Leviticus 18-20

If you recall, chapter 17, the major topic of that chapter was the issue of blood, bringing sacrifices to the tabernacle now that the tabernacle is open for business.

And the reason for that is because blood is sacred, and therefore you can't eat blood.

You have to drain the blood.

And then he even deals at the end of that chapter with the proper handling of meat and butchering of animals.

And that chapter in a lot of ways provides sort of the transition from the first half of the book to the second half of the book.

In the first half of the book of Leviticus, Leviticus 1 through 16, or even chapter 17, exclusively focused on matters pertaining to worship and ritual purity, sacrifices, ordination of the priest, opening ceremonies of the tabernacle, ritual purity regarding diet and other stuff of everyday life, the Day of Atonement, right? All of that stuff focuses on worship and ritual purity in chapter 17, as we noted was even about that, at least at the beginning, where it was about bringing your sacrifices to the tabernacle and blood's purpose for atonement.

But chapter 17 ended by shifting to a matter of everyday life, the proper butchering of animals, because of the sacred nature of blood.

Well, now here in chapters 18 through 20, we shift to dealing with just matters of everyday life.

As I noted, it's been called the Holiness Code.

And the reason for that is because it is about matters pertaining to holy living as God's people.

And if you keep in mind the overall really broad context of the book of Leviticus in relationship to the book of Exodus, you recall that Exodus 19.6 points out that Israel's vocation, their calling, is to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

And the word holy means distinct or different.

It means set apart for God's purposes.

So as you read through Leviticus 18-20, the question to have in mind is, what are some ways Israel is supposed to be holy, different, distinct from the nations around them as a reflection of God's own holiness? Also, before we begin, it's worth noting that the Apostle Peter, in his first letter, echoes this very question and this very theme by quoting from this section of Leviticus when he says in 1 Peter 1, "'Be holy as I am holy,' says the Lord.'" And then Peter calls us to be holy in all our behavior.

Well, chapters 18 through 20 of Leviticus show us some of the ways that Israel was to be holy in all their behavior.

And that begins right from the outset here in chapter 18, verses 1 through 5, where God says, you must not be like them, but be different because I am your God.