Thought from today’s Bible reading from Leviticus 22-23.
In Leviticus 22, instructions were given regarding who could and could not eat of the gifts that were offered to the Lord. One of these rules affected the daughters of the priests:
“If a priest’s daughter is married to a layman, she shall not eat of the offering of the gifts. But if a priest’s daughter becomes a widow or divorced, and has no child and returns to her father’s house as in her youth, she shall eat of her father’s food; but no layman shall eat of it” (Leviticus 22:12-13).
A rule was given that no layman was to eat of this food that was dedicated to the Lord. This food was reserved for the priests. A priest’s daughter could eat only under certain conditions.
- If a daughter was unmarried and still living at home, she was allowed to eat of this food – “…as in her youth, she shall eat of her father’s food” (Leviticus 22:13).
- If a daughter was married to a layman, she was prohibited from eating, despite the fact that her father was a priest and she was once allowed to share in this food (Leviticus 22:12). Her husband was to provide for her now, not her father.
- If she became widowed or divorced and returned to live with her father, she could once again eat of this food (Leviticus 22:13).
The lesson here is that a man is responsible to provide for his own. In the beginning, Adam was to work hard to provide for his family (Genesis 3:19). Paul describes this as a serious matter pertaining to our faith (1 Timothy 5:8).
A man should provide for his own, whether this is his young daughter, his wife, or his unmarried adult daughter.
Tomorrow’s reading: Leviticus 24-25
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
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