I regularly watch TV programs on the Animal Planet channel. But some of the least interesting to me are those that film park rangers and law officers protecting the environment and holding people accountable for violations. I appreciate their work; I just don’t find programs about people breaking the law entertaining. Unfortunately, many people know the rules and laws of national parks but deliberately break them for convenience. When an officer confronts them, they suddenly either forget the rules or lie. They respond differently to the person in uniform than another citizen, knowing that the officer can apply consequences to their lawbreaking. But every once in a while, before changing the channel, I see a park ranger educating a naive but legally prepared outdoors person about the correct way to hunt or fish. Having their license has freed them from the tyranny of the threat of punishment. That’s encouraging. Sometimes they just moved and didn’t look for the state rules to know what was expected of those using the parks’ resources. Like them, Israel had only been living in the wilderness for a short time when God gave Moses instructions for how the nation must live. His people should have been encouraged by God’s willingness to help them stay accountable in the best way, free from the negative consequences of lawbreaking. “The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt.” (Numbers 1:1) I know what it’s like to suddenly have to live by a new set of expectations, laws, and responsibilities, having moved to a different country on an unfamiliar continent in mid-life. A change of that magnitude shakes you up and makes you pay attention to details like never before. Perhaps that was God’s plan for Israel—for his people to pay attention to every aspect of living for him rather than for themselves. The Lord held his people accountable to live holy lives in his presence, showing respect for the tabernacle where he resided, his holy name, each other, and all life. When God redeems us in Christ, he holds us accountable to live holy lives as God’s holy temple, reverently serving him and each other with esteem for all life.
Living in God’s Presence
“In the old covenant period…God was with His people and He associated His presence with the tabernacle. When people saw the tabernacle, it reminded them that God was among them. In the new covenant age in which we live, God is still with His people. Jesus said, ‘I am with you always’ (Matt. 28:20). In Hebrews 13:5 God says, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ In the new covenant in Christ, God has not given us a tabernacle or a temple; He has made His people His dwelling place…1 Corinthians 3:16 says to believers, ‘Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s sanctuary and that the Spirit of God lives in you?’ Once we are aware of God’s presence with us and in us, what changes about our lives? To borrow a phrase from Francis Shaeffer, once we know that we live in God’s presence, how should we then live?’ What do we do? We serve God daily (Leviticus 24: 1-9)…we relate to God reverently (Leviticus 24:10-16)…[and] we respond to people graciously (Leviticus 24:17-23)…Just as God called Israel into a covenant relationship with Him, He has called us into a covenant relationship in Jesus. 1 Corinthians 1:9 says, ‘God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord’…Amazingly, the almighty, holy God of the universe wants us to fellowship with Him.” (1) God still holds us accountable to him and his ways, but encourages and instructs us through his Word. In Leviticus 24, “the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Command the sons of Israel that they bring to you clear oil from beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually. Outside the veil of testimony in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall keep it in order from evening to morning before the Lord continually; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations.” (Leviticus 24:1-3 NASB) “The olive oil [for the light] was to be clear (not mixed with any spices; and pressed…fit for a king. The lamps were to be kept burning continually through the night. The importance of this is emphasized by using the word continually three times. This light represented the Lord’s presence within the tent, and the priests were to keep it burning continually to acknowledge his constant presence and to show their willingness to serve him always.” (2)
Living to Serve the Lord
God’s instructions continue: “You shall take fine flour and bake twelve loaves from it…And you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile, on the table of pure gold before the Lord…as a memorial portion as a food offering to the Lord. Every Sabbath day Aaron shall arrange it before the Lord regularly; it is from the people of Israel as a covenant forever.” (Leviticus 24:5-8) The laypeople of Israel had to pound olives and make bread for enough to fulfill God’s instructions. The nation was responsible for serving Him regularly and continuously. “God tells His people to serve Him in the New Testament too. Hebrews 9:14 says the blood of Jesus cleanses ‘our consciences from dead works to serve the living God.’ When we receive Jesus as Savior, one result of His saving work in us is that we will serve Him. Romans 12:11 is a command from God to all followers of Jesus: ‘Be fervent in spirit; serve the Lord’…when we serve we are behaving like Jesus. Jesus said of Himself, ‘The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve’ (Matt. 20:28).” (3) Jesus’s statement of his purpose radically differs from what anyone at that time expected. He called his people to an entirely new way of life, imitating his example with his power. “Grace doesn’t just pluck us from the pit of self-striving; it transforms us for fruitful living. If you’re in Christ, your feelings may need to catch up with the truth you are learning, and that’s okay. You are being made new—let’s let that change us from the inside out.” (4) “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Do we enjoy and serve the Lord enthusiastically through Christ, as best we can, in our newfound freedom from sin?
The Penalty for Rebellious Irreverence
In Leviticus 24, verses 10-23 describe an incident where a man of mixed race cursed God’s name and was sentenced to death (vs. 9-12). Some of us are personally offended when we read that God sentenced someone to death. However, the Bible is clear that rejection of God results in his rejection of the rebel. “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Bring out of the camp the one who cursed, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. And speak to the people of Israel, saying, Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him.” (vs. 13-16). “Those of us who know and love God are confronted with our need for balance in the way we think about God and relate to God. Theologians refer to this as the balance between God’s immanence and His transcendence…In God’s Word, God…says that He loves us, and He wants us to love Him. He tells us to talk to Him without ceasing. He is the loving Shepherd who carries the sheep in His arms, the loving Heavenly Father who welcomes us home, and He calls the church His bride. All these biblical truths direct us to intimate fellowship with God. On the other hand, passages like Leviticus 24 remind us that the intimacy is not with a mere mortal man, but with the all-powerful Lord of Hosts, Creator of the universe! We must always observe that distinction. God’s holiness, His other-ness, is beyond our ability to conceive. His glory, majesty, and mystery are inscrutable…His judgment of sin is real, and we are sinners. His power and knowledge are unlimited and perfect. We are not perfect, and we have never done anything perfectly except sin. To treat God as if He is one of us, as if we can fellowship with Him in the same way we fellowship with people, is blasphemy of His great name. It is wicked…[Yet, while] we are surrounded by blasphemers, at work, at school, and in the media [who] regularly…scoff at the truth of God’s Word, mock God’s people, and publicly deny God’s existence…God allows them to live another day, and another, and another. He mercifully gives them many opportunities to turn to Him in faith. The apostle Paul referred to such mercy as God’s ‘extraordinary patience.’ Peter wrote that God shows such patience because He does not want anyone to perish in His judgment. Instead, God wants ‘all to come to repentance’ (2 Peter 3:9). Who knows how many opportunities He gave to the man described in Leviticus 24? Also, God’s judgment of him was an act of mercy on everyone in the man’s life, so that they would not learn to blaspheme from him and go into an eternity of suffering and separation from God. In eternity God will be treated as holy; He will be worshipped as God. We relate to God reverently.” (5)
An Eye for an Eye
“Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death. Whoever takes an animal’s life shall make it good, life for life. If anyone injures his neighbor, as he has done it shall be done to him, fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him’…So Moses spoke to the people of Israel, and they brought out of the camp the one who had cursed and stoned him with stones. Thus the people of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.” (Leviticus 24:17-23) “In ancient Israel, as in many cultures, treason against the king was a capital crime…cursing a king was also a capital crime, since those who did so were acting as traitors by speaking evil of the king and holding him in utter contempt. This is exactly what the blasphemer has done with the King of heaven, and so he faced a punishment that fitted the crime. As Wright notes, ‘The death penalty in a sense sealed the offender’s own decision’…To reject our Maker is to forfeit the life he has granted us…crimes against humans are far more serious than crimes against property. This fits well with the biblical teaching that humans are created in God’s image and therefore of special worth. It also explains why murder is a capital offence in ancient Israel, although crimes agains property are not…All life is sacred because it belongs to the Lord, and human life is especially so because humans are created in his image…[and] penalties must be appropriate to the crimes (vs. 19-20)…This approach to justice was far from barbaric and bloodthirsty. Instead, it both limited ‘the scope for revenge, which always tended to escalate indiscriminately and endlessly in any tribal society,’ and ensured that the punishment fitted the crime.” (6) We must remember to take this in context with what the Lord had already said: “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” (Leviticus 19:18). The law in Leviticus 24 was national, not personal—governmental, not individual. “In Matthew 5, Jesus quoted this law: ‘You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also…’ (Matthew 5:38-41)…When [Jesus] was arrested, tried unjustly, and treated brutally…[he] did not retaliate. Neither should we. Paul was writing to individual believers and to the church, not to the government, when he wrote Romans 12:17-21. ‘Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’…As followers of Jesus, we respond to people graciously.” (7) Israel should have been encouraged and driven to compassion for God’s people through their conformity to His laws. The Lord held his people accountable to live holy lives in his presence because of his great love for them, to protect and guide them. We, who are in Christ, are called to live holy lives as God’s holy temples, reverently serving him and each other with esteem for all life. “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.” (1 Peter 2:16-17)
Related Scripture: Genesis 1:26-27; 9:5-6;Exodus 20:7; 21:26-27; 22:28; 25:22; 29:42; Numbers 15:16; 35:31; 1 Samuel 21:6; Matthew 5:38-42; 26:64-66;Acts 10;1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 6:19; 2 Corinthians 6:16.
Notes:
1. Moseley, Allen, Exalting Jesus in Leviticus, Christ-Centered Exposition Series, Leviticus 24, B&H Publishing Group, 2015.
2. Sklar, Jay, Leviticus, An Introduction and Commentary, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, Leviticus 24, IVP Academic, 2014.
3. Mosley, Ibid.
4. Simons, Ruth Chou, “When Strivings Cease—Study Guide,” page 95, HarperChrstian Resources, 2021.
5. Mosley, Ibid.
6. Sklar, Ibid.
7. Mosley, Ibid.
July 6, 2023
Divine Wisdom for Daily Living by Joanne Colvin 