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Leviticus 19-21     Listen Podcast

 

Whoa! How many laws are there anyway? (Leviticus 19)

1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
2 “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.
3 ¶ “Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and keep My Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.
4 ¶ “Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves molded gods: I am the LORD your God.
5 ¶ “And if you offer a sacrifice of a peace offering to the LORD, you shall offer it of your own free will.
6 It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, and on the next day. And if any remains until the third day, it shall be burned in the fire.
7 And if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an abomination. It shall not be accepted.
8 Therefore everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned the hallowed offering of the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from his people.
9 ¶ “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest.
10 And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the LORD your God.
11 ¶ “You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.
12 And you shall not swear by My name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.
13 ¶ “You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning.
14 You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your God: I am the LORD.
15 ¶ “You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.
16 You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people; nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor: I am the LORD.
17 ¶ “You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him.
18 You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.
19 ¶ “You shall keep My statutes. You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind. You shall not sow your field with mixed seed. Nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you.
20 ¶ “Whoever lies carnally with a woman who is betrothed to a man as a concubine, and who has not at all been redeemed nor given her freedom, for this there shall be scourging; but they shall not be put to death, because she was not free.
21 And he shall bring his trespass offering to the LORD, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, a ram as a trespass offering.
22 The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the LORD for his sin which he has committed. And the sin which he has committed shall be forgiven him.
23 ¶ “When you come into the land, and have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as uncircumcised. Three years it shall be as uncircumcised to you. It shall not be eaten.
24 But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, a praise to the LORD.
25 And in the fifth year you may eat its fruit, that it may yield to you its increase: I am the LORD your God.
26 ¶ “You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor shall you practice divination or soothsaying.
27 You shall not shave around the sides of your head, nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard.
28 You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the LORD.
29 ¶ “Do not prostitute your daughter, to cause her to be a harlot, lest the land fall into harlotry, and the land become full of wickedness.
30 ¶ “You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the LORD.
31 ¶ “Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.
32 ¶ “You shall rise before the gray headed and honor the presence of an old man, and fear your God: I am the LORD.
33 ¶ “And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him.
34 The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
35 ¶ “You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume.
36 You shall have honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
37 ¶ “Therefore you shall observe all My statutes and all My judgments, and perform them: I am the LORD.’ ”

Many Believers simply do not understand the magnitude of what it means to keep the Law of Moses. They think that simply keeping the Ten Commandments is sufficient to meet the requirements. Ironically, however, virtually all who hold that belief keep only 9 of the 10 of the Ten Commandments, declining to observe the Sabbath (commandment #4). Click here to read more about keeping the sabbath day. The New Testament scriptures are very clear; the New Testament Believer IS NOT BOUND by the Law of Moses; it was clearly given to the Jews and NOT Gentile Believers, a point clearly asserted at the conclusion of the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 (see notes). This chapter of Leviticus is oozing with additional requirements for the Jews.

Take a look at the string of laws found in chapter 19 alone which are equally as binding:

Notice how exhaustive the Law of Moses is. It is way more than just a handful of universally accepted laws of righteousness. Orthodox Jews today typically count 613 commandments - not just the Ten Commandments most people are accustomed to seeing. However, I should point out that many of the commandments given here would receive resounding cheers among Believers today. Read the list in Leviticus 19 and pick out some that you would fully embrace. But why not all of them?

An important mission of mine as I comment on the Old Testament is to help New Testament Believers acquire a perspective on the mandates God gave the Hebrews. This perspective seems to be lacking with many Christians today. On the one hand, they believe that they are responsible to embrace and practice God's commands in the Old Testament as evidence of their love for God, but on the other hand, they will dismiss most of the mandates of chapters like Leviticus 19 as being irrelevant today. Here's the problem: How do you decide, while picking through the mandates of Old Testament law, which are relevant and which are irrelevant? Most would agree that Leviticus 19 addresses some particular cultural problems that faced the Hebrews then, which, for the most part, don't exist today. However, mixed in with these laws are some ever-enduring principles that seem culturally independent. So what's the answer?

I generally start at the same point in this discussion, the Ten Commandments of Exodus 20 (see notes) and Deuteronomy 5 (see notes). Virtually all Christians who lack a perspective on the Mosaic Law agree that today's Christians are at least responsible for keeping the Ten Commandments. Therefore, this provides a nice starting place for our discussion. However, immediately Commandment number 4 begins to cause problems for today's Believers. Let's look at both passages regarding this commandment:

Exodus 20

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.
11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

Deuteronomy 5

12 “Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you.
13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.
15 And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

Whoa! Look at how many verses are devoted to just one of the Ten Commandments! As a matter of fact, there are over three dozen references to sabbath observance in just the first 5 books of the Bible.

So, to what extent did God command Israel to enforce this particular commandment regarding the sacred nature of Saturday? Just look at Numbers 15:32-36 (see notes). A man was observed gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. They caught him and locked him up pending God's counsel on what to do with the man. God gave them specific instructions to stone him to death. So here's my question: If you believe that Christians today are responsible for keeping the Ten Commandments as God gave them, why have you spent your whole life disregarding Commandment #4, a commandment taken so seriously in Israel as to result in one's execution?

The Mosaic Law constituted the government of the Nation of Israel. It was neither intended to provide a way to salvation, nor a way of staying righteous after salvation.

Many preachers today feel they need a hammer like the Ten Commandments to keep folks from evil. But contrariwise, it's just really important that Believers understand the grace bestowed upon New Testament Christians. Romans 8:2 (see notes) says that our law is written in our hearts today because God dwells in saved people (I Corinthians 3:16-17, see notes; I Corinthians 6:19-20, see notes), not buildings like in the Old Testament. Because we have the Holy Spirit inside, James 4:17 (see notes) becomes our benchmark for sin, "Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." In other words, WE ARE NOT MADE OR KEPT RIGHTEOUS BY KEEPING ANY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT COMMANDMENTS. We are made righteous before God by our faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. We abstain from sin by responding to the Holy Spirit's leadership in our lives, not by complying with external commandments. Jesus himself told us in Matthew 5:17-18 (see notes) that he had come to "fulfill the law." Paul completely developed this concept and specifically mentions the implications of Christ's death on the cross when he tells us in II Corinthians 3:7,11 (see notes) that, with regard to Believers, the law was "passing away." The Greek word there is a present passive participle that literally means it was being made of no effect. The KJV is more to the point when it refers to it as having been "done away." Colossians 2:14 (see notes) says, "having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. "

The secret of success in the Christian walk is not the Ten Commandments; it's the power of the Holy Spirit working in us.

Maybe you're still not convinced. Consider this: Gentiles were not required to keep the Law of Moses as far back as Acts 15 (see notes) as stated in a decree from the Council of Jerusalem. When Paul and Barnabas returned to Jerusalem to defend their teaching that Gentile Believers are not obligated to the Law of Moses (including the Ten Commandments), the church at Jerusalem issued a decree at the end of their meeting. To summarize, here's what the decree from the Apostles in the early church stated: GENTILE BELIEVERS DO NOT NEED TO OBSERVE THE LAW OF MOSES. I don't make the news; I just report it. How can something stated so clearly still be so widely misunderstood by Believers who attend church every week? I suspect that somebody is not studying scripture in context.

A whole category of sinister sins (Leviticus 20)

1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
2 “Again, you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘Whoever of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who gives any of his descendants to Molech, he shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones.
3 I will set My face against that man, and will cut him off from his people, because he has given some of his descendants to Molech, to defile My sanctuary and profane My holy name.
4 And if the people of the land should in any way hide their eyes from the man, when he gives some of his descendants to Molech, and they do not kill him,
5 then I will set My face against that man and against his family; and I will cut him off from his people, and all who prostitute themselves with him to commit harlotry with Molech.
6 ¶ “And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people.
7 Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the LORD your God.
8 And you shall keep My statutes, and perform them: I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
9 ¶ “For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother. His blood shall be upon him.
10 ¶ “The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death.
11 The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.
12 If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death. They have committed perversion. Their blood shall be upon them.
13 If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.
14 If a man marries a woman and her mother, it is wickedness. They shall be burned with fire, both he and they, that there may be no wickedness among you.
15 If a man mates with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal.
16 If a woman approaches any animal and mates with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood is upon them.
17 ¶ “If a man takes his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, and sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a wicked thing. And they shall be cut off in the sight of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness. He shall bear his guilt.
18 If a man lies with a woman during her sickness and uncovers her nakedness, he has exposed her flow, and she has uncovered the flow of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from their people.
19 ¶ “You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister nor of your father’s sister, for that would uncover his near of kin. They shall bear their guilt.
20 If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness. They shall bear their sin; they shall die childless.
21 If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing. He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They shall be childless.
22 ¶ “You shall therefore keep all My statutes and all My judgments, and perform them, that the land where I am bringing you to dwell may not vomit you out.
23 And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them.
24 But I have said to you, “You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples.
25 You shall therefore distinguish between clean animals and unclean, between unclean birds and clean, and you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird, or by any kind of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.
26 And you shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.
27 ¶ “A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them.’ ”

Chapter 20 is much like what we saw in Leviticus 18 (see notes). However, the punishments for violations were not specified in chapter 18 for most of these offenses. In this chapter, they are.

Notice these provisions of the Law of Moses found in chapter 20:

It is not clear exactly what "cut off" means in verses 17-18. Sometimes the context of other passages using this term in the Old Testament demonstrates that it means execution, but other occurrences would seem to indicate exile from the nation.

God identifies these pagan practices as reasons why he destroyed or would destroy heathen nations who were heavily involved in these practices of sexual atrocities and human sacrifice (Molech). Molech gets the first 5 verses of this chapter. It is worth noting that Solomon allowed the worship of pagan gods to creep back into the life of Israel. As a matter of fact, Solomon even built an altar to this god (Molech) for one or more of his pagan-worshipping wives. I Kings 11:6 (see notes) sums it up when it says, "Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not fully follow the LORD, as did his father David." The road to the split of Israel into two kingdoms was paved by the disobedience of Solomon inasmuch as he facilitated the worship of false gods in Israel. Associated with this are witchcraft ("familiar spirits") and "mediums" in verse 6. Israel was to have nothing to do with these.

Notice verse 9, "For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother. His blood shall be upon him." Whoa! That certainly seems harsh! Respect for one's elders was a foundational principle among God's people. As a matter of fact, remember commandment #5 in Exodus 20:12 (see notes), "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you."

Verses 10-21 repeat the sexual taboos of Leviticus 18:6-23 (see notes). Note that God judged against these nations for this abhorrent conduct even though they had not been given the Law of Moses. Some things are just contrary to natural practices...period! Because of this disregard by the nations living within Canaan, God states that he will cast those people out of their land and receive Israel in their place: Leviticus 20:23, "And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them." The same promises are found in Leviticus 18 (see notes). In both listings of abhorrent sexual conduct we find incest, adultery, homosexuality and bestiality. As a matter of fact, Moses repeats this assertion 38+ years later regarding why these Canaanites must be displaced in Deuteronomy 9:4 (see notes), "Do not think in your heart, after the LORD your God has cast them out before you, saying, 'Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land'; but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out from before you."

Question: Since God obliterated nations who tolerated abhorrent sexual practices in the past, might he still do so today?

It is also worth noting the provisions of verse 27, "A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them." Sorcery was absolutely forbidden as completely incompatible with God's Law. And...if you're wondering, it gets thumbs down in the New Testament as well in Galatians 5:20 (see notes).

God raises the bar for the priests (Leviticus 21)

1 And the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ‘None shall defile himself for the dead among his people,
2 except for his relatives who are nearest to him: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother;
3 also his virgin sister who is near to him, who has had no husband, for her he may defile himself.
4 Otherwise he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself.
5 ¶ “They shall not make any bald place on their heads, nor shall they shave the edges of their beards nor make any cuttings in their flesh.
6 They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy.
7 They shall not take a wife who is a harlot or a defiled woman, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for the priest is holy to his God.
8 Therefore you shall consecrate him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I the LORD, who sanctify you, am holy.
9 The daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by playing the harlot, she profanes her father. She shall be burned with fire.
10 ¶ “He who is the high priest among his brethren, on whose head the anointing oil was poured and who is consecrated to wear the garments, shall not uncover his head nor tear his clothes;
11 nor shall he go near any dead body, nor defile himself for his father or his mother;
12 nor shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the LORD.
13 And he shall take a wife in her virginity.
14 A widow or a divorced woman or a defiled woman or a harlot—these he shall not marry; but he shall take a virgin of his own people as wife.
15 Nor shall he profane his posterity among his people, for I the LORD sanctify him.’ ”
16 ¶ And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
17 “Speak to Aaron, saying: ‘No man of your descendants in succeeding generations, who has any defect, may approach to offer the bread of his God.
18 For any man who has a defect shall not approach: a man blind or lame, who has a marred face or any limb too long,
19 a man who has a broken foot or broken hand,
20 or is a hunchback or a dwarf, or a man who has a defect in his eye, or eczema or scab, or is a eunuch.
21 No man of the descendants of Aaron the priest, who has a defect, shall come near to offer the offerings made by fire to the LORD. He has a defect; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God.
22 He may eat the bread of his God, both the most holy and the holy;
23 only he shall not go near the veil or approach the altar, because he has a defect, lest he profane My sanctuaries; for I the LORD sanctify them.’ ”
24 ¶ And Moses told it to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel.

This chapter contains some special laws for priests. Contact with the dead was limited, as seen in verses 1-4 and 11. There were also certain grooming rules by which they had to abide (verses 5-6). Notice that they had some restrictions on them with regard to whom they could marry that regular ol' Hebrew men didn't have (verse 7). The standard of marriage for the high priest was even more stringent (verse 13) - a virgin who was a naturally-born Hebrew. And the priests' daughters were held to a higher standard also (verse 9), or they faced a horrible execution by fire. Certain physical characteristics prevented a man from becoming a priest (verses 17-24). Those described here could support the tabernacle as Levites, but not as actual priests. The actual priests were from the descendants of Aaron only, a very small subset of the Levites who would become those responsible for the implementation of Israel's religious life in Numbers 3 (see notes).

Pay particular attention to Leviticus 21:10, "He who is the high priest among his brethren, on whose head the anointing oil was poured and who is consecrated to wear the garments, shall not uncover his head nor tear his clothes." Also, notice the specific instructions given to Aaron, Eleazar and Ithamar after the untimely deaths of their immediate family members in Leviticus 10:6 (see notes), "And Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons, “Do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, lest you die, and wrath come upon all the people. But let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the LORD has kindled."

Now, move forward 1,500 years and look at the actions of the High Priest on the day that Jesus was crucified in Matthew 26:65 (see notes), "Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, 'He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy!'" It certainly seems plausible that God probably brought on that outburst by the High Priest that day to formally mark the end of the Aaronic Priesthood. From that day forward Jesus Christ would represent the righteousness of God through the priesthood of Melchizedek. For more on Melchizedek, see the box to the right of this screen.