Leviticus 21:16

Leviticus 21:16 says. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Verse seventeen adds, Speak unto Aaron, saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God.  These laws pertain to the priests, and even the priests could suffer from physical handicaps.  As followers of Christ today, we are not exempt from physical handicaps either.  Matthew Henry says these deformities were sometimes permanent and sometimes temporary, and if they were temporary, such as a sore place, that when it cleared up that the priest could serve again.  Verse eighteen continues, For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous,  This lists what were called blemishes: being blind, lame or something superfluous, which would be some temporary thing.  These men were to represent the people before God, and they needed to be able to do so without limitations.  I don't believe that this means that people with physical ailments or limitations were to be looked down on, nor should they today.  Verse nineteen states, Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded,  Verse twenty adds, Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken;  These were just a continuation of the things that could keep a man from serving as a priest, and they applied only to serving as a priest.  The descendants of Aaron were born into the priesthood, and they were born to serve in the tabernacle as such and needed to be their best physically to do so.  We today, as Christians, are reborn onto the priesthood of believers, and it is our spiritual condition, not our physical condition, that may keep us from being effective servants of God.  Verse twenty-one continues, No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God.  The descendants of Aaron who were a part of the priesthood were not to serve in the role of a priest as long as that had a blemish, which has just been discussed.  Verse twenty-two says, He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy.  The children of Aaron who could not serve as priests were to still have their physical needs met.  We today may not be able to serve God as easily as someone else does due to a physical limitation, but God will always meet our spiritual needs, and if we put our faith in him, He will meet our physical needs as well.  Verse twenty-three adds, Only he shall not go in unto the vail, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries: for I the LORD do sanctify them.  God said that those with a blemish should not go under the veil or near the altar to profane it.  Once more, this man was to represent the people before God and they needed to be their best to do so.  When we come before God today, even if we have a physical blemish in our life, we need to make sure that we do not have a spiritual blemish as well.  Verse twenty-four continues, And Moses told it unto Aaron, and to his sons, and unto all the children of Israel.  Moses told not only Aaron and his sons what God had said, but he told all the people of Israel.  It was important that not only Aaron and his descendants knew what God expected of the priests, but that the whole congregation of Israel knew as well.  When we act as representatives of God today, it is important that everyone knows that we are acting under His authority. 

Leviticus 21:1

Leviticus 21:1 says, And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people:  This law concerned the priests and coming into contact with a dead body and thereby being defiled.  Verse two adds, But for his kin, that is near unto him, that is, for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother,  Verse three continues, And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which hath had no husband; for her may he be defiled.  A priest could come into contact with a dead person if it were his mother, father, brother, or unmarried sister.  Close family was exempt from this rule of not coming in contact with a dead body, just as our close family today is generally dearer to us.  Verse four declares, But he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself.  The priest had an important role in the nation of Israel as the representative of God to the people. and could not afford to defile himself with the death of just anyone, even a close friend.  Verse five adds, They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.  The priests were not to make a big display of mourning, since they should have know that the person was in a much better place if they were spiritually a part of God's people.  We today, as followers of Christ, should not allow the death of a loved one who is a Christian to cause use to bring dishonor to God by our actions at their death.  Verse six continues, They shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy. Since the priests made the offerings to God, they were not to profane themselves.  We today, as Christians, are a part of the priesthood of believers and we should never do anything that would prevent us from effectively worshipping and serving God.  Verse seven states, They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: for he is holy unto his God.  Then God had a command concerning the marriage of the priest.  He was not to marry a woman who was not sexually moral and was not to marry a divorced woman.  This was to keep the priest spiritually pure.  Verse eight adds, Thou shalt sanctify him therefore; for he offereth the bread of thy God: he shall be holy unto thee: for I the LORD, which sanctify you, am holy.  The priest was to be sanctified in all his actions because he offered the offerings to God.  We, as followers of Christ, need to be spiritually pure in all our actions since we represent God in the world today.  Verse nine continues, And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.  The daughter of a priest who was being sexually impure brought dishonor to her father, the  priest, and was to be burned to death.  I am not sure why the daughter was singled out and not the son as well, but we need to realize that even though he cannot be held responsible, often today the children of ministers do things that some see as a reflection on the ability of the minister to be accepted.  This should not be the case though, since even the children of ministers have free will to follow or reject God.  Verse ten says, And he that is the high priest among his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured, and that is consecrated to put on the garments, shall not uncover his head, nor rend his clothes;  The high priest was not to follow any of the rules of mourning, since he was the one consecrated to offer the sacrifices.  The high priest was held to an even higher standard.  Jesus is our High Priest and He met a higher standard than we will ever be able to accomplish, so we must simply put our faith in Him.  Verse eleven adds, Neither shall he go in to any dead body, nor defile himself for his father, or for his mother;  The high priest wasn't even to go out to mourn his father or mother.  Verse twelve continues, Neither shall he go out of the sanctuary, nor profane the sanctuary of his God; for the crown of the anointing oil of his God is upon him: I am the LORD.  The high priest was to remain in the sanctuary, just as our High Priest, Jesus Christ, is forever in the sanctuary of God.  Verse thirteen declares, And he shall take a wife in her virginity.  Verse fourteen adds, A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife.  The high priest was to marry a virgin of his own people and was not to marry a widow or divorced woman.  Verse fifteen continues, Neither shall he profane his seed among his people: for I the LORD do sanctify him.  I believe this would mean that the high priest himself was expected to remain sexually pure.

Leviticus 20:14

Leviticus 20:14 says, And if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you.  This was still about sexual impurity within a family, this time with a man, his wife and her mother.  In such cases, all three were to be burned to keep wickedness from being in the land of Israel.  Verse fifteen adds, And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast.  Verse sixteen continues, And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.  In the case of either a man or a woman having sex with a beast, both the man and the woman and the beast were to be killed.  Verse seventeen states, And if a man shall take his sister, his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity.  This was a prohibition against brothers and sisters having a sexual relationship.  If they did they were to be cut off from the people.  Verse eighteen adds, And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people.  That pretty much explains itself.  Verse nineteen continues, And thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother’s sister, nor of thy father’s sister: for he uncovereth his near kin: they shall bear their iniquity.  Then verse twenty says, And if a man shall lie with his uncle’s wife, he hath uncovered his uncle’s nakedness: they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless.  These are further prohibitions against relationships involving incest.  Verse twenty-one adds, And if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless.  In this case, where a man took his brothers wife, I guess while the brother was still alive, it was an unclean thing and the two were to remain childless.  Some of the penalties were more severe than others, but all had a penalty.  Of course, the ultimate penalty for unforgiven sins is spiritual death, which brings everlasting separation from God.  Verse twenty-two continues, Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out.  This was a warning for the people of Israel to keep all of God's laws.  Verse twenty-three states. And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them.  The people of Israel were warned against following the practices of those who God had driven out of the land, just as we as followers of Christ are not to follow the ways of the world today.  Verse twenty-four adds, But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I am the LORD your God, which have separated you from other people.  God said He had given them a land flowing with milk and honey, and as Christians, God has prepared for us a land flowing with milk and honey as our everlasting home.  Verse twenty-five continues, Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.  God said that they were to follow His laws concerning clean and unclean animals.  Verse twenty-six says, And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.  God told the people of Israel that they were to be holy, or set apart from the world, because He was holy.  We today as Christians are to be set aside from the world because God is holy and we are His people.  Verse twenty-seven adds, A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them.  This is another warning against witchcraft, and it still applies today.

Leviticus 20:1

Leviticus 20:1 says,  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,  Verse two adds, Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones.  When God told Moses to tell the people of Israel this again, or repeat what had already been said before, it just emphasized the importance of what God had to say.  When God tells us something once, it should be enough, but He often has to tell us more than once to get us to listen.  In this case, the people of Israel were warned again not ot sacrifice their children to Moloch, and if they did, they were to be stoned.  Verse three continues, And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name.  God said that He would cut the man who did this off from Him because this would defile God's sanctuary.  We today quite often sacrifice our unborn children to the god of self-desire, and I do not believe that God has changed His mind about such actions.  Verse four states, And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not:  Verse five adds, Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people.  God said that if the people didn't hold the person who did this accountable, that God Himself would do so.  God has not changed, and neither has His word.  Verse six continues, And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people.  Then, there is another warning against following after witchcraft.  God said He would turn His face against anyone who did this.  We cannot follow God and at the same time put our faith in anything that is contrary to His will.  Verse seven declares, Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.  Then verse eight adds, And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify you.  God told the people of Israel to sanctify themselves, or to set themselves apart from the world's rules, and to follow His rules.  They were to be made holy because of their relationship to God and their obedience to Him.  We today as followers of Christ are to be set apart spiritually from the world and are made holy, or acceptable to God, because of our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.  Verse nine continues, For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.  Being disrespectful to parents was considered a sin worthy of death.  We might have a much smaller population today if we put to death all those who disrespect their parents, and this is a life long commandment, and not just for the time that we are young children.  We are to respect our parents as long as they live.  Verse ten states, And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.  A man and woman who committed adultery were to both be put to death.  Again, our population would shrink today if we carried out this command, though we must remember that these commands were to God's people.  We cannot live by the standards of the rest of the world.  Verse eleven adds, And the man that lieth with his father’s wife hath uncovered his father’s nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.  Verse twelve continues, And if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood shall be upon them.  This was another warning against incestuous relationships, and if they occurred, the people involved were to be put to death.  Verse thirteen concludes, If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.  Having sex with an animal was forbidden, and though we might think this was unnecessary to say, evidently it occurred even then.

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.