So many rules

The book of Leviticus is very interesting, because it holds all of the laws that people are supposed to live by, but are not followed anymore today. The book of Leviticus has a law for just about anything under the sky. There are laws for slavery, sacrifices, eating, and praying so that you don’t worship God in the wrong way. One of the sins that stand out in this book is when Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu “offered unholy fire before the lord, such as he had not commanded them. And fire came out from the presence of the lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.” There are many evil and bloody things that happen throughout the Bible, but this is one of the worst punishments for such a meager crime. Plotz describes it as “an episode they probably skipped in church.” He also says that this passage helps put into perspective the importance some of these rituals had for Jewish and other cultures. They obviously needed some fear to coax the others into keeping a meticulous count of how rituals were operated.
God also puts the Ten Commandments into Leviticus as well. For most people, I think the Ten Commandments are as far as the rules go in the Bible. I was never given any information in school on the hundreds of other rules that are supposed to be followed. God starts to sound more like the pagan deities of old when he discusses his rewards and penalties for choosing whether or not to follow his rules. “If you follow my statutes and keep my commandments and observe them faithfully, I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.” This reminds me of Mayan people praying for their Gods to produce a better rain season or the The Lottery, when the pick the person to stone to death before the new growing season. The best though, is how God plans to punish those who do not follow his statutes. “I will bring terror on you; consumption and fever that waste the eyes and cause life to pine away.” Even though God has contradicted himself several times on this issue, I still like to see the fire and brimstone God laying down the law. Follow the laws of the Bible or you will die a slow and painful death and have a good day.