Leviticus 19:1-101And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy. 3Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. 4Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the Lord your God. 5And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord, ye shall offer it at your own will. 6It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow: and if ought remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire. 7And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable; it shall not be accepted. 8Therefore every one that eateth it shall bear his iniquity, because he hath profaned the hallowed thing of the Lord: and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 9And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. 10And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:1‑10)
IN THIS chapter the Lord speaks I to Israel not so much of the evil and abominable things they should not do, but rather of the good things they should do because of their relation to Him. There are, however, warnings and prohibitions still brought in here and there.
“I am the Lord” is repeated 15 times, and holiness is again insisted upon: “Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.” Surely we ourselves cannot be reminded too often of this.
These instructions have much to do with our dealings with one another. It is good and wholesome for us to read them, as indeed all Scripture, for there is in our day a tendency to forget that consideration for one another which should be seen among the children of God.
First we have reverence for parents: “Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father.” How lovely it is to see in a child that love and respect for his parents. To this is added: “and keep my sabbaths.” As Christians we do not keep the Sabbath, but the first day of the week, for we are not under law, but under grace. Still it is the Lord’s day, and how we ought to spend that day with Him and for Him, that blessed One who has done so much for us!
Next we have “Turn ye not unto idols.” This was ever a constant snare to God’s people, even as it is now. “Little children, keep yourselves from idols,” is the aged Apostle John’s admonition at the close of his first epistle, saying to us, as it were, “Don’t let anything come in between yourself and Christ.”
Careful guarding of the peace offering follows. It is typical of the believer’s joy in communion and the response of his heart to God, having been so blessed through the work of Christ. He enters into thoughts of Christ’s devotedness to God, of His love, and the blessing He died to bring to His own.
The peace offering was to be eaten the same day as offered, and on the next day, but to eat it on the third day was forbidden. It was an abomination and a solemn penalty attached to profaning the Lord’s offering in this way.
The tendency of our natural hearts is ever away from Christ. We get occupied with our joy, with our blessings instead of the Blesser. Christ and His work is lost sight of and our joy runs out. Just as the Israelite’s eating the peace offering must be kept near its actual offering up to God, so we need to be constantly refreshed in the presence of Christ to be sustained in our joy.
The Lord would also have His people to be gracious to others, especially the poor, and surely He would have us to be the same. If He blessed their harvest and their village, He tells them to show kindness to the needy. He instructs them to leave a margin of their good crops and the scattered or fallen grapes, for the poor and the stranger. They themselves had once been poor and strangers in the land of Egypt. But how precious it is to see the heart of God and His own character coming out in these instructions. He would have us, His people now, to be like Himself. He loves a cheerful giver, for He Himself is preeminently so.
ML-06/18/1972