Leviticus 26-27, Psalm 39
What brings you hope? Hope is a theme with a great deal of currency in our world. The human race as a whole currently enjoys the highest standard of living ever, and despite some outliers, it’s not particularly close. Still, one of the most powerful forces in any society today, not just the outliers, is the hope for a better future. We seem to have an inborn immutable desire for a better world. Or maybe another world.
We have finally reached the end of Leviticus, and true to form for ancient world agreements between kings and subjects, it wraps up with promises about what obedience and disobedience will bring. The last chapter will discuss a key piece of case law about dedicating things to God.
Chapter 26 is written in flowery language typical of ancient writing, but it boils down to this: if Israel does what God has told them to do, God will make sure they are successful; if Israel does not do what God has instructed, he will make sure they are unsuccessful. Note that God does not give the people of Israel an out here: they have sworn themselves to this covenant, and they are the people of God whether they like it or not. God is going to make the people of Israel an example to the nations one way or another- either in the ways outlined in Exodus and Leviticus that we discussed yesterday, or by executing terrible judgment on them such as will make them just as famous. There is also an interesting observation about the sabbath of the land. Once again God makes a much bigger deal about the sabbath than about any other particular rule. It is the primary sign of his covenant with Israel, and it is one that the land will keep, even if the people will not. God will see to that with exile if necessary.
The judgment God promises in the case of disobedience sounds very harsh, and it is. But it is worth observing that this is not the acts of a vindictive God who is just waiting to smite his people. God promises to deliver judgment to Israel as a means of correction, and it is only through persistent disobedience that the worst consequences come about. Even then, there is a provision for the return of the people to God’s way of living through confession and repentance. God makes a final promise to not utterly destroy the people of Israel in any event, but to remember his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The last chapter of Leviticus seems out of place. It follows on the heels of God’s great promises, and seems to deal with some odd subjects: freely given offerings, vow fulfillment, and above all substitution of things dedicated to God. It appears that this is some applied case law about the laws for an acceptable sacrifice earlier in the book. One can easily imagine the questions beginning to surface about the dedication of firstborn animals or the tithe to the Levites: do we really have to sacrifice this really pretty animal? Can’t we sub out for this ugly one? Do I have to give this particular sheep to the Levites? Can’t I give them a different one, or maybe a donkey? Or maybe it was coming from the other side. Levites asking what they are going to do with a tenth of the pomegranates, and may they not have more of something else instead? God makes it clear that this is not the point. In most cases, the answer is a flat no. In the cases it is allowed, there is a twenty percent penalty in value. God is not interested in legerdemain applied to his laws- they are not really a legal code in the sense of governing social and business transactions. The laws of God are setting up a society around the tabernacle, which contains a promise of a new creation. They are not to be wiggled out of, but followed to the letter.
In the same way that God’s laws are to followed, the behavior of the Israelites is to be honest and consistent. They are not to go back on promises and vows, especially those sworn to God. God takes his agreements seriously, and he expects his people to do the same. If they promise something, they are to deliver that thing.
Leviticus is a difficult book to muddle through, but in the end it rewards the study. At the end of Exodus the glory of God has occupied the tabernacle, but even Moses cannot get inside to talk with God. The entire book of Leviticus is narrated by God from within the tent to Moses standing outside of it. In the middle of this long series of commands, God tells Israel how the high priest can enter his presence and how the guilt of the nation will be cast out of the community. In the pure lives of the priests he sets up the hope of a world without death, poverty, disease, or deformity. In the behavioral codes for the people he sets up a truly just society in which all the people find their proper place as subjects of God but no one else. Tomorrow we will begin the book of Numbers. Take note of where Moses is standing at the beginning of the book. There is a great deal of blood, death, and fire, but in the end Leviticus is a book about hope.