Leviticus
22 – 24
Verse 22:20 gives us an example of giving:
You should not offer any animals
that are diseased, weak, or injured or have any defects. Such a
sacrifice is not acceptable for you.
Think about it God is not asking for the ones that we cannot
use, He wants the perfect ones. It’s not that God needs your money, your best
lamb or the first fruits, it shows they do not have a hold on you. It all comes
down to financials, the best will bring more money than something with a
defect. If we have faith that God provides, then we should have no problem
giving our best and first.
Now we think God is a selfish ruler making rules He cannot
live by, but think about it the ultimate sacrifice was God’s first born son.
Jesus was a perfect human who did not sin and suffered a painful death on the
cross. This was the final sacrifice as a perfect example of how it should be
done. Like Abraham who took Isaac as God’s required sacrifice, God provided
that perfect sacrifice in substitute. God has done the same for us!
Now does that mean He has given his only son as a sacrifice
so we do not need to give any more? Jesus was the final sacrifice for our sins,
but not the final sacrifice to show our devotion to God. We need to still give
our first and best to show God we honor Him first. It’s rather simple, money is
the root of evil and if it does not have control over our life than we can work
for God.
Verse 23:22 has an odd law just dropped in here:
Whenever you harvest the crops in
your land, do not harvest all the way to the edges of the fields or pick up
what was overlooked during harvest. Leave them for the poor and the strangers
living with you. I am the Eternal your God.
It’s called “gleaning” in the Kings James Version and again
is another offering to the poor. Again it’s showing we don’t let money control
our lives. Think about it, a farmer would not leave any crop on the ground or
not harvested so to get the most reward out of their investment. Heck some
would justify that God would want us to use our money wisely and manage it
well. He does not want us to look at the poor and pass judgment on what they
should or should not do, rather give from our harvest. It’s not that they get
this sitting on their butts, but rather they still have to harvest and work.
Verse 24:20 shows some “old sayings” are Biblically sound:
If he breaks a man’s bone, his own
bone must be broken. If he puts out a man’s eye, his own eye must be put out.
If he knocks out a man’s tooth, his own tooth must be knocked out. Whatever a
person does to harm another must be done to him in return.
The old saying an “eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”
when it comes to justice is actually Biblical. With many old sayings that we
believe are Biblical we end up seeing they are sayings for guys like Ben
Franklin. We tend to believe these saying as Biblical and some may be
theologically correct, many miss the mark. In this case it’s part of the
Hebraic Law and is one most Christians ignore since they have “forgiveness”.
It’s all or nothing with the Law and we see the problem with the early church.
Paul was dealing with Christian Jews that believed the Gentiles coming into knowing
Jesus needed to follow the Law as part of being a Christian.
Paul is right we are not bound by the Law and with that we
should never be in a situation that requires following laws like this. We
should never let anger overwhelm us to the point we take someone’s eye out.
That is more the point that the Holy Spirit, if truly followed, will not
require adherence to a set of laws since we will be living as God desires. Does
that mean we are allowed outside the law? Is it God given to find a soul mate
outside your marriage? Is it God given to be able to afford the financing of a
new car?