Bible Talks

From: Messages of God's Love: 1972

• 3 min. read • grade level: 8

Leviticus 19:32-20:27³²Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the Lord. ³³And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. ³⁴But 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. ³⁵Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in meteyard, in weight, or in measure. ³⁶Just 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. ³⁷Therefore shall ye observe all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: I am the Lord. ¹And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, ²Again, 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. ³And 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. ⁴And 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: ⁵Then 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. ⁶And 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. ⁷Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God. ⁸And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the Lord which sanctify you. ⁹For 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. ¹⁰And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. ¹¹And 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. ¹²And 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. ¹³If 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. ¹⁴And 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. ¹⁵And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast. ¹⁶And 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. ¹⁷And 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. ¹⁸And 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. ¹⁹And 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. ²⁰And 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. ²¹And 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. ²²Ye 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. ²³And 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. ²⁴But 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. ²⁵Ye 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. ²⁶And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine. ²⁷A 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. (Leviticus 19:32‑20:27)

THE SAME authority of the Lord which forbad the practices of the heathen, called upon the Israelite to honor the hoary head and the face of the old man, and with this was coupled the fear of “thy God.”

We live in times when there is little respect for old age, and there is a special word here for us who are children of God, for everything in God’s Word is important. No matter what the occasion might be, we should never speak disrespectfully to an older person. Even if an older one does make a mistake, as everyone does at times, still we should always speak in a courteous and respectful way. This applies especially to our parents whom the Lord tells us we should honor at all times.

“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.” Not only was he not to be interfered with, but to be loved as one of their own. It is very touching to see how here the remembrance of their oppression in Egypt was not to be an occasion for the Israelite to show resentment against the stranger, but rather compassion. This was indeed grace.

“Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment,... in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights,... shall ye have.” This would remind us that as Christians we are called to be upright and honest in all our dealings and business affairs. “I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt.” His eye is upon the least things of daily life. We can seek to please and honor Him in all our circumstances.

In chapter 20 we have further warnings against the fearful evil practiced by heathen nations. Israel was soon to enter the land of the Canaanites and the Lord would warn them beforehand lest they fall into their idolatrous and wicked ways. And we as Christians need to be warned against adopting the ways of the world around us, for our hearts are no better than theirs. Sometimes boys and girls, and older people too, act as though God did not see them, but He knows all the secrets of our lives for “all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” Heb. 4:13¹³Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (Hebrews 4:13). He can see what we do in the dark as well as what we do in the light; and because He is patient and does not act in judgment at once, let us not suppose that He does not see and know (Eccl. 8:11¹¹Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. (Ecclesiastes 8:11)). “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap... Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Gal. 6:7, 9⁷Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7)
⁹And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. (Galatians 6:9).

It is well for us to bear in mind that holiness is according to the relationship in which one stands. Israel were a people in the flesh, but the place and condition of the Christian is altogether different. We “are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in us.” The Lord Jesus has not only died for us to put our sins away, but He has gone back to heaven and brought us into the same heavenly position as He is. He could say in John 17:19¹⁹And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. (John 17:19): “And for their sakes I sanctify [set apart] Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.” So with us it is more than simply refraining from evil and what is contrary to God’s will here below, but our standard of Christian holiness is heavenly in character, according to that place where we now know Christ to be, the same place that He has won for us.

ML-07/16/1972

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