"God tells Moses to tell all the Israelites to be holy because God is holy. Everyone is to respect their mother and father; keep the Sabbath; do not turn to idols or make gods for yourselves. Other statutes and commands are given to the Israelites in this chapter that closely mirror and expand upon the Ten Commandments. The Israelites are to obey these commands because God makes the rules and God says so!"
Leviticus 19 Amplified Bible (AMP)
Idolatry Forbidden
19 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,Idolatry Forbidden
2 “Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. 3 Each of you shall [a]respect his mother and his father, and you shall keep My Sabbaths; I am the Lord your God. 4 Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods (images cast in metal); I am the Lord your God.
5 ‘Now when you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted. 6 It shall be eaten the same day you offer it and on the day following; and if anything remains until the third day, it shall be burned in the fire. 7 But if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is repulsive; it will not be accepted [by God as an offering]. 8 Everyone who eats it will bear [the responsibility for] his wickedness, for he has profaned a holy thing of the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from his people [excluding him from the atonement made for them].
- CONFORMED INTO HIS IMAGE. God said in Genesis 1:26-27, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." We were created according to God's image, but because of "sin", we fell away and got deceived by the enemy. Still, God loved us and cared for us-- He saved and redeemed us, through His Son Jesus. In the time of Moses, God established laws and commandments to set them apart from other pagan/false god nations. God made a way for them to be holy (clean), as He is holy. Everything is a prelude and a foreshadowing of the coming of the promised Messiah, and the "temporary" (physical) sacrifices or atonement that was repeated showed that it can never save or atone for our sins. We need a "Savior" that will once and for all finish the atonement and salvation.
"For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified." Romans 8:29-30
- HONOR YOUR MOTHER AND FATHER. God seems to emphasize and give much importance to this command. It is a commandment that comes with a blessing. Ephesians 6:1-3, "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”
- NO TO IDOLS. Once again, God reminds the Israelites, to not turn to idols and made-up molten gods-- He is the one, true God, and if they did, it's gonna be so bad for them. John 4:24 says, "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
9 ‘Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings (grain left after reaping) of your harvest. 10 And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather its fallen grapes; you shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger. I am the Lord your God.
11 ‘You shall not steal, nor deal deceptively, nor lie to one another. 12 You shall not swear [an oath] falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the Lord.
13 ‘You shall not oppress or exploit your neighbor, nor rob him. You shall not withhold the wages of a hired man overnight until morning. 14 You shall not curse a deaf man nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God [with profound reverence]; I am the Lord.
15 ‘You shall not do injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor show a preference for the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. 16 You shall not go around as a gossip among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor [with slander or false testimony]; I am the Lord.
- GOD CARES FOR THE POOR. Throughout Leviticus (and even throughout the Bible), we can see how God cares for the poor by the way He include and make considerations for them in the commandments (Ex. turtledoves as sacrifice/offering if they cannot afford a bull/goat, etc.) God is no respecter of men, He does not favor one over the other-- whether we are poor or rich, God sees our hearts, and He loves us the same. In His eyes, we are all sinners who needs His mercy and salvation in His Son Jesus.
“Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.” Proverbs 22:9 (ESV)
“Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother.” Zechariah 7:10
17 ‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart; you may most certainly rebuke your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take revenge nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor (acquaintance, associate, companion) as yourself; I am the Lord.
19 ‘You are to keep My statutes. You shall not breed together two kinds of your cattle; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor wear clothing of two kinds of material mixed together.
20 ‘Now if a man has intimate relations with a woman who is a slave acquired for [marriage to] another man, but who has not been redeemed nor given her freedom, there shall be punishment [after an investigation]; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free; 21 but he shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord to the doorway of the Tent of Meeting, a ram as a guilt offering. 22 The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin which he has committed; and he shall be forgiven for his sin.
23 ‘When you enter the land and plant all kinds of trees for food, then you shall consider their fruit [b]forbidden. For three years the fruit shall be forbidden to you; it shall not be eaten. 24 In the fourth year all the fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. 25 In the fifth year you may eat the fruit [of the trees], this is so that their yield may increase for you; I am the Lord your God.
26 ‘You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor practice divination [using omens or witchcraft] or soothsaying. 27 You shall not trim and round off the side-growth of [the hair on] your heads, nor mar the edges of your beard. 28 You shall not make any cuts on your body [in mourning] for the dead, nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves; I am the Lord.
29 ‘Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, so that the land will not fall to prostitution and become full of wickedness. 30 You shall keep My Sabbaths and revere My sanctuary. I am the Lord.
31 ‘Do not turn to mediums [who pretend to consult the dead] or to spiritists [who have spirits of divination]; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.
32 ‘You shall rise before the gray-headed and honor the aged, and you shall fear your God [with profound reverence]; I am the Lord.
33 ‘When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress or mistreat him. 34 But the stranger who resides with you shall be to you like someone native-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 wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight or quantity. 36 You shall have just and accurate balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just [c]hin. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37 You shall observe and keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and do them. I am the Lord.’”
Footnotes: Leviticus 19:3 Lit fear; the Hebrew can refer to respect or reverence as essentially healthy forms of fear.
Leviticus 19:23 Lit uncircumcised.
Leviticus 19:36 Approx one gallon.
- I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD. Here in Leviticus 19, God said "I am the Lord" 15 times, and "I am the Lord your God." 8 times, after re-iterating His commandments to the Israelites. This means, to always remember and fear the Lord, to be able to follow His commandments in being kind, loving, and fair to other people. When we do that, we will not only think about ourselves, and we will consider the welfare and the best of other people too. As sinful human beings we cannot do this on our own, but when we trust and hope in God, He will help and give us grace to obey Him-- in loving Him and loving others.
https://www.gotquestions.org/greatest-commandment.html
"Question: "What is the greatest commandment?"
Answer: Jesus was asked this very question by a Pharisee who was considered to be “an expert in the law” (Matthew 22:34–36). Jesus answered by saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important commandment. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37–40).
Jesus gives us two commandments that summarize all the laws and commands in Scripture. The Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 deal with our relationship with God and then our relationship with other people. One naturally flows out of the other. Without a right relationship with God, our relationships with others will not be right, either. The cause of the world’s problems is that man needs to be reconciled to God. We will never love our neighbor as ourselves if we do not first love God with all our heart, mind, and soul. All of man’s best efforts toward world peace will fail as long as men are living in rebellion against God.
When asked by another Pharisee how one could “inherit eternal life,” Jesus answered that it is by keeping these two commandments (Luke 10:25–37). Only two commandments to obey, yet how often do we, like this Pharisee, try to “justify” ourselves because saying we obey these commandments is much easier than really living according to them.
When carefully considered, Jesus’ answer was really a perfect response not only to the Pharisee of His day, but also to all modern-day “Pharisees” who try measure a person’s righteousness by how well he conforms outwardly to a series of laws or commandments. Both the Pharisees of Christ’s day and today’s many versions create a whole system of rules and regulations for people to live by and yet are guilty of breaking the most important commandments of all because they “cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but not the inside” (Matthew 23:25–26).
When we prayerfully consider Jesus’ words and the fact that all the laws and commands in Scripture can really be summarized by these two commandments, we understand just how impossible it is for us to keep God’s commandments and how often we fail to do so and can therefore never be righteous before God on our own accord. That only leaves us with one hope, and that is that God “justifies the ungodly” (Romans 4:5). God’s law and our failure to keep it “brings about wrath” (Romans 4:15), but “God demonstrates His own love toward us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
While we will never keep God’s commandments or be righteous before Him by our own efforts, Christ did. It is His sacrificial death on the cross that causes our sins to be imputed to Him and His righteousness imputed to us (Romans 4—5). That is why “if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10:9–10). After all, the gospel of Christ “is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes,” for “the just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:16–17).
Because Jesus answered this very question and His answer is recorded in Scripture, we don’t have to wonder or search for the answer ourselves. The only question left for us to answer is do we live according to these commandments? Do we truly love God with all our hearts, all our souls, and all our minds, and do we really love our neighbor as ourselves? If we are truthful with ourselves, we know that we do not, but the good news is that the law and commandments were given as “a tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24). Only as we realize our sinfulness and hopelessness will we turn to Christ alone as the only hope of salvation.
As Christians, we strive to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and as our hearts and minds are transformed by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit we are able to begin to love others as ourselves. Yet we still fail to do so, which again drives us back to the cross of Christ and the hope of salvation that stems from the imputed righteousness of Christ and not from any merit of our own."
After reading, I always check out the Study Guide Commentary from David Guzik (very helpful!):
a. You shall be holy: The idea behind the word holy is "separate." As it is applied to God, it describes God's apartness. It means that God is different than man and from all other beings in the greatness and majesty of His attributes. He has a righteousness unlike any other; a justice unlike any other; a purity unlike any other - and love, grace, and mercy unlike any other.
i. Part of this idea is that God is not merely a super-man; His being and character are divine, not human.
b. Be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy: God is separate from man and from all creation. Yet because humans are made in the image of God, they can follow in His steps and also be holy.
i. Being holy means being like God, separating ourselves unto Him and His truth - and naturally, separating ourselves from those things that are not like Him and not according to His truth.
a. Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father: Honor for parents is an essential building block for the stability and health of all society. If the younger generations are constantly at war with older generations, the foundations of society will be destroyed.
b. And keep My Sabbaths: Reverence for parents is linked to reverence for the LORD. Submitting to parental authority is a step to submitting to Divine authority.
a. Do not turn to idols: The word for idols literally means nothings. Idols represent gods that are not real and do not really exist.
b. Nor make for yourselves molded gods: Israel had significant trouble with the worship of idols until the Babylonian captivity (some 800 years from the time of Leviticus). The attraction was not so much to the molded gods themselves, than as to what they represented - financial success, pleasure, and self-worship.
i. After the Babylonian captivity, Israel was cured of gross idolatry of molded gods and began a more insidious form of idolatry - idolatry of the nation itself, idolatry of the temple and its ceremonies, and an idolatry of tradition.
a. You shall not wholly reap the corners of your field: This was one of the public assistance programs in Israel. Farmers were not to completely harvest their fields, so the poor and needy could come and glean the remains for themselves.
i. This is exactly what Ruth was doing when Boaz noticed her (Ruth 2:2-3).
a. You shall not curse the deaf: God commanded Israel to not mistreat the handicapped. Cursing the deaf is cruel because they can't hear your curse, though others can. To put a stumbling block before the blind is just mean.
i. An accurate and revealing measure of our humanity is how we treat the weak and unfortunate.
a. You shall do no injustice in judgment: These were primarily instructions to judges and magistrates, giving them principles for making legal decisions. However, they also are relevant to everyday relations with those around us.
i. Jesus reminded us what this principle is all about: We should only judge others with the standard we are willing to be judged by because God will apply that same standard to us (Matthew 7:1-2).
b. I am the LORD: 15 times in this chapter, God declared that He is the LORD - and the one with the right to tell us what to do. This is something that God expected ancient Israel to respect, and expects His modern day followers to also respect.
i. The relationship between a lord and his people meant that the people had obligations to their lord, but the lord also had obligations toward his people. The lord was obligated to care for his servants, and our LORD God certainly cares for His people.
Reference and credits to https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/guzik_david/StudyGuide2017-Lev/Lev-19.cfm © 2004 David Guzik
No comments:
Post a Comment