Law – Leviticus 19-21
Recently I was pondering over the question related to mixed alternatives. And I got to read of this in today’s reading in Leviticus 19:19. Though it is a fairly short portion, it got me thinking about what a preacher mentioned once, some time back.
“You shall keep My statues. You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind. You shall not sow your field with mixed seed. Nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you.” ~ Lev 19:19
Today’s reading has to do with perversions, alterations, and deviances. And they all have to do with things that are evil. In itself, a perversion already represents something that goes against the grain of what is normal and granted by God. Today’s 3 chapters show us once again how corrupted man can be.
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Bible Passage: Leviticus 19-21
In summary, the 3 chapters deal with the following respectively:
Lev 19 – Moral and Ceremonial Laws such as Sabbath-keeping (Lev 19:3), Neighbourly living (Lev 19:13), and Non-Vengeance (Lev 19:18)
Lev 20 – Prohibitions against Idol-worship and sacrifice, Penalties involved for Sexual perversions
Lev 21 – Directives for the lifestyle of Priests
At the start of each chapter, the resounding bass-line repeats itself in a similar fashion. Lev 19:2, Lev 20:7, Lev 21:6.
“You shall be holy…be holy…they shall be holy…”
God’s commands for the people centre upon this fixed ideal. It never changes and is constant. The law is passed and it comes to bear upon the individuals. The question is whether they would obey the commands squarely. Admittedly, we don’t really know what has all these to do with us today, and rightly so, since a lot of these ordinances had to do with the moral and ceremonial living of the Israelites in the land of Canaan, during those times. Nevertheless, the spirit of the such partitioning was to remind them once again that they were different, and thus to be severed from the sinful practices of the gentiles.
Coming back to what intrigued me. Have we considered the fact that not all things mixed and cross-bred are actually permitted in God’s eyes today? We know of the teaching from Jesus concerning the new piece of garment and the old garment. But this is slightly different here. What was really interesting back then when I first heard it in passing, was that cross-bred animals and plants were actually travesty in God’s eyes. Meaning to say that speckled sheep, cross-bred dogs, and a field containing both grain and cereal were all evil in God’s eyes.
Other than the fact that such practices were going against the grain of nature’s course, the undercurrent was that perversions distortions sometimes have a spiritual prohibition to it. The next time we look at a model who is of mixed blood, a Labra-doodle dog, or a garment clothes tag that reads “30% polyester, 70% cotton”, perhaps we would start thinking of Lev 19. Such is the wonder of the living truth!
It is not to say that the above are wrong. What may be sinful is the intention involved in the pairing/coupling at the initial stage, but that is really up to the ones involved to know. The point here however is that such things allow us to think about the Bible’s teaching in a practical manner. And they should cause us to reflect upon our own selves.
Have we allowed distortions, perversions, and unknowing alterations to enter into our physical lives, such that they drive us further away from spiritual life?
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shalom
The theme for Leviticus is “Holiness to the Lord”. I’ve not counted how many times “be holy” or “holy to Me” appear in this book, but we all know that these word “holy” appeared many times.
The strict commands and regulations of God to His people was to separate them from the idol worshiping nations. The nation of God is only ONE, unique in the eyes of God.
Today, God’s ONLY True Church is the ONLY Church that belongs to God. We who are called into this True Church must realize our status. I’m not saying we should ostracize the rest of other Christians or non-believers, but all the more we must shine for Christ, to seek out the lost sheep whom God wants to call them into this ONE Fold of God.
In Lev 21:5, the priests are commanded not to make any bald place on their heads, nor shall they shave the edges of their beard nor make any cuttings in their flesh. We are being admonished by Apostle Peter that we are royal priests (1 Pet. 2:9), so we have to look at this verse with a heart of obedience. The priests’ duty was to teach the people the statutes of God, so the immediate way was by physical examples besides telling or reading the statutes to the people. So this verse was an instruction to the priests not to do any physical harm to their body when mourning for the dead, like what the heathens might have done. For the heathens did all those due to extreme grieve for their lost, as they had no part in the True God.
We Christians do not have such practices during mourning, so how does this verse apply to us today? I would look at this verse in the perspective of trends of today. Especially cutting of the flesh, ie tattooing. Tattooing has been a practice of the underground societies for identity. but now it has become a fashion and trend among the young and old. Some people may argue that whatever was written in Leviticus were for the OT Jews and not for us who are under grace, so we are not bounded by it. There may not be an absolute right or wrong to tattooing, but we must consider the things that we want to do. Paul said, “I can do all things but not all things edify…” Our Christian moto should be to Love God and to Love Man, loving man as in edifying man to build them up in their morals and their general well-being. So is there any edification in tattooing, or in following the trends of the world?
I was very pleased when i attended the YSM recently. At one glance at the youths during the sermon sessions, i saw a gathering of unique people. Unique when i compare them to the youths of other churches. Once i observed the crowds departing from a certain big church of a certain denomination, I saw a multitude of multiple colored people (not referring to their skin color) streaming out from the church. Young and old people with diverse colorful hair-dos, jeweleries, designers’ clothing, etc etc. So it made me wonder what were they doing in there.
So looking back at ourselves, can we continue to be a unique people, holy and unblemished for the Lord? I hope that we all can obey the commandments of God steadfastly whether be it written in the OT or NT of the Holy Bible as a spiritual Jew, for we are all Abraham’s seed in Christ, heirs according to the promise.(Gal. 3:29)
PS
When God delivered His laws through Moses to the congregation in Lev 19, He ended nearly each statement with “I am the LORD your God” in Lev 19.
Yes, God is the only One to set the standard of what is clean, what is unclean, what is lawful, what is unlawful.
To the priests in Lev 21, God did not say the same sentence. God set a another standard: “I the LORD sanctify them” .
Yes, we are sanctified by God. Keep this in our heart and mind every breath we breath. Let us be mindful that we are the workmanship of God. Submit to the Holy Spirit who works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure.