Stand Your Ground. Stay the Course.

26 “You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes. 27 You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard. 28 You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.

29 “Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity. 30 You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.

31 “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.

32 “You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.

33 “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 34 You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

35 “You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity. 36 You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37 And you shall observe all my statutes and all my rules, and do them: I am the Lord.” – Leviticus 19:26-37 ESV

When the Israelites finally arrived in the land of Canaan, they would find themselves facing a myriad of temptations that would put a strain on their relationship with Yahweh. This section of laws was designed to regulate the choices they would make when they inevitably had to interface with the pagan nations of Canaan. They would be entering a land whose preexisting occupants were not followers of Yahweh. According to Deuteronomy 7, when Israel was preparing to enter Canaan for the first time, the land contained seven different nations: The Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

These distant relatives of the Israelites were the descendants of Ham, one of the sons of Noah, but they had long ago abandoned their worship of Yahweh. As Moses prepared the people of Israel to enter Canaan for the first time, he warned them about the “detestable customs” of the land’s occupants.

“When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, be very careful not to imitate the detestable customs of the nations living there. For example, never sacrifice your son or daughter as a burnt offering. And do not let your people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft,  or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. It is because the other nations have done these detestable things that the Lord your God will drive them out ahead of you. 13 But you must be blameless before the Lord your God. The nations you are about to displace consult sorcerers and fortune-tellers, but the Lord your God forbids you to do such things.” – Deuteronomy 18:9-14 NLT

So, God took time to reemphasize those laws that specifically dealt with the problems associated with Canaan. Verses 26-28 cover behaviors that God has already addressed but that would prove to be very tempting in the land of Canaan because they were prevalent among the seven nations that lived there. God’s ban on the consumption of blood was not practiced by the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, or Jebusites. In fact, many of these groups had their own elaborate religious rituals where they offered blood sacrifices to false gods like Baal and Molech. As part of these rites, the drinking of blood was actually encouraged because it was believed that the blood could endue the worshiper with energy or power. 

God warned the Israelites about incorporating any of these cultic practices into their worship or daily lives. Each of the admonitions contained in this passage deals with behaviors that were common practice among the Canaanites and were associated with the worship of their false gods.

“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.” – Leviticus 19:26-28 NLT

Superstition and an obsession with the dead pervaded the Canaanite mindset, taking the form of fortune-telling and witchcraft. Ancestor worship and attempts to communicate with the dead were common among the Canaanites. But the Israelites were to have nothing to do with such practices. They were not even to emulate the fashion and hairstyles of their Canaanite neighbors. The reference to trimming the hair of their temples and beards was probably a warning against copying the look of the cultic priests. The Israelites were forbidden to take on the outward characteristics of the pagans, including disfiguring their bodies through ritual scarring or the use of tattoos. All of these things were closely associated with the idolatrous worship of the Canaanites.

“According to Babylonian-Assyrian religion, gods who represented the superior natural forces could be directly influenced by charms and spells to direct their power against evil demons who sought to work ill. This was sacred magic, and embraced under its scope, enchantment, sorcery, incantation, and witchcraft” – W. Carleton Wood, “The Religion of Canaan: From the Earliest Times to the Hebrew Conquest,” Journal of Biblical Literature, 1916, Vol. 35, No. 1/2 (1916), pp. 1-133

Magic, potions, bodily disfigurement, worship of the dead, and the consumption of blood were just a few of the pagan rituals the Israelites would find themselves confronting in the land of Canaan. And God knew they would be tempted to incorporate many of these pagan practices into their worship of Him. But God demanded distinctiveness among His people. He found the practices of the Canaanites abominable and unacceptable because they were associated with the worship of false gods. Everything about these rituals and rites was an affront to Yahweh’s status as the one true God and His chosen people were to have nothing to do with them.

God even had to go so far as to ban Israelite fathers from allowing their daughters to become prostitutes. This is most likely a reference to the practice of cult prostitution that was prevalent among the Canaanites.

“A peculiar feature of the Mesopotamian and Canaanite culture was ritualistic prostitution. To the temples of the goddesses of fertility (Inanna, Ishtar, Astarte) were attached bordellos served by consecrated women who represented the goddess, the female principle of fertility… The existence of sacred prostitutes shows that the individual worshipers received in this way communion with the divine principle of life and a renewal of their life forces.” – Eugene J. Fisher, Cultic Prostitution in the Ancient Near East? A Reassessment. Biblical Theology Bulletin

That Israelite fathers might even consider doing such a thing is an affront to our modern sensibilities. But it simply reveals the moral decline that had taken place among the nations of the earth by that time. In humanity’s flight from God, they had abandoned all reason and made the pursuit of personal pleasure their highest priority. The apostle Paul describes this moral descent in far-from-flattering terms.

Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.

So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. – Romans 1:22-26 NLT

God knew that anything done in the name of religion could become a gateway to all kinds of sins and excesses. Cultic prostitution would not stop at the temple but would make its way into the very fabric of Israelite life. If one could justify sin by spiritualizing it, it was just a matter of time before it pervaded every sphere of daily life.

That’s why God reemphasized His law concerning the Sabbath. That one day of the week had been set apart for the exclusive worship of Yahweh. It was to be a regular reminder that He was the one and only God, and He alone was worthy of worship, glory, and honor. There was no place for mediums or necromancers among God’s people. They didn’t need witches and diviners. They had the all-powerful God of the universe dwelling in their presence and providing for their every need. There was nothing they could gain from the pagan magicians and cultic priests of Canaan.

Instead, God’s people were to honor the elderly, show care and concern for the foreigners living among them, and treat one another with honor and respect. There was no room for deceit or dishonesty among God’s chosen people. Those were the ways of the pagans. Their false sense of piety was marked by moral decay and pervasive sin. But God had given His people His law so that they might stand out from the crowd. That’s why God ends this section with the admonition: “You must be careful to keep all of my decrees and regulations by putting them into practice. I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:37 NLT).

The real test would come when the Israelites entered the land of Canaan. When that day came, the true battle would be for the hearts and souls of God’s people and not for the land. Gaining control of Canaan would be relatively easy because God would give His people victory over their enemies. But winning the battle against moral compromise and ethical accommodation would be far more difficult. To defeat the urge to concede moral ground to the enemy was going to require obedience to God’s commands. The Israelites were going to have to pursue holiness more than their own happiness. They would need to make pleasing God a higher priority than seeking personal pleasure. The world of Canaan would offer a host of alluring options but the people of God would have to stand their ground and stay the course. They would need to heed the words God used to open this chapter: “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2 ESV).

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Set Apart to Stand Out, Not Blend In

19 “You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.

20 “If a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave, assigned to another man and not yet ransomed or given her freedom, a distinction shall be made. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free; 21 but he shall bring his compensation to the Lord, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering. 22 And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven for the sin that he has committed.

23 “When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten. 24 And in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. 25 But in the fifth year you may eat of its fruit, to increase its yield for you: I am the Lord your God.” – Leviticus 19:19-25 ESV

In the following section. God emphasizes the distinctive nature of holiness, calling His people to their lives in such a way that their set-apart status as His children is clear for all to see. There was to be no blurring of the lines; no compromising of His holy standards, in a vain attempt to blend in with the culture of Canaan. These verses seem to focus on Israel’s eventual entrance into the land of Canaan when they would find themselves surrounded by pagan nations whose morals and ethical standards were far different than those found in the Decalogue and the Book of the Covenant.

So, God highlighted various laws that were intended to differentiate the Israelites from all the other nations living in the land of Canaan. To our modern sensibilities, these laws may sound arbitrary and even strange. But it is important to consider the context of Canaan and the need for God’s people to remain distinctively different and set apart from all the people groups who currently occupied the land. For the Israelites to conquer and occupy the land promised to them by God, they would have to remain faithful to His calling to be a holy nation and a royal priesthood. There could be no compromising or accommodating, no bending of the rules, or lowering of God’s standards – especially when it came to worship. 

That’s why God starts out this section with the five-word command: “You shall keep my statutes” (Leviticus 19:19 ESV). His rules were not up for debate or discussion, and He would not tolerate any effort by the Israelites to blend in and get along with their pagan neighbors. God knew that His people would be tempted to accommodate and make concessions in an effort to get along with the Canaanites. Yet, He was not calling the Israelites to blend in; He was commanding them to stand out. In fact, when it came time for the people of Israel to begin their conquest of Canaan, Moses would deliver a powerful reminder of God’s expectations.  

“When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, be very careful not to imitate the detestable customs of the nations living there. For example, never sacrifice your son or daughter as a burnt offering. And do not let your people practice fortune-telling, or use sorcery, or interpret omens, or engage in witchcraft, or cast spells, or function as mediums or psychics, or call forth the spirits of the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. It is because the other nations have done these detestable things that the Lord your God will drive them out ahead of you. But you must be blameless before the Lord your God. The nations you are about to displace consult sorcerers and fortune-tellers, but the Lord your God forbids you to do such things.” – Deuteronomy 18:9-14 NLT

What stood behind God’s call to distinctiveness was the unique relationship the Israelites enjoyed with their Creator-God. They alone had been set apart to be His chosen people. They alone had been given His law to regulate their lives and the sacrificial system to guarantee their ongoing relationship with Him. He had promised to dwell among them and had designated the Tabernacle as His earthly dwelling place.

In the very next chapter, God will reiterate His call to holiness, reminding the Israelites that they enjoy a one-of-a-kind status as His chosen people.

“You must be holy because I, the LORD, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own.” – Leviticus 20:26 NLT

Everything about the Israelites was to be different and distinct, down to the way they bred their animals, sowed their crops, and fashioned their fabrics. Notice how God emphasizes His prohibition against mixing things that don’t belong together.

“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.” – Leviticus 19:19 NLT

There was an order to God’s creation, and He expected His chosen people to adhere to it. Mankind has a propensity for taking shortcuts and making compromises. But, as a principle, this tendency to take the easy way tends to violate God’s way. Making concessions and compromises may appear to be the right thing to do but it makes a life of distinctiveness difficult to maintain. God knew that full-blown apostasy began with small and seemingly innocent concessions.

In verses 20-22, God deals with another improper form of “blending” or “mating;” that of an Israelite man and a slave girl. There are a number of issues at play here. First of all, the man is guilty of having sex with a slave girl who is probably a pagan. To make matters worse, the girl has been betrothed to another man. So, the situation involves several layers of impropriety. The man has had sex outside of the bonds of marriage. On top of that, he has committed this sin with a pagan slave. But because the woman was betrothed to another man, the sin involves adultery. So, God demands that the man pay compensation to the woman’s husband-to-be, and then offer the proper sacrifice in the Tabernacle to pay for his guilt and to receive atonement.

Israelites were not free to have sex with whomever they wished. There were rules and standards. Though the girl was a slave, she still had rights. Her diminished social status did not render her open game for another man’s inappropriate sexual advances. This was the kind of “detestable customs” Moses was talking about. While the Canaanites might approve of such conduct, God did not.

From this rather blatant example of inappropriate “mating,” God shifts His focus to the topic of planting and harvesting. When the Israelites arrived in Canaan, they would be expected to cultivate the land so that it might be fruitful and productive. But God wanted His people to depend upon Him for all their needs. God was giving them a land that was extremely bountiful. There would be no lack of food or water. And Moses knew that the blessings of the land would tempt the people to forget about the provision of God. So, he later warned them:

“So obey the commands of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and fearing him. For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land of flowing streams and pools of water, with fountains and springs that gush out in the valleys and hills. It is a land of wheat and barley; of grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates; of olive oil and honey. It is a land where food is plentiful and nothing is lacking. It is a land where iron is as common as stone, and copper is abundant in the hills. When you have eaten your fill, be sure to praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.” – Deuteronomy 8:6-10 NLT

God wanted them to plant trees, but He also wanted them to trust Him for all their needs. So, He implemented a five-year moratorium on eating any fruit that the tree produced. For the first three years, the fruit was to go unharvested. In the fourth year, the fruit was to be dedicated to God. And finally, in the fifth year, the fruit of the tree was available for the owner to harvest and enjoy. This five-year delay was intended to teach God’s people to wait on Him. It was also meant to eliminate the risk of self-sufficiency.

“Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the LORD your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today. For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, be careful! Do not become proud at that time and forget the LORD your God…” – Deuteronomy 8:11-14 NLT

God was to be their provider and protector. But because He was giving them a land that was naturally fruitful and filled with all kinds of wonderful things to eat, they would find it easy to become self-reliant and no longer in need of His help. The very blessings of God could end up distracting them from their dependence upon Him.

One of the things that would set apart the people of God from their pagan neighbors was their complete and utter reliance upon God for all their needs. And that reliance began with their unwavering commitment to keep His commands. God would not tolerate compromise or complacency among His chosen people. The greatest risk they faced was allowing the richness of the land to diminish their reliance upon the Lord. And this was the very charge Jesus leveled against the church of Laodicea.

“You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” – Revelation 3:17 NLT

Jesus saw this church as having made unacceptable compromises. It wasn’t that they were living in complete rebellion, but that they had made harmful concessions that had left them with a “lukewarm” and ineffective faith. They weren’t living set apart and distinctive lives in the midst of the culture. So Jesus warned them to alter the trajectory of their faith and return to Him.

“I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference.” – Revelation 3:19 NLT

And God was calling His chosen people to avoid the need for His discipline by living in keeping with His commands. That’s why He opened this section with the words, “You shall keep my statutes” (Leviticus 19:19 ESV). God didn’t want His people to become lukewarm and ineffective. His desire was that they remain obedient, dependent, and faithful so that the rest of the world might see His presence and power made manifest through their lives. They had been set apart to stand out, not blend in.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Love One Another

9 “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. 10 And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.

11 “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another. 12 You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.

13 “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning. 14 You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.

15 “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor. 16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.

17 “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. 18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” – Leviticus 19:9-18 ESV

This chapter opens with the following statement from Yahweh: “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2 ESV), and Moses is commanded to deliver this message from the Lord to “the congregation of the people of Israel” (Leviticus 19:2 ESV). This was a corporate call to a life of holiness and just to ensure that His audience knew who was issuing the call, God repeatedly states, “I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:4, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18). As God emphasized His laws regulating human interactions, He wanted His people to know that He placed a high priority on their relationships with one another.

It was not enough to keep His laws concerning the Sabbath and the sacrificial system. Their outward displays of devotion to Him would be insufficient if they failed to obey His rules that governed life within the faith community. Individual piety did not take precedence over the interpersonal relationships of God’s people. So, in this chapter, God stresses those laws that were intended to guide and guard the daily interactions between His covenant people. They were in this together. God viewed them as a collective, a unified whole made up of distinct and disparate individuals who, together, formed His “kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6 ESV).

In verses 9-18, Moses records God’s message regarding holiness as expressed in the Israelite’s daily interactions with one another. Every one of the laws God highlights in this passage was intended to regulate the interpersonal relationships of His people. And love was to be the motivating factor behind obedience to each of these laws.

“…you shall love your neighbor as yourself…” – Leviticus 19:18 ESV 

This was the commandment that Jesus placed on equal standing with a sold-out love for God. When asked by the Pharisees which of the commandments of God was the greatest, Jesus surprised them by combining a love for others and love for God into one inseparable and binding commandment.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” – Matthew 22:37-40 ESV

These two admonitions were not mutually exclusive but had to coincide side by side. It is impossible to love God without having a healthy love for those whom God has made. The apostle John put it this way:

If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? – 1 John 4:20 NLT

God had made a covenant with the nation of Israel. He had set them apart as a people, not just as individuals. And His laws were meant to regulate their relationship with Him as well as with one another. What the apostle John points out is that God pours out His love on each individual so that they might share that love with someone else.

…since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. – 1 John 4:12 NLT

As God’s people love one another in the same way He has loved them, His love becomes magnified and increasingly more visible to a lost world. No one can see God, but they can witness the reality of His love as it manifests itself among His covenant people. The very fact that God’s people can love one another selflessly and sacrificially is proof that God exists.

So, as God reiterated His laws governing human relationships, He was encouraging His people to display His love through their daily interactions with one another. Each of the laws highlighted in this passage is intended to produce practical expressions of love. The Israelites were commanded to leave the edges of their fields unharvested and any grain that was dropped in the process of harvesting was to be left right where it was. Why? So that the poor and the needy would have food to eat. Keep in mind that many of these regulations were not applicable yet. The Israelites were still encamped at the base of Mount Sinai and did not yet own fields or vineyards. These laws would not go into effect until they entered the land of Canaan. But the principle behind the law was to be implemented immediately. God cared for the poor and so should they.

The next set of commands covers such things as stealing, lying, cheating, and fraud. These kinds of behaviors were unacceptable among God’s people because they exhibited a lack of love for the other person. These actions are harmful and not helpful. They do damage rather than good, and they convey a lack of respect for those whom God has made in His own likeness.

God knew that the Israelites would struggle with everything from greed and lust to unjustified feelings of superiority. That is why He warned them to treat the deaf and the blind with respect and honor. No one was to look down their nose at anyone else. The poor, weak, and disenfranchised were no less members of the family of God than anyone else. They had not chosen their lot in life, and the more affluent and socially acceptable Israelites were not free to judge these less-fortunate members of the faith community.

The practice of favoritism and cronyism was unacceptable among God’s people. Whether in the community or the courts, no Israelite was to practice discrimination. And this temptation to show favor to the haves over the have-nots would prove to be a problem in the New Testament church. James dealt with it forcefully and bluntly.

My dear brothers and sisters, how can you claim to have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ if you favor some people over others?

For example, suppose someone comes into your meeting dressed in fancy clothes and expensive jewelry, and another comes in who is poor and dressed in dirty clothes. If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, “You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor”—well, doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives? – James 2:1-4 NLT

There was no place for slander, gossip, or impartiality among God’s people. The Israelites had been called to be a holy nation, a royal priesthood that lived pure and undefiled lives. What was acceptable and even respectable among the Canaanites and Egyptians was off-limits to God’s people. Neglect of the poor, abuse of the working class, defrauding of the weak, or failure to help the defenseless were to be viewed as nothing less than hate. To claim to love God while hating your fellow Israelite was a non sequitur and had no place within the covenant community.

Vengeance, payback, and all forms of retaliation were prohibited because they displayed a desire to act as God in the life of another human being. And God made it clear that He alone was

“Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.” – Deuteronomy 32:35 BSB

The apostle Paul quoted this very verse when writing to the believer living in Rome.

Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”

On the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For in so doing, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. –Romans 12:19-21 BSB

God wraps up this section in Leviticus with a summary statement that emphasizes love. But the kind of love God demands of His people is interesting. He states, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18 ESV). But what does this mean? It sounds a bit self-serving. But God is expressing the common ground all human beings share. We each long to be loved, cared for, provided with assistance when needed, treated with dignity and respect, and given the benefit of the doubt. Yet, how easy it is to demand these things from others but fail to reciprocate.

“The point seems to be that they were to see others as people with needs, as they themselves had needs. The expression of love for other people then meant to come to their assistance. Thus, far from exploiting and oppressing people, the covenant member had to help them.…The idea here is clearly that of beneficial action motivated by concern for someone.” – Allen P. Ross, Holiness to the Lord: A Guide to the Exposition of the Book of Leviticus

Jesus picked up on this ancient maxim in His sermon on the mount, paraphrasing it to drive home his point.

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” – Matthew 7:12 ESV

This has come to be known as the Golden Rule, and some form of it exists in just about every culture that has ever existed. But its genesis can be found in the book of Leviticus, where God directed His people to love others in the same way they wished to be loved. And Jesus states that this reciprocal form of love forms the foundation of the entire Mosaic Law and the teachings of the prophets. God’s people are to love Him but they are also called to love one another. But what is the basis of that love? They are to love others in the same way that they desire to be loved by God. Selflessly, non-judgmentally, graciously, unwaveringly, consistently, and undeservedly.

Jesus put it this way: “Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.” (John 13:34 NLT).

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Loving Obedience

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. 3 Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. 4 Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.

5 “When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted. 6 It shall be eaten the same day you offer it or on the day after, and anything left over until the third day shall be burned up with fire. 7 If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is tainted; it will not be accepted, 8 and everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned what is holy to the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from his people.” – Leviticus 19:1-8 ESV

Chapter 19 serves as a summary statement for the entire book, reminding the people of Israel that they serve a holy God who expects those who bear His name to live holy lives. Their undeserved status as His chosen people came with conditions. They would continue to enjoy the blessings of His presence and power but only if they lived in keeping with His law. But God desired more than rote adherence to a set of commands. He wanted their obedience to be motivated by love – for Him and for one another. Moses later reiterated God’s laws to the people of Israel, just before they attempted to enter the land of Canaan, and he emphasized the need for love to permeate all their actions and attitudes.  

“These are the commands, decrees, and regulations that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you. You must obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy, and you and your children and grandchildren must fear the Lord your God as long as you live. If you obey all his decrees and commands, you will enjoy a long life. Listen closely, Israel, and be careful to obey. Then all will go well with you, and you will have many children in the land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

“Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today.” – Deuteronomy 6:1-6 NLT

It’s interesting to note that when Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees and asked to name the greatest commandment, He didn’t turn to Exodus 20, where the Decalogue is outlined. Instead, He quoted from Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19.

“‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.” – Matthew 22:37-38 NLT

The first commandment in the Decalogue simply states, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3 ESV). There is no mention of love on the part of the worshiper. But God does go on to emphasize His own love for the people of Israel.

“I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.” – Exodus 20:5-6 ESV

Jesus wanted the Pharisees to understand that obedience alone was not enough. If their adherence to God’s commands was not motivated by love, it was little more than wasted energy. It was duty without desire. That’s why Jesus went on to tell His own disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15 ESV).

Love must come first. Without love, any attempts to obey the will of God will come across as empty and lifeless. The apostle Paul emphasized the futility of pious acts performed without love.

If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. – 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 NLT

Doing things that appear to be godly but without a love for God ends up being pointless and ineffectual. They earn no brownie points with God. He is not impressed by our outward displays of righteousness. He looks at the heart to see if the actions we perform are motivated by love and a sincere desire to honor and please Him.

To this command, Jesus added a second one that He lifted directly from chapter 19 of Leviticus.

“A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” – Matthew 22:37-40 NLT

Jesus points out that love for God is incomplete if it is not accompanied by a love for others. And to make His point, He borrows from Leviticus 19:17-19.

“You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” – Leviticus 19:17-18 ESV

Love for God and love for others are inextricably linked. They are inseparable and cannot exist apart from one another. The apostle John emphasized this point in his first letter.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. – 1 John 4:7-8 ESV

And John went on to stress the symbiotic relationship between love for God and love for others.

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. – 1 John 4:20-21 ESV

This seems to be the point behind chapter 19 of Leviticus. In this passage, God repeats a handful of His laws but does so in order to emphasize the need for behavior that reflects a heart of love. He expects His people to live holy lives because He is a holy God. And, as John pointed out, because God is love, His people should reflect that same kind of love for Him and for another. A failure or refusal to love is the greatest example of disobedience to the will of God. Ritualistic adherence to a set of laws, codes, or regulations is not what God is looking for. He desires a wholehearted commitment to living and loving in such a way that His children properly reflect His character to the lost world around them.

Jesus would pick up on this divine desire for love among the people of God when He told His disciples, “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples” (John 13:34-35 NLT).

He shared this “new” commandment on the night He was to be betrayed by Judas. Knowing that His days on earth were quickly coming to an end, Jesus emphasized the one thing His disciples would need if they were to carry on His mission in His absence. They were going to need a special kind of love to survive the dark and difficult days ahead. He was calling them to emulate the same kind of selfless, sacrificial, lay-it-all-on-the-line kind of love that He was about to demonstrate with His death on the cross.

Jesus would go on to repeat this new command to His disciples, adding a special note of emphasis on the sacrificial nature of the kind of love He had in mind.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.” – John 15:12-14 ESV

In Leviticus 19, God is communicating the very same idea. He is calling His people to a life of selfless sacrifice and wholehearted obedience that reflects their love for Him as well as their love for one another. 

In verses 5-8, God emphasizes the peace offering because it was the final sacrifice offered to God and was intended to symbolize that the worshiper was in right standing with Him. An individual who offered the peace offering was claiming to be at peace with God. He had followed the prescribed sacrificial rituals and received forgiveness and atonement for his sins. This final offering was an expression of gratitude for having had his relationship with God restored. But God stressed the need for this final sacrifice to be done properly. There was a meal that accompanied the sacrifice and it was required that the worshiper eat the meal within the timelines prescribed by God. This was a fellowship meal, signifying that the worshiper had been fully restored and was welcome to eat in the presence of God Almighty. To partake of the meal in an improper way or to skip it altogether would be an expression of ingratitude and a lack of love for God.

This meal was meant to be shared with family and friends. So, if someone violated God’s law by serving the meal after God’s prescribed deadline, he risked defiling all those who joined him at the table. And they, like him, would suffer the consequences of their actions.

“…everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, because he has profaned what is holy to the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from his people.” – Leviticus 19:8 ESV

There could be no greater demonstration of a lack of love for others. To willingly include your family and friends in your disobedience to God, without their knowledge or consent, would be unloving and unfathomable. Who would dare to do such a thing?  The answer is simple: Anyone who does not love God. And an individual’s lack of love for God stems from a failure to understand His love for them. The whole sacrificial system was meant to be a visual and visceral demonstration of God’s great love. He had provided a way for sinful men and women to be made right with Him. He loved them enough to make atonement and restoration possible. And they were to recognize that love and return it in the form of willful obedience to His commands and selfless acts of benevolence toward one another.

The apostle Paul concluded his great “love chapter” with the following summary statement: “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:13 ESV). Love is eternal because it is from God. And God expects His children to demonstrate that love in practical and personal ways – both now and for eternity.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.