Archives For Book Of Leviticus

Your Thanksgiving Peace Offering

For most of us, reading about the sacrifices of ancient Israel is a real yawner.

But hidden behind the veil of ritual and strangeness are principles of timeless value. As we approach Thanksgiving, one sacrifice rises from the ashes of antiquity as instructive.

Tabernacle model tb030807088 Your Thanksgiving Peace Offering

(Photo: The Peace Offering occurred in the Tabernacle Courtyard. Courtesy of Pictorial Library of Bible Lands)

“Rituals are apparently irrational acts which become rational when their significance is explained.”- Northrop Frye

In the days of ancient Israel, a special offering, different from the ones required for sin, allowed a person to give God thanks for something He had done.

The Thanksgiving Peace Offering has a timeless lesson.

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Timna Park—A Portrait of Your Atonement on Yom Kippur

Tucked away among the steep sandstone formations in Israel’s Arabah Valley sits a place most visitors never see.

Timna Park’s best-known attraction is called “Solomon’s Pillars”—beautiful Nubian sandstone formations that have nothing to do with King Solomon. But they’re fun to climb. The park also features relics from Egyptian idol worship as well as interpretive signs about ancient copper mining.

But the best part of Timna Park is its least-known exhibit. Or perhaps, it’s the least-mentioned.

Tabernacle model tb030807091 Timna Park—A Portrait of Your Atonement on Yom Kippur

(Photo: Tabernacle model at Timna Park. Courtesy of the Pictorial Library of Bible Lands.)

A full-scale replica of the Tabernacle stands in the very wilderness where Moses and the children of Israel wandered for forty years.

It is like entering a doorway to history—and viewing a picture of your salvation.

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