“Holy Living (Leviticus 19:1-36)" 3/17/24
Leviticus 19:1-36 | 3/17/24 | Thad Yessa
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. 3 Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. 4 Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.
5 “When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted.6 It shall be eaten the same day you offer it or on the day after, and anything left over until the third day shall be burned up with fire. 7 If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is tainted; it will not be accepted, 8 and everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned what is holy to the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from his people.
9 “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10 And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.
11 “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. 12 You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.
13 “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. 14 You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.
15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. 16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.
17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
19 “You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.
20 “If a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave, assigned to another man and not yet ransomed or given her freedom, a distinction shall be made. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free;21 but he shall bring his compensation to the Lord, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering. 22 And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven for the sin that he has committed.
23 “When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten. 24 And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. 25 But in the fifth year you may eat of its fruit, to increase its yield for you: I am the Lord your God.
26 “You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes. 27 You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard. 28 You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.
29 “Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity. 30 You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.
31 “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.
32 “You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.
33 “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 34 You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
35 “You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity. 36 You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37 And you shall observe all my statutes and all my rules, and do them: I am the Lord.”
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Our holiness arises from our relationship with God. (1-2)
Leviticus 19 continues the broad address of the previous chapters: 'Speak to the entire assembly of Israel' (19:2; 17:2; 18:2). These are Yahweh's words to everyone. The opening command, “You shall be holy” (19:2). The explicit reason follows: 'because I, the LORD your God, am holy. Once more, Israel is reminded of its set-apart status. Israel must increasingly come to resemble its God. The imitation of God must be a way of life for Israel and us today. The commands that make up the remainder of the chapter need to be understood in this context. They are not rules to follow so that Israel might somehow find divine favor and earn standing with God; instead, they are a call to holiness for a people already delivered by Yahweh's gracious action and already bound to Him (I am Yahweh your God).
“Amid the commands in this chapter, the LORD repeats the phrase "I am the LORD (your God)" fifteen times. This phrase was shorthand for reminding the Israelites he had graciously redeemed them, called them to himself as his treasured possession, and blessed them with the mission of reflecting his holy character into the world (Exod 19:4-6). By repeating it so frequently, the Lord underscores that the Israelites' obedience was not to be an impersonal checklist or a way to earn their salvation but a highly relational act of love toward the one who had already redeemed them and toward the world he had called them to serve.” - Jay Sklar
These rules are also not empty moralism. God’s instructions are an invitation to godlikeness character—or, as we think about it, the process of sanctification.
God is calling the Israelites to be set apart as distinct from the nations in terms of moral conduct. They are to be like God who is distinct in his moral purity and love and so should His people be. God’s holiness is meant to be the reason for their holiness (because they are God’s) and the model for what holiness looks like (their holiness reflects His own).
As we will spend the rest of our time seeing; reflecting God’s holiness must be done in every area of life. “The LORD never speaks of holy living as something that requires withdrawing from society; it must be done in the midst of society and in every sphere of life.”- Jay Sklar
God addresses holiness in: family, worship, business practices, proper treatment of the poor/disadvantages, in a court of law, ritual practices, and general social interactions.
There is not a single part of our lives where God doesn’t desire holiness.
Our holiness adds to our daily worship. (3-8)
God then moves into what it looks like to be holy in our daily lives by reminding the Israelites of three of the 10 commandments and adding a law about a fellowship offering.
First, is the fifth commandment, “Honor your father and your mother” (Exodus 20:12). God is doing two things here, first calling for the revering of the most natural authority, parents, mothers, and fathers, through the obeying and serving. Secondly, God is calling for specific obeying and serving around the covenant that parents were commanded to teach their children. Or to think of it another way, holiness begins at home. Parents are to teach their children who God is and what He is like, here mainly that He is holy.
Holiness starts in the home.
God then moves to the fourth commandment of keeping the Sabbath. We have spent quite a bit of time in our study through the book of Exodus talking about this fourth commandment. So briefly, for Israel to keep the Sabbath day as holy (set apart) was to indicate that Israel was in a covenant relationship with God and resting in His faithful provision by abstaining from work for that day.
God then reminds them of the first and second commandments, of no other gods or specifically graven images. We read these reminders and can think about how many times God has already addressed these issues, but we, like the children of Israel, are forgetful people. God is calling for Israel to not abandon God like a faithless spouse to try and find relationships elsewhere. As soon as they turn their face to anything else for ultimate help and salvation, they turn their back to the LORD.
Lastly, God reminds Israel again of the proper way to carry out this peace sacrifice, mostly likely like the previous commands, to emphasize that God demands holy worship. Whatever the reason, this section emphasizes what 7:16-18 has already made clear: the importance of following proper sacrificial procedure to receive the LORD's favorable acceptance. This meant eating the sacrifices of holy meat within the allotted time and disposing properly of the remainder (19:6). Those who failed to do so were subject to punishment because "the holy gift? of the LORD they... profaned" (19:8), that is, they showed utter disregard for the holy nature of the LORD's sacrifice and thus for the LORD himself? The seriousness of this offense is matched by the seriousness of its penalty: "that person must be cut off from their people," that is, suffer exile or premature death. Those who fail to respect the LORD's holiness have no place among the LORD's holy people.
Our holiness affects our relationship with people. (9-18)
We love our neighbor with our possessions. (9-10)
You can understand what this agrarian command is about. In a society where people are farmers, they go, and get their grain, or they have grapes in their vineyard. You can imagine that as you’re doing the harvest, some of the sheaves fall to the side, some of the grapes fall on the ground, and this command says, “I don’t want you to go and pick up every last grape, I don’t want you to get every last bit of the harvest. In fact, I don’t want you to go all the way out to the edges. You’re going to leave some. It’s going to be a little bit messy. It’s going to be hard for your OCD. But you’re going to leave this because some people, the poor, the sojourner, you’re going to allow them to come in and take some of what you’ve left.”
The most famous is Boaz’s kindness to Ruth in letting her glean in the fields. They’ve experienced famine. Ruth and her mother-in-law have nothing, but Boaz, in his kindness, says, “Sure, you can come behind my reapers and go ahead.” And he actually tells the reapers, “Let her get as much as she can.”
It’s not hard to understand the underlying principle. As God’s people, we should deliberately plan our lives so that we have extra left over to give to those in need. Yes, we live in a very wealthy country, the needs look different, the way of providing for the needs of people may look different, but the principle is the same, that we would not grasp tightly to our things that we can’t let some go to care for others.
The reason God could call them to be generous is because it all belonged to God in the first. God is helping them understand that He is the provider, and therefore He could be the instructor for how to use their property.
We love our neighbor with our words. (11-12)
Now verse 11 begins, “You shall not steal,” but actually, stealing seems to be related to bearing false witness, “You shall not deal falsely,” because the rest of verses 11 and 12 have to do with our speech (also commandments 8 and 9). In particular, there are two contexts where honesty is important in the ancient world and today: business and in the courts.
Do not steal, but the context suggests that stealing involves lying or dealing falsely with each other, as in a business setting. When we love, we tell the truth in all of our transactions.
Look back at the end of the chapter, verse 35 – “You shall do no wrong in judgment, the measures of lengths or weight or quantity, just balances, just weight, a just ephah, a just hin.”
This was one of the most common ways that you could cheat people because you’re weighing out what you get paid for your grain or for your produce. You would have a scale, it’s weighted on one side, and you stick some rocks in there to make it weigh heavier or lighter so that what you’re giving them is not telling the truth. It may not always be a happy ending. You may lose the sale sometimes. But we tell the truth.
So honesty in business, honesty in the courtroom. Especially in a day without surveillance cameras or DNA testing or wiretapping, everything depended on witnesses. That’s why bearing false witness was such a serious crime.
This matters in an official courtroom, it matters in the courtroom of public opinion as well. Now it’s true, we all can make honest mistakes, or we may interpret someone’s ideas or opinions, or we may just have honest disagreements. There’s a difference between disagreements and dishonesty. We must be careful in the court of public opinion that we don’t pass along slander or hearsay that we can’t confirm, or we’re eager to pass along reports that would only tear others down. Love, whether for our neighbors or our enemies, demands that we are careful with our words. We love with our words.
We love our neighbor with our actions. (13-14)
You see this in verses 13 and 14 is an example of oppression – when you promise to your day laborer to give them a wage, and then the sun sets, and you don’t give them what you promised. You defraud your workers. Because a day laborer is, by definition, someone who’s living day to day-to-day, hand-to-mouth. They don’t have recourse. They’re not powerful people. The ones who hired them out have the power, the status, and the position. So it is a very easy thing to say, “Well, I don’t think your work was done up to snuff.” Or, “You know what, ah, turns out I don’t have anything. I don’t have any shekels to give you today. Why don’t you come back next week?” It was an easy way for landowners and employers to stiff their employees and their day laborers of their wages. God in the Old Testament and in the New Testament consistently speaks out against this act of oppression.
The broader principle is that we must not take advantage of the weak. You see in verse 14, two very simple, obvious examples. Don’t curse the deaf; don’t put a stumbling block before the blind.
They’re extreme to illustrate how we should not take advantage of the weak. Don’t curse the deaf. The deaf can’t hear you, so go ahead and curse them. Right? You won’t get in any trouble. Put a stumbling block before the blind. They can’t see, they won’t know who did it, you get an advantage, and you get to laugh.
The idea is simple – do not take advantage of those even if they have no recourse to hold you accountable.
We love our neighbor with our judgments. (15-16)
Here’s the fourth , verse 15 and 16 – Love others in our judgments.
These courts would have been enmeshed in their community. You would know these people. They would know you. Notice what it says, because here’s the biblical definition of justice. We live in a day, everyone talks about justice, but we have a hundred definitions of what that means. Here we have justice – You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great. Justice is making a right, fair judgment.
You don’t defer to the poor. So if a poor man comes before you, you don’t say, “Well, this person’s never had any breaks in life. I know how much they could use this.” Nor do you defer to the great.
The task of those in authority is to, at the best of their ability, to make a right judgment. Justice means rendering the just verdict.
On the Supreme Court building in our own country are the words, “Equal justice under the law.” That’s the goal.
The goal is not to meet a predetermined result; the goal must never be to show partiality to one group based on their gender, based on their ethnicity, based on their social standing, but it is to give equal treatment.
And don’t just do this in the court setting, don’t do this in the church.
James 2 My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2 For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in,3 and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4 have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7 Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?
We love our neighbor with our attitudes. (17-18)
It says, “You shall not hate your brother in your heart.”
Well, this is hard. The other ones we almost thought maybe we could do, but now it gets to the heart. We’re pretty decent at showing up for an hour and a half and being civil and polite, but some of us hold on to anger over past offenses, or we’re smiling in public and then we rip somebody to pieces in private, or we go home and say the sort of things we would never say out loud. We’re smiling on the outside, but inside, we’re seething.
Now you say, “What am I supposed to do? I can’t just tell myself not to hate. Can I?” Well, these verses tell us what we should do: “You shall go reason frankly with your neighbor lest you incur sin because of him.”
Strange phrase. What does it mean to “incur sin”? Does it mean you’re going to be guilty of sin if you don’t correct him? I don’t think that’s the case. I think what it means is unless you get this worked out, you’re going to have such bitterness, such anger, that it’s going to lead to sin and further festering hatred in your own heart.
But when there are those things that you cannot just overlook, and they’re adding a festering wound and a spirit of bitterness and what you see there in verse 18, a desire to take vengeance or to bear a grudge, you must go and speak to the person. That’s what it looks like. How do you get rid of this hate that you have, this burning, growing frustration and anger? You must, at some point when you’re calm, speak to them. That’s what love does. You may not win them over, but you go as a neighbor, and perhaps it’s as a family member, to speak love as you would want to be loved.
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
We probably all know the verse and it’s hard to do. It means you have an open heart toward others. It means you are eager to forgive because wouldn’t you want to be forgiven?
Jesus said the judgment you want to receive should be the judgment you give to others. Do you want people to be exacting with all your faults? Do you want them to bring up a long list of all of their grievances? Do you never want anyone to give you the benefit of the doubt?
None of us want to be loved like that. Do you want people to make the worst assumptions and put the worst constructions upon all of your motives?No one wants to be loved like that.
We are responsible for treating our neighbors as we would want to be treated, and the way to move that hatred out of your heart is to speak in love and to open yourself up. Yes, love always, love is vulnerable, love opens yourself up to being frustrated, to being hurt, again, but that’s what love does.
It is worth pausing here. While this verse generally implies we are to love everyone, its first quoted verse application is more difficult: its focus is on loving words in the people who have wronged us. We want those we have wronged to treat us this way.
The LORD here tells his people to extend this act of love to others . He reminds us we have the command perfect model for this: "I am the LORD (19:18d), the one who so richly and quickly forgives you. As my holy people, go and do likewise, showing the world what I desire to do for them as well." Just as he shows his love to all-even to those who have sinned against him—so must his people do the same. Jesus makes this point in addressing those who sought to limit this command to friends (Matt 5:43), emphasizing that it also applies to enemies.
He teaches us even to pray for them and explains that only when we show love to all people can we become living examples of God's generous care and love for the entire world (Matt 5:44-45). Similarly, when asked to explain what loving our neighbor as ourselves entails, Jesus tells the parable of a good Samaritan who showed practical love and care for a man who would normally be considered his enemy (Luke 10:29-37). He concludes the parable by saying "Go and do likewise" (10:37), making clear that loving our neighbor means showing God's love and care to all those we encounter, whether friend or foe, and doing so in very practical ways.
This fundamental command is one of the most quoted verses in the New Testament. As Paul states, "The commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, "You shall not steal; You shall not covet, and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Rom 13:9). When we love people in this way, we help them to understand and to experience the love of God himself. This is our calling. This is our privilege.
Our holiness alerts to distinct living. (19-36)
God is now calling the Israelites to live differently than those around. It may seem as though the last part of this chapter is just a smattering of random laws for them to follow, but by following God alerts others to a certain uniqueness. We will move quickly through these.
Laws about Mixtures (19) - Don’t mate animals together, don’t plant two kinds of seeds, and don’t mix certain fabrics. God is calling them to set themselves apart by having distinctions.
Laws about Female Servants (20-22) - Don’t seek to take advantage of women. Have an appropriate separation and respect.
Laws on Fruit Trees (23-25) - The law provides the Israelites an opportunity to honor the LORD as their gracious provider, and to honor him by setting aside what is “holy” for HIM.
Laws on Pagan Practices (26-28; 31) - avoid certain practices that were associated with the pagan nations. The LORD is calling them to live in a way that is visibly different from those around them. I am the LORD your God whom you should turn to with concerns about the future.
Laws on Filling the Land with Holiness, Not Wickedness (29-30) - “Israel, the way you treat your females must testify to the world that they are precious - of worth and value- because they belong to me, are created in my image, and must be honored and cared for as such.
Laws on Respecting the Elderly (32) - Honor/Respect
Laws on Treatment of Resident Aliens (33-34) - Our experience with the LORD’s redemptive mercy and love is to change us forever into people who embody these same qualities towards others.
Laws on Court (35-36) - Be just like God
Conclusion: “We face constant temptation to minimize the implications of holiness. Sometimes we do this by thinking holiness applies mainly to a small list of activities we call religious, such as reading our Bibles, attending church, and praying. Other times we do this by thinking holiness applies mainly to a small list of rules, such as "Don't lie," "Don't steal," and so forth. And still other times we do this by thinking holiness applies mainly to a small list of people, such as pastors, or priests, or missionaries.” - Jay Sklar
In all these ways, we make holiness small.
In this chapter, the LORD makes clear that holiness is big: it applies in every situation and to all people. The LORD has created us to reflect his image into the world, and he calls us to do this in every aspect of our lives, from our families, to our worship, to our business practices, to how we treat the poor and disadvantaged, to our systems of law. In all of these things, we are to embody his mercy, goodness, justice, and love. Not surprisingly, when Peter quotes Lev. 19:2, he applies it to everything we do: "But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy'" (1 Pet 1:15-16). All of life is to be a stage on which we act out the LORD's holy values. And we do this by obeying the laws and statues of the LORD (19:37). Those who follow the LORD’s laws walk in His ways and demonstrate his character to the world.