Leviticus 19:26

Leviticus 19:26 says, Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times.  Here the prohibition against eating blood had two other prohibitions added, and that was using enchantments or observing times.  This would be the casting of spells and considering some days more fortunate than others.  We may think of Friday the thirteenth as an example, but we should think of horoscopes and superstitions as well.  God alone is in charge of the world, and not mother nature or a day of the calendar.  Verse twenty-seven adds, Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.  Matthew Henry says this had to do with attempting to make themselves resemble heavenly orbs, but it had more to do with the reason behind doing this than the actual hair or beard style.  Verse twenty-eight continues, Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD.  This could be viewed as not cutting themselves at all or having tattoos, but once again it goes beyond that to the belief that this would somehow have an influence on the dead.  Once a person is dead, their everlasting fate is determined, and nothing that we do can change that.  Verse twenty-nine states, Do not prostitute thy daughter, to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness.  This would seem to be a very unnecessary command, but this was done in a lot of heathen worship.  If the people of Israel began to follow these heathen practices then before long the whole land would become full of wickedness.  Verse thirty adds, Ye shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am the LORD.  The people were to keep the sabbath and to reverence the sanctuary of God.  We today need to keep the sabbath, or the Lord's Day as we observe it, sacred and to reverence God at all times in our lives, since if we are a follower of Christ then our bodies are the temple, or tabernacle, of the Holy Spirit.  Verse thirty-one continues, Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards, to be defiled by them: I am the LORD your God.  There are fortune tellers today, and as Christians, we are to avoid them, just as the people of Israel were.  No one, other than God Himself, can foretell the future, and for a Christian to seek out someone who says they can is simply against God's command.  Verse thirty-two says, Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the LORD.  The people of Israel were warned against mistreating the elderly, and we know that a lot of that goes on today.  As followers of Christ, we need to make sure that we are not guilty of doing this.  Verse thirty-three adds,  And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him.  The people of Israel were warned against mistreating strangers who lived in their land.  This would have been people of a different nationality, and we are not to mistreat or even look down on people of different nationalities today if they are in our land, because in God's eyes we are all equal and all the land is His land.  Verse thirty-four continues, But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.  This goes a little farther in how the people of Israel were to treat strangers in their land and says that they are to be treated as if they were born in the land and loved as a person loved them self.  I believe that God expects the same today.  Verse thirty-five declares, Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure.  Then verse thirty-six states, Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt.  The people of Israel were not to cheat anyone by using false measurements.  Because God is God, they were to be honest in all their dealings with others, and so should we today as Christians.  We should never attempt to cheat others, because it reflects on our relationship with God.  Verse thirty-seven adds, Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: I am the LORD.  The people of Israel were to obey all of God's statutes and His judgments, because He was the LORD.  This has never changed.  We may put the Ten Commandments on all the walls of every building in the land, but unless we write them on our hearts by faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord and live by His direction, it will do no good.

Leviticus 19:14

Leviticus 19:14 says, Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD.  God warned against mistreating deaf and the blind,  Though I believe this referred to those who were physically deaf and blind, we today should not be a stumbling block to those who are spiritually deaf or blind.  Our actions as followers of Christ should never cause others to doubt God's authority.  Verse fifteen adds, Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.  God warned against treating people differently because of their material worth.  The rich and the poor were to be subject to the same justice, and that was to be based on the righteousness of God.  We today are to be the same as followers of Christ and to treat all people the same based on the righteous of God.  Verse sixteen continues, Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD.  I believe that a tale bearer would be a gossip or or one who spread lies, and that at the same time as we aren't to gossip that we are to report it if we see something wrong that has been done to our neighbor.  Verse seventeen states, Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. The people of Israel were told that they were not to hate their brother in their heart, and we know that Jesus told us the same thing about our neighbor and that everyone is our neighbor.  They were told to rebuke their neighbor if they were guilty of sin, but even this was to be done out of an attitude of love and concern.  Verse eighteen adds, Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.  God once again warned the people of Israel against acting out of a grudge in their treatment of their neighbor and to love their neighbor as them self, as already stated.  Even when we have been wronged, we are still to act out of Godly love to those who have harmed us, and allow God to punish them if it is necessary.  This may not even happen in this lifetime, but it will happen.  Verse nineteen continues, Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.   The people of Israel were warned against failing to keep God's laws, and then there were some warnings against intermingling livestock, crops and clothing material.  We today are still to obey God's laws, but the warning against intermingling of livestock, crops and clothing are not a part of the laws that were to be everlasting I believe.  Verse twenty declares, And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free.  If a man had carnal relations with a woman who was a bond woman who had not been given her freedom, she was to be scourged.  Matthew Henry says that some believe that both the man and the woman were to be scourged, but in either case this was to be done to preserve the sanctity of marriage.  Vere twenty-one adds, And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, even a ram for a trespass offering.  The man was to bring a trespass offering to the door of the tabernacle for this sin.  Verse twenty-two continues, And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the LORD for his sin which he hath done: and the sin which he hath done shall be forgiven him.  The priest was then to make an atonement for him with the trespass offering.  Jesus Christ is the only acceptable trespass offering for our sins today.  Verse twenty-three says, And when ye shall come into the land, and shall have planted all manner of trees for food, then ye shall count the fruit thereof as uncircumcised: three years shall it be as uncircumcised unto you: it shall not be eaten of.  For three years after trees were planted in a foreign land, the fruit was not to be eaten.  Verse twenty-four adds, But in the fourth year all the fruit thereof shall be holy to praise the LORD withal.  The fourth year, all the fruit was to be considered holy to the praise of God.  Verse twenty-five concludes, And in the fifth year shall ye eat of the fruit thereof, that it may yield unto you the increase thereof: I am the LORD your God.  It was to be the fifth year that the people of Israel could eat the fruit of the trees.  Matthew Henry says this could have been to distinguish the people of Israel from the practices of those around them and that it would also teach them patience.  We today need to learn to be patient when looking for the material blessings of God and to use them wisely when they come.

Leviticus 19:1

Leviticus 19:1 says, And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,  Verse two adds, Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.  God told Moses to tell the people of Israel that they were to be holy because He was holy.  They could not be holy by their own merit, but only through their relationship to God, just as we can only be holy by our relationship to Jesus Christ today.  Just as God called on the people of Israel to be holy then, through their relationship with Him, He calls on us to be holy today through our relationship with Him.  Verse three continues, Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.  The people of Israel were to respect their fathers and mothers and to keep God's sabbath, and this has not changed, except we celebrate the Lord's day, or Sunday, instead of the sabbath, or Saturday.  Verse four states, Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the LORD your God.  The people of Israel were not to worship idols or to make any themselves.  We today, as followers of Christ, are not to worship any idols and we certainly are not to make any ourselves.  Verse five adds, And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the LORD, ye shall offer it at your own will.  Any peace offering made to God was to be made freely.  When we offer anything to God today, beginning with our life through our faith in Christ, we are to offer it freely.  God does not force people to offer anything to Him.  Verse six continues, It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow: and if ought remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire.  Any of the peace offering given to God was to be consumed in two days at the most, and any that was left over was to be burned.  The peace offerings were to be renewed often.  Verse seven says, And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable; it shall not be accepted.  Once the peace offering had been given, then it was under God's rules, and if the people of Israel did not obey His instructions, it would become an abomination to them.  When we come to Christ for salvation or give anything to God as a gift, we are to follow His guidance as to what we do with our life or how we use the gifts that we give to Him.  Verse eight adds, Therefore every one that eateth it shall bear his iniquity, because he hath profaned the hallowed thing of the LORD: and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.  Anyone who ate of the peace offering after the second day was to be considered guilty of sin and was to be cut off from the people of Israel.  If we try to misuse the things that we give to God today, we may not be cutoff physically from the church, but we will be cutoff spiritually.  Once more, if we have truly accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we will not lose our salvation, but we will certainly lose our effectiveness as witnesses for Christ.  Verse nine continues, And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.  When the people reaped their harvest, they were to leave a gleaning.  I believe that today God does not expect us to use up everything that He blesses us with on our self, but that we are us use part of it to help others.  Verse ten states, And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.  The people of Israel were also to not reap every grape from the vine but were to leave some for the poor and the stranger, because God was their God.  God is still God today, and if we are a Christian, then He is our God, and I believe that He still expects the same of us today.  Verse eleven adds, Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.  The people of Israel were not to steal, deal falsely with one another or lie to each other.  This still applies to us today if we are followers of Christ.  Verse twelve continues, And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.  The people of Israel were not to swear falsely by God's name.  If we make a promise in God's name today and do not keep it, we are profaning His name.  Verse thirteen concludes, Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.  They were not to cheat a neighbor nor to keep an person's wages overnight.  We are still not to cheat our neighbor, which would be anyone, although we do not usually pay people every day. 

Leviticus 18:20

Leviticus 18:20 says, Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour’s wife, to defile thyself with her.  God now told men once again to not commit adultery with their neighbor's wife, because it would defile them.  We know that Jesus went on to include a man's thoughts in this warning.  Even looking on a woman with lust in one's heat made a man guilty of adultery.  Verse twenty-one adds, And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.  This was a warning against giving their children up to false gods.  Some interpret it as meaning actually sacrificing their children to this false god Molech, who was associated with the sun and some interpret it as meaning to have them pass through fire to show their devotion.  Either way, doing so as part of God's chosen people would profane God's name.  We must be careful today that we do not do anything that would allow false gods into our lives if we are followers of Christ.  Verse twenty-two continues, Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.  This is a warning against homosexuality between two men, but the same is true for two women as well.  Verse twenty-three states, Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion.  It would seem to me that this would have not been necessary to say, but unfortunately people do these things.  Verse twenty-four adds, Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you:  God again warned the people of Israel to not do any of these things just listed, even if all the people around them did.  We cannot be guided by the things that other people may do, but we must be guided by the word of God under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Verse twenty-five continues, And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.  God said the actions of people could lead to the land itself being defiled.  Verse twenty-six declares, Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:  God said that the people of Israel were not to commit any of these abominations, whether they were born into the nation if Israel are were a stranger who had come to sojourn there.  We, as followers of Christ, are called to live by God's word today and to not allow any corrupt thing to become a part of our lives.  Verse twenty-seven adds, (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;)  God said the people of the land before them had done all these things and that the land was defiled.  We today cannot expect God to bless us individually or as a nation if we allow these things into our lives.  Verse twenty-eight continues, That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you.  I believe that the spewing out of the nations refers to God allowing the people of Israel to defeat them and claim the land.  If the people of Israel did not remain faithful to God, they could suffer the same fate at the hands of other people.  It was their relationship to God that made the people of Israel different.  Verse twenty-nine says, For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people.  God warned that anyone who committed any of these acts would be cut off from the people of God, and this remains true today.  Christ fulfilled the law by keeping it totally, but He did not do away with God's laws.  Verse thirty adds, Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God.  The people of Israel were to keep the laws of God so that they did not defile themselves before God, for the simple reason that He is God.  Unless we accept the fact that God alone is God, and that there are no other gods, then the rest of this does not matter to us.  We must first accept God through our faith in Jesus Christ, then we must follow God's guidance through the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Leviticus 18:1

Leviticus 18:1 says, And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,  Verse two adds, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD your God.  The first thing that God told Moses to do was to remind them that He was their God.  Before we can obey God today, we must first acknowledge that He is our God.  This is not true because of who we are or where we were born, but because of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  Verse three continues, After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.  God told Moses to tell the people of Israel that as they weren't to follow the ways of the Egyptians while they were there but were to follow God, neither were they to follow the ways of the people of Canaan.  Verse four states, Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God.  God said that they were to keep His ordinances and walk in them.  In this case, the people of Israel were to create their own country and establish their own laws.  We today as followers of Christ must first follow God's laws, though we are told to be obedient to the government unless doing so conflicts with God's law.  Verse five adds, Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the LORD.  This was not an option; just as obeying God's law today is not an option for Christians.  We must live by God's law first.  The next several verses deal with God's law concerning incest, and there is little to add, so I will simply list them.  Verse six states, None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the LORD.  Verse seven adds, The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.  Verse eight continues, The nakedness of thy father’s wife shalt thou not uncover: it is thy father’s nakedness.  Verse nine says, The nakedness of thy sister, the daughter of thy father, or daughter of thy mother, whether she be born at home, or born abroad, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover.  This would have seemed to include half-sisters and maybe even what we would call stepsisters.  Verse ten adds, The nakedness of thy son’s daughter, or of thy daughter’s daughter, even their nakedness thou shalt not uncover: for theirs is thine own nakedness.  This would be grandchildren.  Verse eleven continues, The nakedness of thy father’s wife’s daughter, begotten of thy father, she is thy sister, thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.  Again, I believe this would be a half-sister, who God said would be the same as any of the man's sisters.  Verse twelve states, Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s sister: she is thy father’s near kinswoman.  This would have been an aunt.  Verse thirteen adds, Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother’s sister: for she is thy mother’s near kinswoman.  This also would have been an aunt on the mother's side.  Verse fourteen continues, Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s brother, thou shalt not approach to his wife: she is thine aunt.  Verse fifteen says, Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy daughter in law: she is thy son’s wife; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.  Verse sixteen adds, Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy brother’s wife: it is thy brother’s nakedness.  Verse seventeen continues, Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, neither shalt thou take her son’s daughter, or her daughter’s daughter, to uncover her nakedness; for they are her near kinswomen: it is wickedness.  Verse eighteen states, Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her life time.  This was a law against polygamy, especially when it concerned two sisters.  Of course, in God's law, marriage was always to be between one man and one woman.  Verse nineteen adds, Also thou shalt not approach unto a woman to uncover her nakedness, as long as she is put apart for her uncleanness.  That was God's law then, and I believe that it still applies today.

Leviticus 17:11

Leviticus 17:11 says, For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.  Moses was told why the people of Israel were not to eat the blood of an animal.  Life was in the blood and was used on the altar to make atonement for the sins of the people.  Jesus Christ shed His life blood on ther cross of Calvary to make atonement for our sins, and it is the only way to make atonement.  Verse twelve adds, Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood.  This command of God's to not eat the blood of the animal applied to all the people of Israel and anyone who sojourned with them who were not born a part of the nation.  No one today is born into the family of God.  Even then, those who were born into the nation of Israel were really a part of God's people by faith in Him and acceptance of the covenant relationship that they had with Him.  We today are a part of the family of God because of our acceptance of and faith in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.  Verse thirteen continues, And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust. Any animal that anyone killed to eat, whether by a natural born person of Israel or a stranger who sojourned with them, was to drain the blood of the animal and cover the blood with dust.  Verse fourteen states, For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.  God again told Moses that the life was in the blood, and that anyone who ate the blood was to be cut off from the nation of Israel.  Today, everlasting life is in the shed blood of Jesus Christ, and anyone who is not washed in His blood will be cut off from the family of God.  Verse fifteen adds, And every soul that eateth that which died of itself, or that which was torn with beasts, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger, he shall both wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even: then shall he be clean.  Anyone ate an animal that had died naturally or been killed by by another animal was to wash his or her clothes, bathe, and be considered unclean until evening.  Verse sixteen concludes, But if he wash them not, nor bathe his flesh; then he shall bear his iniquity.  If the person did not wash his or her clothes, then the person was to bear the iniquity of the sin.  Unless we are bathed in the blood of Christ today, we will bear the iniquity of our sins, and this will result in an everlasting separation from God.

Leviticus 17:1

Leviticus 17:1 says,  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,  Verse two adds, Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them; This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, saying,  This once again tells us that this is God's word, spoken to Moses, to give to the people of Israel.  When we speak to people about God today, we need to make sure that it is His word that we are speaking.  Verse three continues, What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp,  Verse four concludes, And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering unto the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD; blood shall be imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people:  I believe this refers to killing of one of these animals, an ox, lamb or goat, animals of sacrifice, away from the altar.  The person who did kill one of these animals was to bring it to the door of the tabernacle for an offering to God.  Matthew Henry says that after the offering that the rest of the animal was to be returned to the one offering it to be eaten as a peace offering.  He also says that some believe this was only to apply while they were in the wilderness, but since verse seven says this was a statute forever that this doesn't really seem likely.  Anyway, a person who did not bring such an animal to the priest was to be cutoff from the rest of the people.  Verse five states, To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto the LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest, and offer them for peace offerings unto the LORD.  This verse seems to imply that this referred to an animal that was sacrificed somewhere other than at the altar and by the priest.  Our sacrifices today must be presented in accordance with God's word.  I don't believe that we can just arbitrarily sacrifice something and claim that we did it for God without first ensuring that it is what He wants us to do.  Verse six adds, And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savour unto the LORD.  The priest was to offer the sacrifice to God when the animal was brought to him, just as Jesus, our High Priest, offers the sacrifice for our sins today.  We cannot just offer a sacrifice on our own terms, but must come to God through the blood of Christ.  Verse seven continues, And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations. The people were to no longer offer their sacrifices to devils. which would be anything other than God, and this would be a statute forever, as already stated.  We today need to be careful that we do not start sacrificing the things that God has blessed us with to false gods.  Verse eight says, And thou shalt say unto them, Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers which sojourn among you, that offereth a burnt offering or sacrifice,  Verse nine concludes, And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it unto the LORD; even that man shall be cut off from among his people. This law was to apply to the people of Israel as well as to those who had begun to live, or sojourn, with them.  Anyone offering a burnt offering without doing so through the priest was to be cutoff from the people.  We today must be just as serious about our relationship with God, which is only possible by accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior and then allowing Him to be the Lord of our life.