None be defiled

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Leviticus 21: 1-9, “And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people: But for his kin, that is near unto him, that is, for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother, And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which hath had no husband; for her may he be defiled. But he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself. They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh. They shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy. They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: for he is holy unto his God. Thou shalt sanctify him therefore; for he offereth the bread of thy God: he shall be holy unto thee: for I the LORD, which sanctify you, am holy. And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.”

The priests had an important role to play because they represented the Lord to the people and the people to the Lord. They had to take care that they didn’t pollute the office by their behaviour. The priests were not allowed to come in contact with the dead and, hence, become ritually unclean. If they became unclean they were not allowed to carry out their duties. This is the main reason that they had to keep away from dead bodies except for close relatives. The priests were not to show signs of despair when a person died. The heathen, who lived in the Land before Israel, would often show signs of extreme distress by cutting themselves or doing other things when a person died. The priests were regularly in contact with the Lord of heaven and earth in the process of their duties. If a person was in the presence of the Lord then they had not real reason to show despair for the Lord is always in control of our circumstances (compare Deut 8: 16, “Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;”) The older religions of the Land were fertility religions and the people would participate in these religions by using prostitutes as part of their religious devotion. The priests of the Lord, and their families, were to be very careful not to show any kind of behaviour that might take them back to those times. It was these fertility religions that debased the Land before Israel came and caused the people to be destroyed. Every priest had a duty to be holy to the Lord during his time of service and this included taking care in marriage. At a much later date, king Solomon worshipped other gods because he married wives from other places. (1 Kings 11: 4, “For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.”)

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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All my statutes

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Leviticus 20: 22-27, “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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.”

The foundation of the contract between the Lord and Israel when they went into the Land was that they were to keep His commandments. We know that statutes are the same as commandments when we read Gen 26: 5 (“Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”) Hebrew poetry uses parallelism to make a point. That is, the poetry often repeats a phrase using similar language, having a similar meaning. Israel needed to be reminded that they were in a contractual relationship with the Lord as long as they had sovereignty over the Land. They were there to be a shining example to all the other nations of the fact that the Lord God is loving, gracious, merciful and generous. As long as Israel were living in the context of their relationship with the Lord they would act as beacon to the rest of the world, drawing others to the Lord. As long as Israel were in the Land it was a Land flowing with milk and honey but when they were forced out of the Land it became barren and largely uninhabited while it waited for the Israelis to return. Later the Lord would say, “Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger? Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt: For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he had not given unto them: And the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book: And the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day. The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Deut 29: 24-29) During the church age there are people from every nation on the earth who say that the Lord has driven Israel from the Land because they have sinned against the Lord. However, one day, the Lord will give Israel complete sovereignty over the Land again and they will look to the Lord and no one else.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Uncovering nakedness

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Leviticus 20: 10-21, “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. 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. 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. f 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. 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. And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.”

It is important to put this section into context. When the Lord created Adam and Eve, He created them to be in partnership so that they could be complementary and help each other. The purpose of their sexual relationship was to obey the Lord’s command to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth. When they came together they were joined in their souls. If two people are joined in their souls they will be emotionally damaged if they are forced apart. At least one person will badly hurt in the process. If a person is involved in a sexual relationship purely for pleasure and not for a relationship of mutual support then that person becomes very self centred and unable to form proper relationships. They look only to the satisfaction of their lust and they become debased with selfishness. This will happen to a whole nations that tolerates this kind of behaviour. This was one of the major reasons why the people of the Land lost their possession of the Land to Israel. They had completely debased the Land. Sexual relationships with close relatives will also lead to inbreeding and disabled children. The Lord said that all these things should be banned because He didn’t want Israel to be debased but to remain a shining light of the Lord’s goodness to all the nations so that they would be drawn to Him.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Molech

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Leviticus 20: 1-9, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 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. 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. 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: 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. 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. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God. And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you. 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.”

Molech was one of the heathen gods of the Ammonites (see 1 Kings 11: 7, “Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.”) and the Canaanites (See Deut 12: 31, “Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.”). This god was know to be worshipped by the offering of children in a fire (2 Kings 17: 17, “And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.”). Every child is a gift from the Lord and it is an abomination for a parent to offer their child as a sacrifice, this was forbidden. If anyone did this they were to be executed themselves for a person who is willing to kill their own child has forfeited their own right to live. Israel were given the correct means to discover the Lord will by using the sacred stones, Urim and Thummim (compare Num 27: 21, “And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the LORD: at his word shall they go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he, and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation.”) If there was a legitimate way of discovering the Lord’s will then there was no need to consult ghosts, spirits of mediums. There is also a danger for people who try to enter the spirit world that the spirits may come and attack them (compare Luke 11: 24-26, “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”) Evil spirits can take control of an entire society and destroy it from within. This is why it was good to avoid all these evil practices. It is also important for everyone who trusts in the Lord to understand that He had made an ordered world and accept that by showing honour to their parents.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Keep my Sabbaths

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Leviticus 19: 30-37, “Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD. Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God. Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD. And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. 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. Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure. 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. Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: I am the LORD.”

The Lord created the heavens and the earth in six days and He rested on the seventh day, not because He was tired but because He was finished. This established a principle that the Lord finishes what He starts and when He is finished the work is perfect. The Lord also understood that the people He created in His own image would get tired and would need a rest so He established the day of rest. The Sanctuary was an earthly picture of God’s dwelling place in the heaven and needed to be treated with respect because God should always be treated with respect. Because the Lord’s people had direct access to the Lord through the ceremonial system that He established there was no need for them to have to contact ghosts, spirits or anything like that. After all, the knew exactly what the Lord required of them because it was carefully written in the book of the Law. As soon as they tried to contact ghosts or spirits they were replacing the Lord with something else and were breaking the Law. The Lord also established an ordered world and older people, as well as parents, are evidence of this ordered world so they should be treated with respect because the Lord is worthy of respect. Israel also were told to remember that they were strangers in the Land of Egypt so they were to treat all strangers with compassion. The Lord has integrity and always deals with His people in ways that demonstrate this integrity. For this reason His people were not to use false measures to cheat other people and so enrich themselves. After all, the Lord promised them prosperity if they kept the Law and lived in a way that showed the Lord’s perfect integrity on earth. They were not to have a measuring stick that was less than a yard or weights or measures that were too heavy or too light. This was one way that the profane people of their day conducted business to cheat their clients. The Lord told them that they had a contract with Him and if they didn’t keep to the conditions of the contract He would invoke the penalty clauses of the contract and drive them out of the Land after a long period of hardship.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Mingled seeds

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Leviticus 19: 19-29, “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. 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. 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. 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. 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. But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the LORD withal. 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. Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times. Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard. Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD. 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.”

If Israel was to perform the task that the Lord had given them then they had to distinct from the surrounding nations. When the Lord first promised Abraham that his descendants would go to Egypt and then return to their Land He told Abraham that He was giving the Amorites time to repent (Gen 15: 12-16, “And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”). The Amorites didn’t repent and the Lord eventually forced them out of the Land because they were debased and were polluting the Land. The Lord made sure that Israel understood that they were not to follow any of the evil practices of the people who lived in the Land before they did. The rules against mixing crops and animals was to remind Israel that they were holy to the Lord and were not to mix with other nations. This was not a racist theme but because they would tend to follow the gods of the people they mixed with and stop following the Lord. Fruit trees were placed there for them to eat but a young tree would not stand having fruit taken too soon so they were told to leave the fruit and give the first crop to the Lord to remind them that they were the Lord’s firstborn.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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Curse the deaf

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Leviticus 19: 11-18, “Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another. And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD. 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. Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD. 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. 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. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.  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.”

It was important that the Israelis were reminded, from time to time, of their rules and regulations. They were called on to celebrate their regular festivals so that they would be reminded of their past and the miraculous way in which God had intervened. They were also to do this so that their children would ask why and they would be able to explain the reasons. Not only this they were to make sure that they didn’t treat other people with disrespect. This was the major reason behind not cursing the deaf. If a person was to curse a deaf man then that person would soon think that the deaf person was in some way inferior and that attitude would invade all his dealings with that man and others who were deaf as well. If we treat those who are worse off than we are without respect then we will soon debase ourselves. If Israel became debased they would soon find that they were unworthy to live in the Land that the Lord God had given them.

(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)

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