Leviticus 17 19 The Place of Sacrifice Laws

Leviticus 17 – 19 The Place of Sacrifice Laws Against Eating Blood Unlawful Sexual Relations The Lord is Holy Love Your Neighbor Keep God’s Statutes

The Place of Sacrifice • Outside the Tabernacle, God constituted the ritual sacrifice of animals and disposal of their blood a capital crime. • Only those sacrifices commanded by God and offered at the entrance to the tent of meeting were permitted. • God proclaims His dwelling place as the exclusive place for sacrifices.

The Place of Sacrifice • God does not want His people running after false Gods. • Today we strive to avoid every association with false idols and acts of idolatry. • For it is Jesus alone that atones for our sins of idolatry with His precious blood and can only be received by his means (Word and Sacrament).

Laws Against Eating Blood If anyone of the house of Israel or of the aliens among your eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have give it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.

What’s The WORST THING that could happen to an Israelite?

Laws Against Eating Blood • The Israelites and those who came among them as STRANGERS were permitted to hunt birds and animals to supplement their diets. • The BLOOD from these birds and animals were DRAINED on the ground and covered with earth. • God forbids the wanton KILLING of birds and animals. • God desires that all life be RESPECTED

LIVE DIFFERENTLY And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the LORD your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statues. You shall follow my rules and keep my statues and walk in them. I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 18: 1 – 4

God’s View of Sex • God is going to detail the sexual practices He REJECTS, in order that the Israelites might live before Him in purity, unlike the Egyptians and Canaanites. • Because of their sexual practices, Canaan, the land promised to the Israelites, is defiled, and their people will soon be “vomited out” of the land as God leads the Israelites in. (see v. 25)

The KEY Sexual Behaviors to AVOID • • • Incest (v. 6 – 16) Adultery (v. 17 – 18; 20) Sacrificial Idolatry (v. 21) Homosexuality (v. 22) Bestiality (v. 23)

God’s View of Sex Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things…for everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people. So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 18: 24, 29 – 30

The LORD is Holy And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying “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. Everyone of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God. Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves god of cast metal: I am the LORD your God. Leviticus 19: 1 - 4

God’s Common Sense Approach to Life – LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR • • Don’t STEAL (19: 11) Don’t DEAL FALSELY with others (19: 11) Don’t LIE to one another (19: 11) Don’t swear by MY NAME FALSLEY (19: 12) Don’t OPPRESS your NEIGHBOR (19: 13) Don’t HARM the HANDICAP (19: 14) Don’t commit INJUSTICE in the courts (19: 15) Don’t SLANDER other people (19: 16)

KEEP GOD’S STATUTES • Various statutes or rules to live by when the PEOPLE of GOD entered the promise land • These were nothing NEW • They simply were reminders of God had called them to live as his chosen people, holy and set-apart by God.

Leviticus 20 - 24 Various Punishments (ch. 20) Call to Be Holy (ch. 20) Code of Conduct for Priests (ch. 21 – 22) Liturgical Calendar (ch. 23) Various Ordinances (ch. 24)

Various Punishments • Chapter 20 outlines the penalties for the ritual defilements presented in chs. 18 – 19 • Child Sacrifice resulted in death by stoning • Consulting mediums and necromancers resulted in being cut off from Yahweh (20. 6) • If I curse my father or mother that was punishable by death

Punishment for Sexual Immorality • Adultery was punishable by death (20. 10) • Incest was punished by death (20. 12) • Homosexuality was punished by death (20. 13) • Multiple sexual partners resulted in death (20. 14) • Bestiality resulted in death of both human and animal (20. 16 -17)

How Do You Respond? • • • What is the Context? Why Is This Law Here? What Changes Has God Made? What is Our Call Now? What Principles Do We Live by Now? How can we stay consistent?

Punishment for Sexual Immorality • Sexual immorality defiles individuals, making them unclean. • Because these individuals are God’s holy people, their sexual conduct desecrates God’s name as well. • As Christians we have the same call to sexual purity and to refrain from any sexual activity that would defile us.

Colossians 3: 5 – 7 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire…. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.

KEY VERSE 20: 23 – 24 And you shall not walk/live in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. But I have said to you, “You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and hone. ’ I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples.

Code of Conduct for Priests • Code of Conduct for priests (21: 1 – 9) • Code of Conduct for High Priests (21: 10 -15) • Physical Qualities that disqualified a priest from entering God’s sanctuary or holy place (21: 16 – 24) • Other qualities that disqualify a priest from eating sacred food. (22: 1 – 9) • Provides a list of residents within a priests’ house disqualified from eating sacred food (22: 10 – 16)

The Israelite Liturgical Calendar • Chapter 23 represents a liturgical calendar for the Israelites. • Each festival and Sabbath prepares the way and finds its fulfillment in Jesus • As such the life of Jesus shapes the Christian liturgical calendar, granting rest not only for our weary bodies but also for our weary souls.

3 Ordinances Regarding HOLY THINGS (chapter 24) • The Lamps found within the Tabernacle • The Bread for the Tabernacle • The Name of God – God equates Blasphemy with the sin of idolatry because it undermined true worship – Blasphemers were cursed by God – The Lord commands his name to be hallowed

The Law of Retribution • Take a human life and be put to death (24. 17) • Injury to a neighbor requires just compensation (24. 18 – 20) • Kill a neighbor’s animal then restore it (24. 21) • The rules are the same for both Israelites and foreigners (24. 22) • God’s system of justice is based on equity and compensation for loss

Leviticus 25 – 27 The Sabbath Year (ch. 25) The Year of Jubilee (ch. 25) Examples of Redemption (ch. 25) Blessings and Curses (ch. 26) Vow taking Laws (ch. 27)

The Sabbath Year • Chapters 25 – 26 comprises a single speech God prepared for Moses to deliver to the Israelites. • The speech connects life in the land with the observance of the Sabbath Year.

The Sabbath Year • The land will rest every SEVENTH year • The land was left uncultivated during the seventh year, which helped restore its productive qualities. Whatever was produced during the year was gleaned for people and animal usage, but not sold commercially.

Year of Jubilee • Occurred Every 50 years on the day of Atonement • The year of Jubilee provides God’s people with restored freedoms • Lands were returned to their original owners • Slave were freed • The land was given rest • Loans were written off

Year of Jubilee • The Year of Jubilee demonstrated the Lord’s emphasis on freedom, family, property rights, and devotion. • These things make a nation strong. • In Christ, we find our jubilee • In Him, our sins are forgiven, and we receive our “eternal inheritance”.

Redemption of the Land • God provided means by which the land stayed within the family • TWO cases of redemption • If a man SOLD property out of necessity, his paternal next of kin was obligated to buy it back. • If the poor man prospers he could purchase the land back for a fair value or wait till the year of Jubilee.

Redemption of the Land • If a man built is home in a walled city – the home would be redeemable within the first year; otherwise, all family rights were forfeited. • There were two exceptions: houses in rural villages (v. 31) and houses in towns belonging to the levities (v. 32 – 34)

Kindness for Poor Brothers • Family members were to take care of one another if they were stricken with poverty • You shall support him – Give Him a Job • Take no interest from him or profit • You should not lend him your money at interest • Nor give him your food for profit.

But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my convent, then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache…I will set my face against you, and you will be struck down before your enemies. (26: 14 – 17)

But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also walking contrary to me, so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember my covenant with them. (26: 40 - 42)

Laws about Vows • Various laws regarding vows people make • People • Animals • Homes • Land • Firstborn • Tithe