Leviticus 22:10-16 – Don’t overlook detail in honouring God

Leviticus 22:10-16 give one final instruction to the priest concerning holy living. In these verses, God gave instructions on who in the priest’s family could eat of the portion of food reserved for the priest. Since the food was consecrated and given to sustain the priest and his family members, this must be observed.  

Who in the priest's family may eat of the food? God began in verse 10 by saying that no layman or a hired hand or anyone lodging with the priest could partake of the portion of food reserved for the priest.  But anyone belonging to the priest, even a slave he had bought, members born in his household and divorced or widowed daughter without a child could eat of the food apportioned to the priest. But a daughter of his who was married to a layman could not eat of it. Verses 14-15 give details about what to do when one partook of the food reserved for the priest unintentionally. He had to repay to the priest the portion of food he had eaten plus a fifth more. No one should take what had been set apart for the priest.  

Why did God even care to give instructions for such seemingly insignificant matters? As far as living for the Lord and seeking to live a life that will wholly honor Him, nothing is insignificant. What these verses show us is that we have a God who cares about little details. There can be a tendency in our relationship with God to disregard some sin as inconsequential. We need to know that there should never be sins that we regard as small or negligible. Any sin no matter how minor or trivial they may seem in our eyes is repulsive to the Lord. A passage like this reminds us to be circumspect and to live our life not overlooking little details that may disrupt our fellowship with Him. Let’s be mindful that big door swings on small hinges so that we will be careful not to offend God in what is seemingly a petty matter.       

Leviticus 22:1-9 – Seasons of abstention

In Leviticus 21, we first saw what God expected of the ordinary priests regarding mourning rites and marriage. They could only attend the funerals of their close relatives. Regarding marriage, they must not marry a prostitute or divorced woman. Then we saw what God expected of the high priest concerning his mourning and marriage. He was not allowed even to attend the funeral of his own father or mother. And when it comes to marriage, he was only allowed to marry a virgin. Then the later part of Leviticus 21 barred people with physical impediments from serving in the office of a priest. God is holy, hence only the best should be offered to Him.

In Leviticus 22:1-9, we see another aspect God said they must observe. They were warned against eating food reserved for the office of the priesthood when they had become unclean. Whether they were serving or not, when they became unclean because of skin disease, having discharge or had come into contact with a dead body, they were warned against eating food reserved for the priesthood. The food reserved for the priesthood were considered consecrated and hence to partake of them in an unclean condition would tantamount to showing disrespect for God. Priests must never do anything that would defile the name of God and profane Him. People with those conditions were temporarily barred from eating holy food. 

These verses speak of seasons of abstention. We must be sure that we are in a state to offer worship that is holy and acceptable to God. There may come times in our walk and service to God where we are called to abstain ourselves and come apart for a while. We must meditate on God’s Word, then adopt the values God reveals. It will help us to be renewed in our minds and spirit. In our waiting, be sure to submit with patience. At all times, we must maintain full confidence and trust in Him.  

Leviticus 21:9-24 – Only the best for God

In Leviticus 21, God specifically addressed the priests. He gave three aspects that they must observe since they were called to serve the Holy God. In verses 1-8, we saw how God expected the ordinary priest to observe mourning and marriage regulations to maintain a consecrated life. As we focus on the remaining portion of Leviticus 21, we see two more aspects to be observed in the priesthood. In verses 10-15, God turned to give additional instructions to the high priest concerning the mourning rites and marriage. God made a stricter demand since his accountability as the high priest was greater. Before we deal with verses 10-15, we must look at the issue in verse 9. This seems like a floating verse. It’s probably placed here because both the ordinary priest and the high priest must see to it that this did not happen to their daughters. God forbade their daughters to go into prostitution. Engaging temple prostitutes was a common feature of the pagan worship in Canaan. God wanted to ensure that not only should the priest maintain personal holiness, they must see to it that their family members also observe holy living. Hence, they must make sure that their daughters did not prostitute themselves.  

In verses 10-15, God then turned to talk about the requirements about mourning rites and marriage for the high priest. God made tighter demands on the high priest. Because of the anointing he carried, he was not allowed to grief like the ordinary priests. Verse 10 indicates that he was not to uncover his head or tear his clothes. In other words, his hair must not be disheveled, and his clothes not torn. While the ordinary priests were allowed to attend the funeral of their close relatives, the high priest was not even allowed to go near the dead body of even his own father or mother. Furthermore, for marriage, he could only marry a virgin. A high priest also did not go out of the sanctuary. This does not mean that he was imprisoned in the sanctuary but rather that he was to maintain a consecrated life where he would be at God’s beck and call anytime.

Worshipping and serving God is never a casual thing. It must not be done flippantly. Hence it matters much for the people who were called to lead in these holy matters.  Those with physical impediments were not allowed to conduct the service. Verses 18-20 stipulate that, “…no one who has a defect shall approach: a blind man, or a lame man, or he who has a disfigured face, or any deformed limb, or a man who has a broken foot or broken hand, or a hunchback or a dwarf, or one who has a defect in his eye or eczema or scabs or crushed testicles”. However, they were allowed to eat of the priestly portion.

What can we take away from these instructions given to the priests? God must be given the best. Our standard in conduct and what we bring to Him must be of the best qualities. We do not give to God our leftovers. He deserves our best. Total wholeness is not confined to just us personally but also to our family members and those whom we have authority and influence over. We are challenged to make sure that everyone within our sphere of influence will give to God their best. We are responsible to train them to honor God!

Leviticus 21:1-8 – Consecrated for service.

Through Moses, God had prescribed how the children of Israel ought to conduct their lives in Leviticus 18-20. The had the responsibility to live their lives in holiness in the light of their relationship with Him. God punctuated the call by repeatedly reminding them saying, “I am the LORD.” Fundamentally, the call to holy living rested on the holiness of God. In Leviticus 21:1 right through to Leviticus 22:16, are God’s instructions to the priests. In this segment, God repeatedly reminded the priests through Moses saying, “I am the Lord who sanctifies them.”  Neatly, Leviticus 21:1-22:16 broadly categorized five aspects for the priests to observe: (1) Leviticus 21:1-8, contains regulations concerning mourning and marriage for the ordinary priests. (2)  Leviticus 21:9-15 contains regulations concerning mourning and marriage of the high priest. (3)  Leviticus 21:16-24 contains instructions barring the physical impaired from serving in the office of the priesthood. (4)  Leviticus 22:1-9 contains regulations on impediment to eating the food reserved for the office of the priesthood (5)  Leviticus 22:10-16 contains the restrictions on the entitlement to eating the portion of the food reserved for the priesthood.

In the opening line of Leviticus 21:1, God told Moses specifically to address the priests.  The line reads, “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them….’” In verses 2-6 were the prescribed mourning rites for the priests. They were not allowed to come into contact with a corpse. Coming into contact with a corpse would render them unclean because dead bodies were considered unclean. They could not attend any funerals except for those who were their close relatives. Verses 2-3 specified the exception. They could only attend “…relatives who are nearest to him, his mother and his father and his son and his daughter and his brother, also for his virgin sister, who is near to him because she has had no husband; for her, he may defile himself.” Besides, priests were also not allowed to shave bald their “heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts in their flesh.” These were pagan practices of mourning for the dead.  In verse 7, God gave them regulations concerning the marriage of the priests. The priest “…shall not take a woman who is profaned by harlotry, nor shall they take a woman divorced from her husband; for he is holy to his God.”

The big idea is the call to be consecrated for the service in the temple. Holiness demands separation. More than just about not touching unclean things is the call to be consecrated unto the Lord. The holiness of God demands that we offer only consecrated service to Him. We are God's set-apart people!

Leviticus 20:9-26 - Honouring God in marriage and sexual relationship

These verses began with God reiterated the call to honor one’s father and mother. Here we see God forbids a child from cursing his or her parents. So severe was such an offense that He pronounced a death sentence on one who had committed this offense. Why did God view this wrongdoing so severely?  It’s probably because parents are figures of authority. If one cannot honor one’s parents how will he be able to respect God? Besides, denigrating the authority of parents would weaken the fabric of the homes. God wants the role of parents in one’s life to be respected.

From these verses on, God was dealing largely with His call to holy living by not engaging in a sexual relationship with any other member of one’s family. Implied in His dealing with these aberrant sexual relationships is God’s call to honor the marriage bed. One must only engage in sexual intimacy with one’s own spouse. Apart from forbidding adultery (verse 10), God also strongly rejected the consanguineous sexual relationships. He forbade incest with one’s mother, stepmother, daughter-in-law and mother-in-law (verses 11-12, 14). He also showed his disapproval of homosexual acts and sodomy (verse 13). And in verses 15-16, God forbade sexual engagement with animals commonly known as bestiality. In verse 17, sex with one’s sister or half-sister was disavowed. Verse 18 showed that a sexual relationship with a woman during her menstruation is disallowed.  Sexual union with other relationships such as one’s aunty or aunty-in-law, one’s sister-in-law was also strongly renounced in verses 19-20.   

God prescribed severe punishment for these sexual sins. In many of them, capital punishment was called for. God wanted them to be His distinct people. He would not allow them to emulate the conduct of the people of Canaan. They must consecrate themselves and showed themselves as God’s separated people. God wanted them to be a pure community that would reflect His holiness. Like Israel, we are also called out of the world to witness to the holy God. We must conduct our lives in such a way, especially in the area of sexual relationships, so that we will also bring glory to His name.      

Leviticus 20:1-8, 27 – The call to purity in worship

Leviticus 18-19 set the list of actions the people shouldn’t do whereas Leviticus 20 provides the why. Here we see the discipline that would ensue if they did not keep what God had prescribed in Leviticus 18-19. It clearly shows that the LORD desires His people to practice holiness. In Leviticus 20:1-8, 27 God expects His people to venerate and worship Him alone. So here He elaborated on the issue of Molech worship which He briefly alluded to in Leviticus 18:2.

Who was Molech and why was God against Molech worship so strongly? Molech or Moloch was a cultic Amorite god of fire of Canaan. He was thought to be the principle of life and reproduction for the male, whereas his female counterpart, Asheroth represented fertility for the female. As a pair, they were worshipped long before Israel went into the promised land. It was a common thing for Molech’s worshippers to solicit the services of the temple prostitutes and engage in sexual orgy. They did so to arouse the sexual desires of Molech and Astheroth, believing that when this couple engaged in sexual intimacy, the world – people, animals, and land - would become fertile. One other practice common in Molech worship was child sacrifice of making children pass through the fire. To venerate Molech was an affront to God. So, any of His people or foreigners dwelling among them, if found practicing it, would be cut off from God and be stoned to death.

In addition, verse 6 tells us that God forbade His people from engaging the services of a medium to consult the dead. To do so would result in God turning away from them and they would be cut off from the community of God’s people. Instead of engaging in such activities, God’s people were exhorted to consecrate themselves and give their allegiance to Him alone. God, as we know, is a jealous God and He will not allow His people to compromise their commitment to Him. Hence, He strongly admonished the people of Israel not to practice Molech worship. This warning against the worship of Molech tells us that God expects us to give our total allegiance to Him. We can surmise that God does not want us to give our allegiance to any other gods. Instead, we must worship the Lord our God alone and Him only shall we serve.

Leviticus 19:29-37– Practises that God’s people should avoid (2)

In our previous discussion in Leviticus 19:19-28, we discovered a list of actions God’s people must observe. They were not to crossbreed animals, or plant two kinds of grain in the same field; or mixing cotton linen with other material. We surmised that God wants His people to live simply and be single-minded in their commitment to Him. Then there was the call not to violate one’s maid who had already been promised in marriage to someone. Then the eating of anything with blood was forbidden. We also saw how God said about not practicing what Pagans commonly would do such as divination, sorcery, unusual mourning rites and mutilating one’s body on behalf of the dead. In Leviticus 19:29-36 we shall explore the remaining of the list of actions God’s people were told not to engage in.

Verse 29 warned against prostituting one’s daughter. This was to prevent religious prostitution. This probably won’t make sense to us without the context. The fertility teaching of the Canaanites asserted that productiveness of the land, animals or themselves depended on arousing the gods into having sexual relations.  So, in order to induce their gods into sexual activities, they would have sex with a prostitute to cause those deities to be aroused. To engage in such practice would lead to widespread immorality in the land God had promised them. More than about prostitution and lewdness, God was dealing with the human tendency of being influenced into venerating other gods. Hence it makes perfect sense to see why verse 30 called for them to keep the Sabbath. In all these, we become aware of God’s desire for us to worship and honor only Him by being focused.   

In verse 31 God warned them against consulting the dead through a medium. People who engaged in such practice were barred from the worship of the true God. The LORD then proceeded to tell them not to disrespect the elderly in verse 32 but instead, to honor them. Simultaneous to showing respect to the elderly, God’s people must also walk in the fear of the Lord.  Verses 33-34 detailed that they must not ill-treat foreigners who would reside with them. Their own experience in Egypt should cause them not to ill-treat others. To ensure that His people live with integrity, God forbade them from cheating in their business dealings with others. They must not cheat in weight or measurement. In all these, we can see that our God is faithful and just. He expects us to emulate Him and be people known for our single-minded love for Him. We must always remember that whatever we do reflects our relationship with Him. The call is for us to ensure that we honor God and testify to His faithfulness in our conduct. We must, therefore, seek to be truthful in all that we do, and in so doing show reverence for the LORD our God.