The Christ Church Wednesday Bible Study Group is studying of the Old Testament book of Leviticus. The key to the book of Leviticus is found in verses 45 and 46 of chapter 11.
Leviticus 11:44-45 NIV I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground. I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.
These are the notes to session 16.
Chapters 17-20 which constituted a legal code for the people of Israel, touching on many areas of their personal and public life. The emphasis isn’t simply on justice or civic righteousness, as important as they are, but on holiness. After all, Israel was God’s people and the law was God’s law.
Chapters 17-20 deal with four special areas of life that must be respected and kept holy: the sanctity of blood, or life (chap. 17); the sanctity of sex (chap. 18); the sanctity of the law (chap. 19); and the sanctity of judgment (chap. 20).
This week we will get into Chapter 20 and talk about the Sanctity of Judgement. This chapter states the penalties imposed on those who broke God’s law. The same Lord who declared the precepts also declared the penalties.
Chapters 17-20 deal with four special areas of life that must be respected and kept holy: the sanctity of blood, or life (chap. 17); the sanctity of sex (chap. 18); the sanctity of the law (chap. 19); and the sanctity of judgment (chap. 20).
THE SANCTITY OF JUDGMENT (20:1–27)
This chapter states the penalties imposed on those who broke God’s law. The same Lord who declared the precepts also declared the penalties.
Leviticus 20:1-8 NIV The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘Any Israelite or any foreigner residing in Israel who sacrifices any of his children to Molek is to be put to death. The members of the community are to stone him. I myself will set my face against him and will cut him off from his people; for by sacrificing his children to Molek, he has defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name. If the members of the community close their eyes when that man sacrifices one of his children to Molek and if they fail to put him to death, I myself will set my face against him and his family and will cut them off from their people together with all who follow him in prostituting themselves to Molek. “ ‘I will set my face against anyone who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute themselves by following them, and I will cut them off from their people. “ ‘Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the Lord your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the Lord, who makes you holy.
These are the penalties for idol worship and imitating the worship of pagan nations and dishonoring God.
Leviticus 20:9 NIV “ ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death. Because they have cursed their father or mother, their blood will be on their own head.
This is the penalty for not honoring your father and mother.
The next section deals with the penalties associated with sexual sins, like incest, homosexuality, adultery and sexual perversion.
Leviticus 20:10 NIV “ ‘If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.
Penalty for adultery
Leviticus 20:11-12 NIV “ ‘If a man has sexual relations with his father’s wife, he has dishonored his father. Both the man and the woman are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads. “ ‘If a man has sexual relations with his daughter-in-law, both of them are to be put to death. What they have done is a perversion; their blood will be on their own heads.
Leviticus 20:14, 17, 19-21 NIV “ ‘If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is wicked. Both he and they must be burned in the fire, so that no wickedness will be among you. “ ‘If a man marries his sister, the daughter of either his father or his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They are to be publicly removed from their people. He has dishonored his sister and will be held responsible. “ ‘Do not have sexual relations with the sister of either your mother or your father, for that would dishonor a close relative; both of you would be held responsible. “ ‘If a man has sexual relations with his aunt, he has dishonored his uncle. They will be held responsible; they will die childless. “ ‘If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is an act of impurity; he has dishonored his brother. They will be childless.
Here are the penalties for incest.
Leviticus 20:14 NIV “ ‘If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is wicked. Both he and they must be burned in the fire, so that no wickedness will be among you.
Leviticus 20:14, 17, 19-21 NIV “ ‘If a man marries his sister, the daughter of either his father or his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They are to be publicly removed from their people. He has dishonored his sister and will be held responsible. “ ‘Do not have sexual relations with the sister of either your mother or your father, for that would dishonor a close relative; both of you would be held responsible. “ ‘If a man has sexual relations with his aunt, he has dishonored his uncle. They will be held responsible; they will die childless. “ ‘If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is an act of impurity; he has dishonored his brother. They will be childless.
The penalty for sexual relations of homosexuals. There is no penalty for being homosexual but for sex between people of the same sex.
Leviticus 20:13 NIV “ ‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
Sexual perversion
Leviticus 20:15-16 NIV “ ‘If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he is to be put to death, and you must kill the animal. “ ‘If a woman approaches an animal to have sexual relations with it, kill both the woman and the animal. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
Unclassified but the penalty is severe
Leviticus 20:18 NIV “ ‘If a man has sexual relations with a woman during her monthly period, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has also uncovered it. Both of them are to be cut off from their people.
In chapter 15 when we talked about uncleaness during a women’s menstrual period there was a way to become clean again and come into the community, by waiting a specified about of time then washing in the special cleansing water and a sin and burnt offering.
This appears different and appears to be the penalty for deliberately disobeying the law.
Here’s what John Calvin, a very conservative preacher from the past says, however it makes sense to me as an explanation for the severity of the penalty.
The enormity of the crime is seen by the severity of the punishment; and surely, when a man and woman abandon themselves to so disgraceful an act, it is plain that there are no remains of modesty in them. God, therefore, does not only regard the offense itself, but the brutal impulse of lust, whereby men are so carried away as to degenerate from the very feelings of nature.
This precept has no other tendency than that believers should be kept far from all filthiness, and that chastity may flourish among them. It is indeed true that a woman, under these circumstances, is withheld from connection with a man by the very foulness of the disease, whilst there is also danger of contagion; but God rather chooses here to be an instructor in decency to His people, than to perform the office of a physician.
Fourteen offenses in Israel were capital crimes:
striking or cursing a parent
Exodus 21:15, 17 NIV “Anyone who attacks their father or mother is to be put to death. “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.
breaking the Sabbath
Exodus 31:14 NIV “ ‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people.
blaspheming God
Leviticus 24:10-16 NIV Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse; so they brought him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.) They put him in custody until the will of the Lord should be made clear to them. Then the Lord said to Moses: “Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who curses their God will be held responsible; anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death.
A quarrel that arose in the camp resulted in one of the parties cursing the holy name of God. This was not merely bad language, but speech that showed an irreverent and rebellious spirit towards God, possibly influenced by attitudes brought from Egypt. Moses did not act hastily in punishing the offender, but waited for God to show him what to do (10-12).
God’s judgment was that any person, regardless of nationality, who was heard cursing his name should be stoned to death. The public participation of the accusers in the execution would impress upon them that they could not make accusations lightly. They had to be absolutely certain that the person was guilty (13-16).
engaging in occult practices
Exodus 22:18 NIV “Do not allow a sorceress to live.
prophesying falsely
Deuteronomy 13:1-5 NIV If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. That prophet or dreamer must be put to death for inciting rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. That prophet or dreamer tried to turn you from the way the Lord your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.
adultery
Leviticus 20:10 NIV “ ‘If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.
rape
Deuteronomy 22:25 NIV But if out in the country a man happens to meet a young woman pledged to be married and rapes her, only the man who has done this shall die.
incest
Leviticus 20:11-12 NIV “ ‘If a man has sexual relations with his father’s wife, he has dishonored his father. Both the man and the woman are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads. “ ‘If a man has sexual relations with his daughter-in-law, both of them are to be put to death. What they have done is a perversion; their blood will be on their own heads.
homosexuality
Leviticus 20:13 NIV “ ‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
bestiality
Leviticus 20:15-16 “ ‘If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he is to be put to death, and you must kill the animal. “ ‘If a woman approaches an animal to have sexual relations with it, kill both the woman and the animal. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
kidnapping
Exodus 21:16 NIV “Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession.
idolatry
Leviticus 20:1-5 NIV The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘Any Israelite or any foreigner residing in Israel who sacrifices any of his children to Molek is to be put to death. The members of the community are to stone him. I myself will set my face against him and will cut him off from his people; for by sacrificing his children to Molek, he has defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name. If the members of the community close their eyes when that man sacrifices one of his children to Molek and if they fail to put him to death, I myself will set my face against him and his family and will cut them off from their people together with all who follow him in prostituting themselves to Molek.
false witness in a case involving a capital crime
Deuteronomy 19:16-21 NIV If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime, the two people involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and the judges who are in office at the time. The judges must make a thorough investigation, and if the witness proves to be a liar, giving false testimony against a fellow Israelite, then do to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party. You must purge the evil from among you. The rest of the people will hear of this and be afraid, and never again will such an evil thing be done among you. Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
killing a human intentionally
Exodus 21:12 NIV “Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death.
The Mosaic Law stated that anyone who committed a murder was to be put to death. But for unintentional deaths, God set aside these cities to which the murderer could flee for refuge. He would be safe from the avenger—the family member charged with avenging the victim’s death until the case could go to trial. The congregation would judge to find if the attacker acted unintentionally. If he did, he would return to the city of refuge and live there safely until the death of the high priest who was in office at the time of the trial, at which point he could return to his property. If the attacker left the city of refuge before the death of the high priest, however, the avenger would have the right to kill him.
Joshua 20:7-8 NIV So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. East of the Jordan (on the other side from Jericho) they designated Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau in the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead in the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan in the tribe of Manasseh.
As the Levites were to have no territorial domain allocated to them like the other tribes in the conquest of Canaan, they were to be distributed throughout the land in certain cities appropriated to their use. Part of their inheritance consisted of forty-eight cities spread throughout the land. Of these forty-eight cities, six were designated as cities of refuge. The cities were Kedesh, Shechem, Hebron, Bezer, Ramoth, and Golan.
Except perhaps in some Muslim societies, there isn’t a crime in the above list that would merit capital punishment in most nations today, including murder. But the biblical view of law is different from the modern view. God gave His law to restrain sin, not to reform sinners; the penalties He imposed were for the purpose of upholding His law, not improving the offenders. However, this doesn’t mean that Christians today should lobby for the death penalty for all these offenses. While we want to do what we can to see just laws enforced justly, our main task is winning people to Christ and our main weapons are the Word of God and prayer.
Leviticus 20:22-27 NIV “ ‘Keep all my decrees and laws and follow them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them. But I said to you, “You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the Lord your God, who has set you apart from the nations. “ ‘You must therefore make a distinction between clean and unclean animals and between unclean and clean birds. Do not defile yourselves by any animal or bird or anything that moves along the ground—those that I have set apart as unclean for you. You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own. “ ‘A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads.’ ”
Note that this chapter closes with another reminder that the sins of the people can defile the land. This warning looked forward to the time when Israel would enter Canaan and claim her inheritance. As chosen and separated people, they were obligated to make a difference between the clean and the unclean and not to live like the pagans around them.
While law can be a light that exposes evil and a guard that restrains evil, it can never change the human heart. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ can do that. God has ordained authorities to keep peace and order in society.
Romans 13:1-7 NIV Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
Christians should obey the law, do good, and pray for those in office. God’s moral law is the revelation of His holy will for humanity, and individuals and nations can’t despise God’s law and escape judgment.
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