Leviticus 18-22

Transcript

GRS 37
05/17/1987
Leviticus 18-22
Gil Rugh

Turn the book of Leviticus in your Bibles and the 18th chapter, Leviticus chapter 18. We are highlighting the chapters of the various books of the Old Testament and we come to the 18th chapter of Leviticus. The chapters leading up to chapter 18 have dealt with matters of ceremonial defilement, matters that would defile you ceremonially and keep you from being part of the worship activities of the nation Israel; certain responsibilities or instructions for purifying yourself. Again in the ceremonial realm were set down in the chapters but holiness and that’s the thrust of the book of Leviticus, holiness goes beyond ceremonial matters to the issue of personal purity, our own personal morals and sexual morality is one of the key ways that the people of God are to be marked off from all the peoples around them and that’s the subject matter of Leviticus chapter 18, sexual conduct.

The opening paragraph and the closing paragraph of this chapter call Israel to live a life separate and distinct from all the nations that are around them. Israel is the people of God. As the people of God they are to live in a way that indicates they are different from those that they live with. They are to manifest God’s holiness in their conduct and that involves the sexual area as well. Repeatedly in this chapter Israel is told not to do what the inhabitants of Egypt or the inhabitants of Canaan have done.

Look at verse 3: “You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan.” So they have left Egypt, they are going to Canaan but they haven’t improved themselves as far as the moral condition or the peoples of that land.
All the way over to verse 24: “Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled.” Verse 26: “But as for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not do any of these abominations.” Verse 27: “For the men of the land who have been before you have done all these abominations, and the land has become defiled.” Verse 29: “For whoever does any of these abominations, those persons who do so shall ge cut off. Thus you are to keep My charge, that you do not practice any of the abominable customs which have been practiced before you.”
Israel is to be different. The people around them are polluted. That was true in the land of Egypt, a polluted, vile, abominable people. That is true of the peoples of Canaan. The difference for Israel and every other nation, Israel has the Lord as their God and so six times through this chapter the phrase is repeated, “I am the Lord, or I am the Lord Your God.” You might want to underline these in your Bible. In verse 2: “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord, Your God.” The end of verse 4: “I am the Lord Your God. The end of verse 6: “I am the Lord.” Down to verse 21, the last statement: “I am the Lord.” Down to verse 30: “I am the Lord Your God.”

The fact that Israel has God as their Lord is to be evident in their sexual practices. That is crucial. The foundation of sexual morals is a relationship with a holy God. This will be foundational to everything Israel does. That is why they can be called the holiness and when God wants to talk about holiness He begins with sexual conduct. You want to talk about honoring God with your life He begins with sexual morals. That is a good reminder. We sometimes think that the day in which we live is somehow different. This is more polluted and more vile than it has ever been.
Now in different parts of the world there are cycles, I realize that and at sometimes one nation seems more openly vile than another nation but we ought to keep in mind that the practice of the pagans and the heathens has always been abominable in the sight of God. They have always practiced detestable things and this is evident particularly in the sexual area.
The first five verses of this chapter are a call to obedience. Moses is told by God to speak to the sons of Israel, say to them, “I am the Lord, your God. You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived. Nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes.” Sexual perversion characterized those nations.

Verse 5: “So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the Lord.” I want you to note something here. It is important, sometimes lost sight of today that in the Old Testament the emphasis is primarily on physical life and physical blessing so here if you keep My statues and My judgments you will live; a promise of physical life and physical blessing. Obedience to God’s Word will result in the fullness of God’s blessing in this life. Now you can just jot down Leviticus 26, the first 13 verses; Deuteronomy 28, the first 14 verses. For example, how God promises physical prosperity, physical health, physical life for obedience to Him. The full significance of life in the eternal perspective is not developed in the Old Testament rather that is unfolded in the New Testament. So for the people of God life is promised in the Old Testament but that life primarily centers in its physical development.
When you come to the New Testament that life is opened up and unfolded as eternal life. Now if you forget that you run into a couple of problems. You have people running to the Old Testament saying oh, physical prosperity is what God promises to His people. That is true if you are His people Israel, living in the Old Testament in the theocracy that God established.
Now when you come to the New Testament and read about life you must understand also that you can’t take the life of the Old Testament and read it into the New Testament and say, “We are just talking about physical life because the physical life promised to God’s people in the Old Testament pre-figured and pictured the ultimate blessings that transcends physical life and go into the eternal dimension.

So you come into the Gospels and you find the discussion of eternal life but the Old Testament doesn’t unfold that. Life is constantly contrasted with death. The wicked will die, the righteous will live but except for a few glimpses the Old Testament doesn’t unfold the truth of life after death and the eternal dimension of life, part of what we call progressive revelation. God progressively has revealed more of Himself and His purposes and His plans.
So anytime you are listening to a television preacher, they are great for this. He starts throwing out these Old Testament verses to you send him money and get physical blessing, turn off the tube. You know he is so confused he doesn’t know what he is talking about. You don’t need his confusion.

Alright verse 6-18 gets us in then to the sexual area and these verses cover incestuous relationships. I was getting ready to go to lunch with some individuals this week and I remarked to them, “Boy, it’s been a great morning. I spent all morning studying the subject of incestuous and bestiality, it just refreshes you.” But it is an important area. God begins with the sanctity of the marriage relationship. We are going to talk about holiness. Personal morality and personal purity you have to establish the sanctity of the marriage relationship and the family unit and that is under attack today, the sanctity of marriage, the family bond but that is not new. The nations who did not have the Lord as their God have always attacked the marriage relationship and the family unit.

What we have through these 18 verses are a summary of the restrictions regarding marriage to relatives and he tells you: “A man cannot marry the following people.” And why don’t I just mention them to you rather than reading all of these. A man cannot marry his mother, his step-mother. I want you to note in these that there won’t always be a blood relationship so it is not just because you can have physical problems when you inter-marry with close relatives because some of the relationships forbidden aren’t blood ties but they are family ties. We will say more about that in a moment.

Man is forbidden to marry his mother, his step- mother, his aunt, which would be a physical aunt, either his father or mother’s sister or an aunt by marriage; for example, an uncle’s wife. So those are forbidden relationships. The mother is mentioned in verse 7, the step-mother in verse 8, the aunt in verses 12 and 13 and the aunt by marriage in verse 14.
Now, further goes on. He cannot marry a sister or a half-sister, verse 9 and let me just read verse 9: “The nakedness of your sister, either your father’s daughter or your mother’s daughter, whether born at home or born outside, their nakedness you shall not uncover.” The picture here of uncovering the nakedness is to enter into sexual relationships and the picture is here of marriage, not adultery. Verse 20 will cover adultery and the penalty for adultery ultimately is death so adultery is covered.

We are talking about marriage here and perhaps their partner died. You still cannot marry them. They are a family member. So uncovering the nakedness here is a picture of sexual intercourse within marriage, the prime focus here. The sister or half-sister covered in verse 9, a step-sister in verse 11, a step-daughter in verse 17, a sister-in-law verse 16, a daughter-in-law verse 15 or a granddaughter in verse 10 or a step-granddaughter, verse 17. You can sort those out yourself as you read through that. It gives you some idea. Close relatives, in effect, cannot enter into marriage with one another and that includes blood relatives. That includes non-blood relatives who are closely related. Again, verse 20 covers the matter of adultery. It seems that these regulations primarily with who can you marry. Now a family relationship, it’s important to note this, I think it helps in another passage of Scripture that I will mention. A family relationship is established in marriage. For example a sister-in-law or a brother-in-law or a step-mother – there is no physical blood relationship to that person but through marriage a family tie has been established. That family tie goes on. In other words maybe a man’s wife dies. He marries a much younger woman and he dies. His son cannot marry his step-mother. Why? The father is gone and they don’t have any blood tie. Because, a family relationship was established in that marriage and that family relationship is viewed as continuing on. I think that may be the explanation in Deuteronomy 24 where when a woman has been married to a man then she is divorced and goes out and marries another man she can never return to the first husband because family relationships have been established and even though the marriage relationship has been ended the family relationship is viewed as going on and so there can be no marriage within those confines.

You know it is amazing. Some of you saw it. I believe it was in the past year. I happen to catch one of the talk shows in the morning and they were interviewing couples on there who had married family members. Talking about what it was like. I can’t believe this is happening. They were talking about the taboo of incest and these couples of course saw, well you know, that doesn’t have anything, there’s no reason there should be a taboo there.
But God is concerned about the family relationship, the purity of the marriage relationship so these instructions are clearly given.

We ought to note one exception in verse 16. “You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother’s wife; it is your brother’s nakedness;” the family relationship here. Now Deuteronomy chapter 25 verse 5-10 will establish what is called the levirate marriage and there an exception to this is given where a man dies and has not had a son. His brother is to take that widow as his own wife and the first son born in that relationship is viewed as the son of the dead brother. That was a way of keeping the family line going, the property in that family and so on. So there is an exception made in Deuteronomy to that.

Verses 19-23 deal with more sexual and some religious restrictions. In verse 20: “You shall not have intercourse with your neighbor’s wife to be defiled with her.” Now adultery in the Old Testament involved a sexual relationship, intercourse between a married or an engaged woman and a man who was not her husband. A married woman or an engaged woman who had sex with someone other than the man she was married to or engaged to was guilty of adultery. The man who had sex with a woman who was married to someone else or engaged to someone else was guilty of adultery. You ought to note in the Old Testament a married man who had sex with a single woman who was not his wife was not guilty of adultery. Now, that is just the way it was. I am not arguing to defend it or anything like that but you ought to note in the Old Testament adultery is defined a little differently than it is when you get to the New Testament. If you want to pursue that Exodus chapter 22, verse 16 and 17 and Deuteronomy 22, verse 28 and 29 will help you see the distinction there.

In the New Testament adultery is more clearly defined that a man who has sex apart from marriage or someone other than his wife is guilty of adultery as well as the woman. But through the Old Testament the burden was more on the woman than the man.
Verse 21: “Neither shall you give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the Lord.” Molech was the national god of the Ammonites and child sacrifice was part of the worship of Molech and so here a warning not to become involved in this although in other Old Testament passages as repulsive as this is. We will find that Israel did become engaged in some of these practices. You see you become like the god that you worship and the worship of the god Molech was corrupt and depraved. What more depraved than to take your baby and offer it as a burnt offering to the god Molech but that was required in the worship of that god.

Verse 22: “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.” Homosexuality or lesbianism, either one are condemned in Old Testament as well as New Testament. Romans chapter 1, verse 27; I Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 9 in the New Testament speak of the sin of homosexuality. So heterosexual sins, homosexual sins are wrong. Here it is called an abomination. This word is used five times in this chapter. Something that is an abomination comes from a root which means to hate to abhor something. An abomination is something that God hates or God abhors.

Verse 22, homosexuality is an abomination. Verse 26: “As for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not do any of these abominations.” All of these sexual perversions are things that God hates and God abhors.

Verse 27: “You have done all these abominations.” Verse 29: “For whoever does any of these abominations…” Verse 30: “You are to keep My charge, that you do not practice any of the abominable customs.” In other words the people of God are to reflect God’s attitude and God abhors, He detests sexual perversion and the people of God are to reflect that attitude. And I think that helps to explain what goes on in the realm of pornography and so on. There where Satan what, takes the things that God abhors and detests and holds them out for men and women to get involved in those practices.

Now you realize what happens. For a people that do not have the Lord as their God they have no foundation to determine that this is something is abhorrent, detestable so now it has to be something that is accepted. But that is not new. That was true of the nations that surrounded Israel, Egypt and the Canaanite nations so we ought not to be surprised that it goes on today. The people that do not have the Lord as their God do not abhor or detest the things that God abhors and detests.

The chapter closes with a paragraph, verse 24-30 warning about the danger of disobedience. It is similar to the opening paragraph to this chapter except now strong warnings are included in the instructions about the danger and what will happen if you disobey.

Verse 28 is very graphic. “So that the land may not spew you out should you defile it, as it has spewed out the nation which has been before you.” Picture here – the Canaanites were so repulsive, so sickening that the land vomited them out. It’s like if you ate some spoiled food and it made you sick and you vomited. God said that is how repulsive the nations before you have been. So they had to be vomited out. God was clearing them out of the land. Now you be careful. You who practice these things, you will become abominable to God and will be vomited out as well. That happened to the nation tragic as it may seem.

The principles set down in this chapter and it will be developed further on is that the people of God are to be distinct from the people around them particularly in the area of their sexual behavior. Moral purity is to mark us off from all other people. Now that is not an easy battle to fight. Israel was not successful. I dare say the church of Jesus Christ is not being successful either. We need to recognize God’s standard is God’s standard and the things that He abhors must be detested by us.

So there ought to be a difference. I can then recognize the world is going to accept as okay many practices that God says are abominable. That is sad, that is tragic but that is not the real problem. The real problem is those abominable practices of those who do not have the Lord as their God begin to infiltrate among the people who profess to belong to God. That is what God is warning them of. The practices of those people, they are detestable but they better not become the practices of God’s people.

Chapter 19 – more regulations for Israel’s conduct. The holiness of God requires that His people be holy in their behavior. That will come out in verse 2. There are 16 mini paragraphs that comprise chapter 19. Each of these 16 paragraphs ends with the phrase, “I am the Lord or I am the Lord, Your God.” You could go through the underline them. I have done that in my Bible. It makes them leap out.

At the end of verse 3: “I am the Lord, your God.” The end of verse 4: “I am the Lord your God.” The end of verse 10: “I am the Lord your God.” The end of verse 12: “I am the Lord.” Verse 14: “I am the Lord.” Verse 16: “I am the Lord.” Verse 18: “I am the Lord.” Down to verse 25: “I am the Lord your God.” Verse 30: “I am the Lord.” Verse 31: “I am the Lord your God.” Verse 32: “I am the Lord.” Verse 34: “I am the Lord your God.” Verse 36: “I am the Lord your God.” Verse 37: “I am the Lord.” You see that repeated emphasis. In every other verse almost God is saying, “I am the Lord, I am the Lord, I am the Lord your God.” What, that is the foundation for conduct. That is the foundation for holiness.

The chapter begins verse 2: “Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy.’” One commentator said this about this verse: “This statement weds ethics to theology forever. Human morality must ultimately rest on the unchanging nature of God.” Understand that. That ethics are insufferable from theology. We know in a world that does not have a Biblical theology and look at their ethics. You say well they don’t have any ethics. Oh yes they do. Their ethics include everything that is not Biblical. That seems to be the standard. They will fight to the death that has anything that has a Biblical foundation but everything else that’s fair game. That is open. You cannot divorce ethics and morality from God. And as the world has moved away our nation has moved away from an acknowledging of the living God we see what, a deterioration displayed in the realm of ethics and morals. There just is no alternative because there is no foundation for ethics and morals.
Now we as God’s people need to understand that holiness is to characterize our lives because we belong to the living God. The world does not profess to belong to Him and it lives accordingly. We profess to belong to Him we must live accordingly. So the injunction of Scripture is you shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy. You must be like me. Your conduct must manifest My character. This is the theme of the book of Leviticus, really. Holiness came up back in chapter 11. It will come up again over in chapter 20.

God begins this emphasis on holiness in this chapter in the home where He began back in chapter 18 with sexual morality in the home, in the family, the marriage. He picks up here with this emphasis on holiness in the home. “Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father and you shall keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God.”

It is interesting to note that it begins in the home. Every one of you shall reverence his father and his mother. This word ‘reverence’ it’s the word used of God down in verse 14: “You shall not curse a deaf man or place a stumbling block to the blind man. You shall revere your God.” That is the same word; that children are to revere their parents just like we as God’s people are to revere Him. It is also used down in verse 32 of God. “You shall rise up before the gray headed and honor the age. You shall revere the Lord your God.”

What happens in the home the parents stand in the place of God. Now be careful of this. I stand in the place of God to my children. Their attitude toward me, their respect of me, their submission to me is a reflection of their attitude toward God and their submission toward God. We have rebellious children and young people today. They are rebellious against the authority of their parents but you know what the real problem is? They are rebellious against God. They do not want to submit to their parents. You know the real problem? They refuse to submit to God.

Now some of us as parents have been influenced by the tenor of the day and have not required the attitude from our children that we must. It is a sad thing for young people. They are reflecting an attitude toward God when they reflect their attitude toward their parents. It is a spiritual problem. You note here He doesn’t say, “If you’ve got good parents.” “You shall reverence father and mother who understand you.” Was their ever a father or mother who understood a teenager? God made them not to be understood. That is why he made it a passing stage. You reverence them. I reverence my parents because they are my parents not because of what they do, not because I agree with their decision, because they are father and mother. Period and a young person cannot be honoring to God when he is not honoring to his parents; if he does not reverence his parents and obey his parents. Other places in the Pentateuch, Exodus chapter 20, Deuteronomy chapter 5 talk about honoring your parents.

You know it is interesting in the New Testament Paul lists disobedience to parents in Romans chapter 1, verse 30 with all the vile sins of sexuality and homosexuality, all kinds of rebellion. In that ugly list rebellion toward parents, disobedient to parents. Now you see what has happened in our day? You know it’s changed even from when I was a young person. You know kids don’t like to hear you say you are talking about when you were a young person. When I was a young person even the unbelieving kids in the neighborhood did what their parents told them or else they got their block knocked off, whatever that was. But today, what? It spreads. Young people have the idea they don’t have to obey anybody, that includes their parents and parents have picked up the idea, my kids won’t do what I tell them, oh, poor you. They ought to knock your block off. What do you mean they won’t do what you tell them? Where did they learn that? You watch, you see where they learned it. Come on please don’t do that, please don’t do that, come on. I’ll buy you something if you come with me. I could take a two by four and apply it to the right spot of some parents. No wonder kids have problems. We as parents don’t know what the Scripture says about our role and then we ought to be ingraining it into our young people. It’s crucial that my children reverence their mother and me. Why, because I want to be a big shot? No, but because so that can be the people that God wants them to be. That they can be honoring to God. Where will they be when they are 30 if they are rebellious against God when they are 3, 4 and 5 and their rebellion is tolerated? Here addressed to young people to understand clearly. Every one of you shall reverence his father and mother. It is a problem among our own Christian young people, not just the world.

Jump down to verse 18. We are just going to pick up some highlights here. “You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Vengeance belongs to God.” So the people of God don’t take vengeance in their own hands, I acknowledge the vengeance of God and His right to take it. That doesn’t mean that government does not have authority. Some Christians get so confused on Scripture. Oh, there should be no capital punishment, vengeance belongs to me, says the Lord. And yes, God delegates as He will for Israel responsibility including capital punishment but personal vengeance cannot be part of my life. God is the one who is charge of that.
The command do you love your neighbor, the end of verse 18 it was really at the heart of it and in the New Testament we are told that this summarizes all of our responsibility to others. In Matthew chapter 22 and Romans chapter 13 the command to love your neighbor is said to encompass all the other commands because you are doing what is best for them. So that fulfills all that responsibility.

Verse 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 a garment upon you of two kinds of material mixed together.” And all of a sudden it seems we have gotten from the clear to the unclear. What is the difference whether I sow two kinds of seed in the field, breed two different kinds of cattle or wear a garment of mixed material? Well the importance for Israel was that God wanted to impress upon them in picture form this issue of separation and that’s the point of verse 19. This pictures the fact that Israel is separate from the nations around them. Now keep in mind everybody didn’t have a Bible to tuck under their arm and open it up every morning before they went to work and every evening before they went to bed. So God provided these picture lessons if you will to constantly remind them. If they went to sow the seed, they say wait, I can’t sow the two kinds of seed in the field. That reminded them you are to be separate and keep yourself separate. You are a separate people. Wait, we know about cross breeding of these animals but wait we can’t do that, well why? Well we are a separate people. So you see what God is doing, constantly providing reminders for them that they would remember that they are separate.

Now these things aren’t binding on us today. We aren’t a theocracy. We aren’t living under the law but the point will still be the same and you know how easy it is to forget. We are not to be like the world around us.

Verses 23 and 24: When you enter the land and plant the kind of trees that bear fruit you wait three years, you don’t eat the fruit, you don’t offer the fruit. In three years the tree is just maturing. In the fourth year the fruit belongs to the Lord. The first three years the harvest from the fruit trees would be slim. It is not fit to be offered to God. The fourth year, the good crop, that’s God’s. He gets the first, He gets the best. A reminder that the first of everything belonged to Him and then He graciously gave subsequent years and harvest to the Lord.

In verses 27 and 28 the command about shaping the hair and if you try to take and apply these things today you have some difficulty. “You shall not round off the side growth of your beards, of your heads nor harm the edges of your beards.” And what He is talking about here is marking the skin and marking the hair which were signs of mourning among the pagans. These things that marked off pagan practices were not to part of Israel. So they couldn’t do with their hair and do with their beard what the pagans did, particularly here in the signs of mourning, funerals and so on. That would fit with the marks on the body, tattooing and so on. They were not allowed to follow the practices of the pagans.

Down in verse 31 you can’t consult the mediums or the spiritists. Mediums were usually women and they contacted the dead. Any kind of activity in the spirit world is forbidden and that is an important thing for us to keep in mind, the influence of everything from astrology to mediums today and the supernatural. God doesn’t get into the fact of whether they can contact the spirit world. That is a non-issue as far as you are concerned because you are not allowed to have anything to do with it He says. And Isaiah chapter 8, verse 19 and 20 God says “Ridiculous that a people should consult the dead on behalf of the living. A people ought to turn to their god for information.” That is why we have the Word of God.

Verse 32, important verse: “You shall rise up before the gray headed.” I do this before my wife every day. Where is my gray headed wife? Yes, “you shall rise up before he gray headed and honor the aged.” Advantages to marrying an older woman. No, Marilyn is really younger than me. “You shall revere your God.” Honoring of the aged is to be expected. That has broken down today too. In some cultures in the world, some societies, the aged are still honored. We have traveled in other parts of world. It has been interesting and rather enjoyable to see the respect and concern evidenced for the aged and the way they are treated. In our society there has been something of a change in some of those things. It is interesting, the failure of the young to respect the elderly. This is sometimes an indication of coming disaster for that society.
In Isaiah chapter 3 and verse 5 the grumbling of the youth against the elderly is an indication of the coming disaster on the nation Israel. If that’s the indication it seems like we are part of a nation that is destined for disaster where the attitude of the young is not to honor the aged and respect them for the wisdom because the young people are sure that they have greater wisdom. But there is to be a respect and appreciation of the wisdom of the elderly.

Verse 35: “You shall do not wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight, or capacity. You shall have just balances, just weights,” and so on. The holiness of God’s people is to be seen in their everyday business activities. So it gets down into a very practical way. The way that a believer does business is to reflect the fact that he is a child of God. You say “I can’t stay in business if I am that honest.” Get out of that business. You see, I can’t allow the world to conform me to its pattern so I have to be a representative of the living God so the unbeliever, the person who doesn’t belong to God has a lot more latitude. He can do anything but I as a child of God am restricted. I must manifest the character of God.

Now all the details of these laws, obviously are not binding on us today. Israel was a theocracy, was a nation under the direct rule of God. We are not that kind of nation today. But we as the people of God still are responsible to adhere to the same principles of holiness and so in I Peter chapter 1 we are exhorted by God: “You shall be holy for I am holy.” That does not change. That principle is true for God’s people in Old Testament and God’s people in the New Testament as well. We are to be holy for God is holy. That means then that we are to live as the people of God which will mark us off from the people around us. And I am not surprised that the people around us are so depraved and corrupt. The tragedy is that the people who profess to be the people of God have been corrupted. Now that is the serious matter.
You come to chapter 20 of Leviticus and you have laws and punishments. Most of the subjects covered here were covered in previous chapters so we are just going to highlight some areas but what is added here is the penalty or punishment for disobedience. So chapter 20 is really a supplement of what has gone on by adding the punishment.

In verse 2: “You shall say to the sons of Israel, any man from the sons of Israel or from the aliens sojourning in Israel, who gives any of his offspring to Molech, shall surely be put to death; the people of the land shall stone him with stones.” Well we have already seen you are forbidden to offer your children to Molech. Here the penalty is laid out. It is capital punishment by stoning and stoning was the standard form of execution in the Old Testament. Now they could have used other means. They could have hung you, they could have slit your throat, they could have run you through with a sword or spear but they picked stoning and it seems God picked stoning because this involved the nation. In other words it was a corrupt responsibility of the people to carry out the punishment. It wasn’t just the responsibility of the certain appointed individual or certain leaders but the people were involved in carrying out the punishment. So in other passages it said that all the people or all the men of the city shall stone him with stones. You see these would be carried out in each individual area throughout the nation Israel. In this town or this city a person guilty of offering a child to Molech the people of that city, that community would join together in taking that person out of the city and stoning them so that the people were joined together in taking a stand against that kind of sinful activity. You could not disassociate yourself from that responsibility.

Down in verse 4: “If the people of the land, however, should ever disregard that man when he gives any of his offspring to Molech, so as not to put him to death, then I Myself will set My face against that man and against his family; and I will cut off from among their people both him and all those who play the harlot after him, by playing the harlot after Molech,” and so on.
You know there is always the danger of live and let live and keep in mind this punishment would be meted out within these small tight knit communities so in all probability this man who is guilty of this offense is a close friend or even a family member. Now I would just as soon not get involved. I mean I don’t want to be part of that. Here God says, “You don’t have any choice.” The danger is not to want to get involved. It happens today with church discipline. People don’t want to get involved. Let’s not do it. How much more so in that close knit community. You are going to say, “You’re going to take him out and stone him to death?” Not me. I think there ought to be something else that could be done, oh really? You see God is in charge so the stoning is picked here and that puts the responsibility on the community to become involved. That’s why we bring church discipline to the church. Why don’t the elders do it? Because God says tell it to the church and the church should mete out the punishment. That principle carried over from the Old Testament. I would like to avoid the responsibility. We have talked about it in the elders. I want to appoint a church discipline committee and whatever they do it is up to them. Can’t do that. You can have people who are involved but ultimately it comes back to the body.

So here, a reminder of the punishment and the responsibility. You have here a principle. Commitment to God takes precedent over family and over friendships. I must decide this is right because God says it. It doesn’t matter how strong my feelings are for this person. It doesn’t matter how close I am to this person. My commitment to God must supersede that or I become disobedient to him. I need to remember that and live by it.
In verse 5 spiritual unfaithfulness is compared to sexual immorality and this analogy is used throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament as well. When you get involved in worshiping other gods you have become spiritual immoral. You have prostituted yourself. You have played the harlot after other gods.

Verse 9: “If there is anyone who curses his father or his mother, he shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother, his bloodguiltiness is upon him.” Again, we are back to the issue of the authority of God as represented by the parents in the home. To curse means to make light of, to make someone despicable. You cannot make light of your parents. So the curse here is not just in the sense we would think of although it is a strong word. It merits the death penalty. That is how it was handled in Israel. It took care of rebellious children. Severe punishment, that’s harsh. You wonder, was it ever carried out in Israel, you wonder. Well, I don’t think it was carried out as often as it should have been from the deterioration that set in as the generations developed but you get God’s attitude toward at least. It is a sin worthy of death for a young person to speak wrongly, to curse his parents.

Verse 22-26 summarize God’s purposes for Israel and the thrust here He has set them apart from all the other nations. Back in verses 7 and 8 He had said “you shall consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy for I am the Lord your God. You shall keep My statutes and practice them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you.” Then down in verse 24: “Hence I have said to you, “You are to possess their land, and I Myself will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey.” “I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples.” Down in verse 26: Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.” And you ought to underline that, “Be mine.” Isn’t that amazing? It puts everything in perspective. Why does Israel have to be so different? I have separated you to be mine. All the nations in the earth, all the nations in the world God said, “I have separated you to be Mine.”

Why do I as a believer today have to be different? Because God has made me His own. That is reason enough, isn’t it? What greater reason could there be?

Chapter 21 gives some laws concerning the priests and you have principle established here that greater responsibility entrusted to a person then brings greater accountability. More is required of the priests. The standards for them are even higher in some areas than they were for other people because of their exalted position. There are three paragraphs in this chapter. Each ends with emphasizing the Lord is the sanctifier of His people. Verse 8: “I am the Lord who sanctifies you. I am holy.” Verse 15: “I am the Lord who sanctifies him.” Verse 23: “I am the Lord who sanctifies them.”

Verse 2, the priest has to avoid all contact with the dead. That would make him unclean. Dead bodies would make you unclean. So his involvement in the burial procedures was limited. Only very close relatives could he be involved in their funeral and burial rites.
Down in verse 7: “They shall not take a woman who is profaned by harlotry, not shall they take a woman divorced from her husband, for he is holy to his God.” High standards for the married. The priests could not marry. A woman who had been involved in prostitution for example like Rahab the harlot, she wouldn’t be, even though she becomes a believer, she could not be married to a priest or a divorced woman because there would be continuing questions about the issue of the divorce and the former relationship.
Verse 10 you come to the high priest now and the high priest standard is even greater or higher than that for the regular priest so you see as you move up in responsibility then the demands are greater. He can’t be involved in any kind of grief process, not even for his own parents. He cannot give any evidence of grief no matter how close the person or relative was who died because he is totally committed to the Lord and nothing can draw him away from that responsibility.

Verse 12: “He shall not go out of the sanctuary.” It doesn’t mean that the high priest lived in the sanctuary but it means that his duties here took precedence over all other responsibilities even when his parents died that didn’t interrupt the high priest’s responsibility. They took precedence over everything.

Verses 13 and 14, the marriage responsibility, the marriage requirements for the high priest were higher. A regular priest could marry a widow. The high priest could not marry a widow either. It had to be one who was a virgin. Again, marking off his special position.
Verse 17 and following, any kind of physical deformity disqualified a priest from officiating in the sanctuary because the physical wholeness, the normalness in the physical realm was to be a picture of holiness and so that was to be portrayed in the physical aspects of the priests life.
Chapter 22 is a continuation and there are more regulations here. Three more paragraphs and they each end with the same emphasis, the Lord is the sanctifier of His people. Verse 9, verse 16 and verse 32 each give that thrust. Verse 9, 16 and 32, “The Lord is the sanctifier of His people.”

The first nine verses, the first paragraph priests can become ceremonially defiled just like other Israelites and when he is ceremonially defiled he is unclean and he must be careful not to eat the priestly portion of the sacrifices, the priestly food.

Verses 10 to 16 that lays out which of the relatives of the priests can eat of the priestly portion. The priestly portion from the sacrifices and so on was to provide for the priest and his family. Now who could be included here? Who is eligible to eat of this special food.

Then the last section beginning with verse 17 deals with physical restrictions on animals that can be sacrificed. Certain physical things prevented an animal from being used for sacrifice. Now these kind of chapters we say well, boy, all these ideas on the limitations of the priest they are all looking forward and forming a background for the New Testament priesthood of Jesus Christ. The perfection required of Him and Jesus Christ is the perfect High Priest. He is the One without blemish as the Lamb of God. So He is the perfect High Priest who offers a perfect sacrifice which is acceptable before God.

These principles also are applicable to you and I because 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 5 and 9 says that “We have been made priests before God.” Now we read this and say boy, all these details. Now obviously we are not responsible for this in the same way of the details but the principle established, what, the standard is even higher for us. Why, because we are all believer priests today.

So the requirement to live lives of holiness before God are more incumbent upon us because we are in the category of the priests. We are those who serve in the presence of God. We are those who have that special ministry and access into His very presence. So the standards of holiness must characterize us.

We begin to appreciate how the devil works. He works the same way today he did with the nation Israel. What happened? The nations around them, their vileness and their pollutedness gradually worked its way in. Things that were abhorrent at the start somehow become acceptable and as a result Israel becomes corrupted and that happens to us today. Somehow we find ourselves looking for ways that we can be more like the world around us. That the abhorrent, detestable practices of the world don’t have to be addressed as abhorrent and detestable and sinful and even when those who profess to be believers become involved in these we don’t want to become too harsh. We want to be loving. Who are we to judge? None of these attitudes were new. Israel has used them all and the demand of God is still the same that His people manifest holiness, that they take a stand for holiness and they exercise judgment, chastening and punishment on those in their midst who are guilty of those things.
The challenge for us as a body of believers today in the midst of a vile and polluted world is to live lives of holiness, to honor God with the way that we live, to be willing to stand out because we are different and to be willing to take a stand even against those who may be close to us who become involved in those things that God says are unacceptable. Our purity, our holiness are reflecting His character. That commitment to Him must take precedence above everything, all activities and all relationships.

Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord for Your love for us. Thank You that you loved us when we were unlovely, when we were detestable, despicable and vile in our sin. Lord we have not looked down on those around us as though we were better. We are reminded that Your great grace has redeemed us. Lord, keep us holy and pure in our walk in the midst of a polluted world. Lord may we stand out, not with arrogance but Lord as lights shining in the midst of darkness, the perversity and the vileness around us, Lord that threatens to pollute us, Lord keep us close to Yourself. Thank You for the privilege of being identified with You. Thank You for the privilege of offering the hope of life in Christ to a hopeless world.