4 posts tagged “leviticus”
"The Lord spoke to Moses: 'Tell the Israelites: When a man or woman commits
any sin against another, that person acts unfaithfully toward the Lord and
is guilty," The person is to confess the sin he has committed. He is to
pay full compensation, add a fifth of its value to it, and give it to the
individual he has wronged." Numbers 5: 5-7
In life, we basically have two kinds of relationships: Horizontal and
vertical.
HORIZONTAL relationships are between us and other people. It is important
to have healthy horizontal relationships, because hey…we all gotta' get
along.
If history has a theme, it should perhaps be, "Men don't naturally get
along". Its subtitle might be: "How selfishness destroys community." Watch
the news. Men of selfish ambitions (personal or national) are always
battling, to some degree.
VERTICAL relationships are between men & God. Mankind generally recognizes
the idea of God, although most do not worship the true God. There are many
worldwide campaigns of sincere spiritual discovery. Sadly, most of those
searches are sincerely wrong. How can I be so bold as to suggest someone's
sincere faith is in vain? Because God has prescribed how His creation
should worship Him. It's not my opinion. It's the truth of the bible.
Prov 14:11-12
How a person's Horizontal & Vertical relationships interface is very telling
of their spiritual condition.
When asked what the "Greatest Commandment" was, Jesus replied by quoting
Deuteronomy 6:5 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your
soul, and all your mind". Jesus quickly followed-up his reply by
referencing Leviticus 19:18. He said, "The second (greatest commandment) is
like it: Love your neighbor as yourself."
Put simply: Love God and love people. You cannot separate them.
Numbers 5 is teaching us that when we sin Horizontally, we are also sinning
Vertically. When we sin against people, it is also unfaithfulness towards
the Lord. That's why the priests could seek the Lord's judgment on secret
interpersonal sin. All sin is a sin against Him personally, thus within His
knowledge...perhaps an insight into omniscience.
If we don't love our neighbor as ourselves, we are not loving the Lord, our
God, with all we have. Inversely, if we don't love the Lord with all we
have, we will never be able to truly love people.
Blessings.
Steve Wiggins
"And these are the commands the Lord gave Moses for the Israelites on Mount
Sinai" Lev 27: 34
Many years ago, when I read the Torah for the 1st time, I was shocked to
learn that God gave Moses more than 10 commandments! He gave 613, to be
exact. These are not the commands of men, but from God, Himself.
To be certain, the "10 Commandments" act as overriding principles, while the
remaining 603 commands act as practical situational guides, teaching Israel
how to honor God by living-out the 10 Commandments in day-to-day life.
In religious Judaism, several literary sources are drawn from. First, there
are the Torah and Haftarah. (The Law and the Prophets) aka: the Tanakh, or
"Old Testament". These are the Divinely-inspired scriptures.
In His sermon on the mount, Jesus said, "Don't assume that I came to destroy
the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For I
assure you: Until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter will
pass from the law until all things are accomplished. Therefore, everyone
who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches people to do
so will be called 'least' in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever practices
and teaches these commandments will be called great in the kingdom of
heaven." Matt 5: 17-19
In addition to the Tanakh, there are other Jewish literary sources: Talmud,
Mishna, Kabbala. These are volumes of rabbinical teachings and
interpretations of the Tanakh. Imagine all the great Christian teachers,
Moody, Spurgeon, Piper, Laurie & Lasseigne… Imagine, all the greats, every
sermon, compiled throughout the ages. Well, that's basically what these
extra-biblical volumes are: commentaries.
The problem rabbinical Judaism faces is that so much of its religious
practice is based on the teachings of men. Most rabbis spend the majority
of their studies buried in the commentaries.
The reason I have challenged you (and myself) to aggressively read the
bible, is because the "Church" tends to have the same problem. It tends to
study teachers above the scriptures. Paul addressed this problem, even in
the early church. 1 Corinthians 1: 10-17
We should study the bible so we can weigh bible teachers, not the other way
around.
Blessings.
Steve Wiggins
"Yet in spite of this, while they are in the land of their enemies, I will
not reject or abhor them, so as to destroy them and break my covenant with
them, since I am the Lord their God. For their sake, I will remember the
covenant with their fathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the
sight of the nations to be their God; I am the Lord." Lev 26: 44-45
Last week I was posed this question from some friends in Hawaii, who receive
our daily Living Room devotions: Do the Jews believe in the same God as
Christians?
The question stems from a great theological debate which suggests that,
since "Non-believing" Jews reject Jesus, they are not accepting the
"wholeness of God"; thus, the God Jews believe in is not the same as the God
Christians believe in.
The New Testament, speaking of Jesus, informs us that there is "no other
name under Heaven by which men may be saved". Jesus said, "I am the way and
the truth and the Life, and no man comes to the Father, except through me."
Whether Jew of Gentile, accepting Messiah, Jesus, is the essential component
of Salvation. The first chapter of John speaks clearly of Jesus' deity. In
that sense, knowing Who Jesus is, brings an essential understanding of Who
God is.
But since Jesus is a member of the Trinity, wasn't He present when Adonai
spoke these (above) words to Moses?
Perhaps, the Christian's understanding of Israel's understanding of God
takes a back seat to God's understanding of His plan for the redemption of
Israel…and the world. This was the basis for Paul's message to the Roman
church.
"I ask, then, have they (Israel) stumbled so as to fall? Absolutely not!
On the contrary, by their stumbling, salvation has come to the Gentiles to
make Israel jealous. Now if their stumbling brings riches for the world,
and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full
number bring!
Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. In view of the fact that I am an apostle
to the Gentiles, I magnify my own ministry, if I can somehow make my own
people jealous and save some of them. For is their being rejected is world
reconciliation, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?"
Rom 11: 11-15
God's covenant with Israel is with those who, by faith, believe. His
faithfulness is the foundation for the security of our salvation. Perhaps,
a more important question than, "Do Jews believe in the God of the
Christians?", is the question: Does the God of all creation keep His
covenants…and did He fulfill His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
through Jesus? I believe He did.
Blessings.
Steve Wiggins
"If your brother becomes destitute and cannot sustain himself among you, you
are to support him a foreigner or temporary resident, so that he can
continue to live among you. Don't profit or take interest from him, but
fear your God and let your brother live among you. You are not to lend him
your silver with interest or sell him your food for profit. I am the Lord
your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of
Canaan and to be your God." Lev 25: 35-38
Interdependence: 1) Unable to exist or survive without each other 2)
Relying on mutual assistance, support, cooperation, or interaction among
constituent elements or members
Much of our modern culture has been built on the idea of "independence". In
American society, people who are "dependent", are generally frowned-upon.
Children are taught that they should be independent, not needing anything
from anyone. Growing up, I learned that the idea of taking a "hand-out" or
charitable assistance was shameful.
Interesting, I was also taught that if a person was needy, it was probably
because they were lazy. Basically, there was a stigma of sin attached to
poverty. We were led to believe that if we gave someone charity, we were
probably enabling them to continue in their laziness. People work hard for
their money, and it was their reward to keep to themselves. Sad.
That's the theory I was taught…then one day I needed charity.
I've searched the scriptures, and someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I
have yet to find an instance where God honors independence.
God's design for society is that men would be completely dependent on Him.
He designed for His "dependants" to live interdependently among each other,
in community. The purpose of community is to make our weaknesses
ineffective. When someone covers your weakness, you only have to operate in
the strengths God has endowed you with.
No man is an island, self-sustaining unto himself. Hard times will fall on
everyone. God doesn't just provide spiritual (internal) peace; He also
provides physical and emotional comfort through the community of believers.
Don't be too ashamed to receive charity, and don't be too self-absorbed to
give it.
Blessings.
Steve Wiggins
