Going Old School: A Light For Our Lives

Leviticus has shown us that God cares how we live our daily lives, and wants not just what is best for us, but also what is best for our relationship with Him.  As David said in Psalm 119 -

¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to my feet
         And a light to my path.

In the beginning of Leviticus 24, God again goes over the importance of the lamps in the Tabernacle (vv 1-4).  The people of Israel are to keep pure olive oil coming to the priests so that the lamps in the Tabernacle never go out.  Aaron and the priests were to make sure that the lamps were always lit and had sufficient oil to stay lit.

Today we don’t keep temple lights burning continually, so this passage must be irrelevant for us today, right?  Take another look at David’s psalm.  God’s Word is a lamp for us, to guide our lives day to day.  So if God’s Word is our light, what then must be the oil?  Reading it!  Living it!  Establishing that relationship with God!  As Isaiah says “The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.” (40:8).  Jesus Himself reiterates that same point: “Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.” (Matt. 24:35)

So if God’s Word is eternal and everlasting, maybe it would do us good to ready and study it?  What do you think?

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Along with being our guiding light, God touches on another topic that is still popular today: justice.  But given what we just learned about God’s Word never being irrelevant, Leviticus 24:10-16 seems a little harsh.  Stoning someone for blasphemy?

The punishment is extreme by modern standards.  It was also extreme by Roman standards when the Jewish leaders were trying to trip up (and then resorted to falsely accusing) Jesus and demanding His execution for blasphemy (John 19:7).  But what God is showing His people (including us today) is how seriously we need to take our relationship with Him.  How many times to we use His name in swearing, or just plain acting like God doesn’t exist (we don’t want to be branded a “religious nut” after all)?  But as Pastor Reams of Forest Lake said a little while ago, God is HOLY, and after everything He’s done for us, He deserves to be treated with reverence (which we all seem to have forgotten)!  And remember, it’s God who will have the last word, not us.

In finishing out Leviticus 24, God gives guidance to judges (most of which is still effective law today).  For example, we still have the death penalty for someone who murders someone (Lev 24:17 & 21).  But if you look over God’s advice for judges, what He is saying is that the punishment should fit the crime.  Back then, if you were to kill a neighbor's ox, for example, you would have to repay your neighbor with a new ox.  That was the only way he had to plow his fields, and you as the offending party needed to make it right.  And this was true if your neighbor was an Israelite or a foreigner, God’s law applied equally.

So the next time you do something to hurt or offend someone, don’t let it simmer.  Make it right with that person, even if you don’t want to!  As Paul says in his letter to the Ephesians: And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil (4:26-27).
We’ll close this chapter of Leviticus with what Jesus taught the people about getting along with their neighbors:

“So if you are presenting a sacrifice at the altar in the Temple and you suddenly remember that someone has something against you, leave your sacrifice there at the altar. Go and be reconciled to that person. Then come and offer your sacrifice to God.  (Matt. 5:23-24)

Encounter: Will you spend time with God today in His Word?