Slices
Prepare
As you approach this long passage ask the Lord to speak to you about the most important points for you today.
Bible passage
Various laws
19 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.
3 ‘“Each of you must respect your mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God.
4 ‘“Do not turn to idols or make metal gods for yourselves. I am the Lord your God.
5 ‘“When you sacrifice a fellowship offering to the Lord, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf. 6 It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it or on the next day; anything left over until the third day must be burned. 7 If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is impure and will not be accepted. 8 Whoever eats it will be held responsible because they have desecrated what is holy to the Lord; they must be cut off from their people.
9 ‘“When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. 10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God.
11 ‘“Do not steal.
‘“Do not lie.
‘“Do not deceive one another.
12 ‘“Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.
13 ‘“Do not defraud or rob your neighbour.
‘“Do not hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight.
14 ‘“Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling-block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the Lord.
15 ‘“Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favouritism to the great, but judge your neighbour fairly.
16 ‘“Do not go about spreading slander among your people.
‘“Do not do anything that endangers your neighbour’s life. I am the Lord.
17 ‘“Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbour frankly so that you will not share in their guilt.
18 ‘“Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.
19 ‘“Keep my decrees.
‘“Do not mate different kinds of animals.
‘“Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed.
‘“Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.
20 ‘“If a man sleeps with a female slave who is promised to another man but who has not been ransomed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment. Yet they are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed. 21 The man, however, must bring a ram to the entrance to the tent of meeting for a guilt offering to the Lord. 22 With the ram of the guilt offering the priest is to make atonement for him before the Lord for the sin he has committed, and his sin will be forgiven.
23 ‘“When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden. For three years you are to consider it forbidden; it must not be eaten. 24 In the fourth year all its fruit will be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord. 25 But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way your harvest will be increased. I am the Lord your God.
26 ‘“Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it.
‘“Do not practise divination or seek omens.
27 ‘“Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.
28 ‘“Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord.
29 ‘“Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness.
30 ‘“Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the Lord.
31 ‘“Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.
32 ‘“Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the Lord.
33 ‘“When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not ill-treat them. 34 The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
35 ‘“Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity. 36 Use honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt.
37 ‘“Keep all my decrees and all my laws and follow them. I am the Lord.”’
Explore
The first two verses make it clear that these instructions are for all the Israelites, because they are all God’s holy people. The Ten Commandments are applied to their current situation, giving us principles to guide in applying them to our own lives.
Loving God not only entails a ban on worshipping idols or consulting the spirits of the dead. It also means that worship entails giving only the best to God (vs 5–8) and offering the first fruits to him (vs 23–25).
Many of the commands are about the right treatment of those less fortunate: the poor; the resident alien; the physically handicapped; slaves. The rule against stealing is applied to the subtle ways in which one can take advantage of others, for example by paying unjust wages. Generosity is encouraged; landowners are not to make the maximum profit from their land but should leave some for those who have little (see Ruth 2). It is no accident that churches have often been in the forefront of demands for social justice.
The guiding principle in these rules about dealings with other people is the phrase which Jesus said (alongside love for God) was one of the greatest commandments (Matthew 22:39), which Paul said summed up the commandments (Romans 13:9) and James called the royal law (James 2:8): ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’
Respond
Pray for victims of injustice in the news and those involved in working for justice.
Deeper Bible study
‘... you are not under the law, but under grace.’1
The Pharisees distilled 613 items out of the Law of Moses: going through this chapter gives us an idea of how they did it! Clearly, not all the laws carry the same weight or serve the same purposes, but all of them were given by God to Israel ‘for your own good’.2 This is not always evident from our own viewpoint. For example, what useful purposes do the laws in verses 23 and 27 serve? We can discern the reasoning behind some of the others, although the march of scientific progress over the millennia has now rendered them less relevant: intercropping can be an efficient use of agricultural land, and our garments often take advantage of the strengths of different kinds of fibre (v 19).
Some of the laws, however, are universally applicable regardless of time, place or culture. Verses 2–4 and 11–18 (mostly a restating of some of the Ten Commandments) are as relevant to us today as to those to whom they were first given. Some others deal with issues that are not directly applicable in our very different times (eg vs 20–23) – but even here, careful study should lead us to distil helpful principles for our day and age. In this manner we can determine what the Holy Spirit is saying to us today from these ancient texts, both as a community of his people and as individuals.
We must not make the mistake of the Pharisees. They thought that obeying
the laws made them become acceptable to God. On the contrary, the laws served to demonstrate our human inability to live up to the impeccable standards of
the holy Creator God.3 This is why it takes the Lawgiver himself to fulfil the just demands of the Law, to rescue us from the consequences of our abject failure.4
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for fulfilling the demands of the Law on my behalf.
1 Rom 6:14 2 Deut 10:13 3 Gal 3:22–25 4 Rom 8:3,4
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Judges 11,12; Psalms 42,43
Pray for Scripture Union
Give thanks for our partnerships with churches and other mission organisations including The Message Trust. Ask God to bless our work together so the next generation can hear, explore and respond to the good news of Jesus and grow in faith. (This week's prayers relate to this story.)
