Tanak Foundations-Concepts in Leviticus-Chapter 19

Lev 19.1-37 is the beginning of a short course on Kedusha (holiness). Kedusha is “to dedicate and set apart for the service of God by formal legal restrictions and limitations. The kedusha of time is marked by limits on man’s activities of work and construction.” This will include the imitation of God; moral laws; ritual laws; consideration of the poor and our duties towards our neighbor; avoiding hatred and violence; various precepts; the prohibition against Canaanite customs and various ethical instructions. Kedusha is not found on a mountain, but in the mundane. It is found in the “little things” as we shall see in these verses, like leaving the corners of your field, reproving your neighbor, justice, not using pagan mourning practices, not exacting vengeance, etc.

Holiness is…

v 1…And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

v 2…”Speak to all the congregation (adat) of the sons of Israel and say to them,

v 3…’You shall revere every man his mother and his father, and you shall keep my sabbaths. I am the Lord your God.

v 4…Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods (of some metal melted down). I am the Lord your God.

v 5…Now when you offer a sacrifice (zevach) of peace offerings (Korban shelem) to the Lord, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted (in strict adherence to what was commanded).

v 6…It shall be eaten the same day you offer it, and the next day, but what remains until the third day shall be burned with fire.

v 7…So if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an offering, and it will not be accepted.

v 8…And everyone who eats it will bear their iniquity, for he has profaned the holy thing of the Lord (the shelem had a kedusha with certain restrictions and limitations, and that person will be cut off from his people; eschatologically the first, second and third day of v 6 allude to the fifth, sixth and seventh day of the 7000 year plan of God. There will come a time that if anyone does not “eat” of the peace offering which is Yeshua by the third day will bear his own iniquity).

v 9…Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest (v 9-10 relates to charity and taking care of the poor).

v 10…Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the needy and for the stranger (ger or a non-Jew who has joined themselves the Yehovah, but also includes the poor of the non-Jews in general). I am the Lord (yehovah) your God.

v 11…You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.

v 12…And you shall not swear (an oath) falsely by my name (Yehovah); so as to profane the name of your God; I am the Lord (Yehovah).

v 13…You shall not oppress (exploit, take advantage of) your neighbor, nor rob him (take by violence). The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning (one who is hired by the day; he may need it to buy food for his family that day, etc).

v 14…You shall not curse (treat lightly and cannot vindicate his character) a deaf man, nor place a stumbling block before the blind (cause him to fall; give them good advice and instruct them; this includes spiritually also; seek to lead them); but you are to revere your God; I am the Lord (Yehovah who hears when the deaf are cursed and sees the stumbling blocks placed before the blind).

v 15…You shall do no injustice in judgement (judges are not distort or pervert justice); you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great (if he is wrong; his lack or his riches should not come into account either for or against him), but you are to judge your neighbor fairly.

v 16…You shall not go about as a slanderer among your people and you are not to stand by (and do nothing) the blood of your neighbor (by giving false testimony, or by being silent and not giving testimony that might have saved his life). I am the Lord (who is just and righteous).

v 17…You shall not hate your fellow countrymen in your heart (desires, intentions, thoughts); you may surely reprove (rebuke with proof) your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him (by not telling him in kindness about what he is doing and become a partner with him).

v 18…You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love (by your actions) your neighbor as yourself.

v 19…You are to keep my statutes. You shall not breed together two kinds of of your cattle (like a horse with a donkey, wolf with a dog, goats and sheep, etc; things with diverse natures; preserve the order of things); you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed (like wheat and barley), nor wear a garment upon you of two kinds of material mixed together (because only the priests were allowed to do this with linen and wool; this also alludes to two kinds of seeds in God’s kingdom and in Satan’s kingdom-Dan 2.31-45; Satan has tried to mix his “seed” or word into God’s word, but God’s word is the only good seed-Luke 8 with the sower and the seed and Matt 13.1-30; Satan has tried to overtake God’s head, reversing what God has declared- Gen 3.15; Hab 3.13 and Isa 14.12; the name “Babylon” means confusion, mixture).

v 20…Now if a man lies carnally with a woman who is a bondmaid betrothed to her husband, but who has in no way been redeemed and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given to her, there shall be a lashing; they shall not be put to death because she was not free (otherwise adultery was punished by death; the offense was not as serious as in the case of a betrothed free woman; here we have an example of a forbidden “mixture” in the area of moral relationships).

v 21…And he shall bring his guilt offering (asham) to the Lord to the doorway of the tent of meeting Lev 17.4), a ram for a guilt offering (Lev 5.15-the usual offering).

v 22…The priest shall also make atonement (restore a covering) for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for is sin which he has committed, and the sin which he has committed shall be forgiven him.

v 23…And when you enter the land and plant all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as forbidden (Hebrew “”arlahtem” or uncircumcised; incapable of a relationship; alluding to God and Israel in Jer 2.21, 11.16; Isa 5.2-6; Ezek 15.1-8; a failure to produce). Three years it shall be forbidden (uncircumcised) to you, it shall not be eaten (like in Matt 21.18-22; Luke 13.6-9).

v 24…But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord (Mark 11.11-33 and the cursing of the fig tree; Yeshua expected fruit in the fourth year of his ministry, a people with a kedusha to the Lord; Yeshua also came in the year 4000 from creation; no fruit means no people and it alludes to the fact that Israel was going into exile and the land will not produce with Israel out of the land-Jer 24.1-10, 8.13, 9.26; Hab 3.16-17).

v 25…And in the fifth year you are to eat of its fruit, that its yield may increase for you; I am the Lord your God (the trees become more fruitful according to God’s promises).

v 26…You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor practice divination (charms, incantations) or soothsaying (observing the times declaring one day more favorable than another).

v 27…You shall not round off the side-growth of your heads, nor harm the edges of your beard (v 27-28 are in regards to mourning for the dead).

v 28…You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead (Deut 14.1; Lev 21.5- a pagan mourning practice; Isa 15.2; Jer 47.4-25, 48.37-38; Ezek 27.30-31; Amos 8.9-10; Jer 9.26, 25.23, 49.32, Job 1.20; these practices were done to change the appearance of a mourner so that the spirits hovering around would not recognize them-2 Sam 10.1-5), nor make any tattoo marks on yourself (these are not general prohibition for all occasions; a Nazarite can shave because it was not an act for the dead; a leper in certain cases is required to shave as an act of purification; Levites shaved and it was not only permissible but can be an act of purification).

v 29…Do not profane your daughter by making her a harlot (a Babylonian and Canaanite practice where the women would prostitute themselves in the temples of their gods in a religious way), so that the land may not fall into harlotry, and the land become full of lewdness.

v 30…You shall keep my sabbaths and revere my sanctuary; I am the Lord.

v 31…Do not turn to mediums or spiritists (who profess to know what is hidden); do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.

v 32…You shall rise up before the grayheaded, and honor the aged (in office and in age; the youths in 2 Kings 2.23-25 didn’t).

v 33…When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.

v 34…The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him (by your actions) as yourself; for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.

v 35…You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measurement of weight, or capacity.

v 36…You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah and a just hin (one of the goals of the Torah was to restore balance to a situation-Prov 11.1; Micah 6.11): I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt.

v 37…You shall thus observe all my statutes (chukat) and all my ordinances (mishpatim/judgments), and do them; I am the Lord. ‘ “

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*