Day #50

Sermon - Audio
Lev 19-21 - Audio
Lev 19-21 - Daily Reading

Daily Insights - Please Comment


Leviticus 19

• As you read through these chapters the theme of Leviticus continues: living rightly as God's holy people in the land where God has put his dwelling.
• The phrase: "I am the LORD your God" or "I am the LORD" is repeated over and over again in this chapter focusing the people's attention not merely on being holy, but on Yahweh who they are to be like in holiness. Holiness in this instance means to reflect the character of God.
• 19.3: The Sabbath is an important marker of the people of Israel being God's people. The call to Sabbath was unique among the cultures of that day (and increasingly in ours as well).
• 19.11: In the following verses we hear many echoes of the 10 commandments. We find a particular emphasis on the second table of the law. It seems that these words gives some expansion to what the shorter commandments intend.
• 19.18: It is from this verse that we get the second part of the greatest commandment: Love God, Love your neighbor.
• 19.27: The prohibition against trimming the “sides of your head” or the “edges of your beard” uses the same terminology as in 19:9–10, which deals with the harvesting of fields. In both cases an offering is involved—one to the poor and the other to God. The law’s placement here immediately after the prohibition against divination suggests that the restriction on cutting the hair is based on the Canaanite practice of making an offering of hair to propitiate the spirits of the dead. IVP Background Commentary
• 19.28: Tatoos were part of religious ceremonies and spoke of your desire to be protected from evil spirits or of your commitment to a pagan deity.

• 19.32: Those who have gray hair are elders in the community and are considered wise, therefore, they deserve respect.

Lev 20

• 20.2: Molech is the opposite of Yahweh. His is the demonic face of destruction, the complete opposite of the holiness code of Leviticus. This is why such sharp words are spoken about and severe punishments are given those who worship Molech.
• 20.4: “defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name” As we have seen before sin finds its way into the sanctuary and makes the sanctuary more and more unclean until it has to be cleansed on Yom Kippur. God’s holy name is profaned because the people honor Molech as if he were greater than Yahweh.
• 20.2,5: the first group that is supposed to punish the person who worships Molech is the covenant community. If this group fails to do its duty, God will step in and carry out punishment.
• 20.7: Holiness means following God’s commands. It is interesting that in John 14 Jesus equates loving God with following his commands. Holiness and loving God are closely related. This idea does not always play well with us because we want to think love is about feelings and holiness is about rules—and we want to focus on the feelings.
• 20.9: “curses” is the Hebrew word for “treat lightly” it is the opposite of the 5^th commandment where children are told to honor or “give weight” to their parents.
• 20.9: Jesus quotes part of this verse in Mark 7.10 when talking to the Pharisees about how they fail to honor their parents. It is interesting that while Jesus accuses the Pharisees of not honoring their parents he does not demand a death sentence for them.
• 20.9ff: A list of offenses against the holiness of God that call for either the death penalty or being cut off from the covenant promises of God..
• 20.22: A reminder that the land can take just so much sin before it forces sinners to leave it. In the book of 2 Chronicles 36.21 we are told that at the time of the exile the land finally enjoyed its Sabbath rests.

Lev. 21

• Chapter 21 moves the focus of holiness onto the priests. Because the priest stood before God on behalf of the people their level of holiness had to be higher than that of the rest of the people. Today the Jewish people hold that Rabbis (Rabbis do not necessarily come from the priestly line) are no different from any other Jews. Nonetheless, they are considered “instruments of holiness” because; through their knowledge and teaching and by life, character and commitments they show the way to a life of holiness.
• 21.1-6: These verses refer to mourning rituals. The priests may not disfigure their bodies (as the surrounding cultures do) as a sign of morning. To disfigure their bodies would both be imitating the surround pagan religions and make them unsuitable to serve God in the temple.
• 21.7-9: As the priest must be above reproach so must his family. In the first 6 verses of 1 Timothy 3 we hear echoes of this when Paul says that an elder must be the husband of one wife, that he must be above reproach, manage his own family well, and his children are to obey him with proper respect.
• 21.9: The Rabbis say that the Hebrew here indicates an on-going type of prostitution from which the daughter refuses to repent. Because her actions so negatively impact the reputation of a priest the most severe penalty of death by fire is carried out. It may also be that God is again making a clear break with the other religions of the Ancient Near East where prostitution was part of the temple ritual.
• 21.10-12: The rules for the high priest are even more exacting than for the priests. A high priest may not even attend the funeral of his father or mother for fear of being made ceremonially unclean. There was no guarantee that this uncleanness could be done away with and so entering the holy of holies would bring about judgment on both the priest and the people.
• 21.16ff: These verses are troubling for many of us as we live in a time when those who have special needs are taken care of in special ways. It is important to note here that even a “normal” person who breaks his leg becomes no longer able to serve in the temple. This is not merely about birth defects. Also, this is not about sin. The person who has a defect may not serve, but they continue to receive the food that is set-aside solely for the priests. The basic idea is that God’s holiness is about complete perfection, any thing that is not perfect in either body or spirit cannot enter into that presence. In a rather painful way, imperfect human beings were a reminder to the people of God’s holiness and their need to be holy.