Add these 11 Commandments to the Ten You Know

Leviticus 19:11-18  – Social Order Basics Part III – Public Relationships

Day 13 of our 14-day self-quarantine. Can hardly wait. My study in the book of Leviticus continues and each day I’m finding it just happens to have more and more to say to us as we live through this Coronavirus situation.  Read on.

The Passage

¹¹ ‘You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. ¹² You shall not swear falsely by My name, so as to profane the name of your God; I am the Lord.

¹³ ‘You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning. ¹⁴ You shall not curse a deaf man, nor place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall revere your God; I am the Lord.

¹⁵ ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly. ¹⁶ You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor; I am the Lord.

¹⁷ ‘You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor but shall not incur sin because of him. ¹⁸ You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.

Thoughts on the Passage

Let’s summarize the orders that God is giving His people in this passage:

i.               Don’t steal from, cheat, or lie to, one another.

ii.             Don’t swear falsely by God’s name.

iii.            Don’t oppress your neighbor (or rob him).

iv.            Pay your hired help quickly.

v.              Don’t tease or abuse the deaf and the blind, etc.

vi.            Let your judgments be just and fair without partiality to the poor or the rich.

vii.          Don’t be a slanderer.

viii.         Don’t ‘act’ against the ‘life’ of your neighbor.

ix.            Don’t ‘hate’ your fellow countryman in your heart, but you may reprove him, as long as you don’t sin in doing so.

x.              Don’t take vengeance, or bear grudges.

xi.            Love your neighbor as yourself.

Most of these are self-explanatory, but let me comment on a few, especially as they relate to the Coronavirus situation:

If this social distancing and other measures we are all taking does not end soon, I can see a day coming when people will indeed be stealing from one another or cheating them in their purchases or lying to them. As God’s people, we are not to do that. We are to trust in Him to provide for own needs.

Although many of our businesses may be suffering during this time, we are to pay our employees what we owe them to the best of our abilities. We are also to try and help them get the financial support available to them from the government and other sources that they are entitled to. We are not to lie for them, however. We are to reduce our income in order to help them out. Under this commandment, as God’s people, we can also include the idea that we are to pay our bills to utilities and other organizations or people we owe money too, to the extent possible.

Chuck Smith has an interesting perspective on being cruel to the disadvantaged:

I'm amazed at how cruel people really are. I'm amazed how cruel children are to a handicapped child. What is that about our nature, that children are so cruel to a handicapped child?

Now in the animal realm, quite often a handicapped animal will be killed by another animal. But unfortunately, sometimes men aren't far from that. Taking advantage of the disadvantaged. How often we see it done, yet there's nothing more cruel in the world taking advantage of a disadvantaged person. There's nothing more dangerous in all the world, because God said He sticks up for the disadvantaged. God said He watches over the widow. Man, when you're doing it to one that God is watching over, you're in big trouble. But you see, man apart from Jesus Christ isn't far from the animal. For an animal has body and consciousness. Man, apart from Jesus Christ has body and consciousness, therefore he relates well to the animal kingdom; therefore, he is cruel to the handicapped or the disadvantaged.

I know I cringe whenever I see clips of men or husbands beating children or women; or anyone in a gang attacking another person who is alone. What cowards.

Some of us are going to be called upon to make some tough decisions in many aspects of life (perhaps in who we lay off and who we keep, etc.). In those decisions, we need at all times to apply justice and fairness, regardless of who is involved.

Here in verse 16 of the passage, God tells us not to be a slanderer. Many may ask what exactly does that mean? I looked it up for us – it is one who attacks the reputation of another by slander or libel. It refers to a backbiter, defamer, libeller, maligner, traducer, or vilifier. Matthew Henry believes this passage is primarily focusing on telling false “tales” about others. So, if we are to take issue with someone on social media, or elsewhere, we need to be sure that a) it is not a false statement and could stand any fact-check someone may apply to it and b) it is not done in a way that entails the attitudes described in the definition just given above.

I found the one about “don’t act against the life of your neighbor” most interesting. Not sure exactly what that means. Matthew Henry says the following which is very helpful:

In witness-bearing: Neither shalt thou stand as a witness against the blood of thy neighbor, if his blood be innocent, nor join in confederacy with such bloody men as those described,’ [Prov. 1:11,12]. The Jewish doctors put this further sense upon it: “Thou shalt not stand by and see thy brother in danger, but thou shalt come in to his relief and succour, though it be with the peril of thy own life or limb;” they add, “He that can by his testimony clear one that is accused is obliged by this law to do it;” [see Prov. 24:11,12].

That’s a tall order, but it is what we are to do even if we consider our neighbor an enemy.

And when it comes to our political differences (related to coronavirus or otherwise), God is very clear when He says don’t hate your fellow countrymen.  You can reprove them, but not in a way that causes you to sin – so reprove them in love. That too requires a lot of work for some of us. But if we do not hate them in our “heart”, then perhaps we may realize we really do not hate them.

We are not to take vengeance when we have been wronged. We know that God will take care of that as He tells us in Deuteronomy 32:35, “Vengeance is Mine; (He) will repay”.  And we are not to bear grudges. My second daughter always reminds me of that. Yes, we are not to bar grudges.  We are to be ready to forgive and to bring back into fellowship with us all who sincerely want to come back with a change of heart.

Finally, we are, to love our neighbor as ourselves.  So, today, think about how you would like to be treated amongst all this social-distancing and treat your neighbor in the same way.

Hang in there, folks. In Ontario, Canada where I am schools will continue to be closed at least until sometime in May.  Please pray for all parents locked at home with their children.  Love to have your comments on any of these thoughts.  

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

Coronavirus and Greed. God had a commandment on that.

Leviticus 19:9-10  – Social Order Basics Part II – On Greed

Day 12 of our 14-day self-quarantine and today’s passage seems so relevant to the madness we have experienced lately with respect to hoarding of consumables like toilet paper and household disinfectants. Read on.

The Passage

⁹ ‘Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. ¹⁰ Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger. I am the Lord your God.

Thoughts on the Passage

Most of us are not into farming these days, yet we so appreciate those who are, especially these times. In the days of the Israelites, farming was big as there were no supermarkets to go and get your vegetables or flour to bake your bread. So, God is telling His people not to try and pick up every morsel that their fields of harvest, or every last fruit that their vineyards, yield. And his reason is simply this – they were to leave them for the needy and the strangers in their land.

The lesson here is not to say “well, that does not apply to me because I’m not into farming” but rather to fully grasp the attitude we are to have towards those in need. Whatever we do for a living, however we get paid or compensated, we are to remember those in need. We are to give of our gain to those that have a need. Many of us do that through the support of our churches and missions, through the support of various charities, or directly to those that God has placed in our paths.

And it’s not always about money. These days, in the midst of the coronavirus situation, it may be time – time to make a phone call or to Skype or Facetime with them, or to write a letter. Or, as God allows, it may be to volunteer in a riskier way. For others, it may be that all you can do is to pray for them and to let them know that you are.

And again, why is it that God wants us to do this? There are two reasons. First, remember, this whole chapter is about “social order”.  The fact is that there are those in our world that are in need.  And in order to have “social order”, they must be taken care of.

So, let’s remember this when we are in the grocery store next time and there are only three packages of soap left on the shelf.  Do we really need all three right now? Have we got enough faith in God to believe that when we really need soap, He will provide?  I hope so.

Life is not always fair. Today, billionaire David Geffen tweeted from his yacht (complete with pictures) the following: “Sunset last night. Isolated in the Grenadines avoiding the virus. I hope everybody is staying safe.”  That’s despicable, arrogant, and ignorant. And that is the kind of person God may have had in mind when He gave Moses this commandment for us to follow. We are not to be insensitive to the needs of others as Mr. Geffen seems to be.

Finally, you may ask, “why do I need to remember the needy?” Well, God tells us again, at the end of the passage, for “I am the Lord your God.”  Period. No other reason is required for the believer. But it also makes great sense with respect to keeping social order.

Hang in there. God’s plan is unfolding.  Let us stay alert and be in tune with His heart.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

If Ever There was a Need for Social Order, it is Now.

Leviticus 19:1-8 – Social Order Basics Part I

[parts of this intro appeared first as a standalone article on LinkedIn March 29, 2020]

Day 11 of our 14-day self-quarantine. I can hardly wait to go out and have the whole neighborhood to myself. It’s almost eerie like the pictures of an empty Times Square in New York City in the middle of the day.  The biggest challenge we have today is to be able to discern the truth from everything that is communicated to us (and that includes what we ourselves communicate to others).  Is the Covid-19 a big thing or will it too pass? Are the One World Government proponents behind this or is it just China or the anti-Trump movement or someone else? Is God trying to reach us one more time or is He just letting it be? Is this a build-up to the so-called end times?

Simply put, I don’t know. We do know this much. We are approaching 33,000 deaths worldwide as I write this (March 29, 2020).  That is more than the number of deaths of SARS, Ebola, and MERS combined. The next milestone (for lack of a better word) is Yellow Fever in the late 1800’s which took between 100 and 150 thousand people, followed by the Swine Flu in 2009/10 which took 200,000. We need to watch the stats.

With respect to who is behind all this, my personal feeling is that while one or more players may have had a negative role in this pandemic, the reality is that most of them are taking advantage of the situation to promote their own agendas. And that they’re prepared to do it in stages, taking what ground they can this time and setting up for the next ‘big thing’ that will help them do so. We need to be aware of that.

Finally, is God trying to reach us through this pandemic?  God is always trying to reach us. He has been doing that since He created the world and put man on it.  He made His ultimate reach 2,000 years ago when He gave His son to die on the cross providing a gift of eternal life to mankind. Some of us have not accepted that gift yet. Many are accepting it now. For them, and in the big scheme of things, the coronavirus pandemic will have been most worth it in the end. There is no virus or disease of any kind in heaven.

If ever there were times for having social order in the world, this is certainly one of them. And with that in mind we turn to our passage of Scripture today.

The Passage

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

² “Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. ³ Every one of you shall reverence his mother and his father, and you shall keep My sabbaths; I am the Lord your God. ⁴ Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods; I am the Lord your God.

⁵ ‘Now when you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted. ⁶ It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, and the next day; but what remains until the third day shall be burned with fire. ⁷ So if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an offense; it will not be accepted. ⁸ Everyone who eats it will bear his iniquity, for he has profaned the holy thing of the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from his people.

Thoughts on the Passage

Here are God’s basic initial requirements for a social order that brings true “peace and security” to people.  This peace and security is NOT what all global and one world government proponents promise (until they have you under their control).  It is internal, it is lasting, and it cannot be taken away.

First, God says we need to be holy. Because He is holy. Simple. And we humans become more holy as we follow His commandments and live by his statutes. I love what David Guzik says about being holy:

The idea behind the word holy is “separate”. As it is applied to God, it describes God’s apartness. It means that God is different than man and from all other beings in the greatness and majesty of His attributes. He has a righteousness unlike any other; a just unlike any other; a purity unlike any other – and love, grace, and mercy unlike any other. . .. Being holy [for us] means being like God, separating ourselves unto Him and His truth - and naturally, separating ourselves from those things that are not like Him and not according to His truth.

And that is what we are to move towards.

Second, social order requires (now think about it) that each one of us “reverence his mother and his father”. Period. My, have we ever screwed this part up. Part of that is our own doing as sometimes we are not the parents God intended us to be; other times it happens because we allow the state or the school system to take over our responsibilities as parents. Sometimes it happens because we allow society (what others are doing or allowing with their kids) to dictate what we do or allow with ours. It’s just so much easier that way, we argue, because we need to focus on so much other stuff these days. Well, I’m sorry, but what your kid does (even as a teenager) should be one of your uppermost priorities.  We can only get “reverence” from our children, if we show them love and provide them with the limits that they need to become the adults God wants them to be.

Guzik says this law is an essential building block for the stability and health of all society. Harrison says, “Reverencing parents is an act of piety towards God, since the parents are substitutes for the heavenly Father as far as their children are concerned."

Third, God says, we are to keep His sabbath. That calls for another period! At this point I don’t care what day of the week is your sabbath, as much as I care that you have a sabbath and adhere to the idea of it being a day of rest – whatever God leads you or shows you or wants you to mean by that. Search the Word about keeping the sabbath and find out. And then in the words of some famous marketer, “just do it.”

Third, in this initial set of criteria for social order, God says to His people, “do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods”.  Well, many of us today may say we don’t do that. Check again. This very thing I am typing on right now may be an idol. So may my phone and the many apps on it. So too that idiot tube I watch periodically. Not to mention that glass container of spirits that we may pour into our bodies. Or porn. I would even go as far as to say that “idleness” – my “free time” can become an idol for us today. Did I mention money? (Are you going crazy because your sales or income is down right now? Maybe this is a time when you need to adhere to this verse – don’t make money your idol.)

Finally, God says, in verses 5 to 8, keep on making your sacrifices (or today your offerings) of service or gifts to the Lord. And do them in the appropriate way, He says. We learned about that earlier in this study from previous chapters. We have been away from our church for four weeks now due to our trip south and then our quarantine. Today, we wrote our check to make up for our inability to contribute to the weekly offerings. This Thursday, when we are released from quarantine, one of us will make that special trip to our church’s mail slot and make that donation. That is tops on our list. Do not forget to continue making your offerings unto the Lord, God says.

In the rest of this chapter, God continues with His “laws” of “social order”.  Boy, do we ever need them now. May you reflect on this as He speaks to your heart this day. Stay tuned for the next installment of this study and feel free to share this one.  God bless you.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.

The Commonalities of Adultery, Child Sacrifice, Practicing Homosexuality, & Bestiality

Laws against – Adultery, Child Sacrifice, Practicing Homosexuality, & Bestiality

Leviticus 18:20-30

Day ten of our 14-day self-quarantine because of the coronavirus pandemic. I would never want to suggest that the quantity of sin one commits has an impact on a person’s state of being a sinner or his/her need for forgiveness, but the thought did occur to me that with all this self-isolation and social distancing going on in the world, the amount of sin along the lines of our passage today that is taking place globally must have dropped somewhat. Maybe now is a good time for many to understand that finds all these things to be an abomination, period.

It is also interesting to note that this passage may have an explanation, not for the scientific physical reason for Covid-19, but perhaps the reason as to why God is allowing it. Read on and decide for yourself.

The Passage

^20 “You shall not have intercourse with your neighbor’s wife, to be defiled with her. ²¹ You shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God; I am the Lord. ²² You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination. ²³ Also you shall not have intercourse with any animal to be defiled with it, nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion.

²⁴ ‘Do not defile yourselves by any of these things; for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled. ²⁵ For the land has become defiled, therefore I have brought its punishment upon it, so the land has spewed out its inhabitants. ²⁶ But as for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments and shall not do any of these abominations, neither the native, nor the alien who sojourns among you ²⁷ (for the men of the land who have been before you have done all these abominations, and the land has become defiled); ²⁸ so that the land will not spew you out, should you defile it, as it has spewed out the nation which has been before you. ²⁹ For whoever does any of these abominations, those persons who do so shall be cut off from among their people. ³⁰ Thus you are to keep My charge, that you do not practice any of the abominable customs which have been practiced before you, so as not to defile yourselves with them; I am the Lord your God.’”

Thoughts on the Passage

Adultery

Verse 20 is pretty straight-forward. We are not to have sexual relationships with the wife of another man. (And one could assume that is also true for the opposite sex – a woman is not to have sexual intercourse with the husband of another woman.) We already know from the first 19 verses of this chapter that we are not to have sexual relations with any of our kin related by blood or marriage. There is the issue of who is our “neighbor” and whether or not sexual intercourse is permissible with the wife of someone who is not our neighbor. I believe that God intended all of us to live in harmony around the world as, if not brothers and sisters, certainly as neighbors. We read in Romans 12:18 “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.” So, that means the emphasis in the lesson here in Leviticus 18:30 is not so much the idea of a ‘neighbor’s wife’ as it is that we are not to sleep with someone who is married, period. And that goes for single people sleeping with a person who is married to someone else. You can ignore what the Scripture says (at your own peril) but you can’t argue that it doesn’t say that.

Child Sacrifice and Abortion

Now in the very next verse (21) God says we are not to participate in any form of child sacrifice. That’s a no-no and I am sure that few, if any, of the readers of this study are involved in that. Most readers would find that to be an atrocity today and totally unacceptable to most men, let alone God.  And they would be right. The fact that we often miss, however, is where God places these things in His Word. The declaration of this abomination of child sacrifice (which most of us would not do) is sandwiched right in between the idea of adultery and homosexuality and then bestiality. God views all of these the same and to partake in them is to “profane the name of your God” (verse 21).

While we are on the subject of child sacrifice, I must admit that it is an easy leap for me to jump to thoughts of abortion. We may not see that as child sacrifice but think about it for a moment.  In the process of abortion, we are sacrificing the life of an unborn (or nowadays even a child that is about to be born). Yes, you say, but there is no idol god involved. Ah, but isn’t there? Isn’t the person having the abortion acting like a god? Or the father who is forcing the woman to have an abortion like a god? Or the whole idea of the warped concept of feminism, the god in this case? To me, at least, there are a lot of parallels.

Homosexuality

Then in verse 22 we come to the matter of sleeping with someone of the same sex. Now I do not want to get into the issue here of whether homosexuality or lesbianism is something a person is born with or something they acquire a need for due to their environmental upbringing. I have my own views on that, but I don’t pretend to solve the matter for the world when some brilliant minds on either side can’t come to an agreement, for a host of reasons. Nevertheless, whether there is a genetic or environmental cause to being non-heterosexual, it is not the condition that is being address in verse 22 of this chapter, but the practice of it. God finds the practice to be an abomination, period. I believe we can hold that view and still love a person who practices this sin just as we love any other type of sinner, or better still, just as we love ourselves.  And if you want the ultimate comparison, just as Christ loved and love us and them, when He died on the cross for them. That does not mean I condone what they are doing. Christ did not condone what the scribes and pharisees did, but He prayed to His heavenly father that they would be forgiven.  So we too are to views those we know who are homosexuals, even practicing ones, in that light.  We are to pray for their repentance, and forgiveness, but in the process, we are to continue to love them. I think you get the point.

Bestiality

Through social media and the Internet, we are becoming more and more aware of all things weird and not so wonderful. Bestiality seems to be one of those. But we note here that it has been around since the days the Israelites were in Egypt and then in the wilderness.  Verse 23 tells us to not even think of it. God calls it a perversion.  Sadly, much of mankind has lost its moral compass and perversion is what it seems to hunger for. One only needs to follow some of Hollywood’s less-brilliant celebrities (or even the smarter ones under the influence of Satan) these days to discover that.

What All These Have in Common and the Outcome

In short, all the commands of chapter 18 are intended to preserve the honor of the marriage bed.

In verses 24-30 of the chapter, God makes the following clear about the practice of any of these things:

·      Doing any one of them causes us to be defiled. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines being defiled in many ways. These include:

o   to make unclean or impure: such as

§  to corrupt the purity or perfection of

§  to violate the chastity or virginity of

§  to make physically unclean especially with something unpleasant or contaminating

§  to violate the sanctity of

§  to sully, dishonor (as one’s reputation)

o   pick your choice.

·      These things make “lands” defiled and God brings punishment on them (verse 25); punishment that causes the land to “spew” out its inhabitants (that is, they die)

·      We, on the other hand, are to keep His laws against these (verse 26) so that we do not get spewed out or die.

·      Committing these things does cut us off from being the people of God (verse 29)

·      And why, because as He says, “I am the Lord your God.” 

Does any of the above sound familiar to us today? There are a lot of practices of humanity that seem to defy God, but the violation of these laws seems to be so prevalent these days – it is even flaunted in many cases. Whether or not there is a connection between what is happening to our land once again, I will leave up to you to decide. Each one of us has their own views on that. And perhaps the real answer is not cut and dry one way or another.  But any correlation is worth it, especially if its consideration takes you, and me, and others closer, or back to, what God intended for us.  Hang in there but do think on these things.

Thankfully, while the practice of these things may cause defilement, God provides a way out for us through Jesus Christ. In that, we can rejoice.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.