We'll be concluding our study of Chapter 19 today.
Yesterday's passage mostly had to do with not taking up any of the religious customs of the promised land when the Israelites arrive there. I think the first verse we'll study today is closely connected to the verses we studied yesterday because it is believed verse 29 has to do with some of the things that take place at pagan temples. "Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness." (Leviticus 19:29)
The people already know that it's cruel and immoral to send their daughters out to earn money as prostitutes and I don't think that's the type of prostitution the Lord is talking about. Based on my background study, I believe He is warning them against being drawn into the skewed thinking of the pagan tribes of Canaan who consider it an honor for their daughters to serve at pagan temples as priestesses whose duties included what was known as "sacred prostitution". This type of prostitution is not the type we're familiar with in modern culture but was a custom in which a man could bring money to a pagan temple in order to have relations with one of these priestesses as a fertility rite. A man might visit the temple to sleep with a priestess believing this will cure his infertility. Or he might think it will help him to produce a male child when so far all his children are female. In other cases it is believed that no money actually exchanged hands but that, since these priestesses represented various female gods, a man who had relations with them was being symbolically joined with the goddess herself. This was thought of as a "divine marriage" and the man believed he was honoring the goddess by worshiping her with his body. In return he believed she would honor him by blessing him with health and wealth and many offspring to carry on his family line.
The Lord now repeats a commandment He has brought up several times before and will bring up many more times on the pages of the Bible. "Observe My Sabbaths and have reverence for My sanctuary. I am the Lord." (Leviticus 19:30) Everything the Lord says is important and should be taken to heart, but when He is careful to repeat a commandment over and over, we know it is ultra important. If the people don't observe the Sabbath, and if they don't attend religious services at the sanctuary, and if they don't regard God as the Lord of their lives, they are going to fall into the idolatry of the land He's about to give them. They must stay closely connected to the Lord and to the religious rites of their own culture in order to avoid the many temptations they will be confronted with as they move into a land that's polluted with idols and pagan temples. This is advice we need to take to heart in our own times. We must stay in constant contact with our God and be sure to always keep Him in His proper position as the Lord of our lives, and we must not forsake the assembling of ourselves together in God's house. (Hebrews 10:25)
I know right now with the pandemic we may not be able to meet together with other believers in person, but we can join with them in watching religious services online. Thousands of churches across our nation are streaming their services online and we can still get a sense of worshiping with fellow Christians even while watching services on our phones or computers or smart TV sets. My husband and I stream our church's service on my phone and send it to our TV so we can watch it on the big screen and we have remarked to each other several times that we almost feel like we're right there in the sanctuary. By watching the service with the Facebook app we can post comments and read the comments of others who are watching along with us and it gives us a sense of being together even though we're not all together in the same room. It's encouraging to see all those familiar names popping up as they make their comments or prayer requests.
The Lord already told the people in yesterday's passage not to engage in any form of divination. This next verse is similar. "Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God." (Leviticus 19:31) People aren't to engage in any sort of divination on their own and they aren't to seek out someone who claims to have a gift for predicting the future or for contacting the dead. These are all occult practices and are considered an abomination by God because they "defile" man. Any contact we have with the occult is going to change us in some unpleasant way, and believing we're just having our palm read for fun or believing we're just reading our daily horoscope for entertainment is one way we can get pulled into things that have a very dark undercurrent.
I know a Christian who read a book about astrology and who suddenly began basing all their relationships and all their decisions upon what sign someone was born under or upon what their astrological chart said. This occult practice gained such a strong hold on that person's life that the next thing I knew they were engaging in all sorts of shockingly immoral things. This person lost almost everything good in their life due to falling prey to a darkness that disguised itself as harmless fun at first. If I hadn't seen with my own eyes how drastically a person can be changed by dabbling in astrology I wouldn't have believed it, but I saw their life fall apart right before my eyes, and when I tried to counsel this person I honestly believed there for a minute I was about to be physically attacked. I don't think I've ever seen so much rage and hatred in a person's eyes and there's no doubt in my mind that it's because, even though this person was a believer in the Lord, they had been defiled and deluded by their foray into a practice the Lord condemns on the pages of the Bible. Thankfully, this person responded after a while to the Lord's urging to repent and is safely back in the fold and no longer involved in any way with the thing that nearly ruined their life.
Next the Lord makes a prohibition against ageism; their elders are not to be disregarded as old fashioned or out of date. They are to be respected and honored. "Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the Lord your God." (Leviticus 19:32) I have heard people say they began to feel invisible as they grew older and that people have treated them as if they are no longer relevant to society and as if their opinions and advice aren't to be considered. Verse 32 plainly shows us that harboring such an attitude toward our elders is a sin. By respecting our elders we are revering our God, as He says, so if we're not respecting our elders we're not revering our God. After all, one of the names of God is "Ancient Of Days". (Isaiah 43:13, Daniel 7:9,13,22) If we begin to consider our elders as outdated and irrelevant, we'll begin to consider the Ancient of Days as outdated and irrelevant.
The Lord prohibits racism and discrimination. "When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God." (Leviticus 19:33-34) Why did the Israelites end up as slaves in Egypt? Because a king---or possibly an entire dynasty---was afraid of them because they were different. Instead of loving the Israelites as themselves, the Egyptians began to hate them because they were of a different race and a different religion. They began to oppress them out of the fear that they would rise up and take over, a thing that the Israelites had no intention of doing; they just wanted to live peacefully in the land and go about their business. So here in verses 33 and 34 we find the Lord reminding the Israelites of what can happen when a class of people is treated as a threat and He warns them not to treat foreigners living peacefully among them as a threat or as people to be discriminated against.
Lastly, in our study today the Lord reminds the people not to cheat each other in trade. "Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity. Use honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt." (Leviticus 19:35-36) An ephah is believed to have represented about 3/5 of a bushel and a hin is thought to have been about a gallon.
"Keep all My decrees and all My laws and follow them. I am the Lord." (Leviticus 19:37) He says, "Take these words to heart and obey them." Why? "Because I am the Lord." There is no higher authority. His laws are greater than the laws of any land they will ever possess. In every situation that confronts them in the future, they are to consult what He says, not what the culture says. No matter what people are doing all around them, they are to follow the laws of the Lord even when the culture says, "It's okay, everybody is doing this stuff, you can do it too." If the ways of the culture clash with the laws of the Lord, they are to stick with the laws of the Lord and, "Be holy (different) because I, the Lord your God, am holy (different)." (Leviticus 19:2)
Let's dare to be different. Let's honor our God by being like Him and not like the unbelieving culture around us.
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