Leviticus 24:1-23


God is zealous for the glory of His name and the purity of His people.  He created rituals that the priests were to observe and for which the people were to provide.  He also created rules that the people were required to follow and He instituted consequences for breaking those rules.  These rules and rituals were designed to demonstrate the glory of God, the greatness of His name and the holiness of His character.  He expects that we as His creation will worship and obey Him as the highest priority in our lives.

THE WORSHIP OF GOD IS PRIORITY: God commanded that there be a light and twelve loaves of bread constantly on the altar before Him.  The people were responsible to bring the pure olive oil and the grain for these rituals and the priests were responsible to tend the light and prepare the bread so that the light would not go out and the bread would always be in order.  There seems to be one loaf of bread for each tribe and the light seems to represent God.  God wants His people to be constantly before Him and He wants them to live with a constant realization that they are in His presence.  We are never alone.  Every action, thought and motive is clearly known to God.  We tend to fear men much more than we fear God.  We take great pains to hide our sinful actions from men yet seem to care very little about the fact that God is present with us at all times.  When we practice the presence of God we will be in a constant state of worship before Him.  This must be the priority of our lives.

THE NAME OF GOD IS PURE: Two men get in a struggle.  We are not told who started the fight or what the fight was about, but we know that in the process of this fight one man cursed the name of God.  The people heard this and brought the issue to Moses who sought direction from God.  Once the witnesses confirmed this sin, God told the people to stone the man to death outside of the camp.  God is very zealous of His own name.  He requires that every one of us treat His name with reverence.  As I read this passage I am struck by how flippantly God’s name is used in today’s culture.  There seems to be no fear in man to blaspheme God and His name seems to appear in the speech of so many as a comma instead as the designation for the creator and sustainer of the universe.

THE CREATION OF GOD IS PRECIOUS: God is the creator of human life and He made man in His own image.  So when man kills another man He is truly striking out at the image of God.  For this reason God commanded that those who killed other men should be killed by men.  Capital punishment for murder was instituted by God for the children of Israel.  We must never forget the importance of human life and the precious position that it holds before God.  Murder is the ultimate sign of hatred in our hearts.  God is love and He wants us to bear His image of love before the entire universe.  The multiple chapters of God’s law that we have been commenting on and the ones that still are in the books ahead can all be very simply be summed up in the command to love God and love one another.  If we will simply make it our priority to worship God and love the people He has created we will live lives that are pleasing to Him and us.

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