{"id":18352,"date":"2021-11-03T22:00:27","date_gmt":"2021-11-04T05:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/leviticus_19_11-22-copy\/"},"modified":"2021-10-29T21:52:57","modified_gmt":"2021-10-30T04:52:57","slug":"leviticus_19_23-37","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/leviticus_19_23-37\/","title":{"rendered":"God Makes Laws For Our Good"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leviticus 19:23-37 \u00a0\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Leviticus 19:23-37.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Leviticus 19:23-25 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden. For three years you are to consider it forbidden; it must not be eaten.
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0In the fourth year all its fruit will be holy, an offering of praise to the\u00a0LORD.
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way your harvest will be increased. I am the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 23-25:\u00a0\u00a0Why would God forbid the Israelites from eating the fruit from a fruit tree they planted for the first three years?\u00a0\u00a0Isn\u2019t this a waste?\u00a0\u00a0Why is God depriving His own people of food?\u00a0\u00a0God\u2019s purpose was not to deprive His people but opposite: so that \u201cyour harvest will be increased\u201d (v25).\u00a0\u00a0Apparently, according to some horticulturists, fruit trees that are not stripped of their fruit in their first few years but are maintained with care have the ability to produce much more fruit in subsequent years.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0When God is seemingly depriving you or keeping you from enjoying a blessing, it\u2019s not to be cruel to you but ultimately to bless you.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Also, the fact that the Israelites were told to give the fourth year\u2019s harvest to the Lord before eating of the fruit themselves suggests one more truth: that the land that the Israelites were going to live in ultimately does not belong to them but to God.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a reminder for us that\u00a0whatever we think we own actually belongs to God.\u00a0\u00a0We are just stewards and trustees of what God has given to us.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leviticus 19:26-28 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it. “‘Do not practice divination or sorcery.
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.
\n28\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the\u00a0LORD.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 26-28:\u00a0\u00a0Applying what we learned yesterday about how to read the regulations of Leviticus, what can we gather about these commands we find verses 26-28?<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cDo not eat any meat with the blood still in it\u201d\u00a0->\u00a0revoked in the New Testament, so no need to worry about this too much (see, for example, Acts 10:15)<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cDo no practice divination or sorcery\u201d ->\u00a0affirmed in the New Testament, so this command still applies (see, for example, Acts 19:19 and Galatians 5:20)<\/p>\n

\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cDo not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard\u201d ->\u00a0since the New Testament does not talk about this explicitly and since this appears to be fueled by civic and cultural customs rather than moral concerns, we ask ourselves, \u201cIs there a timeless principle or a spiritual lesson behind this regulation that we can still apply today?\u201d Many scholars believe that the customs we read about in verse 27 were customs that people in the Israelites\u2019 neighbouring countries would engage in as part of their idol worship.\u00a0\u00a0If that is the case, this could be God telling His people not to live in ways that cause people in their culture to think that they are worshiping anything but God.\u00a0\u00a0The same could be said about tattoos in verse 28.<\/p>\n

Leviticus 19:29-34 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n29\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness.
\n30\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the\u00a0LORD.
\n31\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God.
\n32\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the\u00a0LORD.
\n33\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him.
\n34\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 29-34:\u00a0\u00a0All of the commands in these verses are affirmed in some way in the New Testament and are all fueled by moral concerns.\u00a0\u00a0Thus all the commands in these verses can be seen as applying to us today.<\/p>\n

Leviticus 19:35-37 (NIV)<\/em><\/strong>
\n35\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity.
\n36\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Use honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin. I am the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God, who brought you out of Egypt.
\n37\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘Keep all my decrees and all my laws and follow them. I am the\u00a0LORD.'”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 35-37:\u00a0\u00a0What is an \u201cephah\u201d or a \u201chin\u201d in verse 36?\u00a0\u00a0These were units of measurement in Moses\u2019 time.\u00a0\u00a0Back in Moses’ time scales and measuring sticks were important tools in business.\u00a0 That’s because people would trade and barter goods in addition to using currency. Business\u00a0people might be tempted to tamper with their scales and measuring sticks so that they could make or save some extra money.<\/p>\n

God comes down on such dishonest practices.\u00a0 In\u00a0Leviticus\u00a019:35-36 God tells His people that they must use accurate scales and accurate weights so as to not cheat in their business dealings.<\/p>\n

What’s the timeless principle we can learn from here?\u00a0 We all deal with money and business in some way, whether it’s buying or selling goods in the open market.\u00a0\u00a0God expects us to be honest and trustworthy when it comes to our dealings in business and money, and He will bless us accordingly.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 As Jesus says, “if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?” (Luke 16:11)<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You that every decree and law You give is for our good.\u00a0\u00a0May we follow Your decrees and laws closely, both for our own good and for Your glory.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Leviticus 19:23-37.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Leviticus 19:23-25 (NIV)
\n23\u00a0\u00a0“‘When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden. For three years you are to consider it forbidden; it must not be eaten.
\n24\u00a0\u00a0In the fourth year all its fruit will be holy, an offering of praise to the\u00a0LORD.
\n25\u00a0\u00a0But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way your harvest will be increased. I am the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God.<\/p>\n

On verses 23-25:\u00a0\u00a0Why would God forbid the Israelites from eating the fruit from a fruit tree they planted for the first three years?\u00a0\u00a0Isn\u2019t this a waste?\u00a0\u00a0Why is God depriving His own people of food?\u00a0\u00a0God\u2019s purpose was not to deprive His people but opposite: so that \u201cyour harvest will be increased\u201d (v25).\u00a0\u00a0Apparently, according to some horticulturists, fruit trees that are not stripped of their fruit in their first few years but are maintained with care have the ability to produce much more fruit in subsequent years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0When God is seemingly depriving you or keeping you from enjoying a blessing, it\u2019s not to be cruel to you but ultimately to bless you.\u00a0\u00a0Also, the fact that the Israelites were told to give the fourth year\u2019s harvest to the Lord before eating of the fruit themselves suggests one more truth: that the land that the Israelites were going to live in ultimately does not belong to them but to God.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a reminder for us that\u00a0whatever we think we own actually belongs to God.\u00a0\u00a0We are just stewards and trustees of what God has given to us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18355,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18352"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18353,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18352\/revisions\/18353"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}