Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Leviticus+018

 

Leviticus 18（ESV）

1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God. 3 You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. 4 You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. 5 You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.…….

 

21 You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.…….

 

24 “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, 25 and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. 26 But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you 27 (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), 28 lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.

 

REFLECTION

1. Today’s passage is about the sanctity of marriage
2. Verses 1-5 point out that the faith community is to be characterized by allegiance to neither the Egyptian nor Canaanite lifestyle, but by practices formed in its relationship with God. The concluding verses 24-30 reiterate the view of the chapter based on divine revelation: maintain holiness.  This chapter challenges contemporary believers to demonstrate distinctiveness of faith today.  The concern pervades all of life – family life and sexual conduct are certainly included.
3. “You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech” (v21) – Near the ruins of ancient Carthage a person can go today to a garden where the remains of thousands of children are buried. Most are infants, but their ages range to four years old.  Each was burned alive as a votive offering to the goddess Tanat.  There was something the parents wanted, and to obtain that favor from the goddess they offered her their child.

There are many people, Christians included, who has had abortions without much hesitation.  They can’t see anything wrong with what they did.  The reason was, simply, that it wasn’t convenient.  There was something else they wanted, and so they sacrificed her unborn children. I suppose there are cases where, if the mother’s life is endangered, abortions are justified.  But to have an abortion just because giving birth is inconvenient is an act too similar to that of those parents of long ago, who traded the lives of their children to a pagan god or goddess in hopes of improved health, a better job, or wealth.  In God’s eyes, there is nothing that equals the value of a human life. (Larry Richards, The 365 Day Devotional Commentary, p82)

 

PRAYER

Lord, how can I live out my faith authentically?  Can others see my difference?  What’s my view of human life, even the life of an unborn baby?  Do I share Your viewpoint?  Help me, Lord!

 

HYMN:

The Potter’s Hand – youtu.be/AnacyH7wvk8