The One To Fear

(Luke 12.2-7)

^26 (A) Don't be afraid of anyone! Everything that is hidden will be found out, and every secret will be known. ²⁷ Whatever I say to you in the dark, you must tell in the light. And you must announce from the housetops whatever I have whispered to you. ^28 (B) Don't be afraid of people. They can kill you, but they cannot harm your soul. Instead, you should fear God who can destroy both your body and your soul in hell. ²⁹ Aren't two sparrows sold for only a penny? But your Father knows when any one of them falls to the ground. ³⁰ Even the hairs on your head are counted. ³¹ So don't be afraid! You are worth much more than many sparrows.

Telling Others about Christ

(Luke 12.8,9)

³² If you tell others you belong to me, I will tell my Father in heaven you are my followers. ^33 (C) But if you reject me, I will tell my Father in heaven you don't belong to me.

Not Peace, but Trouble

(Luke 12.51-53; 14.26,27)

³⁴ Don't think I came to bring peace to the earth! I came to bring trouble, not peace. ^35 (D) I came to turn sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers, and daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law. ³⁶ Your worst enemies will be in your own family.

^37 (E) If you love your father or mother or even your sons and daughters more than me, you are not fit to be my disciples. ^38 (F) And unless you are willing to take up your cross and follow me, you are not fit to be my disciples. ^39 (G) If you try to save your life, you will lose it. But if you give it up for me, you will surely find it.

Rewards

(Mark 9.41)

^40 (H) Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me. And anyone who welcomes me also welcomes the one who sent me. ⁴¹ Anyone who welcomes a prophet, just because that person is a prophet, will be given the same reward as a prophet. Anyone who welcomes a good person, just because that person is good, will be given the same reward as a good person. ⁴² And anyone who gives one of my most humble followers a cup of cool water, just because that person is my follower, will be rewarded.

The First Sacrifices Offered by Aaron and His Sons

9 Eight days later Moses called together Aaron, his sons, and Israel's leaders. ² Then he said to Aaron:

Find a young bull and a ram that have nothing wrong with them. Offer the bull to the Lord as a sacrifice for sin and the ram as a sacrifice to please him.^[a]

³ Tell the people of Israel that they must offer sacrifices as well. They must offer a goat^[b] as a sacrifice for sin, and a bull and a ram as a sacrifice to please the Lord. The bull and the ram must be a year old and have nothing wrong with them. ⁴ Then the people must offer a bull and a ram as a sacrifice to ask the Lord's blessing^[c] and also a grain sacrifice^[d] mixed with oil. Do this, because the Lord will appear to you today.

⁵ After the animals and the grain had been brought to the front of the sacred tent, and the people were standing there in the presence of the Lord, ⁶ Moses said:

The Lord has ordered you to do this, so that he may appear to you in all of his glory. ^7 (A) Aaron, step up to the altar and offer the sacrifice to please the Lord, then offer the sacrifices for the forgiveness of your sins and for the sins of the people, just as the Lord has commanded.

⁸ Aaron stepped up to the altar and killed the bull that was to be the sacrifice for his sins. ⁹ His sons brought him the blood. He dipped a finger in it, smeared some on the four corners of the bronze altar, and poured out the rest at its foot. ¹⁰ But he sent up in smoke the fat, the kidneys, and the lower part of the liver, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ¹¹ Then Aaron burned the skin and the flesh outside the camp.

¹² After Aaron had killed the ram that was sacrificed to please the Lord, Aaron's sons brought him the blood, and he splattered it against all four sides of the altar. ¹³ They brought him each piece of the animal, including the head, and he burned them all on the altar. ¹⁴ He washed the insides and the hind legs and also sent them up in smoke.

¹⁵ Next, Aaron sacrificed the goat for the sins of the people, as he had done with the sacrifice for his own sins. ¹⁶ And so, he burned this sacrifice on the altar in the proper way. ¹⁷ He also presented the grain sacrifice and burned a handful of the flour on the altar as part of the morning sacrifice.

^18 (B) Finally, he killed the bull and the ram as a sacrifice to ask the Lord's blessing on the people. Aaron's sons brought him the blood, and he splattered it against the four sides of the altar. ¹⁹ His sons placed all the fat, as well as the kidneys and the lower part of the liver ²⁰ on top of the choice ribs. ²¹ Then Aaron burned the fat on the altar and lifted up^[e] the ribs and the right hind leg to show that these were dedicated to the Lord. This was done just as the Lord had instructed Moses.

^22 (C) Aaron held out his hand and gave the people his blessing, before coming down from the bronze altar where he had offered the sacrifices. ²³ He and Moses went into the sacred tent, and when they came out, they gave the people their blessing. Then the Lord appeared to the people in all of his glory. ²⁴ The Lord sent fiery flames that burned up everything on the altar, and when everyone saw this, they shouted and fell to their knees to worship the Lord.

Nadab and Abihu

10 Nadab and Abihu were two of Aaron's sons, but they disobeyed the Lord by burning incense to him on a fire pan, when they were not supposed to.^{[f] 2} Suddenly the Lord sent fiery flames and burned them to death. ³ Then Moses told Aaron that this was exactly what the Lord had meant when he said:

Aaron was speechless.

⁴ Moses sent for Mishael and Elzaphan, the two sons of Aaron's uncle Uzziel. Then he told them, “Take these two dead relatives of yours outside the camp far from the entrance to the sacred tent.” ⁵ So they dragged the dead men away by their clothes.

⁶ Then Moses told Aaron and his other two sons, Eleazar and Ithamar:

Don't show your sorrow by messing up your hair and tearing your priestly clothes, or the Lord will get angry. He will kill the three of you and punish everyone else. It's all right for your relatives, the people of Israel, to mourn for those he destroyed by fire. ⁷ But you are the Lord's chosen priests, and you must not leave the sacred tent, or you will die.

Aaron and his two sons obeyed Moses.

⁸ The Lord said to Aaron:

⁹ When you or your sons enter the sacred tent, you must never drink beer or wine. If you do, you will die right there! This law will never change. ¹⁰ You must learn the difference between what is holy and what isn't holy and between the clean and the unclean. ¹¹ You must also teach the people of Israel everything that I commanded Moses to say to them.

^12 (D) Moses told Aaron and his two sons, Eleazar and Ithamar:

The grain sacrifice that was offered to give thanks to the Lord^[g] is very holy. So make bread without yeast from the part that wasn't sent up in smoke and eat it beside the altar. ¹³ The Lord has said that this belongs to you and your sons, and that it must be eaten in a holy place. ^14-15 (E) But the choice ribs and the hind leg that were lifted up^[h] may be eaten by your entire family, as long as you do so in an acceptable place.^[i] These parts are yours from the sacrifices that the people offer to ask the Lord's blessing.^[j] This is what the Lord has commanded, and it will never change.

¹⁶ When Moses asked around and learned that the ram for the sin sacrifice had already been burned on the altar, he became angry with Eleazar and Ithamar and said, ^17 (F) “Why didn't you eat the meat from this sacrifice in an acceptable place? It is very holy, and the Lord has given you this sacrifice to remove Israel's sin and guilt. ¹⁸ Whenever an animal's blood isn't brought into the sacred tent, I commanded you to eat its meat in an acceptable place, but you burned it instead.”

¹⁹ Their father Aaron replied, “Today two of my sons offered the sacrifice for sin and the sacrifice to please the Lord, and look what has happened to me! Would the Lord have approved if I had eaten the sacrifice for sin?”

²⁰ Moses was satisfied with Aaron's reply.

Wisdom and Bad Friends

Wisdom and Sexual Purity