Leviticus 19 - Rules for a good society

Be holy because I am holy. We were made in the image of God, so we are to be like God. This is our purpose and our destiny.

However, this is not some airy fairy notion, but something that has very practical consequences in all aspects of life. So we now get a collection of various laws.

First there is a reiteration of some of the things contained within the ten commandments. We are to honour our parents, to observe the Sabbath and not to worship idols.

In today's society there is an obsession with squeezing the last ounce of efficiency out of everything. This is ungodly! For here God tells them not to go right to the edge of fields, or go over the vineyard a second time. Now we are to do things well, but trying to squeeze the last penny out of everything is a mistake. It is part of the reason for the current financial crisis, it is one of the reasons why so many of our systems (health service etc) do not work well. Trying to be too efficient results in inefficiency.

There are then more reiterations of parts of the ten commandments.

We are to treat each other well. There are instructions not to treat the blind badly.

There is to be justice, with proper concern for the poor.

Verse 17 tells us not to hate someone in our heart. So we see that the Law was not just concerned with outward appearance, and in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus was getting back to the heart of the Law. In the same vein verse 18 tells us not bear grudges, but to love our neighbour. So loving our neighbour involves loving our enemy.

There are then various laws about honesty, respecting the old, and foreigners, avoiding divination, and sexual conduct.

Our society today could do a lot worse than start to observe the sorts of things that are commanded here. God's ways are timeless. People sometimes say that things have changed and the Biblical commands are outdated. Nothing could be further from the truth. If we were truly wise we would start to reapply these laws.

Leviticus 17, 18 - Sacrifices and forbidden sexual practices

All sacrifices had to be brought to the tent of meeting, not just sacrificed anywhere they liked. In fact if someone made a sacrifice in some other place they were guilty and were to be cut off from the people. Today there is a lot of talk about "spirituality" and "faith", and a tendency to think that any form of "spirituality" or "faith" has value. It does not. Faith and spirituality are of value only if they are faith in Christ and Godly spirituality. 

Why were there commands against these things? Because the people had been offering things to goat idols and prostituting themselves. Wrong sorts of "spirituality" lead to wrong sorts of behaviour.

There have already been some instructions against eating blood, now we get more specific about the reason, namely that the life is in the blood, and it was for atonement.

Chapter 18 lists a whole load of forbidden sexual practices. The Israelites were to be different from other people, they were not to follow the sexual practices of the other people. Likewise we must not follow the immorality of the present age. 

If we keep the Lord's commands we will live by them. God's commands are not arbitrary, but will bring life.

First there is prohibition on sexual relations with close relatives, something that is still observed today.

Then there are prohibitions on sacrificing children. We need to be very wary today about the increasing sexualisation of children, it is wrong and destructive.

Homesexual acts are forbidden. Whatever the laws of the land might say, the Bible is clear that homosexual acts are wrong.

Sex acts with animals are also forbidden.

Sexual immorality defiles a people and defiles a nation. It matters, and we should pray for the nation that we live in.

Leviticus 16 - Atonement

It is the Lord who decides who and how we should approach Him. If you listen to debates and questions from atheists and agnostics you will often hear things that presume we can decide how to approach God. It is up to God, not us.

Aaron had seen the consequences of going against God's ways with the death of his two sons. First he had to make a sacrifice. Then he had to put on the sacred clothes, having washed himself beforehand. For us, this means we have to rely on the blood of Jesus to pay for our sin, we need to repent, and we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

Next there was the scapegoat. One was chosen by lots from two. This showed that it was God, not man, who chose the sacrifice.

Aaron had to sprinkle the blood from the sacrificial bull with his finger. So again we see an intimate connection between Aaron and the sacrifice.

The scapegoat was to take all the peoples sins. Aaron had to confess the peoples' sins over the goat. The goat would then carry away all the sins of the people. Now of course the goat had no such effect, but was pointing the way forward to the One who would truly take our sins away. Jesus has taken our sins away. We need no longer be burdened by guilt.

Leviticus 15 - Discharges and other delights

It wasn't just women who could become unclean via bodily discharges, it affected men too. The common view seems to be that the discharges in v 2-12 referred to those from a man's sexual organs, gonorrhoea possibly being one concern. Such a man was in danger of rendering anything that he touched as unclean. Again, there are obvious hygiene reasons for some of the rules. We can, however, take a wider view as well. When a politician or similar person (if you accept the premise that politicians are human, which some may doubt) has an affair there is always the view proffered that "as long as he is good at his job it doesn't matter". This is nonsense. We cannot compartmentalise our lives, our spiritual state affects all that we do, whether for good or evil.

Next in this delightful chapter we come to emissions of semen. It seems that this includes both emissions during sex and other emissions. These other emissions may include nocturnal emissions and masturbation. No sacrifice was needed for this uncleanness, this was also the case for menstruation. This is a further reminder that uncleanness and sin were not synonymous. Bathing was all that was required.

A woman's period comes next, and, as was just mentioned, no sacrifice was required. 

This is then followed by regulations for abnormal flows of blood from a woman.

If nothing else, this chapter proves that God is far less squeamish and far less reticent about talking about some of these things than we sometimes are.

Leviticus 13, 14 - Don't get mouldy!

We have two chapters here that deal with skin diseases and household mould. Our first reaction may well be what is this doing in the Bible? 

With the skin diseases there is an emphasis on uncleanness, but there also to seem to be obvious health benefits as well. There would be a concern with leprosy in particular. There was also concern about various boils. In all these cases the priest gave the problem time to develop so that they could determine whether or not it was serious. With problems that we all have some are things that will just go away in time, others are much more serious. We do not need to treat every single failing or even every single sin as if it was the end of the world needing full scale exorcism or something to deal with. Somethings will just be transitory, but things that persist do need to be dealt with.

Next we turn to fabrics going mouldy. The prime concern was whether or not the mould had spread and was deep rooted. Again, this is relevant with sin and failings. Sometimes the best approach is "just get over it", at other times the matter is more widespread or deep rooted and needs closer attention.

Similar rules applied to moulds within houses.

Your Government needs your prayers

A little new year message for you.

Whatever part of the world you live in your country is facing great risks this year, whether political, social, racial, religious conflict, or economic. Here in the West the whole economic system is still on a knife edge.

Whatever the political colours of your government, they do not know what to do. They do not have the wisdom or power within themselves to handle the situations they face.

So we must pray. We must set aside our own political leanings and pray. For if the party you tend to support has recently gained power, they do not have the power in themselves to handle the situation. If you support the opposition do not imagine that a simple change of government would solve things.

We must pray.

If we look in the Bible we see that God can work through all sorts of governments. In Egypt God placed a godly man, Joseph, in the right place at the right time to give wisdom.

At another time, Nebuchadnezzar was in power. He was one of the most godless and evil rulers there could be. Babylon had crushed God's people. Yet God spoke to this man. And again God had placed godly men of wisdom in key positions, in the form of Daniel and his friends (read all about it in Daniel). 

No matter how much you may despair of your government, God is greater, and God can even speak to them. We must pray.

Pray for governments that you do not like. If you are a Euro-sceptic then pray for the EU. If you are a Republican then pray for Obama. Pray for the Russian and Chinese governments.

Whatever else we do this year, pray.

Leviticus 12 - Purification after childbirth

Chapter 12 details how long a woman was unclean for after childbirth, and instructions for circumcision of a male child. The latter is in accordance with the instructions given to Abraham. All this seems very strange to us. Why should giving birth make a woman unclean. Verse 7 seems to indicate that it is the flow of blood that is the reason. Blood is precious. They were not allowed to eat anything that contained blood, and maybe it is the association with blood that is the crux of the matter. here. Everything is looking forward to the shedding of blood by Jesus that would bring salvation to all who believe. 

Note that the blood did not make the woman sinful, being unclean is not the same as being sinful.