February 9 A READ LEVITICUS 24–27
Future Purity in the Promised Land
OVERVIEW
The book of Leviticus closes with instructions regarding conversation and conduct in the land. Blasphemy (which breaks the third commandment) is dealt with severely; vows and freewill offerings to the Lord must be carried out as promised. Sandwiched between these two discussions are rules regarding regular periods of rest for the land. Every seventh year the land must rest from sowing and reaping, and every fiftieth year marks a Jubilee, when debts are canceled and possessions revert to their original owners. In much the same way as he supplied double the daily manna just before each Sabbath, God promises to bless in abundance the year prior to each Sabbath year and Year of Jubilee.
MY DAILY WALK
Would you have the faith to do what God required of Israel? After every six years of farming the land, the Israelites were commanded to leave it unplanted for an entire year.
In essence, God was asking them to place their source of livelihood completely in his hands. Leaning on his provision alone, they would experience the thrill of living by faith and watching God supply their daily needs. Imagine the excitement of watching farmland suddenly produce double and even triple its normal crop! God was saying to the people, “Just trust me.”
God has staked his reputation on the fact that when you obey him, he will follow through on his promises. “Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take” (Proverbs 3:6). “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need” (Matthew 6:33). Select one of these two verses and make it yours for today.
WE LIVE BY FAITH, AND FAITH LIVES BY EXERCISE.
INSIGHT
Are You Listening? | Lev. 25:10
The Year of Jubilee was to be a year of release and return (25:10). That year, on the Day of Atonement, the shofars (trumpets made from rams’ horns) were to be sounded loud and long. As believers, we await the sounding of the shofar when Jesus will return to claim the land that is rightfully his—all the earth (Matthew 24:31; 1 Thessalonians 4:16).
INSIGHT
Don’t Take Those Sabbaticals Lightly | Lev. 25:11
God’s command to let the land rest every seventh year (and again every fiftieth year; see 25:11) fell on deaf ears. Later, the people would go into captivity in Babylon and spend one year in exile for every sabbatical year they ignored (2 Chronicles 36:20-21).
Pure Oil and Holy Bread
1The LORD said to Moses, 2“Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually. 3This is the lampstand that stands in the Tabernacle, in front of the inner curtain that shields the Ark of the Covenant.* Aaron must keep the lamps burning in the LORD’s presence all night. This is a permanent law for you, and it must be observed from generation to generation. 4Aaron and the priests must tend the lamps on the pure gold lampstand continually in the LORD’s presence.
5“You must bake twelve flat loaves of bread from choice flour, using four quarts* of flour for each loaf. 6Place the bread before the LORD on the pure gold table, and arrange the loaves in two stacks, with six loaves in each stack. 7Put some pure frankincense near each stack to serve as a representative offering, a special gift presented to the LORD. 8Every Sabbath day this bread must be laid out before the LORD as a gift from the Israelites; it is an ongoing expression of the eternal covenant. 9The loaves of bread will belong to Aaron and his descendants, who must eat them in a sacred place, for they are most holy. It is the permanent right of the priests to claim this portion of the special gifts presented to the LORD.”
An Example of Just Punishment
10One day a man who had an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father came out of his tent and got into a fight with one of the Israelite men. 11During the fight, this son of an Israelite woman blasphemed the Name of the LORD* with a curse. So the man was brought to Moses for judgment. His mother was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan. 12They kept the man in custody until the LORD’s will in the matter should become clear to them.
13Then the LORD said to Moses, 14“Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and tell all those who heard the curse to lay their hands on his head. Then let the entire community stone him to death. 15Say to the people of Israel: Those who curse their God will be punished for their sin. 16Anyone who blasphemes the Name of the LORD must be stoned to death by the whole community of Israel. Any native-born Israelite or foreigner among you who blasphemes the Name of the LORD must be put to death.
17“Anyone who takes another person’s life must be put to death.
18“Anyone who kills another person’s animal must pay for it in full—a live animal for the animal that was killed.
19“Anyone who injures another person must be dealt with according to the injury inflicted—20a fracture for a fracture, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Whatever anyone does to injure another person must be paid back in kind.
21“Whoever kills an animal must pay for it in full, but whoever kills another person must be put to death.
22“This same standard applies both to native-born Israelites and to the foreigners living among you. I am the LORD your God.”
23After Moses gave all these instructions to the Israelites, they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him to death. The Israelites did just as the LORD had commanded Moses.