.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: But we got to remember this is preserved for us.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: This is God's very word.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so we need to do our best to wade into the discomfort, the confusion, uh, even some of the feelings that you might feel about reading of these skin conditions, and maybe your skin is crawling when you've read them.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: I know, Tyler, you had that kind of response.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: I had a couple, I had a couple questions like, is this for men and women?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like what what are we looking at here?
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: Is there uh is there like a specific guy in in the in the in the community that's just making razors for this?
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: Like I had some really weird thoughts going into this.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: More more questions.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: And more questions than answers.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Leprosy razors for sale.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's crazy.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh no, and so the the question is what does all this mean?
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: So we didn't comment on Leviticus 13 yesterday.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: That was because we knew that chapter 14 was coming today, the kind of second half of this.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: So it details in chapter 13 the different conditions themselves and how they are to be pronounced unclean and the parameters that the priests were to use to make that diagnosis and determination.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: And Leviticus 14 is the remedy that is provided for those who were unclean but now have experienced healing and sort of recovery or remission from these skin diseases.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, the the term leprosy in Leviticus, uh, specifically here in chapters 13 and 14, is more broad than the specific disease of leprosy itself.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now, leprosy is a singular sort of disease, but it's being used here, even the Hebrew word is being used to describe multiple sort of skin diseases or skin infections.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: That's why it's talking about boils, open wounds.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, they're describing different things.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now, leprosy certainly could be a part of that, but it's uh more than leprosy.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not less, but it's certainly more.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: So think of it more as a category of just skin diseases rather than leprosy proper and that being the only thing.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but the question is okay, what does all this mean?
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: And why is it significant?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe this is a question that you're wrestling with.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Why does God care about skin conditions and why is he giving detailed instructions for what they are, how they are to be examined, and how they are to be rectified if there is a healing or remission from that?
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there's two sort of broad perspectives on this uh that we could kind of think through and maybe assess their validity as we read through Leviticus 13 and 14.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: One perspective is that you kind of interpret these in a spiritual kind of way, maybe in uh maybe a metaphorical way, though that's not exactly accurate.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but some people would take leprosy or skin diseases to be symbolic, spiritually speaking, of sin.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so just like these skin diseases can uh corrupt and lead to further and further decay, uh, sin is corrupting, it leads to further and further decay.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: And ultimately, these skin diseases, some of them, led to death.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: And sin, of course, leads to death.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: So some people would sort of see this through that spiritual uh sort of interpretation of leprosy signifies sin, therefore, it must be dealt with and considered uh unclean if it's something that is uh infecting others.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's one perspective.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: The other one is much more broad, but I think it's more tenable in a lot of ways.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Not that you could sort of make that connection, of course.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, in fact, in the Gospel of Mark, there's a connection with a woman that has an issue of blood for 12 years.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that that is being used in a narrative sense to parallel sin and uh ultimately she gets healed, both of her blood condition, but also it seems like she is saved, and Jesus tells her, go in peace.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Your faith has made you well, go in peace and be healed of your disease.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: So there is a sense in which I think it's appropriate to make that connection between us a physical condition and a spiritual condition.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: But I think more properly here in Leviticus, if we if we zoom out, this is on the heels, of course, of Exodus and all the instructions for the tabernacle.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: You got to remember the consecrating oil, be holy as I am holy, things that are set apart, things that are holy to the Lord, that represents uh his dwelling place and his pursuit of his people.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so, ceremonially speaking, uh, this sort of uncleanness and this decay uh would have violated and desecrated uh the the tabernacle and all of the things that were made holy to the Lord.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: So there's all these instructions about people's houses.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not just skin that can get infected.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, there's garments and clothes that can get infected, the hair, like even is talked about of different areas of the skin, uh baldness is is referenced.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there's obviously that different houses, animals.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like it seems like this is a very pervasive thing that does bring a level of decay, that does spread.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and so there's a sense in which, ceremonially speaking, the tabernacle was to be a place that was set apart, consecrated for the Lord.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: And so there was a practical need to separate these skin conditions uh for the purpose of keeping those things holy, keeping them consecrated and set apart, and not allowing these outside uh issues and the these decaying diseases uh to infect the the cloths of the tabernacle and things like that.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: So that seems more tenable to me.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, I think you can't necessarily rule out completely the connection between a physical condition and a spiritual condition.
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_00: But I think uh here in Leviticus at least it seems much more proper to think of holistically uh the whole idea of preserving the holiness, uh, the consecrated items of the tabernacle, which represented the dwelling place of the Lord.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and so it would be unfathomable for the Lord to dwell uh with uh with a bunch of diseased, decaying garments and uh people think about the priests having the skin disease, trying to offer animals that are diseased on uh altars that are diseased, behind curtains that are uh diseased, like it's untenable.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: God is holy, holy, holy, he is perfect.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think from a ceremonial perspective, there seems to be just a great focus on keeping those things away.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's why even they're they're outside of the camp, they can't go near, uh they have to be outside of their house.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: There's all these different procedures from a ceremonial perspective for the purpose of maintaining these boundaries that were intended to teach the lesson that God is holy.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: And there's an invitation and really a command for the nation of Israel to be holy as God is holy.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that seems much more reasonable here in Leviticus.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: But nevertheless, Tyler, I know it this is uh it's uncomfortable to read.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: It can be a little bit gross uh to read that the white hair and the boils and all that kinds of stuff.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but here again, it's it's God's word, and we need to we need to wade through it, and uh we need to make sure that we're doing uh what we can to try to understand it and um ultimately uh see it as the divine revelation that God has kept and preserved for his people.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm just encouraged and reminded that God's ways are above our ways.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's okay for me not to understand and not have to have a full grasp and a full mind around the reasons why that God would be using sandalwood or scarlet thread or whatever the commands to the priests may have been.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: Uh we see God's clear instruction and detailed steps in order to uh to remediate these uh unclean skin conditions, whether they're on your person, um, on your clothing, or uh in your home where you dwell.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: And and speaking of dwelling, uh we we look over to our psalm today, and we see God being his garments, his his dwelling places in the heavens, his garments, and he puts them on.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: He is robed, robed in majesty.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: Now, PJ, what's what's the most majestic sight that you have ever put your eyes on?
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, when you first said majestic, my mind actually immediately went to an eagle because of because of, I guess, the context of America.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: But I think the most majestic, most beautiful, awe-inspiring thing that I have seen was when I was in Colorado and I hiked Mount Humboldt in the Sangra de Cristo mountain range.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: That's Latin for the blood of Christ, uh, that where the sun would be behind the mountain range, it would outline the range with the sort of orange-red color, and so they called it the Sangra de Cristó mountain range.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: And I was on one of those peaks, Mount Humboldt, and it was just really beautiful.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: It was a 14,000-foot mountain, and really overwhelmed by uh just God's creation, the grandeur, the majesty.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's a word that certainly I would use.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then a bald eagle, you know, flying overhead.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Bald eagle close second.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: But one of the things that comes to mind for me when I think about uh majestic sights um that I can put my eyes on in God's green earth is uh a sunset, um, either right before or right after a storm comes through.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so you have um you have a great body of water, whether it's an ocean or a lake, and you see uh just the way the light reflects and and bursts through the clouds as they're scattered about, and it and these clouds reflect all kinds of different colors as the sun is is setting.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm thinking about the psalm, and there's a lot of imagery here about water, and that's what draw drew my mind also to to that scene of just majesty.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: But we we see the Lord reigning, um, he rules and he reigns, and it's majestic.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: It is beyond what we can even put our eyes on here on this earth.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, he is robed in majesty, and strength is is described here, putting on strength as his belt.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: He upholds uh the universe as we know it by the by the strength and power that he commands with, and he is establishing um his kingdom, his world, the the things that are are seen by human eyes, he spoke them into existence and what he puts into place.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um the the psalmist is saying, it shall never be moved.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: Your throne, God's kingdom, uh the is from old.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm thinking of just the trying to understand the eternal nature of God, trying to understand from everlasting to everlasting.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: He is God, that's how he describes himself.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: And as we think about water, the the floods, I I see Exodus imagery, but also I I'm brought back to Genesis chapter one, where God puts the boundaries of water, he he commands the waters to be to be contained by by the land, and it's his design in Genesis chapter one, verses nine and uh and also ten, the waters were gathered together and he called them sea.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: So God is mightier than the roaring creation that he that he spoke into existence.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_01: The floods have lifted up, the floods have lifted up their voice, the floods lift up their roaring.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: I I can imagine um Noah and and there's just the whole earth surrounded and covered in water.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking Exodus language here, the waters that God controls and He created, God is mightier than them, He is mightier than the thundering waters that have great power and destruction.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: God is above and beyond the creation.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think I just even connect Psalm 93 to what we're reading in Leviticus, verse 5.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Your decrees are very trustworthy.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: Holiness befits your house.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's fitting to see and describe the house of the Lord, the the presence of the Lord, the dwelling place of the Lord with holiness.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: It befits, it's fitting, it's as it should be.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: It it's what it ought to be.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that connection here, of course, in Leviticus.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's all about this uh this idea of holiness, be holy as I am holy.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to think of even how to summarize Leviticus, I would just use one word, holiness.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: And we see that God's house is befit to be described by this one word, holiness.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so your decrees are very trustworthy in the things that He has spoken, the things that He's commanded.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: Holiness befits your house, O Lord, uh, forevermore.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so just some encouraging things here: a short psalm, a pocket psalm, if you will.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you could call it that, but uh that was something that came to my mind of just like something to tuck away, to carry with you, five short verses, but uh rich verses that describe the greatness, the majesty of the Lord who reigns and rules.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: And something, again, just to take with you uh from uh God's word today.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you so much for joining us today on the Lamp and Light Bible Reading Podcast.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: For more information about Compass Bible Church South Valley, visit compass bible sv.org.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Keep reading, keep growing.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: God's word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path.