[Linux4christians] Monday - Leviticus 18

Sun Sep 19 20:21:26 EDT 2010

    Monday

      Leviticus 18

Exhortation to Obedience and Life

18:1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 18:2 "Speak to the Israelites and tell 
them, 'I am the Lord your God! 18:3 You must not do as they do in the 
land of Egypt where you have been living, and you must not do as they do 
in the land of Canaan into which I am about to bring you; you must not 
walk in their statutes. 18:4 You must observe my regulations and you 
must be sure to walk in my statutes. I am the Lord your God. 18:5 So you 
must keep my statutes and my regulations; anyone who does so will live 
by keeping them. I am the Lord.

Laws of Sexual Relations

18:6 "'No man is to approach any close relative to have sexual 
intercourse with her. I am the Lord. 18:7 You must not expose your 
father's nakedness by having sexual intercourse with your mother. She is 
your mother; you must not have intercourse with her. 18:8 You must not 
have sexual intercourse with your father's wife; she is your father's 
nakedness. 18:9 You must not have sexual intercourse with your sister, 
whether she is your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether 
she is born in the same household or born outside it; you must not have 
sexual intercourse with either of them. 18:10 You must not expose the 
nakedness of your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter by having 
sexual intercourse with them, because they are your own nakedness. 18:11 
You must not have sexual intercourse with the daughter of your father's 
wife born of your father; she is your sister. You must not have 
intercourse with her. 18:12 You must not have sexual intercourse with 
your father's sister; she is your father's flesh. 18:13 You must not 
have sexual intercourse with your mother's sister, because she is your 
mother's flesh. 18:14 You must not expose the nakedness of your father's 
brother; you must not approach his wife to have sexual intercourse with 
her. She is your aunt. 18:15 You must not have sexual intercourse with 
your daughter-in-law; she is your son's wife. You must not have 
intercourse with her. 18:16 You must not have sexual intercourse with 
your brother's wife; she is your brother's nakedness. 18:17 You must not 
have sexual intercourse with both a woman and her daughter; you must not 
take as wife either her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter to 
have intercourse with them. They are closely related to her -- it is 
lewdness. 18:18 You must not take a woman in marriage and then marry her 
sister as a rival wife while she is still alive, to have sexual 
intercourse with her.

18:19 "'You must not approach a woman in her menstrual impurity to have 
sexual intercourse with her. 18:20 You must not have sexual intercourse 
with the wife of your fellow citizen to become unclean with her. 18:21 
You must not give any of your children as an offering to Molech, so that 
you do not profane the name of your God. I am the Lord! 18:22 You must 
not have sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse 
with a woman; it is a detestable act. 18:23 You must not have sexual 
intercourse with any animal to become defiled with it, and a woman must 
not stand before an animal to have sexual intercourse with it; it is a 
perversion.

Warning against the Abominations of the Nations

18:24 "'Do not defile yourselves with any of these things, for the 
nations which I am about to drive out before you have been defiled with 
all these things. 18:25 Therefore the land has become unclean and I have 
brought the punishment for its iniquity upon it, so that the land has 
vomited out its inhabitants. 18:26 You yourselves must obey my statutes 
and my regulations and must not do any of these abominations, both the 
native citizen and the resident foreigner in your midst, 18:27 for the 
people who were in the land before you have done all these abominations, 
and the land has become unclean. 18:28 So do not make the land vomit you 
out because you defile it just as it has vomited out the nations that 
were before you. 18:29 For if anyone does any of these abominations, the 
persons who do them will be cut off from the midst of their people. 
18:30 You must obey my charge to not practice any of the abominable 
statutes that have been done before you, so that you do not defile 
yourselves by them. I am the Lord your God.'"

      Prayer

Lord, You are the One true God, the only One worthy of worship. May I 
never bow down to or otherwise submit to a false god or idol.

      Commentary

The Lord God warned the Israelites to be careful to not copy or 
otherwise fall prey to the false religions of the non-Israelite people 
around them.

He established clean new guidelines as to relationships which involved 
sexual intercourse. There was both a physical health reason and a 
psycho-social reason for this; the gene pool had been significantly 
degraded by this time due to the Fall and because inter-marriage within 
the Israelite nation was many hundreds of years old, thus marriage to 
close relatives created the risk of multiplying serious genetic defects. 
The psycho-social reasons included the directly cited intention of a man 
to take in another closely-related woman as a concubine to make his wife 
jealous or to otherwise hurt her emotionally, there was also the matter 
of distrust because without boundaries even a close relative could not 
feel safe.

He continued to list several additional boundaries; no intercourse 
during a woman's period, no adultery, no sacrifice of children to the 
false god Molech, no homosexual sex, and no bestiality (sex with animals).

For everything the focal point was their right standing before a holy 
God. All of these forbidden acts were against His design from the 
Creation and each therefore represented a rebellion by those who 
according to the covenant were to be holy.

      Interaction

        Consider this:

Much of the attack upon the Israelites then and Christianity today, as 
well as the very nature of a sustainable civilization, comes in the form 
of promotion of the values God forbade in Lev. 18.

        Discuss

Is it not true that the Israelites had already demonstrated, by the 
making of the golden calf, their willingness to copy the idols of the 
non-Israelites?

        Reflect

Imagine how close to paganism the Israelites must have been that God 
needed to warn them to not sacrifice their children to the false god Molech.

        Share

How chaotic do you think things would have been if anyone could marry, 
take as a concubine, or simply engage in sexual intercourse with anyone?

      Faith in Action

Prayer:

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you where you may be compromising with a 
false teaching or drifting into idolatry.

        Action:

Today I will acknowledge where I have been compromising with a false 
teaching and have blended that with Biblical teaching (syncretism). I 
will also acknowledge where I have made someone or something of the 
world an idol in my life. I will repent, seek and accept the Lord's 
forgiveness, and ask a fellow believer -- preferably one Biblically 
qualified as an elder -- to be my accountability partner to hold-fast to 
the commitment of holiness I have made.

        Be Specific ______________________________________________________

    Tuesday's text will be:

      Leviticus 19

-- 

Have an http://Ultrafidian.com Day!  Pastor David
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Personal Site: http://bibleseven.com
Bible Resources: http://bible.org
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