Bible: Beginning to End - Leviticus 16-27: The Day of Atonement & Expressions of Holiness & Regulations Pertaining to Vows

Episode Date: February 12, 2021

*For copyright reasons, I had to combine these episodes into one episode. Leviticus 16-20 (Read) Leviticus 21-27 (Read) Contact Us Visit our Website          On Instagram @biblebeginningtoend     On Twitter: @biblebeginning1      Via email: [e-mail] Discuss each episode on Reddit Click Here for our YouTube Channel. Supporting the Show Financial contributions are never required, but if you'd like to support the show, here are a couple of ways: Be a listener and share the show with your friends! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click here to become a monthly supporter via Spotify.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠* ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Click here to make a one-time contribution via Paypal⁠⁠.* *Note that the Bible Beginning to End podcast is not a registered 501(c)3 or charitable organization. Therefore, any monetary support provided is not tax deductible. 10% of any profits made from this podcast via ad revenues or listener support will be donated to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Asha's Refuge⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, a Christ-centered nonprofit that "exists to assist the most disadvantaged refugees/asylees in achieving a successful resettlement in the Memphis, TN area.". Episode Timestamps 00:00 - Intro 1 1:52 - Ad Break 1:53 - Leviticus 16 11:33 - Leviticus 17 16:52 - Leviticus 18 22:11 - Leviticus 19 29:05 - Leviticus 20 37:55 - Outro 1 38:24 - Intro 2 40:18 - Leviticus 21 48:30 - Leviticus 22 57:05 - Leviticus 23 1:09:39 - Leviticus 24 1:18:38 - Leviticus 25 1:30:59 - Leviticus 26 1:45:02 - Leviticus 27 1:50:55 - Outro 2 Bible Verse Copyright Statement Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. To purchase an NLT, please visit https://amzn.to/3wUpUef

Hello and welcome back to Bible beginning to end. I'm so glad you're here. As I'm recording this today, just to give you a little peek out my window, we had an ice storm last night, so I'm looking at a lot of beautiful trees covered in ice. It's kind of like a little winter wonderland. I love it. It gives me something to meditate on and to see God's beauty in the world around me. Before we get started, I want to always remind you guys that you can reach out to the show.

All the ways to do that and support the show are in the description of this episode. I love hearing from you guys and having some discourse with you guys via email. We're also on Twitter. If you want to reach out there, love hearing how you are interacting with God's Word. So we're in Leviticus. and we've been going through, we went through the offering system, the institution of the priesthood, and regulations pertaining to purity. We learned a lot about cleansing the body, offering sacrifices, how the priest played an integral part in atoning for sins,

and keeping the tabernacle a holy place. Well, today we're going to pick up in a new section called the Day of Atonement. which starts in chapter 16. And this is going to go into some of the holy days and the way that the priests and the community of Israel atoned for sins. And then after chapter 16, we're going to go into part of the section that's called expressions of holiness in the community. We won't finish that, but we're going to end with Leviticus 20 today. So that's a little about where we're going to going, but let's go ahead and get started with Leviticus 16, the Day of Atonement. The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron's two sons, who died after they entered

the Lord's presence and burned the wrong kind of fire before him. The Lord said to Moses, warn your brother, Aaron, not to enter the most holy place behind the inner curtain whenever he chooses. If he does, he will. will die for the ark's cover, the place of atonement, is there, and I myself am present in the cloud above the atonement cover. So pause there. Why do you think God's saying you can't just come in and out of the most holy place whenever you want? What is there that needs to remain sacred? What does this show us about God's presence and what it's like to try and be in God's presence? Verse three. When Aaron enters the sanctuary area, he must follow these instructions fully. He must bring a

young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He must put on his linen tunic and the linen undergarments worn next to his body. He must tie the linen sash around his waist and put the linen turban on his head. These are sacred garments. So he must bathe himself in water before he puts them on. Aaron must take from the community of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. Aaron will present his own bull as a sin offering to purify himself and his family, making them right with the Lord. Then he must take the two male goats and present them to the Lord at the entrance of the tabernacle. He is to cast sacred lots to determine which goat will be reserved as an offering to the Lord,

and which will carry the sins of the people to the wilderness of Azazel. Aaron will then present as a sin offering the goat chosen by lot for the Lord. The other goat, the scapegoat chosen by lot, to be sent away, will be kept alive standing before the Lord. when it is sent away to Azazel in the wilderness, the people will be purified and made right with the Lord. So pause there, and as we continue reading, think about what these two goats represent.

We have one goat that's going to be presented as a sin offering, and then we have another goat who will carry the sins of the people to the wilderness. As we read about this section, this day of atonement, continue thinking about what these two goats represent, and then think about how this system was changed when Christ sacrificed himself on the cross. Verse 11. Aaron will present his own bull as a sin offering to purify himself and his family, making them right with the Lord. After he has slaughtered the bull as a sin offering, he will fill an insolvening.

incense burner with burning coals from the altar that stands before the Lord. Then he will take two handfuls of fragrant powdered incense and will carry the burner in the incense behind the inner curtain. There in the Lord's presence, he will put the incense on the burning coals so that a cloud of incense will rise over the ark's cover, the place of atonement, that rests on the Ark of the Covenant. If he follows these instructions, He will not die. Then he must take some of the blood of the bowl, dip his finger in it, and sprinkle it on the east side of the atonement cover. He must sprinkle blood seven times with his finger in front of the atonement cover.

Then Aaron must slaughter the first goat as a sin offering for the people and carry its blood behind the inner curtain. There he will sprinkle the goat's blood over the atonement cover and in front of it, just as he did with the bull's blood. Through this process, he will purify the most holy place, and he will do the same for the entire tabernacle because of the defiling sin and rebellion of the Israelites. So pause there. On this holy day of atonement,

whose sins are being forgiven? Is it one person or the entire community of Israel? Verse 17, no one else is allowed inside the tabernacle when Aaron enters it for the purification ceremony in the most holy place. No one may enter until he comes out again after purifying himself, his family, and all the congregation of Israel, making them right with the Lord. Then Aaron will come out to purify the altar that stands before the Lord. He will do this by taking some of the blood from the bull and the goat and putting it on each of the horns of the altar. Then he must sprinkle the blood with his finger seven times over the altar.

In this way, he will cleanse it from Israel's defilement and make it holy. When Aaron has finished purifying the most holy place and the tabernacle and the altar, he must present the live goat. He will lay both of his hands on the goat's head and confess over it all the wickedness, rebellion, and sins of the people of Israel. In this way, he will transfer the people's sins to the head of the goat. Then a man specifically chosen for the task will drive the goat into the wilderness. As the goat goes into the wilderness, it will carry all the people's sins upon itself into a desolate land.

When Aaron goes back into the tabernacle, he must take off the linen garment he was wearing when he entered the most holy place, and he must leave the garments there. Then he must bathe himself with water in a sacred place, put on his regular garments, and go out to sacrifice a burnt offering for himself and a burnt offering for the people. Through this process, he will purify himself and the people, making them right with the Lord.

He must then burn all the fat of the sin offering on the altar. The man chosen to drive the scapegoat into the wilderness of Azazel must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, then he may return to the camp. The bull and the goat offered his sin offerings, whose blood Aaron takes into the most holy place for the purification ceremony, will be carried outside the camp. The animals hides, internal organs, and dung are all to be burned. The man who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water before returning to the camp. On the 10th day of the appointment, appointed month in early autumn, you must deny yourselves. Neither native-born Israelite nor foreigners

living among you may do any kind of work. This is a permanent law for you. On that day, offerings of purification will be made for you, and you will be purified in the Lord's presence from all your sins. It will be a Sabbath day of complete rest for you. And you must deny yourselves. This is a permanent law for you. In future generations, the purification ceremony will be performed by the priest who has been anointed and ordained to serve as high priest in place of his ancestor, Aaron. He will put on the holy linen garments and purify the most holy place, the tabernacle, the altar, the priests, and the entire congregation. This is a permanent law for you to purify the people of Israel from their sins, making them right with the Lord once each year.

Moses followed all these instructions exactly as the Lord had commanded him. So pause there at the end of chapter 16. We heard at the beginning that Aaron was commanded not to enter the most holy place anytime he saw fit. So when was Aaron actually allowed to enter the most holy place? And when he did enter the most holy place, what was the purpose? Why do you think this day of atonement happened only once a year? What was the significance of the day of atonement?

What was completed on this day? Okay. We're transitioning now into the next section of Leviticus called Expressions of Holiness in the Community. And chapter 17 has sections about inappropriate work. of God and regulations about handling blood. So let's get started with Leviticus 17. Then the Lord said to Moses,

give the following instructions to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel. This is what the Lord has commanded. If any native Israelites sacrifices a bull or a lamb or a goat anywhere inside or outside the camp, instead of bringing it to the entrance of the tabernacle to present it as a an offering to the Lord, that person will be as guilty as a murderer. Such a person has shed blood and will be cut off from the community. The purpose of this rule is to stop the Israelites from sacrificing animals in the open fields. It will ensure that they bring their sacrifices to the priest at the entrance of the tabernacle

so he can present them to the Lord as peace offerings. Then the priest will be able to splatter the blood against the Lord's altar at the entrance of the and he will burn the fat as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. The people must no longer be unfaithful to the Lord by offering sacrifices to the goat idols. This is a permanent law for them to be observed from generation to generation. So pause there. Why is God giving this commandment to the Israelites? And does this give us a little more insight into why God is so specific about rules and regulations for the Israelites?

Because what's going on here is that some of the Israelites are completing unsupervised sacrifices. But what is that leading to? What temptation is entering their life and what sin is entering their life by completing these unsupervised sacrifices? We can look back at verse 7 where it says the people must no longer be unfaithful to the Lord by offering sacrifices to the goat idols. So what does that imply was going on during these unsupervised sacrifices? Verse 8. Give them this command as well. If any native Israelite or foreigner living among you

offers a burnt offering or a sacrifice, but does not bring it to the entrance of the tabernacle to offer it to the Lord, the person will be cut off from the community. And if any native Israelite or foreigner living among you eats or drinks blood in any form, I will turn against that person and cut him off from the community of your people. For the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord. It is the blood given an exchange for a life that makes purification possible. This is why I have said to the people of Israel, you must never eat or drink

blood, neither you nor foreigners living among you. And if any native Israelite or foreigner living among you goes hunting and kills an animal or bird that is approved for eating, he must drain its blood and cover it with earth. The life of every creature is in its blood. That is why I have said to the people of Israel, you must never eat or drink blood for the life of any creature is in its blood. So whoever consumes blood will be cut off from the community. And if any native-born Israelites or foreigners eat the meat of an animal that died naturally or was torn up by wild animals, they must wash their clothes and bathe themselves in water. They will remain ceremonially unclean until evening, but then they will be clean. But if they do not wash their clothes and bade themselves, they will be punished for their sin.

So pause there and reflect on the symbol of blood. Why does God say it is so important not to eat or drink the blood of these animals or any blood? What is he saying blood symbolizes? And then we're always paralleling the Israelites rules and regulations with what happens after Christ's sacrifice on the cross. And what did Christ have to shed for his sacrifice to be complete? What was it that was shed that completed God's plan and gave life to all people who call on God? Okay, so now let's transition into Leviticus 18, which is titled Sexual Morality and Other Practical Matters. And the first section is forbidden sexual practices.

Then the Lord said to Moses, give the following. instructions to the people of Israel, I am the Lord your God. So do not act like the people in Egypt, where you used to live, or like the people of Canaan, where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life. You must obey all my regulations and be careful to obey my decrees for I am the Lord your God. If you obey my decrees and my regulations, you will find life through them. I am the Lord. So pause there, and in that beginning section, what are some things that we can take away from that today? He's saying, don't act like the people you used to live with.

Don't even act like the people you're going to encounter. And are we called to be set apart from the world? Verse 6. You must never have sexual relations with a close relative, for I am the Lord. Do not violate your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother. You must not have sexual relations with her. Do not have sexual relations with any of your father's wives, for this would violate your father.

Do not have sexual relations with your sister or half-sister, whether she is your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether she was born into your household or someone else's. Do not have sexual relations with your granddaughter. whether she is your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter, for this would violate yourself. Do not have sexual relations with your step-sister, the daughter of any of your father's wives, for she is your sister. Do not have sexual relations with your father's sister, for she is your father's close relative. Do not have sexual relations with your mother's sister, for she is your mother's close relative. Do not violate your uncle, your father's brother, by having sexual relations with his wife, for she is your aunt. Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law.

She is your son's wife, say you must not have sexual relations with her. Do not have sexual relations with your brother's wife, for this would violate your brother. Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter, and do not take her granddaughter, whether her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter and have sexual relations with her. They are close relatives, and this would be a wicked act. While your wife is living, do not marry her sister and have sexual relations with her, for they would be rivals. Do not have sexual relations with a woman during her period of menstrual impurity.

Do not defile yourself by having sexual intercourse with your neighbor's wife. Do not permit any of your children to be offered as a sacrifice to malice. for you must not bring shame on the name of your God. I am the Lord. Do not practice homosexuality having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin. A man must not defile himself by having sex with an animal, and a woman must not offer herself to a male animal to have intercourse with it.

This is a perverse act. Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways. for the people I am driving out before you have defiled themselves in all these ways. Because the entire land has become defiled, I am punishing the people who live there. I will cause the land to vomit them out. You must obey all my decrees and regulations. You must not commit any of these detestable sins. This applies both to native-born Israelites and to the foreigners living among you.

All these detestable activities are practiced by the people in the land where I am taking you. And this is how the land has become defiled. So do not defile the land and give it a reason to vomit you out, as it will vomit out the people who live there now. Whoever commits any of these detestable sins will be cut off from the community of Israel. So obey my instructions and do not defile yourselves

by committing any of these detestable practices that were committed by the people who lived in the land before you. I am the Lord, your God. So there at the end of Leviticus 18, which talks about sexual immorality. Reflect on the different detestable activities that God lists in this section. And also reflect on God's reasoning for why he warns the Israelites not to commit these acts. Okay. So now we will start Leviticus 19, holiness in personal consequences.

conduct. The Lord also said to Moses, give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy. Each of you must show great respect for your mother and father, and you must always observe my Sabbath days of rest. I am the Lord your God. Do not put your trust in idols or make metal images of gods for yourselves. I am the Lord your God. When you sacrifice a peace offering to the Lord, offer it properly, so you will be accepted by God. The sacrifice must be eaten on the same day you offer it or on the next day. Whatever is left over until the third day must be completely burned up.

If any of the sacrifice is eaten on the third day, it will be contaminated and I will not accept it. Anyone who eats it on the third day will be punished for defiling what is holy to the Lord and will be cut off from the community. When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields. And do not pick up what the harvesters drop. It is the same with your grape crop. do not strip every last bunch of grapes from the vines and do not pick up the grapes that fall to the ground leave them for the poor and the foreigners living among you

I am the Lord your God so pause there and just as we continue reading what God is saying think about his words and what they reveal about God's character what they reveal about who God wants to protect and what they reveal about the relationship between God and the Israelites. Verse 11. Do not steal. Do not deceive or cheat one another. Do not bring shame on the name of your God by using it to swear falsely. I am the Lord. Do not defraud or rob your neighbor. Do not make your hired workers wait until the next day to receive their pay. Do not insult the deaf or cause the blind to stumble.

You must fear your God. I am the Lord. Do not twist justice in legal matters by favoring the poor or being partial to the rich and powerful. Always judge people fairly. Do not spread slanderous gossip among your people. Do not stand idly by when your neighbor's life is threatened. I am the Lord. Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives.

Confront people directly so you will not be held guilty for their sin. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. You must obey all my decrees. Do not mate two different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two different kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven from two different kinds of thread.

If a man has sex with a slave girl whose freedom has never been purchased, but who is committed to become another man's wife, he must pay full compensation to her master. But since she is not a free woman, neither the man nor the woman will be put to death. The man, however, must bring a ram as a guilt offer and present it to the Lord at the entrance of the tabernacle. The priest will then purify him before the Lord

with the ram of the guilt offering, and the man's sin will be forgiven. When you enter the land and plant fruit trees, leave the fruit unharvested for the first three years, and consider it forbidden. Do not eat it. In the fourth year, the entire crop must be consecrated to the Lord as a celebration of praise.

Finally, in the fifth year, you may eat the fruit. If you follow this pattern, your harvest will increase. I am the Lord, your God. Do not eat meat that has not been drained of its blood. Do not practice fortune-telling or witchcraft. Do not trim off the hair on your temples or trim your beards. Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the Lord.

Do not defile your daughter by making her a prostitute. or the land will be filled with prostitution and wickedness. Keep my Sabbath days of rest and show reverence toward my sanctuary. I am the Lord. Do not defile yourselves by turning to mediums or to those who consult the spirits of the dead. I am the Lord your God. Stand up in the presence of the elderly and show respect for the aged.

Fear your God. I am the Lord. Do not take advantage of foreigners who live among you in your land. Treat them like native-born Israelites and love them as you love yourself. Remember that you were once foreigners living in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord, your God. Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight, or volume. Your scales and weights must be accurate. Your containers for measuring dry materials or materials or

liquids must be accurate. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. You must be careful to keep all of my decrees and regulations by putting them into practice. I am the Lord. So pause there at the end of Leviticus 19. And just reflect on all of these commands God has given the Israelites regarding their personal conduct. And remember that the section is called holiness and personal conduct. How do following these commands

bring people closer to God? How do following these commands bring holiness to the Israelites? Okay, the final chapter we're reading today is Leviticus 20 Punishments for Disobedience.

So we've just read about all the regulations and rules and commands God has for the Israelites, and now we're going to talk about what happens when they disobey God. And this gives us time to think about consequences. It gives us time to think about God and how he loves us and how we view love. You know, do we think about love as getting everything we want?

Or do we think about love as getting what we need? So think about these things as we read chapter 20. The Lord said to Moses, give the people of Israel these instructions which apply both to native Israelites and to the foreigners living in Israel. If any of them offer their children as a sacrifice to Malek, they must be put to death. The people of the community must stone them to death. I myself will turn against them and cut them off from the community because they have defiled my sanctuary and brought shame. on my holy name by offering their children to Malek. And if the people of the community ignore those

who offer their children to Malek and refuse to execute them, I myself will turn against them and their families and will cut them off from the community. This will happen to all who commit spiritual prostitution by worshiping Malek. I will also turn against those who commit spiritual prostitution by putting their trust in mediums or in those who consult the spirits of the dead. I will cut them off from the community.

So set yourselves apart to be holy, for I am the Lord your God. Keep all my decrees by putting them into practice, for I am the Lord who makes you holy. So pause there and think about, and think about the significance of the first sin God chooses to address. think about the language that he uses. Spiritual prostitution. What does that make you think about?

What kind of imagery do you see when you hear that phrase, spiritual prostitution? And why do you think God chose that phrase to talk about worshiping other gods? And think about the Ten Commandments. What is the first commandment? And knowing what that is, does it make sense that this is the first sin he's deciding to talk about at the beginning of this section.

Verse 9. Anyone who dishonors father or mother must be put to death. Such a person is guilty of a capital offense. If a man commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, both the man and the woman who have committed adultery must be put to death. If a man violates his father by having sex with one of his father's wives, both the man and the woman must be put to death. If a man violates his father's wife, both the man and the woman must be put to death, for they are guilty of a capital offense. If a man has sex with his daughter-in-law, both must be put to death. They have committed a perverse act and are guilty of a capital offense. If a man practices homosexuality, having sex with another man, as with a woman, both men have

committed a detestable act. They must both be put to death, for they are guilty of a capital offense. If a man marries both a woman and her mother, he has committed a wicked act. The man and both women must be burned to death to wipe out such wickedness from among you. If a man has sex with an animal, he must be put to death, and the animal must be killed. If a woman presents herself to a male animal to have intercourse with it, she and the animal must both be put to death. You must kill both, for they are guilty. of a capital offense.

If a man marries his sister, the daughter of either his father or his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a shameful disgrace. They must be publicly cut off from the community. Since the man has violated his sister, he will be punished for his sin. If a man has sexual relations with a woman during her menstrual period, both of them must be cut off from the community, for together they have exposed. the source of her blood flow. Do not have sexual relations with your aunt,

whether your mother's sister or your father's sister. This would dishonor a close relative. Both parties are guilty and will be punished for their sin. If a man has sex with his uncle's wife, he has violated his uncle. Both the man and the woman will be punished for their sin, and they will die childless. If a man marries his brother's wife, it is an act of impurity. He has violated his brother,

and the guilty couple will remain childless. You must keep all my decrees and regulations by putting them into practice. Otherwise, the land to which I am bringing you as your new home will vomit you out. Do not live according to the customs of the people I am driving out before you. It is because they do these shameful things

that I detest them. But I have promised you, you will possess their land because I will give it to you as your possession, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God, who has set you apart from all other people. You must therefore make a distinction

between ceremonially clean and unclean animals and between clean and unclean birds. You must not defile yourselves by eating any unclean animal or bird or creature that scurries along the ground. I have identified them as being, unclean for you. You must be holy because I, the Lord, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own. Men and women among you who act as mediums or who consult the

spirits of the dead must be put to death by stoning. They are guilty of a capital offense. So there at the end of Leviticus 20. Just think back about all these. rules and regulations and commands God is given. We've heard them. Now we've seen the consequences of those sins. I want you to reflect on what it might have been like to live among the Israelites in this type of community and the seriousness of the consequences of those sins. And then think about how we live now under the New Testament after Christ has been sacrificed. How do we handle sin? How do we experience consequences when it comes to sin? Is it different from how they experience consequences in Leviticus?

How might you view sin differently if you knew that the consequence was physical death? We know it says in scripture that the wages of sin is death, a spiritual death. It is still a separation from God. And then it says, but, The gift of God is life eternal through Christ Jesus. There is forgiveness through Christ. There is forgiveness through Christ. So these are all things to think about in just comparing and contrasting how the Israelites lived in relation to God versus how we live in relation to God now.

This section might be a good reminder to us that God takes sin seriously. and it could be a time of reflection for you on the parts of our lives where we may not take sin seriously enough. So think about these things over the coming days, and when we meet up again, we will start with Leviticus 21 and hopefully finish up Leviticus next time. So thank you for joining me today for another episode. Reach out if you have any thoughts or comments you want to share with me. I'd love to hear from you. All that information is in the description of this episode. It's so good to talk with you, and I will talk with you again in the next one.

Hello and welcome back to Bible beginning. To end, I am so glad that you have chosen to read Scripture with me today. As always, we will be reading through a passage of Scripture that continues from last time. I won't be offering much commentary, but we'll be asking questions along the way so that you can have a personal time of reflection on the scriptures and answer these questions as the spirit leads and guides. If you would like to reach out to the show or support us, all the ways to do that are in the description of this episode.

So without any further ado, let us keep moving on with Leviticus. Hopefully today we will finish Leviticus, but we have quite a bit to get through. We finished up last time with Leviticus 20. We read 16 through 20, where we talked about the Day of Atonement and expressions of holiness. We talked about what God expected of his people during this time, and we talked about how God disciplined his people when they committed sin or went against what God called them to do. Today we are going to continue and finish the section on expressions of holiness in the community and then finish up with the last chapter regulations pertaining to vows and

tithes. So as we read through the end of Leviticus, just keep thinking about what it would be like to live during this time in this community and compare it to the new way of living. we experience through Christ and His sacrifice. Leviticus 21 is all about priestly regulations, and it's going to talk about instructions for the priests. So as we're reading through this thing about why God might be asking and creating these specific guidelines for the priests, ask yourselves, how are the priests different from the rest of the community? How are they set apart?

and ask yourself, why might they be called to a higher standard? Leviticus 21, verse 1. The Lord said to Moses, give the following instructions to the priests, the descendants of Aaron. A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean by touching the dead body of a relative. The only exceptions are his closest relatives, his mother or father, son or daughter, brother or his virgin sister who depends on him because she has no husband. But a priest must not defile himself and make himself unclean for someone who is related to him only by marriage. So pause there, why do you think God is setting up this specific regulation about touching dead bodies?

Touching a dead body would make the priest unclean. What do you remember about the process of cleansing oneself after they were made unclean? Was it a lengthy process? Did it take time in isolation to become clean? Would a priest have the time to take out of their schedule to make themselves clean? or would that distract from their other responsibilities as a priest? Verse 5. The priests must not shave their heads or trim their beards or cut their bodies.

They must be set apart as holy to their God and must never bring shame on the name of God. They must be holy for they are the ones who present the special gifts to the Lord. Gifts of food for their God. So pause there. God is tying in the act of not shaving their heads or trimming their beards or cutting their bodies with being set apart as holy. So the first question I want you to ask yourself is, why does a priest need to be set apart? And then ask yourself, how does each of these regulations we're reading about set them apart from other people in the community? Verse 7. Priests may not marry a woman defiled by prostitution, and they may not marry a woman who is divorced from her husband. For the priests are set apart as holy to their God. You must treat them

as holy. They offer up food to your God. You must consider them holy because I, the Lord, am holy, and I make you holy. If a priest's daughter defiles herself by becoming a prostit, She also defiles her father's holiness, and she must be burned to death. Now pause there. That seems very extreme. Ponder that and consider what God's saying about how set apart priests are from the community. How seriously did they take the priesthood during this time? If that verse nine seems very extreme to you, pray about it. Think about why God might be making that decision. Think about it in the context of the community and in the context of what we're reading right now.

Verse 10, The high priest has the highest rank of all priests. The anointing oil has been poured on his head and he has been ordained to wear the priestly garments. He must never leave his hair uncombed or tear his clothing. He must not defile himself by going near a dead body. He may not make him.

himself ceremonially unclean even for his father or mother. He must not defile the sanctuary of his God by leaving it to attend to a dead person, for he has been made holy by the anointing oil of his God. I am the Lord. The high priest may marry only a virgin. He may not marry a widow, a woman who is divorced, or a woman who has defiled herself by prostitution. She must be a virgin from his own clan, so that he will not dishonor his descendants among his clan, for I am the Lord who makes him holy. So pause there, even within the priesthood there is a hierarchy. Why do you think that is? Verse 16, then the Lord said to Moses, give the following instructions to Aaron, in all future generations, none of your descendants who has any defect

will qualify to offer food to his God. No one who has a defect qualifies whether he is blind, lame, disfigured, deformed, or has a broken foot or arm, or is hunchbacked, or dwarfed, or has a defective eye, or skin sores, or scabs, or damaged testicles. No descendant of Aaron who has a defect may approach the altar to present special gifts to the Lord. since he has a defect, he may not approach the altar to offer food to his God. However, he may eat from the food offered to God, including the holy offerings and most holy offerings. Yet, because of his physical defect, he may not enter the room behind the inner curtain

or approach the altar, for this would defile my holy place. I am the Lord who makes them holy. So Moses gave these instructions to Aaron and his own. sons and to all the Israelites. Okay, so pause there at the end of Leviticus 21. That last section might be a difficult one to reason out because on first reading, it might sound like God is discriminating against people who have disability. Remember, I'm not offering you answers to these difficult questions. Rather, I'm asking you to reflect on them and to pray about them.

And I'm bringing up things that you might be thinking as you're reading through these sections. Remember who we're talking about in context here. God's not talking about people in the community. He's specifically talking about priests. And what were priests qualified to do? what was required of the priests? What did God expect of the priests? These are all questions to ask as you ponder and pray over what God might be meaning in this section,

why he was specific about this, what his reasoning might be. Leviticus 22. It continues the instructions for the priests. The Lord said to Moses, tell Aaron and his sons to be very careful. with the sacred gifts that the Israelites set apart for me so they do not bring shame on my holy name. I am the Lord. Give them the following instructions. In all future generations, if any of your descendants is ceremonially unclean when he approaches the sacred offerings that the people of Israel consecrate to the Lord, he must be cut off from my presence. I am the Lord. If any of Aaron's

descendants has a skin disease or any kind of discharge that makes him ceremonially unclean, he may not eat from the sacred offerings until he has been pronounced clean. He also becomes unclean by touching a corpse, or by having an omission of semen, or by touching a small animal that is unclean, or by touching someone who is ceremonially unclean for any reason. The man who is defiled in any of these ways will remain unclean until evening. He may not eat from the sacred offerings until he has bathed himself in water. When the sun goes down, he will be ceremonially clean again, and may eat from the sacred offerings, for this is his food.

He may not eat an animal that has died a natural death or has been torn apart by wild animals, for this would defile him. I am the Lord. So pause there and remember earlier I asked you, what kind of processes did they have to go through to cleanse themselves? And why might God be asking them, don't do these things and don't make yourself ceremonially unclean? Here we see a picture of a little bit of what they have to go through

to cleanse themselves. And so you can ask yourself again, why is God so preoccupied with making sure that the priests stay ceremonially clean. Verse 9. The priests must follow my instructions carefully. Otherwise, they will be punished for their sin and will die for violating my instructions. I am the Lord who makes them holy.

No one outside a priest's family may eat the sacred offerings. Even guests and hired workers in a priest's home are not allowed to eat them. However, if the priest buys a slave for himself, the slave may eat from the sacred offerings, and if his slaves have children, they also may share his food. If a priest's daughter marries someone outside the priestly family, she may no longer eat the sacred offerings. But if she becomes a widow or is divorced and has no children to support her, and she returns to live in her father's home as in her youth,

She may eat her father's food again. Otherwise, no one outside the priest's family may eat the sacred offerings. Any such person who eats the sacred offerings without realizing it must pay the priest for the amount eaten plus an additional 20%. The priests must not let the Israelites defile the sacred offerings brought to the Lord by allowing unauthorized people to eat them. This would bring guilt upon them and require them to pay compensation. I am the Lord who makes them holy.

So pause there before we go into the next section. We hear that phrase repeated a lot. I am the Lord who makes them holy. I want you to think about that phrase. Say it out loud, say it in your head. I am the Lord who makes them holy. What does that reveal about God? what does that tell us about God and who he is?

And why do you think God uses that statement so often as the conclusion to many of these regulations? The next section is worthy and unworthy offerings. And the Lord said to Moses, give Aaron and his sons and all the Israelites these instructions which apply both to native Israelites, and to the foreigners living among you. If you present a gift as a burnt offering to the Lord,

whether it is to fulfill a vow or is a voluntary offering, you will be accepted only if your offering is a male animal with no defects. It may be a bull, a ram, or a male goat. Do not present an animal with defects because the Lord will not accept it on your behalf. If you present a peace offering to the Lord from the herd or the flock, whether it is to fulfill a vow or is a voluntary offering, you must offer a perfect animal. It may have no defect of any kind. You must not offer an animal that is blind, crippled, or injured, or that has a wart, a skin sore, or scabs. Such animals must never be offered on the altar as special gifts to the Lord.

If a bull or lamb has a leg that is too long or too short, it may be offered as a voluntary offering, but it may not be offered to fulfill a vow. If an animal has damaged testicles or is castrated, you may not offer it to the Lord. You must never do this in your own land, and you must not accept such an animal from foreigners and then offer it as a sacrifice to your God. such animals will not be accepted on your behalf, for they are mutilated or defective. And the Lord said to Moses, when a calf or lamb or goat is born, it must be left with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on, it will be acceptable as a special gift to the Lord.

But you must not slaughter a mother animal and her offspring on the same day. whether from the herd or the flock. When you bring a Thanksgiving offering to the Lord, sacrifice it properly, so you will be accepted. Eat the entire sacrificial animal on the day it is presented. Do not leave any of it until the next morning. I am the Lord. You must faithfully keep all my commands

by putting them into practice, for I am the Lord. Do not bring shame on a God. my holy name, for I will display my holiness among the people of Israel. I am the Lord who makes you holy. It was I who rescued you from the land of Egypt, that I may be your God. I am the Lord. So pause there at the end of Leviticus 22. Why do you think God is often reminding them that he is the one who rescued them from the land of Egypt? Does he think they don't remember? Or is he helping them get their priority straight? You can reflect on times in your life and I reflect on times in my life when I attributed something I achieved to myself and not to God. Or maybe I initially attributed it

to God, but as time went on, I forgot that the things that I have and the purpose of my life, and who I am is intimately wrapped up in God. He is the one who metaphorically rescued me from the land of Egypt. You know, take out the land of Egypt and put in whatever happened in your life, whatever events, whatever successes. He is the one. So that's something to think about. The next section we're going into Leviticus 23 is all about the religious

festivals, celebrations, that God is requiring that the Israelites at the appointed time. So the first section is the appointed festivals. The Lord said to Moses, give the following instructions to the people of Israel. These are the Lord's appointed festivals which you are to proclaim as official days for holy assembly. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of complete rest, an official day for holy assembly. It is the Lord's Sabbath day, and it must be observed wherever you live. In addition to the Sabbath, there are the Lord's appointed festivals, the official

days for holy assembly that are to be celebrated at their proper times each year. Okay, so pause before we go into the specific festivals. As we enter each festival, I want you to think, why this festival, why God having them celebrate and remember this specific event. But here we go, the first one. Passover and the festival of unleavened bread. The Lord's Passover begins at sundown on the 14th day of the first month. On the next day, the 15th day of the month, you must begin celebrating the festival of unleavened bread. The festival to the Lord continues for seven days, and during that time, the bread you eat must be made without yeast. On the first, day of the festival, all the people must stop their ordinary work and observe an official day

for holy assembly. For seven days, you must present special gifts to the Lord. On the seventh day, the people must again stop all their ordinary work to observe an official day for holy assembly. So pause there. What is Passover representing? What did we read about in Exodus? What event do you remember where God passed over the Israelites and saved them before delivering them from Egypt. The next festival is the celebration of first harvest. Then the Lord said to Moses, give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you enter the land I am giving you, and you harvest its first crops, bring the priest a bundle of grain from the first cutting of your grain harvest. On the day after the Sabbath, the priest will lift it up before the Lord so it may be

accepted on your behalf. On that same day, you must sacrifice a one-year-old male lamb with no defects as a burnt offering to the Lord. With it, you must present a grain offering consisting of four quarts of choice flour, moistened with olive oil. It will be a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. You must also offer one quart of wine as a liquid offering. Do not eat any bread or roasted grain or fresh kernels on that day until you bring this offering to your God. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live. The Festival of Harvest From the day after the Sabbath, the day you bring the bundle of grain to be lifted,

it up as a special offering, count off seven full weeks. Keep counting until the day after the seventh Sabbath, 50 days later. Then present an offering of new grain to the Lord. From wherever you live, bring two loaves of bread to be lifted up before the Lord as a special offering. Make these loaves from four quarts of choice flour and bake them with yeast. They will be an offering to the Lord from the first of your crops. So pause there. Why is it important that they're giving God an offering from the first of their crops? Verse 18, along with the bread, present seven one-year-old male lambs with no defects,

one young bull, and two rams as burnt offerings to the Lord. These burnt offerings together with the grain offerings and liquid offerings. will be a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Then you must offer one male goat as a sin offering and two one-year-old male lambs as a peace offering. The priest will lift up the two lambs as a special offering to the Lord together with the loaves representing the first of your crops. These offerings, which are holy to the Lord, belong to the priests.

That same day will be, proclaimed an official day for holy assembly, a day on which you do no ordinary work. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation wherever you live. When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your field and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. Leave it for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord, your God. So pause there at the end of the festival of harvest and ask yourself, how is offering up their first crop to God, reminding the Israelites where their daily needs come from? And then also how, in that last verse, leaving the dropped grain and the grain along the edges of your field for the poor and foreigners living among you, that verse, how is God showing his kindness?

and grace and provision for those who are without. The next festival is the festival of trumpets. The Lord said to Moses, give the following instructions to the people of Israel. On the first day of the appointed month in early autumn, you are to observe a day of complete rest. It will be an official day for holy assembly, a day commemorated with loud blasts of a trumpet. You must do no ordinary work on that day.

Instead, you are to present special gifts to the Lord. So pause there because I'm starting to see a pattern, and I'm wondering if you're seeing it too. This section is revealing something to me about the Sabbath. Each of these festivals have tied to it some sort of Sabbath, a day of complete rest. But what are they doing on these Sabbath days? Are they sitting around just doing nothing and whatever they want to do that's not considered work? Or are they meeting together and worshiping God? What is that revealing to you about how to practice Sabbath today?

The next section is the Day of Atonement. We talked about this last time. Then the Lord said to Moses, Be careful to celebrate the Day of Atonement. on the 10th day of that same month, nine days after the festival of trumpets. You must observe it as an official day for holy assembly, a day to deny yourselves and present special gifts to the Lord.

Do no work during that entire day because it is the day of atonement when offerings of purification are made for you, making you right with the Lord your God. all who do not deny themselves that day will be cut off from God's people and I will destroy anyone among you who does any work on that day you must not do any work at all this is a permanent law for you and it must be observed from generation to generation where you live this will be a Sabbath day of complete rest for you

and on that day you must deny yourselves This day of rest will begin at sundown on the ninth day of the month and extend until sundown on the 10th day. So pause there. How many times did God reiterate you must do no work of any kind on the day of atonement? Why is the day of atonement so holy? And then the final festival is the festival of shelters. And the Lord said to Moses,

give the following instructions to the people of Israel, begin celebrating the festival of shelters on the 15th day, of the appointed month. Five days after the day of atonement. This festival to the Lord will last for seven days. On the first day of the festival, you must proclaim an official day for Holy Assembly when you do no ordinary work. For seven days, you must present special gifts to the Lord. The eighth day is another holy day on which you present your special gifts to the Lord. This will be a solemn occasion and no ordinary work may be done that day. These are the Lord's appointed festivals. Celebrate them each year as official days for holy assembly by presenting special gifts to the Lord,

burnt offerings, grain offerings, sacrifices, and liquid offerings, each on its proper day. These festivals must be observed, in addition to the Lord's regular Sabbath days, and the offerings are in addition to your personal gifts, the offerings you give to fulfill your vows, and the voluntary offerings you present to the Lord. Remember that this seven-day festival to the Lord, the Festival of Shelters, begins on the 15th day of the appointed month

after you have harvested all the produce of the land. The first day and the eighth day of the festival will be days of complete rest. On the first day, gather branches from magnificent trees, palm fronds, boughs from leafy trees, and willows that grow by the streams, then celebrate with joy before the Lord your God for seven days. You must observe this festival to the Lord for seven days every year. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed in the appointed month, from generation to generation. For seven days you must live outside in little shelters. All native-born Israelites must live in shelters.

This will remind each new generation of Israelites that I made their ancestors live in shelters when I rescued them from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. So Moses gave the Israelites these instructions regarding the annual festivals of the Lord. So there at the end of Exodus 23, we kind of have the festivals starting with a reminder of where the Israelites had been with Passover. And we have it ending with them remembering where they came from and who delivered them out of Egypt. And then in between we have these festivals that remind them where their supplies, where their supplies, where their life, where everything they have in their community comes from.

So reflect on these festivals and think about why they are so important and why God wants the Israelites to observe these holy days. So that was Leviticus 23. And now we're going to transition into Leviticus 24, which is going to discuss the tabernacle and then we're going to talk about blasphemy. So first we're going to talk about the tabernacle in the section called Provisions for the Tabernacle. So remind yourself what you know of the tabernacle.

What went into building it? Why was it so important? What did they do within the tabernacle? And who dwells in the tabernacle? The Lord said to Moses, command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually. This is the lamp stand that stands in the tabernacle in front of the inner curtain that shields the ark of the covenant. Aaron must keep the lamps burning in the Lord's

presence all night. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation. Aaron and the priests must tin the lamps on the pure gold lampstand continually in the Lord's presence. You must bake 12 flat loaves of bread from choice flour using four quarts of flour for each loaf. Place the bread before the Lord on the pure gold table and arrange the loaves in two stacks with six loaves in each stack. put some pure frankincense near each stack to serve as a representation offering, a special gift presented to the Lord. Every Sabbath day, this bread must be laid out before the Lord as a gift from the Israelites. It is an ongoing expression of the eternal covenant. So pause there, and think about the word covenant. What does covenant mean? Why is it important to have an ongoing

expression of the covenant God made with his people. Verse 9. The loaves of bread will belong to Aaron and his descendants, who must eat them in a sacred place, for they are most holy. It is the permanent right of the priests to claim this portion of the special gifts presented to the Lord. The next section is the penalty for blasphemy. So, before we start, what I want you to think about,

is the word blasphemy. Have you heard that word before? And what do you know about it? What does that word make you think of? And then as we read this section, see what else you're learning about blasphemy from this story. One day, a man who had an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father came out of his tent and got into a fight with one of the Israelites men. During the fight, this son of an Israelite woman blasphemed the name of the Lord with a curse. So the man was brought to Moses for judgment. His mother was Shelameth, the daughter of Debray, of the tribe of Dan. They kept the man in custody until the Lord's will in the matter should become clear to them.

Okay, so pause there. What did he do? He blasphemed the name of the Lord with a curse. What does that actually mean? Why was he brought in for judgment and why was this so serious? What does that mean he blasphemed God's name? Is this more than just using God's name in vain? Is this a deeper sin?

How do you think God is going to handle this? Let's see. Verse 13. Then the Lord said to Moses, Take the blasphemer outside the camp and tell all those who heard the curse to lay their hands on his head. then let the entire community stone him to death. Say to the people of Israel,

those who curse their God will be punished for their sin. Anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord must be stoned to death by the whole community of Israel. Any native-born Israelite or foreigner among you who blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death. So pause there as we've seen what the fate of the man who blasphemed against God was going to be. What did he do? He used God's name in a curse.

This makes me think about how important language is, word choice is, what we say is. Are the words that come out of our mouths a reflection of our heart? and this man was living in a community with people who were called to be reverent toward God and toward his name. So what did he do to cause this judgment on himself? Why does God take his name so seriously? Why does God call us to be reverent toward him in the ways we use his name and the ways we speak? of him. Verse 17. Anyone who takes another person's life must be put to death. Anyone who kills another person's animal must pay for it in full, a live animal for the

animal that was killed. Anyone who injures another person must be dealt with according to the injury inflicted. A fracture for a fracture, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Whatever anyone does to injure another person must be paid back in kind. So pause there. That's a very famous quoted scripture, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, whatever anyone does to injure. What is at the heart of that law? Is God saying that revenge is okay? Or is he saying that justice, you know, punishment should fit the crime. It should not go beyond what was committed. And then think about this in the context of the New Testament, if you know about the New Testament, if you've read any of it. If you understand the teachings of Jesus, Jesus who is God.

Remember when Jesus comes, he comes to fulfill the covenant, to fulfill these laws, so that we can live in grace and forgiveness, and we become God's living temple. when the Holy Spirit lives with us. And so how does that change our understanding of justice? What does an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, become with the Jesus when he calls us to forgive? We'll get to those things. It'll take us a while, but we will get there. But if you already know the New Testament, these are good things to be thinking about.

verse 21 Whoever kills an animal must pay for it in full, but whoever kills another person must be put to death. The same standard applies both to native-born Israelites and to foreigners living among you. I am the Lord, your God. After Moses gave all these instructions to the Israelites, they took the blasphemer outside the camp

and stoned him to death. The Israelites did just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Okay, we're going to go right into Leviticus 25, which is the Sabbath year and the year of Jubilee. So it starts with the Sabbath year. While Moses was on Mount Sinai, the Lord said to him, give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you have entered the land I am giving you, the land itself must observe a Sabbath rest before the Lord every seventh year.

For six years, you may plant your fields and prune your vineyards, and harvest your crops, but during the seventh year, your land must have a Sabbath year of complete rest. It is the Lord's Sabbath. Do not plant your fields or prune your vineyards during that year, and don't store away the crops that grow on their own, or gather the grapes from your unpruned vines. The land must have a year of complete rest, but you may eat whatever the land produces on its own during its Sabbath. This applies to you, your male and female servants, your hired workers, and the temporary residents who live with you. Your livestock and the wild animals in your land will also be allowed to eat what the land produces. So Paul is there and compare the structure

of we have the Israelites that live six years and then they'll have a Sabbath seventh year. Think about that structure and how it relates to the way God created the earth and the way God set up the weeks of six days and a Sabbath. And then also think about how this structure requires the people of Israel to rely on God for their daily needs. The next section is the year of Jubilee. In addition, you must count off seven Sabbath years, seven sets of seven years. adding up to 49 years in all. Then, on the Day of Atonement in the 50th year, blow the ram's horn loud and long throughout the land.

Set this year apart as holy, a time to proclaim freedom throughout the land for all who live here. It will be a Jubilee year for you, when each of you may return to the land that belonged to your ancestors and return to your own clan. This 50th year will be a Jubilee for you. During that year, you must not plant your fields or store away any of the crops that grow on their own,

and don't gather the grapes from your unpruned vines. It will be a Jubilee year for you, and you must keep it holy. But you may eat whatever the lamb produces on its own. In the year of Jubilee, each of you may enter the land that belonged to your ancestors. When you make an agreement with your neighbor to buy or sell property, you must not take advantage of each other.

When you buy the land from your neighbor, the price you pay must be based on the number of years since the last Jubilee. The seller must set the price by taking into account the number of years remaining until the next year of Jubilee. The more years until the next Jubilee, the higher the price. The fewer years, the lower the price. After all, the person selling the land is actually selling you a certain number of harvests. Show your fear of God by not taking advantage of each other. I am the Lord your God. If you want to live securely in the land, follow my decrees and obey my

regulations. Then the land will yield large crops, and you will eat your fill and live securely in it. But you might ask, what will we eat during the seventh year, since we are not allowed to plant or harvest crops that year? Be assured that I will send my blessing for you in the sixth year, so the land will produce a crop large enough for three years. When you plant your fields in the eighth year, you will still be eating from the large crop of the sixth year. In fact, you will still be eating from that large crop when the new crop is harvested in the ninth year. So pause there and think about the word Jubilee. Like what does it mean to us today? What is its connotation? What does it make you think about? And then after you've heard the description of the year of Jubilee, what does it represent to the

Israelites, how does it remind them of God's promises and provisions in their life? How does it remind them to rely on God? How is it a fulfillment of God's promises to the Israelites? The next section is redemption of property. The land must never be sold on a permanent basis for the land belongs to me. You are only foreigners and tenant farmers working for me. With every purchase of land, you must grant the seller the right to buy it back. If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and is forced to sell some farmland, then a close relative should buy it back for him. If there is no close relative to buy the land,

but the person who sold it gets enough money to buy it back, he then has the right to redeem it from the one who bought it. The price of the land will be discounted according to the number of years until the next year of Jubilee. In this way, the original owner can then return to the land, but if the original owner cannot afford to buy back the land, it will remain with the new owner until the next year of Jubilee. In the Jubilee year, the land must be returned to the original owners so they can return to their family land. Anyone who sells a house inside a walled town has the right to buy it back for a full year after its sale. During that year, the seller retains the right to buy it back,

but if it is not bought back within a year, the sale of the house within the walled town cannot be reversed. It will become the permanent property of the buyer. It will not be returned to the original owner in the year of Jubilee. But a house in a village, a settlement without fortified walls, will be treated like property in the countryside. Such a house may be bought back at any time, and it must be returned to the original owner in the year of Jubilee. The Levites always have the right to buy back a house they have sold within the towns allotted to them. And any property that is sold by the Levites,

all houses within the Levitical towns, must be returned in the year of Jubilee. After all, the houses in the towns reserved for the Levites are the only, property they own in all Israel. The open pasture land around the Levitical towns may never be sold. It is their permanent possession. So pause there before we go to the next section

and just think about how does this set up for the redemption of property? One, put God at the forefront as the provider. And two, set up a society that respects each other and cares for family and cares for. each other. The next section is Redemption of the Poor and Enslaved. If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and cannot support himself, support him as you would a foreigner or a temporary resident and allow him to live with you. Do not charge interest or make a profit at his expense.

Instead, show your fear of God by letting him live with you as your relative. Remember, do not charge interest on money you lend him. or make a prophet on food you sell him. 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. If one of your fellow Israelites falls into poverty and is forced to sell himself to you, do not treat him as a slave.

Treat him instead as a hired worker or is a temporary resident who lives with you, and he will serve you only until the year of Jubilee. At that time he and his children will no longer be obligated to you and they will return to their clan and go back to the land originally allotted to their ancestors. The people of Israel are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt so they must never be sold as slaves.

Show your fear of God by not treating them harshly. However, you may purchase male and female slaves from among the nations around you. You may also purchase children of temporary residents who live among you, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat them as slaves,

but you must never treat your fellow Israelites this way. So pause there and reflect on that section because that might be a difficult one to process. We're talking about purchasing slaves and children as servants and permanent inheritances in your family. What might be the reason for this? You might want to do some research on what servitude and slavery looked like during Hebrew times. You might be asking yourself,

didn't God just rescue the Israelites from being enslaved by the Egyptians? And now he's talking about the Israelites having slaves? these might be important questions to ask and to research and to pray over as you read through these scriptures. Verse 47, suppose a foreigner or temporary resident becomes rich while living among you. If any of your fellow Israelites fall into poverty and are forced to sell themselves to such a foreigner or to a member of his family, they still retain the right to be bought back even after they have been purchased. They may be bought back by a brother, an uncle, or a cousin. In fact, anyone from the extended family may buy them back.

They may also redeem themselves if they have prospered. They will negotiate the price of their freedom with the person who bought them. The price will be based on the number of years from the time they were sold until the next year of Jubilee, whatever it would cost to hire a worker for that period of time. If many years still remain until the Jubilee, they will repay the proper proportion of what they received when they sold themselves. If only a few years remain until the year of Jubilee, they will repay a small amount for their redemption. The foreigner must treat them as workers hired on a yearly basis. You must not allow a foreigner to treat any of your fellow Israelites harshly.

If any Israelites have not been bought back by the time the year of Jubilee arrives, they and their children must be set free at that time. For the people of Israel belong to me. They are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord, your God. Okay, so now we're going to go into Leviticus 26, and you can breathe a sigh of relief for a moment. Because the beginning of this chapter is blessings for obedience.

And you might be like, finally, we've read so much about punishment and judgment. What about blessings? What happens when the Israelites are faithful? But don't worry, we're also going to talk about punishments for disobedience. But right now, while we're on the subject, think about the blessings. you've seen in your life from God as we read through these blessings that he is going to show the Israelites for their obedience and faithfulness to him. Leviticus 26.

Do not make idols or set up carved images or sacred pillars or sculpted stones in your land so you may worship them. I am the Lord your God. You must keep my Sabbath days of rest and show reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord. If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you the seasonal rains. The land will then yield its crops,

and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. Your threshing season will overlap with the grape harvest, and your grape harvest will overlap with the season of planting grain. You will eat your fill and live securely in your own land. I will give you peace in the land. and you will be able to sleep with no cause for fear. I will rid the land of wild animals and keep your enemies out of your land.

In fact, you will chase down your enemies and slaughter them with your swords. Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand. All your enemies will fall beneath your sword. I will look favorably upon you, making you fertile and multiplying your people, and I will fulfill my covenant with you.

You will have such a surplus of crops that you will need to clear out the old grain to make room for the new harvests. I will live among you, and I will not despise you. I will walk among you. I will be your God, and you will be my people, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt so you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the yoke of slavery from your neck so you can walk with your heads held high.

So pause and reflect on those blessings, reflect on how God will fulfill his promises to the Israelites. if they obey him. Is this relationship one-sided, or is it an active relationship between God and his people, both participating, both acknowledging the truth of God's existence? The next section is punishment for disobedience. However, if you do not listen to me or obey all these commands, and if you break my covenant by rejecting my decrees,

treating my regulations with contempt or refusing to obey my commands, I will punish you. I will bring sudden terrors upon you, wasting diseases and burning fevers, that will cause your eyes to fail and your life to ebb away. You will plant your crops in vain because your enemies will eat them. I will turn against you, and you will be defeated by your enemies. those who hate you will rule over you and you will run even when no one is chasing you. So pause there and see how this is, you know, the flip side of the blessings. Verse 18, and if, in spite of all this, you still disobey me, I will punish you seven times over for your sins.

I will break your proud spirit by making the skies as unyielding as iron and the earth as hard as bronze. All your work will be for nothing. For your land will yield no crops, and your trees will bear no fruit. If even then you remain hostile toward me and refuse to obey me, I will inflict disaster on you seven times over for your sins. I will send wild animals that will rob you of your children and destroy your livestock.

Your numbers will dwindle and your roads will be deserted. And if you fail to learn the lesson and continue your hostility toward me, then I myself will be hostile toward you. I will personally strike you with calamities seven times over for your sins. I will send armies against you to carry out the curse of the covenant you have broken. Pause, there's that word covenant again. Is a covenant just a

flippant agreement? Or is it a bond sealing the Israelites to God, sealing us to God, the rest of verse 25. When you run to your towns for safety,

I will send a plague to destroy you there. And you will be handed over to your enemies. I will destroy your food supply so that 10 women will need only one oven to bake bread for their families. They will ration your food by weight, and though you have food to eat, you will not be satisfied. If in spite of all this, you still refuse to listen and still remain hostile toward me, then I will give full vent to my hostility. I myself will punish you seven times over for your sins.

Then you will eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters. I will destroy your pagan shrines and knock down your places of worship. I will leave your lifeless corpses piled on top of your lifeless idols. And I will despise you. I will make your cities desolate and dismalet. and destroy your places of pagan worship. I will take no pleasure in your offerings that should be a pleasing aroma to me.

Yes, I myself will devastate your land and your enemies who come to occupy it will be appalled at what they see. I will scatter you among the nations and bring out my sword against you. your land will become desolate and your cities will lie in ruins. Then at last, the land will enjoy its neglected Sabbath years as it lies desolate while you are in exile in the land of your enemies. Then the land will finally rest and enjoy the Sabbaths it missed.

As long as the land lies in ruins, it will enjoy. enjoy the rest you never allowed it to take every seventh year while you lived in it. And for those of you who survive, I will demoralize you in the land of your enemies. You will live in such fear that the sound of a leaf driven by the wind will send you fleeing. You will run as though fleeing from a sword, and you will fall. And you will fall even when no one pursues you. Though no one is chasing you, you will stumble over each other

as though fleeing from a sword. You will have no power to stand up against your enemies. You will die among the foreign nations and be devoured in the land of your enemies. Those of you who survive will waste away in your enemy's lands because of their sins and the sins of their ancestors. Those of you who survive will waste away in your enemy's lands because of their sins and the sins of their ancestors.

Okay, pause there. That is bleak. That is harsh. That is judgment from God. Compare what we just do. read to the blessings we read about earlier if they obey. And does God go straight from zero to a hundred with the punishments? Or does he give the Israelites chance after chance to turn from their sin and obey? Why do you think these punishments are so extreme? I also want you to hold on to

the hope in Jesus. It's important to read these past scriptures to see how the followers of God before us lived, because it helps us rejoice in the new covenant God made when he sent Jesus, the covenant of grace and sacrificial love. It doesn't mean that our lives won't be difficult, but we can hold on to the hope and the fact that God never leaves us. Before we finish this chapter, think, do you think God is leaving the Israelites? Do you think he will ever come back if they make it that far? Well, let's keep reading. Verse 40.

But at last, my people will confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors for betraying me and being hostile toward me. When I have turned their hostility back on them and brought them to the land of their enemies, then at last their stubborn hearts will be humbled, and they will pay for their sins. Then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and my covenant with Isaac,

my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. For the land must be abandoned to enjoy its years of Sabbath rest as it lies deserted. At last my people will pay for their sins, for they have continually rejected my regulations and despised my decrees. But despite all this,

I will not utterly reject or despise them while they are in exile in the land of their enemies. I will not cancel my covenant with them by wiping them out for I am the Lord their God. For their sakes, I will remember my ancient covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of the land of Egypt

in the sight of all the nations, that I might be their God. I am the Lord. These are the decrees, regulations, and instructions that the Lord gave Moses on Mount Sinai as evidence of the relationship between himself and the Israelites. So there at the end of chapter 26,

does God ever forget his covenants? Even when we are at the lowest of the low, does he forget us? Or does he promise to always return, to always be there, to always be with us? Okay, I know this episode is getting kind of long and it's got a lot in it, but we only have one more chapter left in Leviticus. And

you guys, feel free to pause this show whenever you want and come back and just do it a chapter at a time, a section at a time. Use it however you want. But our last section of Leviticus is regulations pertaining to vows and tides. And we're going to talk about the redemption of gifts offered to the Lord. The Lord said to Moses, give the following instructions to the people of Israel if anyone makes a special vow to dedicate someone to the Lord by paying the value of that person. Here is the scale of values to be used. A man between the ages of 26 and 60 is valued at 50 shekels of silver, as measured by the sanctuary shekel. A woman of that age is valued at 30 shekels of silver. A boy between the ages of five and 20 is valued at 20 shekels of silver. A girl of that age

is valued at 10 shekels of silver. A boy between the ages of one month and five years is valued at five shekels of silver. A girl of that age is valued at three shekels of silver. A man older than 60 is valued at 15 shekels of silver. A woman of that age is valued at 10 shekels of silver. If you desire to make such a vow but cannot afford to pay the required amount, take the person to the priest. He will determine the amount for you to pay based on what you can afford. If your vow involves giving an animal that is acceptable as an offering to the Lord, any gift to the Lord will be considered holy. You may not exchange or substitute it for another animal, neither a good animal for a bad one, nor a bad animal for a good one. But if you do,

do exchange one animal for another, then both the original animal and its substitute will be considered holy. If your vow involves an unclean animal, one that is not acceptable as an offering to the Lord, then you must bring the animal to the priest. He will assess its value, and his assessment will be final, whether high or low. If you want to buy back the animal, you must pay the value set by the priest plus 20%. So right there, pause, and think about how important these vows. are that they're making to God. He's saying you can't exchange these things. So are they something that you should take lightly or something that you should be very serious and specific and thoughtful about? Verse 14. If someone dedicates a house to the Lord, the priest will come to assess its value. The priest's

assessment will be final, whether high or low. If the person who dedicated the house wants to buy it back, he must pay the value set by the priest plus 20%. Then the house will again be his. If someone dedicates to the Lord a piece of his family property, its value will be assessed according to the amount of seed required to plant it, 50 shekels of silver for a field planted with five bushels of barley seed. If the field is dedicated to the Lord in the year of Jubilee, then the entire assessment will apply. But if the field is dedicated to the field is dedicated to after the year of Jubilee, the priest will assess the land's value in proportion to the number of years left until the next year of Jubilee. Its assessed value is reduced each year. If the person who

dedicated the field wants to buy it back, he must pay the value set by the priest plus 20%. Then the field will again be legally his. But if he does not want to buy it back, and it is sold to someone else, the field can no longer be bought back. When the field is released in the year of Jubilee, it will be holy, a field specially set apart for the Lord. It will become the property of the priests. If someone dedicates to the Lord a field he has purchased

but which is not part of his family property, the priest will assess its value based on the number of years left until the next year of Jubilee. On that day, he must give the assessed value, of the land as a sacred donation to the Lord. In the year of Jubilee, the field must be returned to the person from whom he purchased it, the one who inherited it as family property. All the payments must be measured by the weight of the sanctuary shekel, which equals 20,

garaz. You may not dedicate a firstborn animal to the Lord for the firstborn of your cattle, sheep, and goats already belonged to him. However, you may buy back the firstborn of a ceremonially unclean animal by paying the priest's assessment of its worth plus 20%. If you do not buy it back, the priest will sell it at its assessed value. However, anything specifically set apart for the Lord whether a person, an animal, or family property must never be sold or bought back. Anything devoted in this way has been set apart as holy, and it belongs to the Lord. No person specially set apart for destruction may be bought back.

Such a person must be put to death. One tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain from the fields or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord and must be set apart to him as holy. If you want to buy back the Lord's tenth of the grain or fruit, you must pay its value plus 20%. Count off every 10th animal from your herds and flocks and set them apart for the Lord as holy. You may not pick and choose between good and bad animals, and you may not substitute one for another. But if you do exchange one animal for another, then both the original animal and its substitute will be considered holy and cannot be bought back. These are the commands that the Lord gave Moses

on Mount Sinai for the Israelites. Okay, take a deep breath and congratulate yourself because we just made it through Leviticus. And Leviticus is not an easy book to read. Many times we see it as irrelevant to who we are now living under the grace and sacrifice of Jesus. but I don't want you to look at it that way. I want you to see it as relevant.

I want you to remember that the God of Leviticus, while this section and these people may seem so far removed from us and so completely different than us. But the God of Leviticus is the exact same God living right here, right now, today, whenever you're listening to this, whenever you're reading. As you walk, as you go about your day, every hour, every minute, every second, he is the same God. You cannot separate the two. God is love.

God is holiness. God is beautiful. and God is powerful. The same power that can save the entire world, free us from the chains of sin, is the same God who has the power to wipe us out, to desolate the lands of Israel if they don't obey him. These are things to remember and to be aware of.

God is worthy of praise. God created us. God loves us. And Leviticus shows, us how serious God is about us and desiring for us to live in a way that honors him and brings him reverence. So reflect on this book. Reflect on how it might impact your life still today. Even though we don't live under these laws anymore, these regulations, these rules, why do you think it's important for us to go back and read this book? I am so sorry. I am so sorry. Sorry that this episode was so long this time, but I hope you enjoyed it and got something out of it.

Like I said, you can slow down and pause, come back to something tomorrow. Listen to each episode a little bit at a time. But whatever you do, however you interact, I'm just glad that you're here and listening to God's Word and letting his spirit speak into your life. reach out if you want to all that information is in the description next time we're going to start the fourth book of the bible i can't believe we're already done with the first three books of the bible but we're going to start numbers next time so stay tuned and i will talk to you in the next one