Levítico 18

Levítico 18

Chart from recommended resource Jensen's Survey of the OT - used by permission Another Overview Chart of Leviticus - Charles Swindoll A third Overview Chart of Leviticus LEVITICUS THE BOOK OF SANCTIFICATION AND WORSHIP Adapted and modified from C. Swindoll Leviticus 1-17 Leviticus 18-27 The Way to God Access The Walk with God Lifestyle The Approach: Offerings Practical Guidelines The Representative: Priest Chronological Observances The Laws: Cleansing Physically & Spiritually Severe Consequences Verbal promises Ritual for Worship Worshipping a Holy God Practical for Walking Living a Holy Life Location: Mt Sinai for one full year Theme: How sinful humanity can approach and worship a holy God Key Verses: Lev 17:11, 19:2, 20:7-8 Christ in Leviticus: In every sacrifice, every ritual, every feast Time: about 1446BC Leviticus 18:1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, Notice the interesting pattern in Leviticus 18 - In Lev 18:1-23 Moses is to tell the people what not to do. Then in Lev 18:24-30 he is to tell them why not to do it. Leviticus 18:1-30 Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. - Leviticus 18:24 TODAY IN THE WORD - Last summer, a new book was released with the provocative title, The 50-Mile Rule: Your Guide to Infidelity and Extramarital Etiquette. The author told one interviewer that the book contains “serious information presented in a fun way. There are no books out there on this subject in a format that is not judgmental. I want to help people make smart decisions. . . . Affairs are wrong. But the reality is that people are having them anyway. So you have to meet people where they are. For a lot of people morality doesn’t end up in [the equation]. If you are going about your business in a discreet way and you are continuing to take care of your wife and, most importantly, your children, there is no reason to feel guilt.” Certainly our culture is confused about standards of right and wrong! The people of Israel faced a Canaanite culture that was even worse, however. Against the subjectivism, permissiveness, and outright perverseness of sexual behavior in the world, the Law set clear standards and boundaries for the people of God. Forbidden behavior included incest, child sacrifice, homosexuality, bestiality, and adultery. Incest included sex with close relatives and family members (verse 18 may have the Jacob-Leah-Rachel episode in mind). Child sacrifice was done by the Ammonites as part of the worship of Molech, and from its placement here we might infer that the ritual involved sexuality in some way. As for the practice of homosexuality, God’s Word is clear and unequivocal that it is sin (cf. Ro 1:26, 27; 1 Cor. 6:9, 10). What was the punishment for disobedience in this area? If the Israelites wanted to see a demonstration of the answer, they simply needed to see how God was about to judge the Canaanites! Their immoral behavior was so despicable that the land itself needed purifying–colorfully, God said it would vomit out the wickedness of those people (Leviticus 18:24, 25). TODAY ALONG THE WAY In our society, in which promiscuity, pornography, and sexually transmitted diseases are relatively common, the call to sexual purity and marital faithfulness is more urgent than ever. We need God’s help to guard our bodies, minds, and souls from pervasive immorality. William MacDonald Notes on Leviticus 18 - This chapter deals with various forms of unlawful marriages with which the Israelites had become familiar in Egypt but which they were to completely renounce in the land of Canaan (Lev 18:1-5). The expression “to uncover the nakedness” means to have sexual intercourse. Lev 18:6 states the general principle. Marriage with a blood relative was forbidden. The following verses specify the relationships included: mother (Lev 18:7); stepmother (Lev 18:8); sister or half-sister (Lev 18:9); granddaughter (Lev 18:10); the daughter of a stepmother (Lev 18:11); aunt (Lev 18:12-14); daughter-in-law (Lev 18:15); sister-in-law (Lev 18:16); a woman and her daughter or granddaughter, both at the same time (Lev 18:17); two sisters at the same time (Lev 18:18). Lev 18:16 was modified by Deuteronomy 25:5: If a man died without leaving children, his brother was obliged to marry the widow. Although not all the above relationships are “blood relatives,” they are treated as such. Modern medicine confirms that in marriages of blood relatives, the physical or mental weaknesses of parents tend to be magnified in the children. Intercourse with a woman was forbidden during menstruation (Lev 18:19). Adultery with a neighbor’s wife was prohibited (Lev 18:20). Also banned were the terrible practices connected with the worship of the idol Molech (Lev 18:21), causing newborn babies to pass through fire. Molech was the god of the Ammonites: His idol-image was in the Valley of Hinnom. “According to one tradition there was an opening at the back of the brazen idol, and after a fire was made within it, each parent had to come and with his own hands place his firstborn child in the white-hot, outstretched arms of Molech. According to this tradition, the parent was not allowed to show emotion, and drums were beaten so that the baby’s cries could not be heard as the baby died in the arms of Molech.” Sodomy or homosexuality was forbidden (Lev 18:22), as well as sexual intercourse with an animal (Lev 18:23). Lev 18:1-23 tell the people what not to do; Lev 18:2-4-30 tell them why not to do it. It is no accident that impurity and idolatry are found together in the same chapter (see also Lev 20). A person’s morality is always the fruit of his theology, his concept of God. The Canaanites were a graphic illustration of the degradation that idolatry produces (Lev 18:24-27). When the children of Israel took possession of the land, they killed thousands of these people at Jehovah’s command. When we consider the moral degradation of the Canaanites, as described in Lev 18:24-30, we can understand why God dealt so harshly with them. Leviticus 18:2 "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'I am the LORD your God. Lev 18:4 11:44 19:3,4,10,34 20:7 Ge 17:7 Ex 6:7 20:2 Ps 33:12 Eze 20:5,7,19,20 I Am the LORD - It all begins with God, the great "I Am." He is reminding them of the fact that He is their covenant keeping God. He brought them out (redeemed them out) of Egypt to bring them into the land. This phrase occurs repeatedly in Leviticus (49x out of 161x in entire OT) - Lev 11:44, 45; 18:2, 4, 5, 6, 21, 30; 19:3, 4, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 25, 28, 30, 31, 32, 34, 36, 37; 20:7, 8, 24; 21:12, 15, 23; 22:2, 3, 8, 9, 16, 30, 31, 32, 33; 23:22, 43; 24:22; 25:17, 38, 55; 26:1, 2, 13, 44, 45; This phrase occurs 3x in this beginning section (Lev 18:2, 4-5). This phrase should awaken our conscience to listen carefully and heed assiduously, for this statement of God's authority is all we need for the high moral standards to which God's people are called. Clearly this spoke directly to Israel but by way of application, it speaks directly to every believer whether they are in the United States are the jungles of Africa. Our holy behavior is to be like a spiritual "lighthouse" - as Moody said lighthouses don't warn by making noise but by shining their lights! Paul says Do all things without grumbling or disputing (A command to make this our daily practice - something ONLY possible by continual jettisoning of fleshly reliance and casting of one's self upon the enabling power of the indwelling Holy Spirit - see Php 2:12-13) (Now Paul explains why holy conduct is so important) 15 that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world (Php 2:14, cp Mt 5:14-16) The Lord warned Israel not to look back and imitate the sins they saw in Egypt, nor to look around and imitate the sins of the godless, pagan Gentile nations (Lev 18:3). When the Jews entered Canaan, they would discover that the people there were unspeakably immoral (archaeologists have verified this truth). Israel would have to maintain a position of separation in order to abstain from fleshly lusts (1Pe 2:12) and be pleasing to the Lord. The church today must maintain that same position - not a "holier than thou" attitude but a sweet aroma of morality that is attractive to the world inebriated by unspeakable sexual immorality (cp 2Cor 6:14–7:1; Ep 5:1-14; Col 3:1-7). House comments that Leviticus 17–27 emphasizes holiness as an undergirding principle. Israel is to be different from the Canaanite nations they will dispossess (Lev 18:1–5). The Israelites must be holy because their God is holy (Lev 19:2; 20:7, 26) and has set them apart as a holy, chosen people (Lev 20:26). God makes the rules here based on personal holiness (Lev 21:23), makes the rules themselves holy (Lev 22:16), makes the people holy (Lev 22:31–33) and makes specially chosen religious festivals holy (Lev 23:1–25:54). God’s purposes in revealing this material go back at least as far as Exodus 19:5–6, for the commands in these chapters intend to make Israel the distinct and separate people God chose and delivered them to become... Israel can be holy only as it obeys the word of the Holy One who has chosen and delivered them. Their holiness will derive from their relationship with Yahweh and will thereby extend to their activities and relationship with other human beings. It would be pointless for God to deliver Israel so that the chosen people could engage in the same practices that cause the world to sink into ever-greater depravity. One more nation like all the others hardly improves the moral climate on earth. (Old Testament theology. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press) Leviticus 18:3 '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 where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes. Shall not do: Ps 106:35 Eze 20:7,8 23:8 Eph 5:7-11 1Pe 4:2-4 and after: Lev 20:23 Ex 23:24 Dt 12:4,30,31 Jer 10:2,3 Ro 12:2 The land of Egypt - God had redeemed them from Egyptian bondage (and Egyptian idolatry) even as He had prophesied to Moses declaring "and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. " (Ex 6:6) And so the people of Israel were His possession (Ex 19:5, Dt 4:20, 9:29), by right of having paid the redemption price. For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. (Dt 7:6) And in a sense they were redeemed with the blood of a Passover Lamb (cf "with great judgments" Ex 6:6. Ex 12:7, 11-13, 17, 22-23, 51). God had been able to get them out of Egypt, but He had not gotten Egypt out of them. These specific warnings and commands were the means to that latter end, so that they might be a distinctive, set apart (holy) people to Him and for His glory. One is reminded of God's words in Deuteronomy... And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today. (Dt 15:15, cf 2Ki 17:36) I am bringing you - It is notable that God is bringing them to the land He promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but it was a land occupied by fallen men. Forewarned is forearmed. There are clear parallels with God's redemption of a sinner to a saint in the New Testament. He could simply jettison us out of here to heaven, but He leaves us in the land with with godless paganism and idol worship. One reason He does this is because He is a compassionate God Who does not want these pagan souls to pass into a godless eternity and so He sets us apart (the body of Christ, the Church) that we might be His witnesses (Acts 1:8), His "salt" (Mt 5:13), His light (Mt 5:14-16, Phil 2:14), His "aroma" (2Cor 2:14-16), His ambassadors of reconciliation (2Cor 5:18-20) to a world in bondage to sin, Satan and self. Paul quotes Isaiah 42:6 to show God's purpose for redeeming Israel and bringing them to the land of Canaan, Dr. Luke recording... For thus the Lord has commanded us, 'I HAVE PLACED YOU AS A LIGHT FOR THE GENTILES, THAT YOU SHOULD BRING SALVATION TO THE END OF THE EARTH.'" (Acts 13:47) You shall not walk in their statutes - While we do not have a record of these pagan "statutes" clearly they were essentially the antithesis of God's statutes in Leviticus 18-22. By implication their godless statues must have "legalized" practices that God considered detestable or otherwise He would not have had to warn them in such painfully intimate detail! Extra-Biblical writings attest to the "sex saturated" society of the idol worshipping pagans who participated in so called Fertility Cults. (cf History and Religion of Canaan) Tragically Israel failed to heed these clear warnings and commands and as the Psalmist summed it up... they mingled with the nations, and learned their practices, (Ps 106:35) Disciple's Study Bible - God is aware of the individual differences history brings to people. Historical differences do not change God's moral foundations. Living in Egypt or Canaan did not justify Israel's acceptance of their morality even though their cultural and educational systems had much older roots than did the young nation Israel's. Each person is free to make moral choices. Those choices should be made within the responsible boundaries of what God has declared as moral and immoral. Persons and societies outside God's people offer choices which may entice, but such choices are not options if we trust and follow God. Ungodly society tempts God's people with immoral sexual practices. No human logic can make it right for us to go beyond God's limits in our sexual behavior. Criswell - God forbade the Israelites to practice the abominable and licentious customs of the Egyptians and Canaanites. Lev 18-20 delineate the prohibitions placed upon the Israelites, all of which serve to point out the utter degradation of the heathen worship, both in the land which Israel left and in the land to which she journeyed. Leviticus 18:4 'You are to perform My judgments and keep My statutes, to live in accord with them; I am the LORD your God. NLT - You must obey all my regulations and be careful to keep my laws, for I, the LORD, am your God. Perform...keep - He is not saying one can earn salvation (see comments on next verse). Your God - Not the God of the other nations, but Israel's God. And it works both ways, for they are His people. They cannot act like all the other nations, but must act as He decrees. And remember God never asks anything of us that He does not also enable us to obey. In Leviticus 20-22 there is a phrase which alludes to this truth for seven times God declares that He is the LORD Who SANCTIFIES them. For example in Lev 20:7-8 God says... 'You shall consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am the LORD your God. And you shall keep My statutes and practice them; I am the LORD Who sanctifies (Lxx = hagiazo = present tense, active participle = God's Spirit is the One Who is continually, actively, moment by moment setting us apart from Profanity unto Holy) you. Comment: God's very name speaks of what He desires to do to His people and what He alone is capable of accomplishing in them. His Name here is JEHOVAH M'KADDESH: following the call to consecration and obedience in Lev 20:7-8, the last part of verse 8 links man's responsibility with His ability. In short, our responsibility is "Keep my decrees," while His provision is grace to carry it out "I am the LORD, Who makes you holy." So while Israel had the responsibility to lovingly choose to obey His commands, He was the One Who was setting them apart (See Lev 20:8, 21:8, 22:32). He provided the sanctifying power. They were responsible to make the "sanctified" choices to live godly in a godless society! Why? Because the Canaanite practices (perversions) appealed to the deepest desires (in the area of sexuality) of fallen men, and Israel would have had no chance whatsoever to survive and thrive in such a sensually charged environment had not the LORD God been their Sanctifier (And beloved, the same truth applies to all God's children today! Are you relying solely on the Spirit to enable you to fight the good fight of faith or are you relying on "your best efforts?" If the latter, then "Look Out!"). Surely this is a picture of the New Testament truth that it is His Spirit Who sanctifies us (1Pe 1:2-note, 2Thes 2:13, cp 2Cor 3:18-note). The writer of Hebrews says... For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are (present tense, passive voice = continually being) sanctified (This speaks of day to day, yea, even moment by moment, setting apart). (Heb 10:14-note) Leviticus 18:5 'So you shall keep My statutes and My judgments, by which a man may live if he does them; I am the LORD. Does them: Eze 20:11,13,21 Lk 10:28 Ro 10:5 Ga 3:12 I am the Lord: Ex 6:2,6,29 Mal 3:6) NIV - Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD. This verse is quoted in the NT... Luke 10:28 And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; DO (present imperative = a command to "do" continually! Clearly this is not naturally possible. It is only supernaturally possible. This command [as are all 1500+ commands in the NT!] is an "invitation" to jettison self reliance and surrender to Spirit enablement!) THIS, AND YOU WILL LIVE.” Comment: Notice that Jesus' command to "Do" was not a charge to "work for your salvation." As noted above, a natural man, still unregenerate and dead in his trespasses and sins, could no more keep this command continually than the "man in the moon" could! So in a sense this "impossible command" is a call to receive Jesus, be born again, receive His indwelling Spirit, Who alone can enable us to keep such a command! Are you trying to obey the command to "DO" and failing miserably? There are only two possibilities - (1) You have no supernatural power source, no indwelling Spirit of Christ or (2) You have the Source but are not partaking of it. Perhaps no one has instructed you. You may be like the man who bought a new car and pushed it around until one day someone told him to put the key in the ignition! Gal 3:12-note However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “HE WHO PRACTICES THEM SHALL LIVE BY THEM.” A WAY OF LIFE NOT A WAY OF SALVATION BY WHICH A MAN MAY LIVE IF HE DOES THEM: The law was the way of life for the redeemed (Eze 20:11,13, 21), not a way of salvation for the lost (Ro 10:5; Gal 3:12 Jas 2:10). Certainly this is still a Truth...a life of obedience will be blessed of the Lord with real life. But it is not the road to salvation...that is only by faith. But as both Paul and James teach faith alone saves but the faith that genuinely saves is not alone but brings forth fruit in keeping with repentance. So genuine faith is a faith manifest by a lifestyle of obedience (not so-called "Christian perfection" but a habitual tendency toward a holy life). I am the Lord - "I have the right, the authority and the might, to command you to keep My statutes and judgments." Warren