[Linux4christians] Tuesday - Leviticus 19

[pastordavid at bibleseven.com]

    Tuesday


      Leviticus 19


Religious and Social Regulations

19:1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 19:2 "Speak to the whole congregation of 
the Israelites and tell them, 'You must be holy because I, the Lord your 
God, am holy. 19:3 Each of you must respect his mother and his father, 
and you must keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God. 19:4 Do not turn 
to idols, and you must not make for yourselves gods of cast metal. I am 
the Lord your God.

Eating the Peace Offering

19:5 "'When you sacrifice a peace offering sacrifice to the Lord, you 
must sacrifice it so that it is accepted for you. 19:6 It must be eaten 
on the day of your sacrifice and on the following day, but what is left 
over until the third day must be burned up. 19:7 If, however, it is 
eaten on the third day, it is spoiled, it will not be accepted, 19:8 and 
the one who eats it will bear his punishment for iniquity because he has 
profaned what is holy to the Lord. That person will be cut off from his 
people.

Leaving the Gleanings

19:9 "'When you gather in the harvest of your land, you must not 
completely harvest the corner of your field, and you must not gather up 
the gleanings of your harvest. 19:10 You must not pick your vineyard 
bare, and you must not gather up the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You 
must leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.

Dealing Honestly

19:11 "'You must not steal, you must not tell lies, and you must not 
deal falsely with your fellow citizen. 19:12 You must not swear falsely 
in my name, so that you do not profane the name of your God. I am the 
Lord. 19:13 You must not oppress your neighbor or commit robbery against 
him. You must not withhold the wages of the hired laborer overnight 
until morning. 19:14 You must not curse a deaf person or put a stumbling 
block in front of a blind person. You must fear your God; I am the Lord.

Justice, Love, and Propriety

19:15 "'You must not deal unjustly in judgment: you must neither show 
partiality to the poor nor honor the rich. You must judge your fellow 
citizen fairly. 19:16 You must not go about as a slanderer among your 
people. You must not stand idly by when your neighbor's life is at 
stake. I am the Lord. 19:17 You must not hate your brother in your 
heart. You must surely reprove your fellow citizen so that you do not 
incur sin on account of him. 19:18 You must not take vengeance or bear a 
grudge against the children of your people, but you must love your 
neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. 19:19 You must keep my statutes. 
You must not allow two different kinds of your animals to breed, you 
must not sow your field with two different kinds of seed, and you must 
not wear a garment made of two different kinds of fabric.

Lying with a Slave Woman

19:20 "'When a man has sexual intercourse with a woman, although she is 
a slave woman designated for another man and she has not yet been 
ransomed, or freedom has not been granted to her, there will be an 
obligation to pay compensation. They must not be put to death, because 
she was not free. 19:21 He must bring his guilt offering to the Lord at 
the entrance of the Meeting Tent, a guilt offering ram, 19:22 and the 
priest is to make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering 
before the Lord for his sin that he has committed, and he will be 
forgiven of his sin that he has committed.

The Produce of Fruit Trees

19:23 "'When you enter the land and plant any fruit tree, you must 
consider its fruit to be forbidden. Three years it will be forbidden to 
you; it must not be eaten. 19:24 In the fourth year all its fruit will 
be holy, praise offerings to the Lord. 19:25 Then in the fifth year you 
may eat its fruit to add its produce to your harvest. I am the Lord your 
God.

Blood, Hair, and Body

19:26 "'You must not eat anything with the blood still in it. You must 
not practice either divination or soothsaying. 19:27 You must not round 
off the corners of the hair on your head or ruin the corners of your 
beard. 19:28 You must not slash your body for a dead person or incise a 
tattoo on yourself. I am the Lord. 19:29 Do not profane your daughter by 
making her a prostitute, so that the land does not practice prostitution 
and become full of lewdness.

Purity, Honor, Respect, and Honesty

19:30 "'You must keep my Sabbaths and fear my sanctuary. I am the Lord. 
19:31 Do not turn to the spirits of the dead and do not seek familiar 
spirits to become unclean by them. I am the Lord your God. 19:32 You 
must stand up in the presence of the aged, honor the presence of an 
elder, and fear your God. I am the Lord. 19:33 When a foreigner resides 
with you in your land, you must not oppress him. 19:34 The foreigner who 
resides with you must be to you like a native citizen among you; so you 
must love him as yourself, because you were foreigners in the land of 
Egypt. I am the Lord your God. 19:35 You must not do injustice in the 
regulation of measures, whether of length, weight, or volume. 19:36 You 
must have honest balances, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an 
honest hin. I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of 
Egypt. 19:37 You must be sure to obey all my statutes and regulations. I 
am the Lord.'"



      Prayer


Lord, remind me daily of Your holiness and of my responsibility to live 
holy before You.


      Commentary


The Lord God reminded the Israelites of their covenantal obligation to 
live holy lives, because of their agreement and relationship with a holy 
God.

He instructed them to be sensitive to the needs of the poor and of the 
foreigner, thus they were not to pick everything clean at harvest but to 
leave some behind for them; this was not a completely free gift as it 
required that those receiving the "gleanings" work to harvest them.


He provided guidance for daily living:


Deal justly with others


Do not slander others


Defend a brother in danger.


Do "... not hate your brother in your heart." [This is interesting as it 
is a precursor to the teaching of Jesus in the NT.].


To warn a brother who has stumbled so that you do not share in his guilt.


To not seek vengeance.


To not bear a grudge against a fellow Israelites.


To love your neighbor as yourself.


To not allow two different kinds of your animals to breed (e.g. donkey 
and horse because they produce the mule which cannot reproduce).


To not mix different seed in the same field.


To not wear a garment made of two different kinds of fabric.


In those primitive times a slave woman did not have the same rights as a 
free woman, therefore while it was a sin for her master to have sexual 
intercourse with her they were not killed but he was required to present 
a sin offering. The unfortunate precedent of a master being with a slave 
woman had been set by Abraham.


Fruit trees planted in the new land was to be uneaten in the first three 
years and the fourth given as a praise offering to the Lord God. Only in 
the fifth year and beyond was the fruit acceptable for the people to eat.


The people were warned again to not eat blood.


The people were warned again to avoid witchcraft; no divining (asking 
spirits to show where wells should be), trying to communicate with the 
dead, no fortune telling, be respectful to an angel and an elder,


The people were warned to not decorate themselves with odd beard and 
hair styles nor to be tattooed.


The people were not to follow the pagan practice of self-mutilation for 
the dead.


Parents, no matter how poor, we not to cause their daughter to be a 
prostitute -- all prostitution was bad for the society.


People were to treat foreigners respectfully when they were guests, at 
least as well as if they were Israelites.


People were to deal honestly with one another, no cheating.


The people were to keep all of the statutes given by God.



      Interaction



        Consider this:

God repeats Himself when He really wants us to remember what He has said.


        Discuss this:

Which of the items on this list were also taught by Jesus?



        Reflect on this:

Witchcraft in all of its many forms were forbidden by God.


        Share this:

When have you recognized that the way that you adorned yourself was an 
expression of a heart not focused on God but instead on worldly values 
that were not pleasing to God?



      Faith in Action


Prayer:

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you where something in the list from this 
text also applies to Christians and is a problem in your life.



        Action:

Today I will repent of that which the Holy Spirit reveals to me and will 
partner with a fellow believer for accountability in remaining where 
God, rather than the world, would have me in my walk.


        Be Specific ______________________________________________________



    Wednesday's text will be:


      Leviticus 20



-- 

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

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.thelinuxlink.net/pipermail/linux4christians/attachments/20100920/c7ef6e68/attachment-0001.html>