Crime & Punishment ⚖️
Chapter 19 feels like the unabridged version of the 10 Commandments. Some of the original 10 are repeated like…
- Honor father & mother (v3)
- Keep the Sabbath (v3)
- No idols (v4)
- Don’t steal (v11)
- Don’t bear false witness (11)
- Don’t misuse the Lord’s name (v12)
Many of the new ones deal with the practical application of loving God and neighbor – like leaving the gleanings of the harvest (as a kind of welfare system for the poorest of the poor) or not showing favoritism toward the rich or oppressing the less fortunate.
Some of the laws seem odd to us – like not having garments with blends of different fibers. (My how the textile industry flagrantly breaks that one!) These laws could be summed up as “No mixtures!” This is another subtle hint back to Genesis 6 and the mixing of angel-kind with earth-kinds. Don’t even open that door a teeny crack. Don’t get any harebrained ideas about trying weird experiments with crossing cattle and goats or dogs and sheep. I think we can confidently say that God would not be on board with genetic modification.
Some of the laws relate especially to keeping Israel different from the people groups around them- the laws about haircuts and tattoos for example. Those were related to idolatrous practices of surrounding pagan nations. The Lord is basically the parent saying to His kids, “Just because the other kids in the neighborhood are doing it doesn’t mean you can.”
One of the best things Christian parents and grandparents can do for kids is to value and validate and love them. Tell them they don’t need to be like other kids to be special. They are special themselves.
Mr. Rogers wrote and sang a little song called “It’s You I Like.” Here are the lyrics:
It’s you I like,
It’s not the things you wear,
It’s not the way you do your hair–
But it’s you I like
The way you are right now,
The way down deep inside you–
Not the things that hide you,
Not your toys–
They’re just beside you.
But it’s you I like–
Every part of you,
Your skin, your eyes, your feelings
Whether old or new.
I hope that you’ll remember
Even when you’re feeling blue
That it’s you I like,
It’s you yourself,
It’s you, it’s you I like.
Some of us may need to hear the voice of God through Mr. Rogers. Go ahead. Click the link above and listen to the song. I’ll wait…
But Lacy, the Bible says, “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child.”
Yeah. I know. But it also says, “Except you become as little children you will not see the kingdom of God.”
Well, I don’t think I should tell children (or adults) that I like them the way they are right now. What if they way they are is messed up?
Umm… I’m just gonna set this right here for us to look at…
“But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”
Romans 5:8 NLT
God said He liked us while we were still messed up.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”
John 3:16-17 NKJV
In Leviticus we have – “Don’t cut your hair like that!” In the Gospels we have – It’s not the way you do your hair, But it’s you I like – enough to die because I care, and it’s you I like, it’s you yourself, it’s you… I… like.
🏰
If we read Torah without the context of the Gospels we risk coming away with a view of God as a harsh divine parent picking us apart, constantly criticising, ready to rain down Hellfire upon us.
The LORD will not slacken His Holy Law. I’m not suggesting we go soft on sin and compromise with the world. What I am saying is that sin has already been punished in Christ. We don’t need to exact a penalty from the sinner. Rather, we’ve been asked to tell the sinner some very good news: That his sin is covered in Christ. This is both Truth AND Love. Repent and believe the Gospel. That’s it. God will deal with the rest.
In the midst of reading all these Laws we can tend to get pulled into legalistic thinking. (Oh boy, I worked on the Sabbath. Oh no, I got a haircut. Uh oh – I’m wearing a cotton-polyester blend shirt…) The Epistle to the Galatians is the best remedy for that. It reminds us:
“it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, ‘It is through faith that a righteous person has life.’ This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, ‘It is through obeying the law that a person has life.’ Galatians 3:11-12 NLT
This passage quotes two OT texts, Habakkuk 2:4 and Leviticus 18:5. The Prophet Habbakuk said that the righteous (just) person would have life by faith. Leviticus claims that life is found through keeping the Law. Which is it? Does the Bible contradict itself?
Somehow we went from Mr. Rogers to very deep theological waters in the space of 5 paragraphs, but I believe the answer to the above is found in the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians. They were really struggling with this. If it was impossible for them to keep the Torah, why did God even give it?
“Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised…” Galatians 3:19 NLT
The purpose of all these Laws we’re reading is to show humanity our sins. The Law also tells us something of the separateness – the otherness – of God. He is holy.
Humans picked up a nasty habit from the Serpent in Eden. We tend to think that we are like God and can define good and evil. (We don’t.) We tend to think that God is like us. I mean, we’re made in His image right? (We are, but He’s not.)
It’s like some hotshot dude at muscle beach who thinks he’s all that… til a real body builder shows up and puts his lights out.
The Law is the brawny servant of Yahweh. We posed in the mirror and thought we looked pretty good til we stood next to the perfect specimen of the Law.
🪞💪🏼😎
And there’s no “body-positivity” here. The Law is the personal trainer with the impossibly flawless physique saying, “No excuses, Tubby.”
If not for the Law, we’d all think we were doing pretty great. We wouldn’t even make it to Step 1 of salvation: realizing you will never be able to pull off making yourself acceptable to God and that your sorry hide needs saving – on God’s terms.
The Law doesn’t pull punches. It softens nothing. In today’s reading we saw a long list of things punishable by death. They are serious sins – many of which are treated with a shrug today because they’re so common. Some have crept into the Church. But the Church does not get to redefine good and evil based on what’s trending. The Law stands here like Gibraltar. It isn’t moving.
Bear in mind that this Law is the covenant into which Israel entered in agreement with Yahweh. It wasn’t given to be ruthlessly imposed on outsiders like Sharia. God never told His people to impose His Law on the nations under threat of death by stoning. Gentiles could become part of the holy community if they chose, but the Law was never imposed on them.
Why?
For all its perfection and strength, the Law lacked one essential thing: the ability to enable humans to carry it out.
“For what was impossible for the law, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the requirement of the law would be fulfilled in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:3-4 LEB
Leviticus 18:5 is correct. A person can find life in keeping the Law. But only One person has ever succeeded at it. Jesus. And He shares His perfect record with those who trust in Him (who have died to sin and who live according to the Spirit). That is the message of the Gospel. So we are made righteous by faith as Habbakuk said. They are BOTH correct. There is no contradiction.
The heart that has come into agreement with God about its sinful state and has trusted in Christ for justification – that heart removes self from the throne and enthrones the Lawgiver. God dwells in us by His Spirit. He writes His laws on our hearts so that we want to do them.
“For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Jeremiah 31:33 ESV
So as were reading along and the Law says,
👉🏼 “Do! Do! Do!”
Point to Christ and say,
✝️ “Done. Done. Done.”
To The Reader 