Burned Up שָׂרַף

We are in chapter eight of Leviticus with our word for today. שָׂרַף burn completely. It is used 115 times in the Old Testament. We find our word used in the sense to bake, prepare with dry heat in an oven. Genesis 11:3 And they said to one another, “Come, וְנִשְׂרְפָ֖ה לִשְׂרֵפָ֑ה [literally burn bricks to burning] let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Our word is used in the sense to destroy, attempt to destroy or be destroyed by fire. We find our word referring to destroying or damaging cities. 1 Samuel 30:3 And when David and his men came to the city, they found it שְׂרוּפָ֖ה burned with fire. Isaiah 1:7 Your country lies desolate; your cities שְׂרֻפ֣וֹת are burned with fire. Jeremiah 38:17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you will surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not תִשָּׂרֵ֖ף be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. We find our word used in referring to destroying idols. 1 Chronicles 14:12 they left their gods there, and David gave command, וַיִּשָּׂרְפ֖וּ and they were burned.  Micah 1:7 All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, all her wages יִשָּׂרְפ֣וּ shall be burned with fire, and all her idols I will lay waste. Most of the time our word is seen in the context of the sacrificial offerings for worship, 99 out of the 115 times. Leviticus 16:27 And the bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. Their skin and their flesh and their dung וְשָׂרְפ֣וּ shall be burned up with fire. This connection with the sin offering is also how our word is used in our chapter today. Leviticus 8:16-17 And he took all the fat that was on the entrails and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with their fat, and Moses burned them on the altar. But the bull and its skin and its flesh and its dung שָׂרַ֣ףhe burned up with fire outside the camp, as the LORD commanded Moses. We also see our word used when God allowed His own people to go into exile because of their constant sin against Him. 2 Chronicles 36:16-19 But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy. Therefore he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans … And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon.וַֽיִּשְׂרְפוּ֙ And they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels. I find it interesting that God allowed this special place where He gave specific instructions to Moses. As we have looked at this great care was taken because it was where people would connect with God in worship. But now God allows it to be destroyed by fire. When we go to the New Testament we find Jesus making a declaration about the destruction of the temple. The good news is that now we can worship God anywhere because of Jesus saving work on the cross. I’ll close with this great passage. John 2:19-22 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.