Leviticus 19:1-4
The principles of chapter 19 seem to extend from the Ten Commandments. The overriding principle is holiness; for God is holy and His followers ought to desire to be like Him. Peter quotes this in 1 Peter 1:16. Holiness is a matter of decision; an act of love. To honor Him, we desire to understand Him and follow His ways. It is love and respect that drives us to action or keeps us from sin revealing a heart desire to be holy. God's people don't attain holiness by works. The godless could not keep the law and attain holiness because their heart would still be unrighteous.
God reminded them to honor their father & mother; this is what holiness looks like. As kids we asked, "Why?" God told them why when the commandments were given; and it seems to fall into the list of things that could affect their stay in the land.
Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
[The New King James Version (Ex 20:12). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]
They were to honor their parents in obedience to God, He was their Father. Our parents stand in the place of God to nurture and guide as He would. For that, we ought to honor them. For Israel, they would have long days in the land. Does this principal hold true for the Christian?
Remembering the Sabbath and keeping it holy was important to God. This was a time God created for man to rest; in doing so, they honored their God also. In addition to the weekly Sabbath day, there were also Sabbath years. It appears Israel didn't keep the Sabbath years, letting the land rest from crops. While their were many reasons they went to exile in Babylon, the duration of exile seems to be tied to not keeping those Sabbaths.
20 And those who escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon, where they became servants to him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
[The New King James Version (2 Ch 36:20–21). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]
Again, the principal given, coming under the heading of holiness, is tied to their time in the land.
Turning to idols was one of Israel's big failures, eventually going to exile in Babylon. The word translated 'idol' means ineffectual, worthless, a thing of naught, no value.
Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us,
But to Your name give glory,
Because of Your mercy,
Because of Your truth.
2 Why should the Gentiles say,
"So where is their God?"
3 But our God is in heaven;
He does whatever He pleases.
4 Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of men's hands.
5 They have mouths, but they do not speak;
Eyes they have, but they do not see;
6 They have ears, but they do not hear;
Noses they have, but they do not smell;
7 They have hands, but they do not handle;
Feet they have, but they do not walk;
Nor do they mutter through their throat.
8 Those who make them are like them;
So is everyone who trusts in them.
[The New King James Version (Ps 115:1–8). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]
Leviticus 19:5-8
Holiness is required of God for us to be accepted by Him. However, it is to be our choice to be obedient; trust and follow Him. Therefor the offering was to be sincere, offered willingly from the heart. Man can be fooled, but God knows if it's offered for the wrong reason.
In a similar thought, God's mercies are new every morning (Lam 3:22); leftover fellowship offering had an expiration so we would return to the source often, not live off the aging stuff. Violating this was serious; it was profaning the hallowed. Instead of a peace offering, you would be cut off.
Leviticus 19:9-10
The portion left at the edges of the field by the pagans was left as an offering to the gods of the land. The Lord uses the same purposeful inefficient harvest to provide for those in need. Jewish tradition called for 1/60th of the harvest to be left. In addition to leaving the edges, the gleanings are also left. The gleanings are the harvested grain that fell to the ground while harvesting. This principal was applied to vineyard as well.
Leviticus 19:11-14
This is more of what holiness looks like. God's people are to act with God's ethic; one of honesty, integrity, respect for all and dignity to all in your circle of influence.
It's interesting the next lines are about profaning God's name. Using God's name to make an oath to cover a lie is dangerous ground and doesn't display any personal holiness. Calling yourself a believer and follower of God and then being dishonest, cheating your neighbor or dealing falsely in any way takes the name of the Lord in vain. It profanes God's name and makes Him look bad.
Cheating, robbing, holding wages from those who worked for it, cursing a deaf person are easily seen as unholy. It's hard to imagine the cold heart of one who curses a deaf person, knowing they can't hear. What kind of jokester puts a stumbling block before the blind? Yet, the people had to be told these things for a reason. These things were happening. God expects His people to act differently; to be holy. Fear of God is often referred to as reverence or awe. However, the one who plays games with the deaf, blind or otherwise defenseless imagers of God may come to understand that fear in another way.
Leviticus 19:15-16
Being holy includes impartiality in your judgments. Don't be partial to the poor or honor those in authority, power or having wealth. Judge righteously (as God does). Along the same lines, one bearing tales brings harm to others. The phrase probably means gossip but may well have the idea of financial gain from being tales. Maybe we should think of salesmanship, lawyers or politicians.
Leviticus 19:17-18
The holy don't let hatred fester in their heart. Even if someone sins against you, it can become your sin if you harbor hatred and anger. Imagine trading vengeance with your angry neighbor. Where does it end? Each round escalates to return the hurt plus a little more. This is not what God's people do. Vengeance belongs to God, let Him work it out. Our job is not bear grudges or give hatred a foothold. We must love our neighbor as ourself. Confront, rebuke and forgive you neighbor and don't let it become sin in your life.
Jesus quotes verse 18 as the second greatest of all the commandments (Matt 22:39; Mark 12:31).
Leviticus 19:19
God presents another round of statutes that man may not have liked or agreed with. God calls us to obedience for His reasons. Much of the livestock was set apart for sacred use. This is also true with the crops of the field. Linen and wool were used in the priests clothing.
Leviticus 19:20-22
Adultery was normally dealt with by the death penalty. However, in this case, since she was a slave, according to the customs of the time, she was his property. He would be scourged for his actions. To be restored and forgiven, he was to bring a trespass offering of a ram to the priest.
Leviticus 19:23-25
Fruit trees didn't typically yield much fruit the first 3 years. The fruit is as if it were uncircumcised; they would view this as forbidden. It was still associated with the previous occupants of the land. It was the fourth year that it would bear good fruit, this fruit was holy, a praise to the Lord. The entire crop was for Yahweh. The fifth year they could eat its fruit. This was God's way. It was holiness. He is God!
Leviticus 19:26-28
We repeatedly see the importance of the blood to God. It is a theme that runs through the bible; the zenith of which is when Christ holds up the cup and says:
This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
[The New King James Version (Mt 26:28). (1982). Thomas Nelson.]
The Israelites would see the nations around them use the blood in wicked ways. These ways were indicators of unbelief and idolatry. There is one God, He is Yahweh; there is only the prescribed ways of worship and atonement.
Divination and soothsaying took many forms but the purposes were similar. It was to seek information or outcomes in the physical world by seeking favor of something in the spiritual. God restricts this. We are spiritual creatures and can be drawn to these things. We are to keep our eyes on God, be loyal to Him.
Divination involves a variety of methods used by prophets (Mic 3:11), soothsayers, mediums and sorcerers to determine the will of the gods and to predict the future. These included the examination of the entrails of sacrificial animals, the analysis of omens of various types and the reading of the future in natural and unnatural phenomena (see Gen 44:5). The prohibition against eating meat with the "blood still in it" in this verse is tied to the injunction against participating in any form of divination or sorcery. Thus, rather than being a dietary law, this decree involves the practice of draining blood from a sacrificial animal into the ground or a sacred pit, which was designed to attract the spirits of the dead (see 1 Sam 28:7–19) or chthonic (underworld) deities in order to consult them about the future. Such practices are found in several Hittite ritual texts and in Odysseus' visit to the underworld (Odyssey 11.23-29, 34–43). These practices were condemned (Deut 18:10–11) because they infringed on the idea of Yahweh as an all-powerful God who was not controlled by fate.
[Matthews, V. H., Chavalas, M. W., & Walton, J. H. (2000). The IVP Bible background commentary: Old Testament (electronic ed., Le 19:26). InterVarsity Press.]
The same idea exists in the shaving around the sides of your head. Some of the Jewish vows involved not cutting your hair. Then, the hair was later shaved and offered to God. These practices were copied in pursuit of the false gods of many cultures.
There is a Phoenician inscription from the ninth century B.C. reporting the dedication of shaven hair by an individual in fulfillment of a vow made to the goddess Astarte. In ancient thinking hair (along with blood) was one of the main representatives of a person's life essence. As such it was often an ingredient in sympathetic magic. This is evident, for instance, in the practice of sending along a lock of a presumed prophet's hair when his prophecies were sent to the king of Mari. The hair would be used in divination to determine whether the prophet's message would be accepted as valid.
[Matthews, V. H., Chavalas, M. W., & Walton, J. H. (2000). The IVP Bible background commentary: Old Testament (electronic ed., Le 19:27). InterVarsity Press.]
Other cultic practices including cutting the flesh or marking the flesh to:
- Attract a god's attention
- Ward off evil
- Impress, or show devotion with suffering & grief
God wasn't impressed with these things. He didn't ask for them nor would he allow them.
The Ugaritic cycle of stories about the god Baal (c. 1600–1200 B.C.) includes an example of mourning by the chief god El over the death of Baal. His grief takes the ritual form of filling his hair with dirt, wearing sackcloth and cutting himself with a razor. The text reads that "he plowed his chest like a garden."
[Matthews, V. H., Chavalas, M. W., & Walton, J. H. (2000). The IVP Bible background commentary: Old Testament (electronic ed., Le 19:28). InterVarsity Press.]
Leviticus 19:29-30
The warning about prostituting your daughter may be due to the perceived temptation to do so when financial difficulties exist. However, it is more likely the cultic prostitutes consistent with the worship of Canaanite gods. All these gods are the ones that got Solomon in trouble. Devoting a daughter to sacred prostitution not only defiled and shamed the family, but it appears to also defile the land.
These two verses next to each other seems odd, however, this may be due to the Canaanite worship practices on the Jewish Sabbaths. This was a kind of 'don't do this' and 'make sure you do this instead'.
Leviticus 19:31
Mediums were people who acted as a path of communication to the spirit world. They contacted spirits or had spirits speak through them. The 'familiar spirits' is a necromancer. A necromancer is one who makes contact with the dead. Both of these would come under the heading of divination. These things were strictly prohibited because they brought defilement.
Leviticus 19:32
Respect for our elders would go a long way in keeping priorities right. There's no substitute for life experience and life lessons. Learning from the mistakes our elders made, hearing their wise counsel in spite of what we feel, how it appears or what we desire could save much pain and brokenness.
Leviticus 19:33-34
The foreigner was to be treated with respect and dignity. They were to be treated like any other person. All people are God's creation, created in His image. The Jews were commanded to love these foreigners as they loved themselves. They were to remember they were once strangers and foreigners in Egypt.
Leviticus 19:35-37
To people consistent with the character of God, they were to be just and righteous in their ways. There was to be one business ethic; not a different way of doing business based on ethnicity or anything else. Length should be length, weight is weight, volume is volume; let your yes be yes and no be no. There was to be no game playing. There was to be integrity and honesty; consistent with those who claim Him as Lord.
©2022 Calvary Chapel Sweetwater
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