Levítico 18

Levítico 18

Spurgeon - Ignorance is worst when it amounts to ignorance of God, and knowledge is best when it exercises itself upon the name of God. This most excellent knowledge leads to the most excellent grace of faith. O, to learn more of the attributes and character of God. Unbelief, that hooting nightbird, cannot live in the light of divine knowledge, it flies before the sun of God's great and gracious name. If we read this verse literally, there is, no doubt, a glorious fulness of assurance in the names of God. We have recounted them in the "Hints for Preachers," and would direct the reader's attention to them. By knowing his name is also meant an experimental acquaintance with the attributes of God, which are every one of them anchors to hold the soul from drifting in seasons of peril. The Lord may hide his face for a season from his people, but he never has utterly, finally, really, or angrily forsaken them that seek him. Let the poor seekers draw comfort from this fact, and let the finders rejoice yet more exceedingly, for what must be the Lord's faithfulness to those who find if he is so gracious to those who seek. Lest we miss the application - Believers today are in ever present danger of profaning the great Name of Jesus in the eyes of the pagans spiritually dead in their trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1). The "antidote" for the poison of profaning His Name (and giving the pagans a wrong impression of Who Jesus is) is to in all our behavior, be holy as He is Holy, enabled by His Spirit Who will glorify His greatName in and through us (read Jn 16:14) (Pause and worship Him for Holy is Our God. Sing from your heart the great old hymn Holy, Holy, Holy) Profane (02490)(chalal - click word study). The Septuagint (Lxx) uses bebeloo (see related word bebelos) meaning to make something which is otherwise highly revered and honored to become identified with that which is common and thus to desecrate or defile it. Seven times in Leviticus 18-22 God makes reference to His Holy Name and every time it is associated with the word profane. God's "Name is Jealous, (He) is a jealous God". (Ex 34:14). God's Name is Jehovah Qanna. The instructions on holiness in Leviticus 18-22 are for Israel's GOOD but ultimately for Jehovah's GLORY. Beloved, some of these laws seem archaic and even trivial and unrelated to us as New Covenant believers. However our God is still Jehovah Qanna and He still desires a holy people to give a proper opinion of His Holy Character. Are there some little areas in your walk where you are compromising, reasoning that surely He would not expect me to forgo that pleasure or that experience? Beloved, He is the same yesterday, today and forever and His urgent command is the same as it was to His Chosen People living in the midst of paganism... Let your light shine (aorist imperative = command to "Just do it!" Do not delay. Don't compromise!) before men in such a way that they may see your Good Works, and glorify (doxazo) your Father who is in heaven. (Mt 5:16-note) Comment: Do not miss what Jesus is saying here - when the lost (and saved) see the supernatural works (initiated and empowered by the indwelling Spirit), they are getting a visible portrayal of the invisible God Who "does not wish for any of them to perish but for all come to repentance." (2Peter 3:9-note) Rooker - Support for the interpretation that child sacrifice is what is in view is provided by 2 Kgs 23:10 and Jer 7:31. In these texts “burning” is equated with the expression to cause the children to “pass through the fire.” (The New American Commentary) To Molech (Moloch or Milcom - see Dictionary Articles) (Lev 20:2-5; see Acts 7:43, 1Ki 11:5, 7, 33; 2Ki 23:10, 13; Jer 32:35; Jer 49:1-3; Zep 1:5) : detestable god of the Ammonites, the worship of whom was characterized by the gruesome sacrifice of children. Human sacrifice was never sanctioned in Israel, though it was wrongly practiced at times (Jdg 11:29-40; 2Ki 3:27; 16:3; 17:31; 21:6; 2Chr 33:6; Ezek 16:20, 21). Molech was a title for various Canaanite deities to whom human sacrifices were offered. The highlight of King Josiah's reforms was his elimination of child sacrifice by defiling the valley of Hinnom where children had regularly been forced to pass through the fire burning in the outstretched arms of the "god" Molech. The valley was made the garbage dump of the city and kept continually burning, giving it the perpetual appearance of an eternal lake of fire. The valley's name finally became the name gehenna meaning "hell," the lake of fire "prepared for the devil" and all those who reject God's salvation through Jesus Christ (Mt 25:41; Rev 20:15). It appears this same perversion of worship was carried out at the Mayan and Aztec temples where human sacrifice and blood were offered to their so-called gods. They understood that the life was in the blood, but they did not understand only the Giver of life was to be approached with blood as an atoning sacrifice and only at the place He had authorized. In that way, the Mayan and Aztec sacrifices on the apices of their temples remind one of the perverted practice of the Israelites to sacrifice on the "high places." This despicable false god is mentioned in Stephen's scathing sermon which caused him to be stoned to death... Acts 7:43 ‘YOU ALSO TOOK ALONG THE TABERNACLE OF MOLOCH AND THE STAR OF THE GOD ROMPHA, THE IMAGES WHICH YOU MADE TO WORSHIP THEM. I ALSO WILL REMOVE YOU BEYOND BABYLON.’ NET Glossary: Molech - a pagan god worshiped in the ancient Near East in the 2nd millennium B.C. and associated with death and the underworld; Molech was worshiped by the Ammonites as their national deity (1Kgs 11:7, 33) and especially associated with child sacrifice (Lev 18:21; 20:2-5; 2Kgs 23:10); "Milcom" and "Malcam" are variations of the name Molech While the text does not state it specifically, the mention of Molech in the context suggests some aspect of sexual perversion. Boa - I think it safe to assume we all know this (child sacrifice) is an offense to God; if we have any doubts, such an act is said here to “profane the name of your God.” This is the one sin condemned in Leviticus 18 that is not overtly sexual in nature, though evidently child sacrifice to Molech was part of pagan rituals that included sexual immorality (cf. Lev. 20:4–5). This is also the one prohibition dealing with acts that clearly did take place in a pagan context—but presumably no one is prepared to say that child sacrifice was condemned only when the children were sacrificed to the wrong god! Surely the horrific abuse of the children is itself being condemned. Would it be permissible to kill innocent children today, as long as it was not in a pagan ritual? (Come to think of it, that is happening now—it’s called abortion.) Freeman... Molech (sometimes written Moloch) was an old Canaanite idol, into whose worship the Israelites gradually became drawn. Similar rites were performed among other nations, probably varying at different times and in different places. The usual description given of this god is that of a hollow image made of brass, and having a human body with the head of an ox. The idol sat on a brazen throne with hands extended. In sacrificing to it the image was heated to redness by a fire built within. The parents then placed their children in the heated arms, while the noise of drums and cymbals drowned the cries of the little sufferers. It is also said that there were seven chapels connected with the idol, which were to be entered according to the relative value of the offering presented; only those who offered children being allowed to enter the seventh. Miniatures of these are supposed to be the "tabernacle" referred to in Amos 5:26 (see Acts 7:43). Others think the "tabernacle" was a shrine or ark in which the god was carried in procession. Some eminent writers deny that the description above given refers to the Molech of the Old Testament. The Bible itself gives no account of the idol save that children were made to "pass through the fire" to it. A diversity of opinion prevails as to the meaning of this expression. Most Jewish writers claim that it does not imply the actual sacrificing or burning of the children, but merely an idolatrous ceremonial purification; a fire baptism, which was accomplished by carrying the children between fires, or leaping over fires with them, or causing them to do the same. However this may have been in earlier times, it is certain that the service of Moloch implied more than this at some periods of Jewish history. In the days of Ezekiel God's testimony was, "Thou hast slain My children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them. (Ezek 16:21). Here passing through the fire is evidently synonymous with death. See also 2 Chr. 28:3; Ps 106:37, 38; Jer 7:31. Frequent reference is made in the Scriptures to this heathen abomination. See 2Kings 16:3, 18:17, 21:6, 2Ki 23:10; Jer 32:35 ; Ezek 20:31. The crime was threatened with the severest punishment. Lev. 20:1-5. Human sacrifices were anciently known to the Phoenicians, Egyptians, Carthaginians, and other nations. Some writers have sought to identify the worship of Molech with that of Baal. Others suppose that, according to the well-known astrological character of the Phoenician and Syrian religions, Molech was the planet Saturn. Winer says : "The dearest ones might well be sacrificed to a star so dreaded as Saturn, in order to appease it, especially by nations who were by no means strangers to human sacrifices." (Handbook of Bible manners and customs - published in 1875) Leviticus 18:22 'You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination. Lev 20:13 Ge 19:5 Judges 19:22 1Ki 14:24 Ro 1:26,27 1Co 6:9 1Ti 1:10 Jude 1:7 1Kgs 14:24 And there were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD dispossessed before the sons of Israel. As noted above, God sums up the punishment for the list of sexual sins in Leviticus 18:29. Homosexual acts are clearly denounced here as detestable to God. The penalty given at Lev 20:13 is capital punishment, Moses recording "‘If [there is] a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them." Homosexuality is clearly denounced (and judged) also in Ro 1:26-27 for the participants shall receive "in their own persons the due penalty of their error." The sin of homosexuality was well known in Canaan -- witness Sodom (Ge 19:5) and Gibeah (Jdg 19:22) -- but it was no less wicked in God's sight in those pagan settings. How much greater is this sin in the context of greater light of God's holy standards! See - Homosexuality - Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology Norman Geisler - LEVITICUS 18:22–24—Haven’t the laws against homosexuality been abolished along with laws against eating pork? Weren’t those laws attached to the fear of the curse of barrenness anyway? MISINTERPRETATION: The law against homosexuality is found in Leviticus 18:22, alongside ceremonial and dietary laws. These laws have been done away with (Acts 10:15). This being so, it would seem logical that the laws prohibiting homosexual activity are no longer binding either. Also, according to Jewish belief, barrenness was a curse (Gen. 16:1; 1 Sam. 1:3–8). Children were considered God’s blessing (Ps. 127:3). The blessing of the land was connected with the children (Gen. 15:5). It would then be unsurprising that Old Testament law in such a culture would frown on homosexual activity from which no children came. Perhaps what is being condemned is not homosexual activity so much as the refusal to have children. CORRECTING THE MISINTERPRETATION: Simply because the Mosaic prohibition against homosexuality is in Leviticus does not make it part of the passing ceremonial law. If that were true, the same could be said about rape, incest, and bestiality in the same chapter (Lev. 18:6–14, 22–23). And nowhere are sexual laws connected with the procreation of children. If homosexuals were put to death because they were barren, that would hardly solve the problem of producing more children. Heterosexual marriage would have been a more appropriate punishment. Laws against homosexuality extend beyond the covenant nation to Gentiles at any rate (Rom. 1:26). Gentiles do not have the ceremonial law (Rom. 2:12–15), nor was there a covenant stake in producing a new generation. It was for this very reason that God brought judgment on the Canaanites (Lev. 18:1–3, 24–25). A Jew caught in homosexuality was destroyed brutally. Yet violators of the dietary laws were considered unclean and had to live outside the camp for a brief time. If barrenness was a divine curse, then singleness would be sinful. But both our Lord (Matt. 19:11–12) and the apostle Paul (1 Cor. 7:8) sanctioned singlehood by both precept and practice. Yet prohibitions against homosexual practice continue to be promulgated throughout the Epistles (Rom. 1:26–27; 1 Cor. 6:9; 1 Tim. 1:10; and Jude 7). (When Cultists Ask- A Popular Handbook on Cultic Misinterpretations) Abomination (08441) (toebah) see word study on toebah. (Lxx translates toebah with Greek word bdelugma - see the interesting derivation which gives a strong word picture) Henry