These chapters repeat the highlights of the Law and enlarge upon some of its requirements. Again, it may be dull reading for us, but we can appreciate God’s goodness in giving His people all the information they needed to worship Him appropriately, especially since the consequences of inappropriate worship were so severe. He has preserved them here for us for a reason; we are challenged today to understand what He wants us to understand from them.
What does it mean that these requirements are not given to us in the New Testament? I encourage you to consider not what your church believes, but what God is showing you.
- Does the absence of these commands in the New Testament mean that none of them apply to us? If that is the case, what does it teach you about the work Messiah has done on your behalf? One thing it cannot mean is that our salvation is cheap, for God Himself paid a dear price for it. In comparison to the requirements imposed on His Old Testament people as condition for relationship with God, simple faith seems a very cheap price to pay for relationship with Him. Given our human tendency not to value that for which we haven’t paid fully (and certainly God knows that about us!), it seems unlikely that God would want to limit our part in our salvation to simple faith. The New Testament sheds some light on this, and this blog will have to delay further discussion on it until then. But we don’t have to wait to understand; God can certainly reveal His will to each one of us. These readings give us an opportunity to seek His revelation to each of us about what He wants for our relationships with Him.
- Since Jesus came to fulfill the Law and not abolish it, do all of these requirements apply to us? If we truly are seeking to know Him, should we reject Old Testament Law without considering what it reveals about God’s desire for people who have relationship with Him?
God speaks often here of being holy. These commands are all to that end. The justification He offers for their being so is that He is holy. Holiness is not something we understand well, because we have no experience by which to reference it. Since we learn by making connections to something we already know, and we have no experience on which to base our understanding of holiness, we need to rely on God’s revelation in His word and His Holy Spirit to understand the idea of holiness. The best definition I have heard of holiness is one offered by R.C. Sproul: it means to be “other” – other than what we are. That definition challenges us to consider prayerfully what God wants to teach us about Himself and His requirements and desires for us.
The expectation for His people to be holy is not just an Old Testament concept. The New Testament doesn’t speak practically about holiness as much as the Old Testament does, so the Old offers a practical teaching for New Testament seekers. This passage teaches us that being holy means being:
- Set apart by God for special relationship with Him. This is a privilege not to be taken for granted and not to be a reason for pride but rather humility, for it is not my doing but God’s. With privilege always comes responsibility.
- Distinct from other people – in one’s appearance, behavior, values.
- Pure
Note the first requirements for holy living that God offers here:
- Number 1: Every one shall reverence his parents – no conditions given. And it is brought up a second time in this summary, adding the consequence of death.
- Number 2: Keeping the Sabbath.
These came before the command not to turn to idols. They must be important to God. Are they important to you?
Consider the requirement about gathering the gleanings of the fields and vineyards: as someone who is not a farmer, I can reject those kinds of commands, right? Well, a true seeker will seek to understand the principle behind the command, so as to please God in his or her own affairs. Is the principle one of laziness or carelessness with God’s abundance to us? The whole counsel of Scripture would answer “No.” The principle is one of caring for the poor.
Consider each requirement prayerfully, seeking first what God was requiring of His Old Testament people, and then what He wants you to understand about His desires for you. Some hints for you:
- The prohibitions against trimming hair and beards was not commanding them to look unkempt, but to look different, behave differently, and hold different values in a world where men elaborately styled their hair and beards.
- Molech was a god worshiped by one of the peoples living in Canaan. Their practice in desperate times was killing their children in sacrifice to appease an unresponsive god. God’s requirements cost His people dearly, but emphatically not in that manner.