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FEBRUARY 21
23 Now it happened that He went through the
grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went
His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain.
2:27 The Sabbath was made for man. God
24 And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do
instituted the Sabbath to benefit man by giv-
ing him a day to rest from his labors and to be they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
25 But He said to them, “Have you never
a blessing to him.The Pharisees turned it into
a burden and made man a slave to their myri- read what David did when he was in need
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ad of man-made regulations. and hungry, he and those with him: how he
went into the house of God in the days of
2:28 also Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus claimed Abiathar the high priest, and ate the show-
He was greater than the Sabbath, and thus bread, which is not lawful to eat except for
was God. Based on that authority, Jesus could the priests, and also gave some to those who
in fact reject the Pharisaic regulations con- were with him?”
cerning the Sabbath and restore God’s origi- 27 And He said to them, “The Sabbath was
nal intention for Sabbath observance to be a made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
blessing not a burden. 28 Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the
Sabbath.”
DAY 20: Does God expect us to be holy?

In Leviticus 11:44,45, God says “consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy.” In
all of this, God is teaching His people to live antithetically. That is, He is using these clean and
unclean distinctions to separate Israel from other idolatrous nations who have no such restrictions,
and He is illustrating by these prescriptions that His people must learn to live His way.Through dietary
laws and rituals,God is teaching them the reality of living His way in everything.They are being taught
to obey God in every seemingly mundane area of life, so as to learn how crucial obedience is.
Sacrifices, rituals, diet, and even clothing and cooking are all carefully ordered by God to teach them
that they are to live differently from everyone else.This is to be an external illustration for the separa-
tion from sin in their hearts.Because the Lord is their God,they are to be utterly distinct.
In v. 44, for the first time the statement “I am the LORD your God” is made as a reason for the
required separation and holiness.After this verse,that phrase is mentioned about 50 more times in
this book alone,along with the equally instructive claim,“I am holy.”Because God is holy and is their
God, the people are to be holy in outward ceremonial behavior as an external expression of the
greater necessity of heart holiness.The connection between ceremonial holiness carries over into
personal holiness.The only motivation given for all these laws is to learn to be holy because God is
holy.The holiness theme is central to Leviticus (see 10:3; 19:2; 20:7,26; 21:6–8).

turned white, then the priest shall isolate the
February 21 one who has the sore seven days. And the priest
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shall examine him on the seventh day; and
indeed if the sore appears to be as it was, and
the sore has not spread on the skin, then the
Leviticus 13:1–59
priest shall isolate him another seven days.
And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, 6 Then the priest shall examine him again on the
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13 saying: “When a man has on the skin of seventh day; and indeed if the sore has faded,
his body a swelling, a scab, or a bright spot, and the sore has not spread on the skin, then
and it becomes on the skin of his body like a the priest shall pronounce him clean; it is only
leprous sore, then he shall be brought to Aaron a scab, and he shall wash his clothes and be
the priest or to one of his sons the priests. The clean. But if the scab should at all spread over
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priest shall examine the sore on the skin of the skin, after he has been seen by the priest
the body; and if the hair on the sore has turned for his cleansing, he shall be seen by the priest
white, and the sore appears to be deeper than again. And if the priest sees that the scab has
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the skin of his body, it is a leprous sore. Then indeed spread on the skin, then the priest
the priest shall examine him, and pronounce shall pronounce him unclean. It is leprosy.
him unclean. But if the bright spot is white on 9 “When the leprous sore is on a person,
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the skin of his body, and does not appear to be then he shall be brought to the priest. And
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deeper than the skin, and its hair has not the priest shall examine him; and indeed if the
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