I’m doing a 90 day Bible read and in Leviticus 19 there are many rules. Some are easy to understand and should be followed, but others I kinda wonder about…
“Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard”.
“Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD”.
“Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute.”
Do you just pick and choose or is there some other reasonable way to know which rules to follow? I’m sure it is an issue of old testament before the God of grace comes into the picture, but it gets a bit complicated. If you can justifiably throw out one verse, can you throw out all of them?
What do you think?
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Hi Archie;
I agree with the one making your daughter a prostitute, but then how long are you responsible for her actions, or your own?
I think many of those rules can get tossed.
Which leaves you wondering how much is invalid, doesn’t it?
On the other hand I am losing hair so does that preclude me from the hair laws or do I have to get a transplant 🙂
And what does cutting bodies for the dead mean? I gave up on cannibalism after I finished breast feeding 🙂
The Leviticus 613 were not written with the “finger of God” (Ex 31:18) as were the 10-Commandments.
Those in Leviticus relating to the Priesthood needed the Temple and its Priestly activities of ritual sacrifices for its context. With the destruction of the 2nd Temple in 70AD those ritual activities ceased and the rituals were conceptualized.
Leviticus 1-16, 27 record the Priestly Code (Priests)
Leviticus 17-26 record the Holiness Code (Israelites)
The 10-Commandments were given to the Israelites in Exodus 20:2-17 and retold in Deuteronomy 5:6-21
The Old Testament fulfilled in the New Testament records:
8-Beatitudes(To-be)(Matthew 5:1-12) that correlate to the 10-Commandments
and
2-Great Commandments(Matthew 22:37,39)
The 1st of the 2, Matthew 22:37, relates to Deuteronomy 6:5 and the 1-3 of the 10 (to God)
The 2nd of the 2, Matthew 22:39, relates to Leviticus 19:18 and 7-10 of the 10 (to others)
So if you, like me, observe the New Testament then you are bound by the 2 Great Commandments and blessed with the 8 Beatitudes. You are not under the law but under grace. In following the 2, the requirements of the 10 and 613 are truly fulfilled.
@fetterless
“The Leviticus 613 were not written with the “finger of God” (Ex 31:18) as were the 10-Commandments.”
If the Old Testament is redundant and not the written with the “finger of God”, then so must be the original sin not be true, which is the reason the New Testament came to being.
ichabod, my friend, the 2 stone tablets were written with “the finger of God” while the Old Testament was eventually written on scrolls. Redundancy is not an issue.
@fetterless
Thank you for clearing this up, but it is too much for this little brain of mind to comprehend and that must be God’s will, otherwise I would comprehend it.
I do not think I will indulge in this stuff that can cause insanity and doubt within anymore.
Peace be unto you
Under the old covenant God created a nation of priests with a tier of designated temple workers to represent His ways to the entire world, put in motion as Phase 1 of a more epic mission of redemption – always pointing forward and waiting with bated breath for a fulfillment in the Messiah. This Messiah fulfilled the demands of the original covenant and by His blood established the Kingdom of God as well as implementing a New Covenant whereby all peoples, including non-Jews (like me!) could enter into People of God status both free of Jewish cultural and Old Covenant requirements (hence, circumcision is not a prerequisite to redemption)…although Jesus reaffirms that the New Covenant reflects the integrity and consistency of the Father in the Shema (great commandments utterd corporately). The civil and priestly regulations give me insight into the heart and character of the Father without placing me under the rigidity of an ancient legal code that was insufficient to bring about righteousness anyway.
Even a good Jewish rabbi will tell you that the Great Commandments of Jesus and the individuality of measurement at the heart and soulical level is truly an INCREASE in expectation over 613 Torah laws…613 do’s/don’ts are a lot easier to navigate than living fully devoted to God in all matters even those not acted upon! It’s…impossible. Almost like “apart from Me you can do nothing” or something.
Those are some initial thoughts at least…
My mind is still in a fog. I’ll get there, but need more input. If I were to make a list of things I should not do as it relates to the NT way, is there anything I should not do “religiously” besides denying Christ?
So, I have started my list.
Top Ten Things I Should not do…
1> Do not deny Christ
2>
Not meant to be flippant. God whacked a lot of people in the days of old and I think he is still capable of gracefully doing it today.
Still pondering…
Jim Thorner, a fellow blogger friend and ex-monk says it this way.
Great question. Jesus said he did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them (Matt. 5:17). The Law and the Prophets means the entire Old Testament. But what is meant by the Law? This is what I came to learn by a study of the Sermon on the Mount, especially in a book by D. Martin Lloyd-Jones.
There were three areas of the Law in the Old Testament: the judicial, the ceremonial, and the moral. The moral law consisted of the Ten Commandments and the great moral principles that were given to us once and forever. The judicial law, or the legislative law, was given for Israel in particular at that time, enabling them to order their relationship to others and the things they were and were not to do. The ceremonial law concerned burnt offerings and sacrifices connected with the Tabernacle and the Temple. Having said that, we must now ask, “How did Jesus fulfill the Law?”
Jesus fulfilled the ceremonial law through His death, resurrection and ascension. The veil of the temple was split, and the temple later destroyed. Since Hebrews tells us Jesus died once for all, then we no longer follow the OT ceremonial law. The eating of certain foods falls into this category.
What about the judicial law? This was primarily for the nation of Israel, as God’s theocracy, in its then special circumstances. But Israel is no longer the theocratic nation. 1 Peter 2:9-10 says the Church is now the nation of God. Also see Matt. 21:43 in light of 1 Peter. Since there is no longer a single, geographically located theocratic nation of God, the judicial law has been fulfilled.
Now, what about the moral law? This is found in the first and greatest commandment, to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. This is a permanent law, as is the second — to love our neighbor as our self. This law was never meant just for the nation of Israel, but for the whole of mankind. Therefore, the moral law now stands as strong as it did in the OT.
As I’ve written this, Archie, I know it is making sense to you, because without comprehending it you already knew this to be true. This is why you understood the fact that the Ten Commandments still held true for today’s Christian, but we no longer need to sacrifice animals for our sin.
I hope this helps you as you work your way through Leviticus and the rest of Scripture.
Blessings,
Jim
Archie says, “Thank you, Jim.” My thoughts are beginning to come together.
The Bajan Poet’a take on the question is this… http://bajanpoet.wordpress.com/
“The Bible says that the greatest commandment is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your soul and all your strength… and the second greatest commandment is love your neighbour as yourself…
Jesus said that LOVE is the greatest commandment… and IF I truly love u, I won’t lie, steal, kill, covet anything concerning you, right? All the law and the prophets are bound up in love of God and love of each other.
Ok … about the rest? God used the law and those many many many rules to separate the Israelites from the rest of the people on earth – they were different, they had something different about them. Does that apply to Christians today? Yes, of course… but not in the same way, if you know what I mean. The Word says that the law was cancelled in Christ – so I don’t believe we are required to follow the ‘letter’ of the law anymore; just the ‘Spirit’ of the law… what the rules REPRESENTED in terms of separation, as above. (We are separated from sin, etc, etc)
A lot of Christians (esp older Christians in the Caribbean!) try to force the issue as one of ‘cosmetics’, imho … women don’t wear pants, must wear hats, that kind of thing. But to me, that is, like I say, cosmetic…. without getting at the heart of the matter…
Ok I was going to drop it like it’s hot and then make u sweat while I developed a post, but I just poured out my opinion right off the bat. I’d have to really research to back it up with Scripture references, etc, tho… but YEAH.. that’s what I feel in a nutshell
Did that answer your question???? Post to follow, probably! lol”
Thank you Bajan!