PM Feb 13th Lev 19

February 13th

Leviticus, 19

Holiness and Justice

1: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2: Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy. 3: Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God. 4: Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God. 5: And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD, ye shall offer it at your own will. 6: It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow: and if ought remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire. 7: And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable; it shall not be accepted. 8: Therefore every one that eateth it shall bear his iniquity, because he hath profaned the hallowed thing of the LORD: and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 9: And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. 10: And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God. 11: Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another. 12: And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. 13: Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning. 14: Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD. 15: Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour. 16: Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD. 17: Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. 18: Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD. 19: Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee. 20: And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free. 21: And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, even a ram for a trespass offering. 22: And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the LORD for his sin which he hath done: and the sin which he hath done shall be forgiven him. 23: And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eaten of. 24: But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the LORD withal. 25: And in the fifth year shall ye eat of the fruit thereof, that it may yield unto you the increase thereof: I am the LORD your God. 26: Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times. 27: Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. 28: Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD. 29: Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness. 30: Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD. 31: Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God. 32: Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD. 33: And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. 34: But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. 35: Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure. 36: Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37: Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: I am the LORD.

Leviticus, 20

Penalties for sin

1: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2: Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones. 3: And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name. 4: And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not: 5: Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people. 6: And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people. 7: Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God. 8: And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you. 9: For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him. 10: And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. 11: And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. 12: And if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood shall be upon them. 13: If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. 14: And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you. 15: And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast. 16: And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. 17: And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity. 18: And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people. 19: And thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother's sister, nor of thy father's sister: for he uncovereth his near kin: they shall bear their iniquity. 20: And if a man shall lie with his uncle's wife, he hath uncovered his uncle's nakedness: they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. 21: And if a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless. 22: Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out. 23: And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. 24: But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people. 25: Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. 26: And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine. 27: A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.

In chapter 19 the Lord pleads with Israel to live lives of holiness before him and to practise justice. Then in chapter 20 the lord outlines what is appropriate punishment on evil doers. The lord says first of all Be Holy because l the LORD your God am holy. The children of Israel are to fear their parents and keep the Sabbaths of the Lord. They are to keep well away from idols and the peace offerings are to be freewill offerings. None of the peace offering is to be left over till another day. What is left is to be burnt up completely. Christians can learn from this that their devotion is to be a daily excersize and yesterdays devotion is no good today. For Israel this was a very serious matter because anything left till the third day was an abomination. (The word abomination comes from the foul smell of a rotting corpse. It is disgusting and reprehensible.) The Lord said that at harvest the land owner is not to reap the corners of his field but to leave it for the poor and the stranger. The poor must work but their must be work for them to do. Even the vines were not to be gathered completely and food must be left for the poor. No Israelite is to steal or deal unfairly or dishonestly or to deceive each other. No Israelite is to use Gods name to confirm a lie. No man is to defraud him neighbour or take anything by force or to delay payment for wages. Every working man must be paid before the sun set. There must be no cursing of the deaf (Or speaking about someone that cannot hear it and give an answer) or deliberately placing of a stumbling block in front of a blind man. The men of Israel are to fear the Lord and the Lord will repay the sins against those who cannot fight for themselves. in law there must be no bribery of the judge. Nor must there be an undue respect of dignitaries or despising of the poor. The men of Israel are not to be gossips, telling stories of other people. No man it to hate his brother in his heart, nor must a man rebuke his neighbour. No man must seek revenge or bear a grudge against the Lord’s people. Men are to love their neighbour as they would love themselves. The cattle are not to be bred across the species. The seed is not to be sown as a mixed crop. Even the clothes that are worn are to be either wool or linen, but not to be mixed. If a slave woman lies with a man that is not her husband she is to be scourged but not executed because she was not completely free to do her own will. When Israel came into the promised land the fruit trees were not allowed to be eaten for three years. In the forth year the fruit is the Lords and in the fifth year it may be eaten. Israel must never eat anything with blood in it and they must not make spells as witches do, nor use horoscopes. They must not use methods to change the shape of their skulls or cut the corners of their beards. The children of Israel must not have tattoos. They must not turn their daughters into prostitutes, because if they do the whole land would become full of wickedness. Israel is to keep the Sabbaths and show reverence to the sanctuary. They are not to have regard to those who are possessed with demons nor to seek the actions of wizards that will defile them. Old while haired men are to be respected. If a stranger lives in your land you are to show kindness to them because you were strangers in the land of Egypt. There must be absolute honesty in justice, trade and commerce. Israel was obliged to keep the commandments of the Lord. Then the Lord turned his attention to the punishment of evil. The first great evil was the ritual sacrifice of children to the heathen god Molech. Those who did this abomination were to be executed by stoning. Those who allow them to live will be executed with them. Those who are demon possessed and use it for profit are to be executed along with the wizards. Those who curse their parents will be executed. Those who commit adultery are to be stoned to death, both parties. Those who are incestuous are to be stoned. The man who has the mother and her daughter is to be burned by fire. If a man lies with a beast both will be killed. A man who lies with a woman in the time of her month is to be executed. Then the Lord describes a number of other cases of incest. The Land will vomit out of it those who do these abominations. The Lord warns Israel not to be like the nations that will be turned out of the promised land. It will be a land of excessive milk and honey production. The hills will literally flow with milk and honey. They are to respect the difference between clean and unclean animals and fowls. The children of Israel are to be holy to the LORD because the LORD is holy.

Steve