Leviticus 27

Leviticus 27 deals with folks who made a vow to serve the Lord.  It is good to have zeal to serve God – to dedicate oneself or their kids to serving the Lord.  On occasion people would change their mind and want to redeem themselves and this chapter sets the value for that redemption.  The lesson here is to weigh carefully things we vow before God.  We need to be careful in that area – not make rash vows – and thus dishonor God.  Here are the valuations set:

Up to 5 years old                      Male – 5 shekels                       Female – 3 shekels

5 to 20 years old                       Male – 20 shekels                      Female – 10 shekels

20 to 60 years old                     Male – 50 shekels                      Female – 30 shekels

Over 60 years old                      Male – 15 shekels                      Female – 10 shekels

 

Some will wonder why the disparity in the value to set someone free from their vow.  Is it because God values men more than women?  No – but it was based on the societal view of that time.  The lesson here is that God takes vows seriously – even today – and we need to realize that there is a price for redemption of that vow.

I believe that someday we will find that out about vows and covenants we take far too lightly.  Our marriage vows and covenant for example – we tend to pass it off as some words spoken on the day of our wedding but not really all that important when things get tough.  I believe that will be a very difficult discussion to have with God someday.  Why were you willing to walk away from your vows?  Or the vow we may make around our salvation, or in church membership, or any number of other areas.  Those matter and we need to realize that God does pay attention.

The last part of the chapter deals with tithing again.  That seems to be a very important part of the life of people in these times, and likely should be much more a part of our life today.  God says this about the tithe: “Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord’s; it is holy to the Lord”.  The tithe belongs to God.  It is not ours in the first place so we should certainly not have any problem giving what He already owns.  He in fact owns everything, but expects a tithe.  We can choose to give an offering above that – but the 10% is His and we need to be sure we give it as part of our respect for Him.  Are you living that way – a tithing Christ Follower?  If not, why not?  It is God’s demand!

Leviticus 26

Leviticus 26 gives us the progression of disobedience.  It goes from bad to worse.  I don’t need to say much more than just break this chapter down into the steps of disobedience.  It begins with God telling the people what will happen if they obey.  Good stuff, and lots of it.  Then it starts to describe the slide of disobedience to utter rebellion and with each step away from God, things get worse until there is nothing good left.  It ends coming full circle through repentance and coming back to God, and He remains ready to receive us and bless us when we once again obey.  Obedience matters.  It is the thing God knows and wants from us.  Check out what His Word tells us about it:

1.  “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them then I will give you your rains in their season
   1. the land shall yield its increase
   2. the trees of the field shall yield their fruit
   3. threshing shall last
   4. harvest shall last
   5. shall eat your bread to the full
   6. dwell in your land securely
   7. peace in the land
   8. none shall make you afraid
   9. remove harmful beasts
   10. sword shall not go through your land
   11. chase your enemies….they shall fall before you by the sword
   12. I will turn to you
   13. fruitful and multiply you
   14. confirm my covenant
   15. my dwelling among you
   16. I will walk among you
   17. be your God
   18. you shall be my people
   19. I have broken the bars of your yoke
   20. made you walk erect
2. if you will not listen…..will not do all these commandments….spurn my statutes….if your soul abhors my rules….not do all my commandments….break my covenant
   1. visit you with panic
   2. wasting disease
   3. fever that consume the eyes
   4. make the heart ache
   5. sow your seed in vain
   6. enemies shall eat it
   7. set my face against you
   8. struck down before your enemies
   9. Those who hate you shall rule over you
   10. you shall flee when none pursues you
   11. discipline you again sevenfold for your sins
   12. break the pride of your power
   13. make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze
   14. strength shall be spent in vain
   15. land shall not yield
   16. trees of the land shall not yield their fruit
3. if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me
   1. continue striking you
   2. let loose the wild beasts against you
   3. bereave you of your children
   4. destroy your livestock
   5. make you few in number
   6. roads shall be deserted
4. if by this discipline you are not turned to me but walk contrary to me
   1. I also will walk contrary to you
   2. strike you sevenfold for your sins
   3. bring a sword upon you
   4. execute vengeance
   5. send pestilence among you
   6. delivered into the hand of the enemy
   7. eat and not be satisfied
5. in spite of this you will not listen to me, but walk contrary to me
   1. I will walk contrary to you in fury
   2. discipline you sevenfold for your sins
   3. eat the flesh of your sons
   4. eat the flesh of your daughters
   5. destroy your high places
   6. cut down your incense altars
   7. cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols
   8. my soul will abhor you
   9. lay your cities waste
   10. make your sanctuaries desolate
   11. not smell your pleasing aromas
   12. devastate the land
   13. enemies who settle in it shall be appalled at it
   14. scatter you among the nations
   15. unsheathe the sword after you
   16. land shall be a desolation
   17. cities shall be a waste
   18. faintness into their hearts
   19. as one flees from the sword
   20.  fall when none pursues
   21. stumble over one another
   22. no power to stand before your enemies
   23. perish among the nations
   24. land of your enemies shall eat you up
   25. rot away in your enemies’ lands
   26. rot away like them
6. if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers…..if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity
   1. then I will remember my covenant
   2. make amends for their iniquity
   3. I will not spurn them
   4. neither will I abhor them
   5. I will for their sake remember the covenant
   6.  might be their God”

Never doubt that God is in the obedience business.  He cares how we live and how we respond to His direction for our lives.  He will correct us.  And if we continue to disobey the heat will be turned up.  God will not be mocked.  We will live His way or there will be a cost that is great.  The more we disobey, the bigger the cost for that choice.  Disobedience is a choice, which is why God resists it so strongly.  He also notes the impact of the fathers on their kids – disobedience is not bound by generations.  Its impact carries on.  We have to get this through our thick skulls.  God cares about how we live!

Leviticus 25

Leviticus 25 talks about ownership and the Sabbath.  God gives rules on how landowners are to treat their land – “in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land….It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land….shall provide food for you….all its yield shall be for food….in it you shall neither sow nor reap….It shall be holy to you”.  In those days the land was given a one year reprieve from production every seven.  This was to allow the land to replenish itself so it did not run out of nutrients and could produce the other six years.  In today’s farming, those nutrients are replenished yearly through the application of fertilizer.  But there may be other areas that the Sabbath for land did which are missed today.

The chapter continues by talking about the ownership of land.  God demands that we live appropriately with each other.  We must treat each other fairly.  “You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God, for I am the Lord your God….you shall do my statutes and keep my rules and perform them, and then you will dwell in the land securely”. God has expectations for how we should treat each other.  Part of the reality that people were addressing in this time was how they could live if they fallowed their land one year every seven.  What will they eat?  “I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years”.  God has that figured out too.  It is a matter of trust.

Do you trust God enough to let your land sit idle and expect Him to provide?  If He asked you to quit your job and trust Him, would you?  He also set forth rules on ownership.  “The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine”.  That wouldn’t play all that well today either, would it?  The reality is that it remains the case – God not only owns all the land, but all the cattle and every other thing on a thousand hills.  It is all His.  We need to get that in perspective.  We work to create wealth and come under the illusion that we have things that are ours – but it is just that – an illusion.  God owns it all and entrusts it to us as His stewards but we never own it.  He made that very clear to the people in this chapter through the year of jubilee – when land was all returned to the original owner every 50 years. “In the jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his property”.  It wasn’t optional – it was the law.

We also learn that God expects us to care for our family.  “If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you….If your brother becomes poor beside you and sells himself to you, you shall not make him serve as a slave”.  This is God’s plan for us – to care for one another.  We are to support and not take advantage of each other.  And we are to remember again that God is truly the One to whom we answer.  “For it is to me that the people of Israel are servants”.  He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  He alone is God!

Leviticus 24

Leviticus 24 has some tough instruction for the people.  First Moses tells Aaron to keep the light shining.  “Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil from beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning regularly”.  We need to be sure our light shines for God constantly.  That means we need to keep fuel in it all the time – and our fuel comes from our relationship with God and reading His Word.  Is your light shining brightly?

We see a man who cursed God’s name, and Moses doesn’t exactly know what to do so “they put him in custody, till the will of the Lord should be clear to them”.  Great lesson here – when in doubt wait on God.  Too often we just make it up and do what we think.  Scripture is clear that is a bad plan as our ways are seldom God’s ways.  God’s judgment here is pretty strong – to stone this guy for cursing His name.  It is a sin – and we are not likely to be stoned for cursing God’s name today – but it is a bad plan none the less.  We need to honor and glorify His name – never curse it.

Moses then gets a very famous set of instructions from God.  The “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” law.  In those days restitution was part of the program.  If you caused an issue for another you paid by the same.  Jesus changed that when He came and gave His life – just as He replaced the sacrifice and burning of offerings with His blood shed on the cross.  In Moses time, this was God’s commandment.  If you caused harm, you experienced the same.  And the rules applied to all.

Jesus gave His life to settle our debt and free us from the penalty of the law.  It doesn’t free us to do whatever we want, but it does give us a new standard by which we must live.  Have you made that decision in your life – to make Jesus Savior and Lord?  He settles our account and sets us free!

Leviticus 23

Leviticus 23 is about the appointed feasts that God directed Moses to follow.  But before that God made clear a couple other things.  The first was the importance of the Sabbath.  God takes that pretty seriously.  He is all business about resting on the seventh day.  In fact – later in the chapter he says “whoever does any work on that very day, that person I will destroy from among his people”.  God cares about it so much because it is to be a time we reflect on who He is as we rest in Him.  It is not optional.

He also makes it clear that when we generate our wages – in this case the harvest – we are to bring the first fruits to Him.  Not the last 10%, but the first of what we are provided.  “When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest”.  A lot of people struggle to give God His due.  He does not want the leftovers.  He us to recognize that He provided and give Him our tithe.  And I love how he instructs them to do it – don’t eat until we have given.  “And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God”.

Then God goes through a list of feasts and celebrations that they are to celebrate:

-      “the Lord’s Passover

-      the Feast of Unleavened Bread

-      the Day of Atonement

-      the Feast of Booths”

Each was on specific days with specific instructions for celebration.  The key though was “that your generations may know…..I am the Lord your God”.  That is the key – that God be exalted and glorified.

Feasts have gone away – but the need to remember and make sure that our generations may know has not.  We need to work hard to be sure that those in our midst remember the Lord our God and keep Him on the throne in His rightful place.  We need to rejoice before the Lord.  He alone is worthy of our praise!

Leviticus 22

Leviticus 22 has God’s instruction to Moses about the priesthood of Aaron and his descendants.  They were to protect the sanctity of the position of priest.  God has some specific instructions regarding what they can and can’t do.  There were things that made them unclean, and a process of restoring that cleanliness through bathing and time.  It was important that they understood God’s laws and rules so they could live in compliance.  The penalty for disobedience or violating these was strong.

“They shall therefore keep my charge, lest they bear sin for it and die thereby when they profane it: I am the Lord who sanctifies them”.  Doesn’t it seem a little extreme – to die for going where they weren’t supposed to go or failing to be clean in God’s presence?  It is easy to justify sin.  That is what the little voice in our head tells us all the time.  But God has drawn clear lines and has unwavering expectations for us today – just like He had for the priests in Old Testament times.  And unfortunately the consequences of sin are the same today – death.  Our way of being cleansed has changed – we are told in the New Testament to confess our sins, repent and go the other way and claim the blood of Jesus to cover them.

But the reality is that God is still the same God as He was for and Aaron.  He expects us to live in obedience – complete obedience – to His commands.  He told the people “you shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you”.  No seconds accepted.  God wants only our best.  He is not willing to settle for less.  Too often we give God the left overs.  That is how we give in the offering plate.  That is how we spend our time with Him – He gets what is left if in fact there is any at all – which there usually isn’t so He doesn’t get so much as a prayer or a short read from His Word.  God does not get our best – He gets what is left.  That is not acceptable in His sight.  He wants us to remember “I am the Lord”.

He is our God.  He is the same God.  He brought the people out of Egypt to the Promised Land.  He will lead us to His place for us as well if we follow and walk in His ways.  The question is – are you walking with Him and following His commandments?  Or do you go your own merry way and ask Him to bless what you are up to.  That is our attitude often.  Here’s what I am doing God – please bless it.  Instead we need to be in His Word understanding His direction to us and asking Him constantly how we ought to live.  We need to seek first His kingdom.  Is that your daily habit?  If not, today can be the start of a new relationship!

Leviticus 21

Leviticus 21 has some very detailed instructions about the priesthood.  Moses is given clear direction from God about how a priest should live.  The instruction begins with handling of the dead.  Priests were not to become unclean by being around the dead except for immediate family.  There are instructions around shaving and cutting.  God has a list of things that were designed to make them holy.  That is what is important here – that they be holy in God’s eyes.

There is clear instruction on who a priest could marry.  God narrows down the list pretty tightly.  No “widow, or divorced woman, or woman who has been defiled, or prostitute”. God cares about details.  A priest was only to marry “a virgin of his own people”.  So being married to a woman from another people group did not qualify either.  It was a very small pool.

The last section limits those who could serve as priests to people “without blemish”.  God actually gives a very long list of disabilities that would prevent a person from serving as a priest behind the veil.  These folks were allowed to eat the food and be in the area but not to approach the altar.  I can just imagine the civil liberties organizations today having a hay day with this kind of ‘discrimination’.  God telling priests who they can marry and what kinds of people are not allowed to serve because of a blemish.

Does this matter today?  Well it is in God’s Word and was written for a purpose.  I think we can compare it to the result of sin in our lives.  Sin is a blemish that keeps us from the Father.  It separates us from God.  That doesn’t mean God stops loving us – these blemished folks were not put out of the temple – just separated from serving in the holy parts.  Sin causes us to have a limit placed on our access to God.  We are separated from Him because of our sin.  The good news is that Jesus came to set us free.  He came to bridge that gap and give us access to the Father because He covers the blemish of sin and makes us perfect in God’s sight.  What a blessing from our Savior.  All we have to do is receive His gift!

Leviticus 20

Leviticus 20 deals harshly with parents who were sacrificing their children.  “I myself will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people….and if the people of the land do at all close their eyes to that man….and do not put him to death….I will set my face against that man and against his clan and will cut them off from among their people”.  Don’t think God takes parenting seriously?  I think He does.  There was no room for any deviation here – and the consequences were far reaching.

God makes it clear what He expected.  “Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. Keep my statutes and do them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you”.  Not much room for deviation here either.  God expects us to be holy and that happens through obedience.  He alone sanctifies us.  We can get their one of two ways – either by living a sin free life – or by receiving atonement for that sin.  Since the first one isn’t going to happen – we only have one choice.

He goes on to say:”You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out….you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them”.  Are you seeing a pattern here?  God wants us to live for Him.  We are not to live like others in our patch.  We are live for Him and His way.  There is little doubt about His expectations.

But there is also no doubt about His promise: “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 have separated you from the peoples”.  God wants to bless us.  He wants to pour out His goodness on us.  But He does expect us to live for Him.  He expects us to live differently from those around us.  He expects us to be His people!

Leviticus 19

Leviticus 19 is a repeat of the Ten Commandments and a whole lot more.  There are really two lists here – the ‘you shall nots’ and the ‘you shalls’.  Let’s begin with the list of things God wants us to do:

-      “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy

-      you shall revere his mother and his father

-      you shall keep my Sabbaths

-      you shall offer a sacrifice

-      you shall fear your God

-      you shall love your neighbor as yourself

-      You shall keep my statutes

-      You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary

-      You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man

-      you shall fear your God

-      You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you

-      you shall love him as yourself

-      You shall do no wrong in judgment

-      You shall have just balances shall observe all my statutes and all my rules, and do them”

Long list of thngs God expect us to do.  That is then
followed by the other side of the coin.

The list of ‘you shall nots’ is a bit longer:

-      “Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods

-      you shall not reap your field right up to its edge

-      You shall not steal

-      you shall not deal falsely

-      you shall not lie

-      You shall not swear by my name

-      You shall not oppress your neighbor

-      You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind

-      You shall do no injustice in court

-      You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great

-      You shall not go around as a

-      You shall not hate your brother in your heart

-      You shall not take

-      You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind

-      You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed

-      You shall not wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material

-      You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it

-      You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes

-      You shall not round off the hair on your temples

-      You shall not make any cuts on your body

-      Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute

-      Do not turn to mediums or wizards

-      When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong”

Why does it matter?  Because “I am the Lord” says so.  We need to listen, heed and obey.  When we do things go well.  When we don’t, well……

Leviticus 18

Leviticus 18 talks about obedience and sexual rules and laws.  God makes it very clear what His expectations are around obedience.  Listen to what He says:

-      “You shall not do as they do

-      You shall not walk in their statutes

-      You shall follow my rules

-      keep my statutes

-      walk in them”

Any questions?  It seems pretty clear to me.  God expects us to obey – not partially – not when we feel like it – 100% completely all the time.

Why?  He says it clearly this way: “I am the Lord your God”.  It really is not up for discussion.  God is God and what He says goes.  He makes the rules, He enforces the rules, and He will ultimately judge us by His rules.  That is why He can say with confidence “if a person does them, he shall live by them”.  Want a good life – obey God.  That is the secret to a great life.  God is not looking for our feedback.  He is not interested in our perspective on whether or not the rules are good.  He demands obedience.  Period.  End of story.

That definitely applies to the area of sex.  The rest of the chapter is devoted to this topic.  Example after example of “You shall not uncover the nakedness of……”.  God does not mess around with sex.  We tend to take it far too casually.  Premarital – maybe frowned on but rampant in our youth.  Living together – that seems to be accepted by every age any more.  Affairs and extra marital stuff – it happens and is ignored.  And divorce – well we know what God says about that – He hates it – but it is out of control inside and outside the church.  Does any of this matter?

The outcome for people in the days this passage was written was pretty strong: “all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants”.  God takes sex seriously.  It is His creation and must be lived out under His rules.  Failure to do so will bring punishment.  We are on that path my friends.  Here is the bottom line from God: “So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God”.  Obedience is never optional, and it certainly is not in the area of sex.  Our society, and we as individuals, need to get our heads on straight about this area of life.  God will not be mocked!