Burunche’s Blog

Lending to the Poor “‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

The Law Concerning Slavery ‘And if one of your brethren who dwells by you becomes poor, and sells himself to you, you shall not compel him to serve as a slave. As a hired servant and a sojourner he shall be with you, and shall serve you until the Year of Jubilee. And then he shall depart from you—he and his children with him—and shall return to his own family. He shall return to the possession of his fathers. For they are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as slaves. You shall not rule over him with rigor, but you shall fear your God. And as for your male and female slaves whom you may have—from the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves. Moreover you may buy the children of the strangers who dwell among you, and their families who are with you, which they beget in your land; and they shall become your property. And you may take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them as a possession; they shall be your permanent slaves. But regarding your brethren, the children of Israel, you shall not rule over one another with rigor.

 ‘Now if a sojourner or stranger close to you becomes rich, and one of your brethren who dwells by him becomes poor, and sells himself to the stranger or sojourner close to you, or to a member of the stranger’s family, after he is sold he may be redeemed again. One of his brothers may redeem him; or his uncle or his uncle’s son may redeem him; or anyone who is near of kin to him in his family may redeem him; or if he is able he may redeem himself. Thus he shall reckon with him who bought him: The price of his release shall be according to the number of years, from the year that he was sold to him until the Year of Jubilee; it shall be according to the time of a hired servant for him. If there are still many years remaining, according to them he shall repay the price of his redemption from the money with which he was bought. And if there remain but a few years until the Year of Jubilee, then he shall reckon with him, and according to his years he shall repay him the price of his redemption. He shall be with him as a yearly hired servant, and he shall not rule with rigor over him in your sight. And if he is not redeemed in these years, then he shall be released in the Year of Jubilee—he and his children with him. For the children of Israel are servants to Me; they are My servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

One of the surprising things about God’s laws is how practical they are. God knows that there will be those who will become so poor that they might be forced to sell themselves into slavery, so He is already providing for that eventuality.

1. The poor are not to be taken advantage of. “You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit.” God demands soft loans without interest and free offering of food.
2. An Israelite selling himself into slavery to another Israelite will be treated as a hired servant and not as a slave and he and his family will become free in the Year of Jubilee.
3. God is allowing the Israelites to buy slaves who are not Israelites. These people will become permanent property that can be passed down to further generations.
4. If an Israelite sells himself into slavery to a non-Israelite, he can be redeemed at any time and the price will be calculated based on the length of time left until the Year of Jubilee.
5. The Israelites are God’s servants and are to be treated as such.

These verses are highly controversial because they appear to support the idea of slavery in modern society. Tragically, citizens of America, Great Britain, and other countries have used these verses to excuse their practice of slavery on farms and plantations. But slavery was a fact of life in Old Testament times, and even in Old Testament times, God warned His people to treat their slaves kindly. Many of the practices of Old Testament times have been abandoned, and slavery is definitely one of those practices.

APPLICATION: We work with poor people in rural northeastern Ghana and northern Togo. How poor? Recently, one family from Togo had four children sick with typhoid at the same time. The day one daughter was operated for a typhoid perforation at our hospital, her father suffered a heart attack and died! When I began talking with the mother and auntie about getting the child better food, I suddenly realized that they themselves were starving just to have enough money to feed the child. (The girl is now receiving Plumpy Nut and formula plus electrolyte drink with hibiscus powder to give her Vitamin C.) Right now we are in farming season and families who have spent everything on seed, fertilizer, plowing, etc., have nothing left for themselves. We have begun giving the mother and auntie money so their relatives can afford to feed them. This same girl has asked for a popular local fruit juice; however, one box costs as much money as we are giving her mother and auntie for food daily.

Sometimes the regulations in Leviticus seem so exhaustive that we are tempted to overlook the reason for their existence in the first place. God knows there will be poor people and God also knows there will be rich people ready to take full advantage of the poor, hence the proscriptions against usury and collecting interest on loans to other Israelites. God also orders those holding slaves to treat them kindly.

If slavery is so wrong, why isn’t God forbidding slavery completely? These commands are being given within a particular cultural context, one in which slavery is a reality. David Guzik in Enduring Word Commentary says this: “Though it is almost impossible for us to relate to in the modern world, this kind of slavery was necessary and helpful in the ancient world. For most of humanity’s history, the poorest people were sometimes confronted with a choice between death by starvation or becoming a slave. In such circumstances, it is hard to call slavery good, but it was certainly preferred to the alternative (death)… Foreign slaves from debt or poverty did not have the same rights as Israelites who went into servitude because of debt. They could be held as slaves for life (assuming their debt or obligation was never paid), though they had to be treated humanely (Exodus 20:8-11).

i. Exodus 21:16 specifically says that kidnapping a man to sell him was a sin, and not allowed in Israel. Later, the prophet Amos rebuked Tyre for their traffic in slaves as a violation of the covenant of brotherhood (Amos 1:9-10).

ii. This is a subtle yet important difference between slavery as it was (and is) commonly practiced and slavery as regulated in the Bible. Most slavery (ancient and modern) was actually a form of  kidnapping – the taking and imprisoning of a person against their will. As regulated in the Bible (and as practiced in some other ancient cultures), slavery was received willingly (usually as payment for debt) or, in the case of war, was an alternative to death. In ancient Israel, people from other cultures were not kidnapped and enslaved (as was the practice in the African slave trade).” (https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/leviticus-25/)

Slavery still exists throughout the world. The movie The Sound of Freedom has highlighted the horrors of sexual slavery; however, there are many places where child slaves are used in fishing, mining, etc. Those demanding that everyone shift to electric vehicles fail to realize that much of the precious metals used in the batteries are being mined by child slaves.

As we read these verses, let us ask God how we can most practically help the poor among us. Let us band together to abolish slavery in any form throughout the world and pray for a swift end to it. Pray for all those delivering people out of human trafficking, that their efforts will be successful, that they and their families will be protected, and that those delivered from the horrors of slavery will heal emotionally, physically, mentally, and spiritually.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, we confess that we have tried to ignore the poor among us and we have turned away from the horrors of human trafficking. Show us what You want us to do and give us the courage and resources to do it. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

The Sabbath of the Seventh Year

“And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. And the sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you, for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land—all its produce shall be for food.

The Year of Jubilee

‘And you shall count seven sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine. For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field.

‘In this Year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his possession. And if you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor’s hand, you shall not oppress one another. According to the number of years after the Jubilee you shall buy from your neighbor, and according to the number of years of crops he shall sell to you. According to the multitude of years you shall increase its price, and according to the fewer number of years you shall diminish its price; for he sells to you according to the number of the years of the crops. Therefore you shall not oppress one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God.

Provisions for the Seventh Year

‘So you shall observe My statutes and keep My judgments, and perform them; and you will dwell in the land in safety. Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill, and dwell there in safety.

‘And if you say, “What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?” Then I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in, you shall eat of the old harvest.

Redemption of Property

‘The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me. And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land.

‘If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if his redeeming relative comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold. Or if the man has no one to redeem it, but he himself becomes able to redeem it, then let him count the years since its sale, and restore the remainder to the man to whom he sold it, that he may return to his possession. But if he is not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee; and in the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.

‘If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; within a full year he may redeem it. But if it is not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to him who bought it, throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee. However the houses of villages which have no wall around them shall be counted as the fields of the country. They may be redeemed, and they shall be released in the Jubilee. Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, and the houses in the cities of their possession, the Levites may redeem at any time. And if a man purchases a house from the Levites, then the house that was sold in the city of his possession shall be released in the Jubilee; for the houses in the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel. But the field of the common-land of their cities may not be sold, for it is their perpetual possession.”

There are three main points at issue here: 1. God wants the land to rest every seventh year and promises that if His people will follow His commands, the land will yield enough during the sixth year to carry them through until the ninth year when they will have freshly harvested crops to eat. God orders the people to leave the land alone during that seventh year – neither sowing nor reaping whatever grows by itself. This is to prevent over-tillage of land with a thin layer of topsoil. 2. Land remains the permanent possession of given families as Joshua allots it to them. Every fiftieth year is a year of Jubilee, when land reverts to its original owner. The original owner or one of his relatives may redeem the land prior to the year of Jubilee; however, they must pay the person who bought the land originally at a rate that accounts for the number of years left before the Jubilee. The land belonging to the Levites remains their permanent possession forever; however, land belonging to others may be sold on a temporary basis, with the selling price calculated on the numbers of years left before the Jubilee.

3. What about houses? Houses in walled cities may be sold but redeemed within one year; however, once that year is past, the house becomes the permanent possession of the buyer. Houses in villages without walls will be handled similarly to the land-they may be redeemed but otherwise will revert to the original family in the Jubilee. Levites may sell their houses temporarily and redeem them at any time; however, those houses will automatically revert to the Levites at the Jubilee.

 Sounds complicated, right? God is continuing to make provision for people who will argue every little point and try to twist things to their advantage.

APPLICATION: At first, the idea of allowing land to lie fallow every seventh year sounds crazy; however, the principle is ecologically sound. David Guzik in Enduring Word Commentary says this about the concept of the Sabbath year:

“Israel was to do this as a radical demonstration that the land belonged to God, not to them.

i. “During the sabbatical year there must be no systematic harvesting of self-seeding crops, or such fruits as figs and grapes. Anything of this nature that the land produces without human aid is the property of all, and people are to obtain food wherever they can find it, just as the Israelites did in their wilderness wanderings.” (Harrison)

Observing the sabbath year was also a powerful testimony of dependence on God. Israel declared their belief that God would meet their needs. This was truly living by faith, and God wanted His people to live trusting Him.

i. It was wise management of the land. Giving the land some rest every seven years helped restore vital nutrients to the soil that are depleted by constant use.

ii. Matthew Poole gave an interesting additional reason for the sabbath year. He suggested that one of the reasons for the Sabbath year was to put everyone in Israel in the same place as the poor of the land, who had to simply trust that God would provide in unlikely circumstances. This would give them compassion for the poor, who had to live that way every year.

iii. Israel’s failure to keep this command determined the length of their captivity. Leviticus 26:34 said that if Israel was not obedient, God would make sure the land gets its sabbaths by removing the people to the land of an enemy. This was fulfilled in the Babylonian captivity of Israel (2 Chronicles 36:20-21).

iv. Today, some observant Jewish people find a way around the sabbath year law. On the seventh year, they “sell” their land to a Gentile, work it, and then “buy” it back from the Gentile when the Sabbath year is over. The Gentile makes a little money, and the Jewish person could say, “It wasn’t my land on the Sabbath year, so it was all right if I worked it.” Others observe this by only cultivating six-sevenths of their land at any one time, and over seven years the entire land has a year of rest.”

 In an age where there were no chemical fertilizers, allowing land to regain its fertility by resting one out of every seven years made perfect sense. The principle remains a sound one. I am not attempting to enter the controversy regarding agrochemicals, residuals in soil or ground water, etc. Land has an amazing ability to heal itself when we allow it to do so.

God wanted His people to trust that if they were faithful to give the land its Sabbaths, the land would produce enough during the sixth year to sustain them until the harvest from the eighth year was in. Land management thus became a matter of faith as well as practicality.

Are there parts of our lives that need a Sabbath? Electronic media has now made it possible for us to work from home, participating in online meetings and sending in our work electronically. But such developments mean that home is no longer a refuge from work; the work can follow us anywhere, leaving us under a constant strain. Let’s ask God to show us when it’s time to turn off phones and computers and really rest.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to carve out Sabbaths for ourselves, time that we can spend with You and rest. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Care of the Tabernacle Lamps

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:  “Command the children of Israel that they bring to you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to make the lamps burn continually. Outside the veil of the Testimony, in the tabernacle of meeting, Aaron shall be in charge of it from evening until morning before the Lord continually; it shall be a statute forever in your generations. He shall be in charge of the lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the Lord continually.

The Bread of the Tabernacle

“And you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it. Two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake. You shall set them in two rows, six in a row, on the pure gold table before the Lord. And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, that it may be on the bread for a memorial, an offering made by fire to the Lord. Every Sabbath he shall set it in order before the Lord continually, being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant. And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him from the offerings of the Lord made by fire, by a perpetual statute.”

The Penalty for Blasphemy

Now the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel; and this Israelite woman’s son and a man of Israel fought each other in the camp. And the Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the name of the Lord and cursed; and so they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) Then they put him in custody, that the mind of the Lord might be shown to them.

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Take outside the camp him who has cursed; then let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him.

“Then you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. And whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall certainly stone him, the stranger as well as him who is born in the land. When he blasphemes the name of the Lord, he shall be put to death.

‘Whoever kills any man shall surely be put to death. Whoever kills an animal shall make it good, animal for animal.

 ‘If a man causes disfigurement of his neighbor, as he has done, so shall it be done to him— fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has caused disfigurement of a man, so shall it be done to him. And whoever kills an animal shall restore it; but whoever kills a man shall be put to death. You shall have the same law for the stranger and for one from your own country; for I am the Lord your God.’ ”

Then Moses spoke to the children of Israel; and they took outside the camp him who had cursed, and stoned him with stones. So the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.”

This chapter is kind of a catch-all, unless we remember that in the beginning, there were no chapters, only the writings of Moses that were not chopped up into little pieces. Let’s take the issues one by one.

Temple Housekeeping: God orders that the high priest make sure that pure oil from pressed olives be burned in the golden lamp in the tabernacle of meeting continually. Why pure oil? Anybody who has ever used an oil or kerosene lamp or anybody who has used a charcoal iron can tell you that impure fuel spits sparks and ash all over the place. There’s nothing reverent about a lamp spitting ash; only a lamp with a clear flame will do. Sadly, later, when Samuel is a child living in the temple, the lamps are allowed to go out at night, an indication of the spiritual state of the Israelites and Levi, the high priest.

The priests are to put out 12 cakes of bread sprinkled with frankincense each Sabbath. This bread will remain for one week and then be changed, at which time the priests and their sons may eat it. This is the bread that David and his men will also eat as they are fleeing from King Saul. (1 Samuel 21:5-6)

Penalties for blasphemy: “Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. And whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death.” WOW! Sounds really harsh. But God wants His Name to be respected and no lesser penalty would really work. Eventually, the man in question is stoned to death.

Penalties for disfigurement and murder:

 ‘If a man causes disfigurement of his neighbor, as he has done, so shall it be done to him— fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has caused disfigurement of a man, so shall it be done to him. And whoever kills an animal shall restore it; but whoever kills a man shall be put to death. You shall have the same law for the stranger and for one from your own country; for I am the Lord your God.’ ”

These edicts also sound harsh, unless we realize that the standard for that era was the blood feud and that men would otherwise seek revenge out of proportion to the original injury. The injuries here are deliberately inflicted, not accidental, and there will be judges who determine the intent of the one who has inflicted the injury. In addition, strangers are actually protected, since they might otherwise be slaughtered for inflicting a minor injury accidentally.   

APPLICATION: Repeatedly, God orders His people to offer pure oil, pure flour, pure animals, and gold that can withstand fire. While the Israelites might preen themselves on being special, God has actually chosen them to show forth His glory, taking a people who were no people and forging a nation. In the process, God knows full well the nature of these people and how swiftly they will compromise if given the slightest opportunity. But this chapter raises embarrassing questions for us.

How pure are our offerings to the Lord? Are we giving God our best or leftovers? How much respect do we demonstrate for God’s Name? These days “Oh My God!” is not only a catch phrase, but has also become one of the most frequently used text abbreviations, as “OMG!” While we might not take God’s Name seriously, what does God think? And how likely are we to compromise and fold under the slightest pressure? These days, we are hard put to find examples of righteousness in government, in business, in academics, or in sports. At a time when standards are falling, virtuous role models are in short supply.

God’s standards have not changed; He is immortal and unchangeable, pure and holy. This is not the first era in which rulers have proven corrupt; corrupt leaders have been around since the dawn of time. Our choice is simple: God’s way or something less? An old hymn says, “Once to every man and nation, comes the moment to decide, In the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side; Some great cause, some great decision, offering each the bloom or blight, And the choice goes by forever, ‘twixt that darkness and that light.” (James Russell Lowell) The conflict is real and the choices lie before us. Choose wisely and well!

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, we live in an age of moral confusion; yet, Your Word remains our standard. Help us to choose Your righteousness and to follow hard after You all the days of our lives. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

The Feast of Trumpets (Numbers 29:1-6)

“The LORD also said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly announced by trumpet blasts. You must not do any ordinary work, but you are to present an offering made by fire to the LORD.’”

The Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:1-34; Numbers 29:7-11)

Again the LORD said to Moses, “The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. You shall hold a sacred assembly and humble yourselves, (or afflict your souls) and present an offering made by fire to the LORD. On this day you are not to do any work, for it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the LORD your God. If anyone does not humble himself on this day, he must be cut off from his people. I will destroy from among his people anyone who does any work on this day.

You are not to do any work at all. This is a permanent statute for the generations to come, wherever you live. It will be a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall humble your souls. From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are to keep your Sabbath.”

The Feast of Tabernacles (Nehemiah 8:13-18; Zechariah 14:16-21)

And the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the Feast of Tabernacles to the LORD begins, and it continues for seven days. On the first day there shall be a sacred assembly. (That is, Sukkot, the autumn feast of pilgrimage to Jerusalem; also translated as the Feast of Booths or the Feast of Shelters and originally called the Feast of Ingathering (see Exodus 23:16 and Exodus 34:22)

You are not to do any regular work. For seven days you are to present an offering made by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you are to hold a sacred assembly and present an offering made by fire to the LORD. It is a solemn assembly; you are not to do any regular work.

These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for presenting offerings by fire to the LORD—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its designated day. These offerings are in addition to the offerings for the LORD’s Sabbaths, and in addition to your gifts, to all your vow offerings, and to all the freewill offerings you give to the LORD.

On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the produce of the land, you are to celebrate a feast to the LORD for seven days. There shall be complete rest on the first day and also on the eighth day.

On the first day you are to gather the fruit of majestic trees, the branches of palm trees, and the boughs of leafy trees and of willows of the brook, and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.

You are to celebrate this as a feast to the LORD for seven days each year. This is a permanent statute for the generations to come; you are to celebrate it in the seventh month.

You are to live in booths for seven days. All the native-born of Israel must live in booths, so that your descendants may know that I made the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.’” So Moses announced to the Israelites the appointed feasts of the LORD.”

The seventh month is a month of celebration. The first day of the seventh month is the Feast of Trumpets, marked by the blowing of trumpets, offerings, feasts, and rest from work. The tenth day of the seventh month is the Day of Atonement, also known as Yom Kippur. “On this day you are not to do any work, for it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the LORD your God. If anyone does not humble himself on this day, he must be cut off from his people. I will destroy from among his people anyone who does any work on this day. You are not to do any work at all. This is a permanent statute for the generations to come, wherever you live. It will be a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall humble your souls. From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are to keep your Sabbath.”  The Day of Atonement is a day for people to confess their sins but also to reconcile with anyone with whom they have had disagreements. The idea is to achieve a spiritual cleansing before moving into the rest of the year.

Finally, there is the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot. Sukkot is a delightful festival during which families are supposed to make booths from leafy branches and live in them for a week in honor of the fashion in which the Israelites had to live when they first came out of Egypt.

Each of these feasts is accompanied by special offerings and by times of rest. God wants His people to rest but also to rejoice.

APPLICATION: Joy is health-giving. Recently we have had a series of unfortunate patients with typhoid perforations, some of whom have developed intestinal fistulas. Using aggressive nutritional treatments, we are slowly succeeding in seeing these patients improving. We have realized that patients are definitely getting better when they begin smiling and laughing. Their very joy is helping them to heal.

In an earlier era, doctors used to describe the “positive lipstick syndrome.” At a time when many women routinely wore cosmetics, doctors knew their female patients were improving when they began applying lipstick and wearing bed jackets over their ugly hospital gowns.

The Lord God of the universe is a God of celebrations! God loves us and wants us to enjoy His creation. Let us praise and thank Him!

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, thank You for times of celebration and joy! Help us to celebrate You as much as we do other things such as birthdays and anniversaries. In the might and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Feasts and Sabbaths (Exodus 23:14-19)

“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘These are My appointed feasts, the feasts of the LORD that you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies. For six days work may be done, but the seventh day is to be a Sabbath of complete rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD.

Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Exodus 12:14-28; Numbers 28:16-25; Deuteronomy 16:1-8)

These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times. The Passover to the LORD begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of the same month begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread (That is, the seven-day period after the Passover during which no leaven is to be eaten; see Exodus 12:14-20 ) to the LORD. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall hold a sacred assembly; you are not to do any ordinary work. For seven days you are to present an offering made by fire to the LORD. On the seventh day there shall be a sacred assembly; you must not do any ordinary work.’”

The Feast of Firstfruits (1 Corinthians 15:20-23)

And the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its harvest, you are to bring to the priest a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest. And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD so that it may be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath.

On the day you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a year-old lamb without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD, along with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour(Two-tenths of an ephah is approximately 4 dry quarts or 4.4 liters (probably about 5.1 pounds or 2.3 kilograms of flour) mixed with oil—an offering made by fire to the LORD, a pleasing aroma—and its drink offering of a quarter hin of wine.( A quarter hin is approximately 0.97 quart or 0.92 liter of wine.) You must not eat any bread or roasted or new grain until the very day you have brought this offering to your God. This is to be a permanent statute for the generations to come, wherever you live.

The Feast of Weeks (Acts 2:1-13)

From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, you are to count seven full weeks. You shall count fifty days until the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the LORD. (Pentecost)

Bring two loaves of bread from your dwellings as a wave offering, each made from two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with leaven, as the firstfruits to the LORD. (Two-tenths of an ephah is approximately 4 dry quarts or 4.4 liters (probably about 5.1 pounds or 2.3 kilograms of flour).

Along with the bread you are to present seven unblemished male lambs a year old, one young bull, and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the LORD, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings—an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

You shall also prepare one male goat as a sin offering and two male lambs a year old as a peace offering. The priest is to wave the lambs as a wave offering before the LORD, together with the bread of the firstfruits. The bread and the two lambs are to be sacred to the LORD for the priest. On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly, and you are not to do any regular work. This is to be a permanent statute wherever you live for the generations to come. When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap all the way to the edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the foreign resident. I am the LORD your God.’”

“For six days work may be done, but the seventh day is to be a Sabbath of complete rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the LORD.” God is laying out His plans for His people, and those plans include taking every seventh day as a day for worship and rest. Why are Sabbaths so important?

1. God knows that without regularly designated days of worship, His people are going to wander off into idolatry.  
2. God has created the human body, and He knows it needs regular periods of rest.
3. Worship confers enormous benefits on the participants, strengthening them, encouraging them, helping build interpersonal relationships and relationship with God, and refreshing them. This is a brief list; those who lead worship and who study it can add far more.

Having established regular Sabbaths, God moves on to institute a total of seven annual feasts. Today we are looking at four of them-Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Firstfruits, and the Feast of Pentecost (Weeks). “The Passover to the LORD begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of the same month begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread (That is, the seven-day period after the Passover during which no leaven is to be eaten; see Exodus 12:14-20 ) to the LORD. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall hold a sacred assembly; you are not to do any ordinary work. For seven days you are to present an offering made by fire to the LORD. On the seventh day there shall be a sacred assembly; you must not do any ordinary work.’” Again, God wants His people to celebrate and to rest, refraining from work to mark the holiness of the celebration.

‘When you enter the land that I am giving you and you reap its harvest, you are to bring to the priest a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest. And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD so that it may be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. On the day you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a year-old lamb without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD, along with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil—an offering made by fire to the LORD, a pleasing aroma—and its drink offering of a quarter hin of wine. You must not eat any bread or roasted or new grain until the very day you have brought this offering to your God. God wants His people to offer the first results of their harvests, taking the risk that these grains might be all they will collect.

Finally, God reminds His people, “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap all the way to the edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the foreign resident.” God is always concerned about the poor and the foreigners, reminding the Israelites that they were strangers and slaves in Egypt; therefore, they should have compassion on other strangers.

APPLICATION: In recent years, many of those studying chronic stress have come to realize that Sabbaths and scheduled days of rest are critically important. Until the last sixty years, most parts of America did observe Sabbaths; stores were generally closed, and only those involved in essential services such as health care were at work. On Sundays, small towns particularly basked in peace. Over the course of the last several decades, Sabbath laws have been eliminated. There are valid arguments on both sides; however, scheduled times of rest remain necessary, even if those rest days don’t necessarily occur on Sundays.

We also need regular times of worship, times when we can focus on God and not on ourselves. Worship elevates us and transforms us. While we no longer have to offer burnt offerings, we can still offer God those things most valuable to us, our time and our talents. Let us worship God in the spirit of holiness and let us truly rest.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, thank You for ordaining regular periods of rest and worship. Help us to honor You with our lives. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Restrictions against the Unclean

“Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons to treat with respect the sacred offerings that the Israelites have consecrated to Me, so that they do not profane My holy name. I am the LORD.

Say to them: ‘For the generations to come, if any of your descendants in a state of uncleanness approaches the sacred offerings that the Israelites consecrate to the LORD, that person must be cut off from My presence. I am the LORD.

If a descendant of Aaron has a skin disease or a discharge, he may not eat the sacred offerings until he is clean. Whoever touches anything defiled by a corpse or by a man who has an emission of semen, or whoever touches a crawling creature or a person that makes him unclean, whatever the uncleanness may be— the man who touches any of these will remain unclean until evening. He must not eat from the sacred offerings unless he has bathed himself with water.

When the sun has set, he will become clean, and then he may eat from the sacred offerings, for they are his food. He must not eat anything found dead or torn by wild animals, which would make him unclean. I am the LORD. The priests must keep My charge, lest they bear the guilt and die because they profane it. I am the LORD who sanctifies them. No one outside a priest’s family may eat the sacred offering, nor may the guest of a priest or his hired hand eat it. But if a priest buys a slave with his own money, or if a slave is born in his household, that slave may eat his food.

If the priest’s daughter is married to a man other than a priest, she is not to eat of the sacred contributions. But if a priest’s daughter with no children becomes widowed or divorced and returns to her father’s house, she may share her father’s food as in her youth. But no outsider may share it.

If anyone eats a sacred offering in error, he must add a fifth to its value and give the sacred offering to the priest. The priests must not profane the sacred offerings the Israelites present to the LORD by allowing the people to eat the sacred offerings and thus to bear the punishment for guilt. For I am the LORD who sanctifies them.’”

Worthy Offerings

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the Israelites and tell them, ‘Any man of the house of Israel or any foreign resident who presents a gift for a burnt offering to the LORD, whether to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, must offer an unblemished male from the cattle, sheep, or goats in order for it to be accepted on your behalf. You must not present anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf.

When a man presents a peace offering to the LORD from the herd or flock to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, it must be without blemish or defect to be acceptable. You are not to present to the LORD any animal that is blind, injured, or maimed, or anything with a running sore, festering rash, or scab; you must not put any of these on the altar as an offering made by fire to the LORD.

You may present as a freewill offering an ox or sheep that has a deformed or stunted limb, but it is not acceptable in fulfillment of a vow. You are not to present to the LORD an animal whose testicles are bruised, crushed, torn, or cut; you are not to sacrifice them in your land. Neither you nor a foreigner shall present food to your God from any such animal. They will not be accepted on your behalf, because they are deformed and flawed.’”

Then the LORD said to Moses, “When an ox, a sheep, or a goat is born, it must remain with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on, it will be acceptable as an offering made by fire to the LORD. But you must not slaughter an ox or a sheep on the same day as its young.

When you sacrifice a thank offering to the LORD, offer it so that it may be acceptable on your behalf. It must be eaten that same day. Do not leave any of it until morning. I am the LORD. You are to keep My commandments and practice them. I am the LORD. You must not profane My holy name. I must be acknowledged as holy among the Israelites. I am the LORD who sanctifies you, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD.”

God is now laying down His law regarding offerings. At first, we might wonder why God is being so picky? But God is trying to teach His people that everything in life is sacred, especially His offerings, and that they are to handle those offerings carefully. Even in a priest’s household, offerings may only be eaten by those who are ritually clean. Eating meat from an animal found dead or torn by wild animals is forbidden. God warns that presumptuous priests who violate His laws will bear their own guilt and will die.

Those within a priest’s family plus slaves whom he has bought or who have been born within the household may eat meat from offerings. A widowed daughter who has returned to her priestly father’s house may eat the offering meat as well, but only if she is now part of the household.

Animals for offerings should be perfect. Although animals for free will offerings may have blemishes, that is the only exception. Later as things deteriorate spiritually, God will rebuke the Israelites for bringing defective animals for sacrifices. Animals eight days old and upwards may be sacrificed; however, the parent and the offspring are not to be sacrificed in the same day. Thank offerings and peace offerings are to be eaten the same day, leaving nothing to rot. “If anyone eats a sacred offering in error, he must add a fifth to its value and give the sacred offering to the priest. The priests must not profane the sacred offerings the Israelites present to the LORD by allowing the people to eat the sacred offerings and thus to bear the punishment for guilt. For I am the LORD who sanctifies them.’”

Once more, God is trying to protect the sanctity of His offerings, so that people will not abuse them or take them for granted.

APPLICATION: Today, we no longer need to make offerings or search for perfect lambs, sheep, goats, rams, or oxen. WHY? Because when Jesus Christ came and lived as a sinless perfect man and then died as an innocent victim, he became the ultimate perfect sacrifice for our sins. What the blood of lower animals could not accomplish, Jesus accomplished in himself.

No matter how good we believe ourselves to be, we all sin. 1 John 1:8-9 says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Only the blood of a sinless man shed on our behalf is sufficient to remove the stain of our sins. But praise God, Jesus has done for us what we could never do!

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, we’re stuck! We are caught by our own sins and cannot free ourselves. Thank You for sending Jesus Christ to die for our sins so that we might live righteously if we will only confess our sins and allow You to change us. Please change us into Your image. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Regulations for Conduct of Priests

“And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ‘None shall defile himself for the dead among his people, except for his relatives who are nearest to him: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, and his brother; also his virgin sister who is near to him, who has had no husband, for her he may defile himself. Otherwise he shall not defile himself, being a chief man (master/husband) among his people, to profane himself.

‘They shall not make any bald place on their heads, nor shall they shave the edges of their beards nor make any cuttings in their flesh. They shall be holy to their God and not profane the name of their God, for they offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and the bread of their God; therefore they shall be holy. They shall not take a wife who is a harlot or a defiled woman, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for the priest is holy to his God. Therefore you shall consecrate him, for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I the Lord, who sanctify you, am holy. The daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by playing the harlot, she profanes her father. She shall be burned with fire.

‘He who is the high priest among his brethren, on whose head the anointing oil was poured and who is consecrated to wear the garments, shall not uncover his head (in mourning) nor tear his clothes; nor shall he go near any dead body, nor defile himself for his father or his mother; nor shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the Lord. And he shall take a wife in her virginity. A widow or a divorced woman or a defiled woman or a harlot—these he shall not marry; but he shall take a virgin of his own people as wife. Nor shall he profane his posterity among his people, for I the Lord sanctify him.’ ”

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron, saying: ‘No man of your descendants in succeeding generations, who has any defect, may approach to offer the bread of his God. For any man who has a defect shall not approach: a man blind or lame, who has a marred face or any limb too long, a man who has a broken foot or broken hand, or is a hunchback or a dwarf, or a man who has a defect in his eye, or eczema or scab, or is a eunuch. No man of the descendants of Aaron the priest, who has a defect, shall come near to offer the offerings made by fire to the Lord. He has a defect; he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. He may eat the bread of his God, both the most holy and the holy; only he shall not go near the veil or approach the altar, because he has a defect, lest he profane My sanctuaries; for I the Lord sanctify them.’ ” And Moses told it to Aaron and his sons, and to all the children of Israel.

God is now turning His attention to His priests. Before examining God’s rules, let’s consider the behavior of many pagan priests at the time. Pagan priests might wear strange garments or very few garments. In Exodus God has already ordered that His altars will be approached by ramps and not by steps and for priests to wear linen breeches under their robes so that there will be no opportunity for the priests to exhibit their genitalia as they ascend to the altar. Pagan priests might gash or tattoo themselves. And pagan priests might engage in public ritual sex with temple prostitutes in fertility rites. The list of perversions is endless. Here God is saying that He doesn’t want His priests resembling pagan ones in any fashion.

Here ”defiling oneself for the dead” includes touching the dead, being in the same room with a dead body, walking over the grave, or even sharing in the funeral feast. God is the Giver of Life and He doesn’t want His priests involved with the rituals of death apart from the relatives mentioned.

Priests were not allowed to pull out chunks of hair as a sign of grief or to shave the edges of their beards in a particular pattern or to make ritual cuts on themselves. Priests were to marry only chaste women. Were the daughter of a priest to prostitute herself and be caught, she would be punished by burning.

The high priest had to fulfill very high standards. “He shall not uncover his head (in mourning) nor tear his clothes; nor shall he go near any dead body, nor defile himself for his father or his mother; nor shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the consecration of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the Lord. And he shall take a wife in her virginity. A widow or a divorced woman or a defiled woman or a harlot—these he shall not marry; but he shall take a virgin of his own people as wife. Nor shall he profane his posterity among his people.”

Finally, descendants of Aaron with any defects would be able to eat the showbread; however, they would not be able to make offerings of any sort or enter the most holy parts of the tabernacle.

APPLICATION: Several years ago, we had the chance to speak with an instructor at a well-known missionary training organization that saw missionaries from nearly 200 groups pass through their programs each year. Our friend told us sadly that in his more than 35 years of experience, he had never seen church, para-church, or mission groups that ran along Christian principles UNLESS the top leadership were fully committed to those principles. Our friend pointed out that the leadership of any organization sets the tone for that organization. When leadership are righteous, others are far more likely to remain righteous. But when leaders are corrupt, those below them feel they are safe in doing whatever they want. All we need to do to see the proof of this is to look at the political situation in most countries.

When God was establishing the Aaronic priesthood, He wanted to make sure that His priests would inspire worshipers. Many of those worshipers were coming from shaky spiritual backgrounds and would readily revert to idol worship given the slightest opportunity. God’s plan was to bring these people out of the darkness of paganism into the light of His holiness, and only stringent measures would work.

The question for us personally is this: how holy are we willing to allow God to make us? Are we willing for God to change us or are we hoping that God will give us a break and allow us to continue to practice our pet sins?

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, we aren’t sure we want to be holy, but we know You want us to be. We give You permission to change us into Your likeness. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Penalties for Breaking the Law

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Again, you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘Whoever of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who gives any of his descendants to Molech, he shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones. I will set My face against that man, and will cut him off from his people, because he has given some of his descendants to Molech, to defile My sanctuary and profane My holy name. And if the people of the land should in any way hide their eyes from the man, when he gives some of his descendants to Molech, and they do not kill him, then I will set My face against that man and against his family; and I will cut him off from his people, and all who prostitute themselves with him to commit harlotry with Molech.

‘And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. And you shall keep My statutes, and perform them: I am the Lord who sanctifies you. ‘For everyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother. His blood shall be upon him.

‘The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death. The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall surely be put to death. They have committed perversion. Their blood shall be upon them. If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them. If a man marries a woman and her mother, it is wickedness. They shall be burned with fire, both he and they, that there may be no wickedness among you. If a man mates with an animal, he shall surely be put to death, and you shall kill the animal. If a woman approaches any animal and mates with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood is upon them.

‘If a man takes his sister, his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter, and sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a wicked thing. And they shall be cut off in the sight of their people. (Put to death) He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness. He shall bear his guilt. If a man lies with a woman during her sickness and uncovers her nakedness, he has exposed her flow, and she has uncovered the flow of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from their people. (Put to death)

‘You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister nor of your father’s sister, for that would uncover his near of kin. They shall bear their guilt. If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness. They shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing. He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness. They shall be childless.

‘You shall therefore keep all My statutes and all My judgments, and perform them, that the land where I am bringing you to dwell may not vomit you out. And you shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them. But I have said to you, “You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples. You shall therefore distinguish between clean animals and unclean, between unclean birds and clean, and you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird, or by any kind of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.

‘A man or a woman who is a medium, or who has familiar spirits, shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Their blood shall be upon them.’ ”

Reading this list of penalties, you quickly realize that God is not messing around! Offering children to Molech, sexual misconduct, witchcraft, and fortune-telling – all these things were punishable by death. Being “cut off from his people” really meant being put to death. Why is God so strict about these regulations?

God is dealing with people who will push the envelope as far as possible; nothing short of a death penalty will restrain them. And God knows better than do the Israelites what they will encounter in Canaan. God wants His people be holy, but He also knows how morally and spiritually weak they are.

APPLICATION: We might read this list and think, “So what? I’m not going to do any of this stuff.” But are there some modern equivalents? Although a parent might not hand his/her baby over to be burned at the statue of Molech, are we guarding our children and their innocence? As a life-long afficionado of cartoons, I can testify that children’s cartoons today are generally far more violent than in previous decades. Some of the cartoon characters are frankly demonic, teaching children to enjoy the ugly and the cruel. What about allowing children access to the internet or Netflix? Child traffickers are enjoying great success recruiting on social media; are we protecting our children sufficiently? Even if we put parental controls on our computers, have our kids already figured out how to get around those controls? A child’s innocence is a rare and precious thing and easily lost. Once lost, it will be gone forever.

Why not teach your children that there are other means of entertainment apart from electronic media. Hobbies, sports, board games, language learning, and even household chores can be fun for kids if you will spend time with them while they are doing those things. And social media can isolate, robbing children-and adults- of the close personal contact we all need. Going back to the cartoons, there are several cartoons that describe children as selfish brats dependent on their parents for even simple things such as peanut butter sandwiches. These children have had things done FOR them but not WITH them.

My parents raised three children on a busy Midwestern farm. Not only did we learn how to drive tractors or care for animals, but we also learned how to cook, clean house, and do our own washing and ironing. My mother taught me how to sew, how to knit, and how to crochet. The summer I was eighteen, my parents took off on a trip to New York state on a few minutes’ notice. For the next week, my brothers, ages fifteen and thirteen, ran the farm while I ran the household. I had begun handling the housekeeping during the summer at age eleven when my mother was commuting to school to complete her Bachelor’s Degree. There were no cell phones in those days, and thrifty people didn’t waste money on long distance phone calls, so helicopter parenting wasn’t an option. My parents were free to travel because they could trust us, trust that had been built over years of working with us.

As our parents taught us to work, they also inculcated their moral and spiritual values. I remain deeply grateful for that early teaching because even when I wandered away from God as a young adult, that teaching pulled me back from the brink of disaster on many occasions. Because of that early background, I will haul myself out of bed in the middle of the night to do emergency operations or care for a dying patient.

My original title for this devotional was “God is not Santa Claus.” We want Santa to give us things no matter how bad we have been. But one song about Santa goes “He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake. He knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness’ sake!” Traditionally, Santa will bring bad children only lumps of coal.

Santa Claus is a fictional character; however, the Lord God Almighty, Creator of the Universe, is very real. God wants us to live happy healthy lives, but He also wants those lives to be holy. Let us pursue holiness for ourselves and for our families!

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to follow hard after You all the days of our lives and to teach our children to do so also. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

‘You shall keep My statutes. 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.

‘Whoever lies carnally with a woman who is betrothed to a man as a concubine, and who has not at all been redeemed nor given her freedom, for this there shall be scourging; but they shall not be put to death, because she was not free. And he shall bring his trespass offering to the Lord, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, a ram as a trespass offering. The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the Lord for his sin which he has committed. And the sin which he has committed shall be forgiven him.

‘When you come into the land, and have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as uncircumcised. Three years it shall be as uncircumcised to you. It shall not be eaten. But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, a praise to the Lord. And in the fifth year you may eat its fruit, that it may yield to you its increase: I am the Lord your God.

‘You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor shall you practice divination or soothsaying. You shall not shave around the sides of your head, nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard. You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord.

‘Do not prostitute your daughter, to cause her to be a harlot, lest the land fall into harlotry, and the land become full of wickedness.

‘You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord.”

At first, the injunctions against breeding of livestock between different species, mixtures of grain, and mixtures of material might seem weird. But David Guzik in his Enduring Word Commentary gives a fascinating explanation:

“The mixing of these things – different species of livestock, seeds, and fabrics – was usually seen by ancient pagans to be a source of magical power. God wanted Israel to have no association with these pagan customs.

 “Partly, to teach the Israelites to avoid mixtures with other nations, either in marriage or in religion; which also may be signified by the following prohibitions.” (Poole)

Since those pagan customs are no longer an issue in our day, we shouldn’t worry about mixing wool, linen, or other fabrics. This law is a good example of something that is no longer binding upon Christians today because the pagan custom the law guarded against is no longer practiced. However, in our modern age there are important distinctions that have become blurred and things Christians must not participate in. The present-day blurring of distinctions between genders should be resisted by Christians.”

Men who have sex with a woman who is betrothed as a concubine must still be scourged and offer a trespass offering. This rule reinforces the value God places on women.

Why the prohibition against harvesting fruit from newly planted trees until the fifth year? That length of time will allow the trees to be well established.

“‘You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor shall you practice divination or soothsaying. You shall not shave around the sides of your head, nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard. You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord.” All these practices are typical of several different pagan cults. God wants His people to avoid all such practices.

“‘Do not prostitute your daughter, to cause her to be a harlot, lest the land fall into harlotry, and the land become full of wickedness.”  It’s likely that the kind of prostitution referred to here is temple/ritual prostitution. Some pagan parents will offer their daughters as temple prostitutes as a means of gaining virtue. This practice existed up into the twentieth century; Amy Carmichael, the famous missionary at Dohnavur, India, had a ministry rescuing children of both sexes from temple prostitution.

“‘You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord.”  This is God’s bottom line: above all, God wants us to continue to honor Him and His commandments.

APPLICATION: This list seems like some kind of ecclesiastic grab bag; however, the underlying concern remains the same: practical holiness. God doesn’t His people behaving like pagans. What about the injunction against tattoos? The tattoos referred to here are marks made to indicate dedication to a particular deity or idol. Cutting marks was used as a form of grieving after a death.

What about the rules against divination and soothsaying? What about horoscopes? What about Ouija boards or fortune tellers? Isaiah 8:19 tells us, “When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? There are only two sources of information: God or Satan. God by His very Nature is truth, while Satan is the Father of Lies. God has promised that when we need guidance, He will freely give it. “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.” (Psalm 32:8) Tempting as it might be to sneak a peek at your horoscope, don’t.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to consult You and not demons when we need guidance. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Moral and Ceremonial Laws

”And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.  ‘Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and keep My Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.  ‘Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves molded gods: I am the Lord your God.  ‘And if you offer a sacrifice of a peace offering to the Lord, you shall offer it of your own free will. It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, and on the next day. And if any remains until the third day, it shall be burned in the fire. And if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an abomination. It shall not be accepted. Therefore everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned the hallowed offering of the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from his people.

‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. And you shall not glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger: I am the Lord your God.

‘You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. And you shall not swear by My name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. ‘You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning. 

You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your God: I am the Lord.

‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people; nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.

‘You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your neighbor, and not bear sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. ‘You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord.

God continues to show His people the ways of holiness. Why be holy? Because God is holy; if we really worship Him, we should strive to be holy as well. Now God is describing the ways of practical holiness and of loving our neighbors.

1. Keeping the Sabbath and respecting the peace offering by consuming it by the second day. That meat will begin to rot by the third day anyhow; why not share it with the poor while you can? When else will they get good meat to eat?
2. Leaving harvest gleanings and part of the grapes in the vineyard behind for the poor. Those gleanings might mean the difference between life and death for those people.
3. Refusing to steal, lie, cheat, swear falsely, or misuse the Name of the Lord. In an earlier age, one of the finest compliments someone could receive was “His/her word is his/her bond.” Such people were men and women of integrity and could be counted on.
4. Refusing to cheat, rob, withholding a worker’s wages when you know he/she needs that money. Tantalizing people in such a fashion is cruel, and God hates cruelty!
5. Refusing to curse the deaf (who cannot hear you and therefore don’t realize you are angry with them) or leaving something in the path of the blind over which they might stumble. God wants His people to have compassion for the disabled. In ancient times, people believed that God must have specially cursed the disabled for them to suffer their disabilities. God wants His people to know that is absolutely wrong.
6. Judging justly and refusing to bear tales. “Discretion is the better part of valor” has been a common saying for years. Unfortunately, social media platforms serve to encourage people to spread all kinds of vicious rumors. Even before online social media existed, “bush telegraph” social media was alive and well and operating full tilt, destroying reputations in the process.
7. Refusing to hold grudges. God wants His people to settle differences quickly and peacefully. Later, St. Paul would advise the Ephesians, “Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger, and do not give the devil a foothold.” (Ephesians 4:26-27) The longer we hold a grudge, the more likely we are to do something horrible or stupid in revenge.
8. Steadfastly keep the Sabbath and respect God’s sanctuary. If we refuse to honor God’s Sabbath and to respect the place of His worship, we are demonstrating disdain for the Creator of the Universe, the One who holds our breath in His hands.

APPLICATION: We have spent much of our lives working with poor people. There is nothing inherently virtuous about poverty; there are some poor people who have become bitter and greedy. But many times, we have found that the poor are more appreciative and grateful than those with more wealth. Here in rural Ghana, it’s common for people to demonstrate gratitude by giving guinea eggs or guinea fowls and tubers of yam to those who have helped them. Repeatedly, we have been the recipients of such gifts, and it is always humbling. At the same time, we do as much as possible to help those with catastrophic illnesses who may have no money with which to sustain themselves while in hospital, let alone settle their bills later.

God wants us to practically demonstrate His love and care to those around us. We can always share something. One story making the rounds is that of a family who attended a church that was doing a special offering for missions. Although the parents made small salaries, the children quickly organized and earned money by running errands, mowing lawns, etc. When the missions offering was taken, it totaled $100, a large amount in those days. What people failed to realize was that this poor family with little means had contributed $80 of that offering! The next time you are shopping, why not buy a few  items and donate them to the local food bank or to neighbors who need help? If you don’t have money, visit people in nursing homes or make phone calls to elderly neighbors and relatives. These people are generally not on social media platforms and may be cut off from caring attention.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to be conscious of those around us who need help. Guide us so that we will help practically and effectively. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.