2BC BIBLE STUDY NOTES
Wednesday in the Word
Second Baptist Church
March 13, 2019
Leviticus 19:18-26
We pick up from last week discussing how God wants his people to be Holy/ separated from the neighboring people who practiced the pagan and demonic worship. Many of the things that are in the passage may seem odd but to those who first heard it, these rules spoke to them about how they were to be different. We have already pointed out that pagan and demonic worship was prevalent among the people and God was moving them away from these practices that had infiltrated their ranks. The basic point was that the people be Holy as God was holy. This meant that they had to reject anything that even resembled the pagan rituals their neighbors practiced.
Verses 18-19. These two verses end the first section of Leviticus 19. One of the things they needed to reject was the natural desire to take revenge and be selfish. In ancient times, revenge was almost expected. People lived in a time where the law was to avenge anyone who hurt you. God calls his people to love one another as themselves. This was a command for the people. But here is an example where holiness is defined not by what we don’t do, but by what we do. Holiness defined here in Leviticus 19:18 is not by avoiding something, but pursuing someone, specifically our neighbor, by looking for ways to love our neighbor as we do ourselves. To prioritize a neighbor’s needs like they’re our own needs. To look out for their interests as if that’s our own interest. To lay down our lives to serve our neighbor just like we do ourselves. And this is the picture in the Good Samaritan. We are surrounded by neighbors, by people around us in need, and God has called us to be a reflection of his love for them. To love others like we love ourselves. You think about how much we love ourselves. We love ourselves enough to get up in the morning, find some food for us, find provision for us in every way possible, take care of us. If we get sick, we’re doing whatever we can to figure out how to get better. We are constantly consumed. We’re just naturally wired to take care of ourselves. And the revolutionary command here in Leviticus 19:18 is love others like that. So when you think about holiness, when I think about holiness, let’s make sure we don’t just think about avoiding things or staying away from this or that.
Verse 19. The mixing of these things — different species of livestock, seeds, and fabrics — was usually seen by pagans to be a source of magical power. God wanted Israel to have no association with these pagan customs. This is not really applicable now, but then God was calling his people to look and act vastly different. Since those pagan customs are no longer an issue in our day, we shouldn't worry about mixing wool and linen - or other fabrics - in our day. This law is a good example of something that is no longer binding upon Christians today, because the pagan custom the law guarded against is no longer practiced.
Verses 20-22. This deals with a woman who was a slave/servant girl, who was eligible to be married. This is the situation described: A slave/servant girl is engaged to marry a free man, and then a different man has sex with her. Normally, the penalty was death; but because the woman was a slave, and was presumed to not be free or under the supervision of a man not her father, the penalty was not death. Yet, she was not free to marry her fiancée, so he must be reimbursed (the punishment mentioned). Then the moral guilt would be settled by sacrifice, and presumably, the man who had sex with her would be obliged to marry her.
Verses 23-25. God reminded Israel of their ultimate goal - the Promised Land, the land of Canaan - and told them not to eat of the fruit of the trees they plant there for three years. Then the fruit of the fourth year belonged to the LORD, and the fruit of the fifth year could be eaten. God knew that not harvesting the fruit for this period would be beneficial for both the trees and the surrounding ecology, and result in ultimately more productive fruit trees.
Verse 26. Eating blood was a practice in many pagan cultic ceremonies, as was divination. The pagan ritual was to have the blood of the animal in a bowl at dinner as a way to set out a plate for a demon. These practices were seen as ways to get favors from the gods.
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