Leviticus 24 "Worship and Justice"

Leviticus 24 forms the conclusion of the central section of Leviticus

which has been focused on the twin concerns of cleanness and holiness.

The holy worship of God has been the focus in chapter 23,

but this final chapter includes both some final commands regarding worship,

and then returns us to the narrative that we last saw in chapter 10.

There are three sections to this chapter.

The first two deal with matters specifically focused on the tabernacle worship.

The final section deals with the violation of God's holy name by a nameless man.

First Yahweh commands Israel to bring pure olive oil to Aaron

to ensure that the lamps of the lampstand in the tabernacle never go out.

He is to care for the lamps from "evening to morning" (verse 3).

The priests (and particularly the high priest) was to maintain the lampstands.

This was a task that could not be handed over to the Levites.

ONLY the priest could tend the lamps,

as indicated that he is to do it from "evening to morning."

Elsewhere throughout the OT, "evening and morning" refers to the hours of darkness

between sunset and sunrise.

(Examples?)

But Israel is to bring this oil.

The focus here is on the responsibility of the people

to ensure the proper supplies for worship.

(Zechariah 4)

Second, Aaron is to arrange the bread of Yahweh each Sabbath.

Twelve loaves are to be baked each week,

with two piles of six loaves on the table in the holy place.

Frankincense is to be put on the bread "as a food offering to Yahweh,"

It was to be arranged on the Sabbath day,

which suggests that it was a weekly baking.

Interestingly, this bread is called "a covenant forever" (read verse 8).

It is a weekly covenant renewal, whereby the priests partake of the covenant.

(Connect to LS, the bread which Jesus breaks and gives to his (12) disciples)

It is interesting-though by no means determinative by itself-

that the only bread called a covenant meal was partaken of weekly...!

(Though, of course, the priests also partook of the regular grain offerings every day)

Aaron and his sons were to eat it in a holy place.

It was holy food-not to be eaten by laymen.

But what about David?

1 Samuel 21:1-7

David asks for bread, and Ahimelech the priest

says that he only has the holy bread of the presence.

He gives it to David and his men,

on the condition that they have kept themselves from women.

There is nothing in Leviticus 24 (or anywhere else) that would permit this.

This bread was to be eaten by the priests.

It was explicitly commanded that only the priests should eat it,

and they in a holy place.

Sometimes the Bible simply reports the actions of people,

without making any statement about whether they were right or wrong.

Is this such a case?

Look over at Matthew 12:1-8.

Jesus' disciples are plucking heads of grain on the Sabbath (reaping).

The Pharisees get all upset about it because it is not lawful to do this.

Jesus responds (verse 3-4).

Jesus agrees that David had no warrant to eat the holy bread.

It was not lawful for David to eat that bread-nor his men.

But he did it. And he was right for doing it.

Keep going. (Verses 5-8)

What is Jesus saying?

There are two basic points-and the second is rooted in the first.

1) The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.

The ultimate standard of righteousness is not a written document,

but a living person.

Jesus is Lord.

2) therefore you cannot take a strict constructionist approach to the law,

not even the law of God.

No law has ever been written that can produce justice is every situation.

Not even the Mosaic law.

Jesus gives two examples.

The first is an occasional weakness of the law

-a situation not conceived by the law.

If people are weak with hunger

(and in context, if the anointed one and his people are in need),

then even the holy food of God may be given to them.

You may "break" the law in order to practice justice and mercy.

This is the principle of equity:

what do you do when the strict application of the law

would produce injustice?

You do what is right!

But the second example Jesus gives is not an occasional problem,

it is a systemic problem with the law.

Further, it is not merely a reference to some ritual matter,

it cuts to the heart of the moral law.

The priests profane the Sabbath and are guiltless.

The law requires the priests to work on the Sabbath.

They not only do the ordinary "work" of the daily sacrifices,

but they also must perform extra Sabbath sacrifices.

Jesus says this to shock the Pharisees.

He knows that they are strict constructionists

who attempt to ensure that they do not break the letter of the law.

But in focusing exclusively on the letter of the law,

they neglect mercy and justice.

No written law can produce justice in every situation.

Only a law that is administered by the Son of Man can do that.

Because God's justice is not a code of statutes,

but the all-wise judgment of Yahweh himself.

The great irony is that if the Pharisees had understood Leviticus 24

they would have learned this.

Read Lev. 24:10-12.

In these verses we are returned to the narrative of what is happening at Mt Sinai

while Israel is learning how to worship God and do all that he has commanded.

What was the last narrative event?

Chapter 10-the death of Nadab and Abihu.

It is not merely the priests who will die for their failure to treat God as holy.

All Israelites-and even those of mixed birth

-are to be holy in their conduct and in their speech.

Who was this man?

What was his name?

We hear that he was the son of an Egyptian and an Israelite woman.

We hear the name of his mother, and of his grandfather, and of his tribe.

But by the time that Israel is settled in the Land,

no one alive knew his name.

Verse 2 says that he "blasphemed" the name of Yahweh in the midst of a fight.

Literally, he "pierced" the name of Yahweh,

he attempted to cut down his opponent by weakening his god.

Remember that the OT speaks of curses as having literal power.

The spoken word has the power to accomplish things in the spiritual realm.

Therefore, by cursing Yahweh, he hopes to overthrow this Yahweh-worshiper.

(And to "curse" means to declare someone worthless or weightless)

If you blaspheme the NAME of Yahweh,

if you disgrace his name,

then your name will be forgotten,

and worse, the name of your family will be disgraced!

Verses 13-14

The death penalty in Israel was a community event.

You cannot hire someone to do it for you.

Those who heard the curse must place their hands on the head of the offender,

so that they may not be held guilty of that curse.

(Just as the imposition of hands is required on the sacrifice

in order to transfer guilt,

so also with the blasphemer it is important to ensure

that no guilt remains upon you who heard the curse.)

The execution of an offender is a stain on the name of the congregation.

Therefore the entire congregation must be involved in his death.

(The elders-and in a difficult case, the priests-would conduct the trial)

But here it is made clear that the sojourner as well as the native

should be executed for blasphemy.

Verses 15-16 form an interesting contrast.

You may have missed it at first.

"Whoever curses his god shall bear his sin;

Whoever blasphemes the name of Yahweh shall surely be put to death."

The pronoun is important.

Whoever curses his god.

There are lots of gods in the land of Canaan.

You will encounter people who curse Baal, Ashtoreth, El, Elohim.

If a man curses his own god, let his own god deal with it.

(There is a sense of mockery here)

But if he blasphemes Yahweh, he must be put to death.

This led to a very strong reluctance among Israelites

to even use the name Yahweh.

Verses 17-22

This passage establishes a principle of proportionate justice.

(Quoting Exodus 21:23-25)

Whatever you did to others will be done to you.

If you attacked someone and broke his jaw,

then the proper punishment is for your own jaw to be broken.

"Whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him."

If you kill his animal, you shall replace it.

(We discover in Exodus 21-22 that if it was intentional,

the offender must repay up to four times)

this passage is cited by Jesus when he commands his people

not to resist those who would harm us.

He tells us that "an eye for an eye" is not the principle of justice

that should be exercised in his church.

(More?)

And in obedience to God's command,

the people of Israel brought out the man who had blasphemed God,

and stoned him to death.

What is remarkable about this passage (considered in its own time)

is that the same law was applied to foreigners as well as to natives.

While God has established Israel as his unique people.

He will not let them forget that all people are his.

And because he claims all people,

therefore, anyone who comes to sojourn in the land of Israel

will be treated as one of the people of God.

That comes to its full expression in Jesus Christ,

where there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female,

for you are all one in Christ.