1.02. Holiness in the Books of the Law
CHAPTER II HOLINESS IN THE BOOKS OF THE LAW THE use of a concordance, an invaluable and needful aid to Bible study, at once tells us that the word holy and its cognates are more frequent in the Old Testament than in the New ; but chiefly in Exodus, Leviticus, and Ezekiel, and after these in Isaiah, Chronicles, and the Bk. of Psalms. Moreover, abundant quotations and references in the New Testament prove that the thoughts of its writers were permeated and moulded by the Old Testament.
These quotations and references also go far to prove that the earliest followers of Christ possessed the Old Testament in a form practically the same as that pre served in the English Bible. This is raised to absolute certainty by the close agreement, amid differences in detail, between the Hebrew copies preserved by the Jews and the very early MSS. of the Greek Septuagint Version of the Old Testament which have come down to us through Christian hands. Indisputably, in our modern Bibles we have the Jewish Scriptures in a form substantially the same as that used by the immediate disciples of Christ. This being so, we must turn to the Old Testament, in order to learn the significance of the word holy as understood by the writers of the New Testament, and by Christ Himself.
Among the Jewish Scriptures, both Jews and Christians gave to the Five Books of the Law the first place. " Moses" and " the Law and the Prophets " were read in the synagogues every Sabbath Day: Acts 13:15; Acts 15:21. To the Law, therefore, we now turn. In so doing, it is needless to discuss the date of the Pentateuch as we now possess it, or of its various component parts as detected by modern scholars. For indisputably the Law as we possess it in Hebrew and Greek is practically the same as when used by Christ and His Apostles. More over, as we shall see, with very slight modifications easily explained, the word holy is throughout the Old Testament used in the same sense.
All theological terms belonged originally to secular life. They were born amid, and designated, common things around. Usually therefore our study of Bible words begins with an attempt to determine their original significance in ordinary life. Such significance, doubtless, the Hebrew word rendered holy once had. But it has become altogether indistinguishable in the early twilight of the history of religion. Moreover the meaning of the word in the religious thought of Israel, as far back as we can trace it, is clearly defined by objects so many and so various and so familiar to the eyes and thought of Israel as to admit of no mistake. In Genesis the word holy never occurs; sanctify only once, in a passage closely similar to conspicuous passages in Exodus and Numbers. This remarkable contrast proves that in the thought of Israel the word holy stood in definite and close relation to the immense impulse given by Moses at the Exodus to the religious thought and life of the nation, as attested by the many references to him and to the Exodus throughout the Old and New Testaments. To this one passage in Genesis and to two others containing the same word in other forms, I shall refer again.
We turn now to the four books which profess to give an account of the history and contents of the Mosaic covenant. In the solemn opening scene of that covenant, from the lips of God, and in a connection of thought wonderfully indicative of the kind of covenant He had come down to make, we find for the first time in the Book of the Law read every Sabbath in the synagogues of Israel, in what is certainly one of the earliest component parts of the Pentateuch, the great word henceforth to be so deeply inwoven into the religious thought of Israel and of mankind. God s words to Moses from the bush in Exodus 3:5, " Draw not nigh hither ... for the place which thou art standing upon is ground of holiness" introduce a covenant of which one great feature was to be holiness embodied in visible places and things, a holiness which made the holy objects partly or altogether inaccessible to men. Evidently God meant to say that the ground stood in special relation to Himself; and that therefore man might not tread it except by His command. We next meet the word in 2 Chronicles 12:16, " convocation of holiness : " i.e. a calling together of the people, not for some secular purpose, but at the bidding of God, and to work out His purposes.
Very instructive is Exodus 13:2 : " Sanctify for Me the firstborn : it is Mine " or " for Me." This is explained in Exodus 15:2 : "Thou shalt make to pass over all that opens the womb, for Jehovah . . . the males are Jehovah’s " or " for Jehovah." So Numbers 3:12-13 : "I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel, instead of all the firstborn from the sons of Israel: and the Levites shall be Mine. For Mine is every firstborn. In the day when I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified for Myself every first born in Israel, from man to beast. Mine they shall be : I am Jehovah." Also Numbers 8:16-17 : "They are altogether given to Me from among the sons of Israel. Instead of such as open every womb, every firstborn from the sons of Israel, I have taken them for Myself. For Mine is every firstborn among the sons of Israel, man and beast. In the day when I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified them for Myself." Cp. Deuteronomy 15:19: "Every first born male, thou shalt sanctify for Jehovah thy God : thou shalt do no work with the firstborn of thy ox, nor shear the first born of thy sheep."
These passages make quite clear the meaning of the word sanctify in Exodus 13:2. The firstborn were made-holy in the sense that God had claimed them for His own, and therefore henceforth none might touch them except at His bidding. In other words, God s command placed the firstborn in a new and solemn relation to Him as His property. They were no longer man s but God’s. The Holiness of God, I shall reserve till we have completed our study of the holiness of the Mosaic ritual.
Specially important as illustrating the meaning of the word holy is Exodus 19:4-6: "Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, ye shall be to Me (or, for Me) a peculiar treasure from among all the peoples : because Mine (or, for Me) is all the earth. And ye shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." Here the word priests links the word holy to the ritual soon to be established. Just as in Egypt God placed the rescued firstborn in special relation to Himself, so now He claims for Himself the entire nation in virtue of their deliverance from Egypt. This wider reference of the word holy, embracing the whole nation, is also found in Leviticus 11:44-45 : "I am Jehovah your God : and ye shall sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy men, because holy am I : and ye shall not defile yourselves with any creeping thing that moves upon the earth. For I am Jehovah who brought you up out from the land of Egypt, to be your God : and ye shall be holy men, because holy am I." Also Leviticus 19:2; Leviticus 20:7-8; Leviticus 20:26. In Exodus 19:22, " the priests who come near to Jehovah " are bidden to " sanctify themselves, lest Jehovah break through among them." This evidently means that they were formally to devote themselves to the service which God had claimed from them, and to separate themselves from everything inconsistent with it. The words in Exodus 5:23, " set bounds about the mount, to sanctify it," are closely related to Exodus 3:5. By putting a fence, Moses marked off the mountain as belonging to God, and therefore not to be trodden by man or beast except at His bidding. In Exodus 20:8, God bade Israel, " Remember the Sabbath Day to sanctify it ; " and adds in v. n, " Jehovah blessed the Sabbath Day and sanctified it." Similarly Genesis 2:3: "God blessed the Sabbath Day, and sanctified it." Still more emphatic is Exodus 31:13-17 : " I am Jehovah who sanctifies you. And ye shall keep the Sabbath: for it is holy to you. He that profanes it shall indeed be put to death. Everyone that does work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people." Also Isa. Iviii. 13: "turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy work on My day of holiness"
Similarly Leviticus 25:10; Leviticus 25:12: " Ye shall sanctify the fiftieth year ; and ye shall proclaim liberty in the land, for all its inhabitants. . . . For it is a Jubilee : holy shall it be to you." The tabernacle was called the sanctuary or holy place : Exodus 25:8. The outer chamber bore the abstract title holiness. The inner one (Exodus 26:33-34) bore the superlative name holiness of holinesses : in A.V. and R.V. " the most holy place;" but more literally and suitably "holy of holies" as in Hebrews 9:3, and in the Greek Septuagint Version. This august superlative title is in Exodus 29:37 given to the brazen altar ; in
Aaron and his clothes, and his sons and their clothes, were sanctified by the ritual of consecration: Exodus 29:21. So was the oil : " Upon man s flesh it shall not be poured, neither shall ye make any like it : holy it is, and holy it shall be to you. Whoever compounds any like it, and whoever puts any like it on a stranger, shall even be cut off from his people : " Exodus 30:32-33. In Leviticus 27:2; Leviticus 27:9; Leviticus 27:14; Leviticus 27:16 we have a voluntary consecration by men, of themselves, their cattle, house, or field. This holiness is thus described in 5:21 : "the field shall be holy for Jehovah, like the field of the Anathema : for the priest the possession of it shall be." If a man wished to take back something he has consecrated, he must pay for it: Leviticus 5:15. But some things were given to God by an irrevocable consecration, and were called anathema and holy of holies : verses 28, 29. Similarly, the Nazarite was holy, and his sacrifice " holiness for the priest : " Numbers 6:5; Numbers 6:8; Numbers 6:20. The censers of Korah were holy, and therefore could not be put to common use : Numbers 16:38. The fourth year’s fruit of the land of Canaan was holy : Leviticus 19:24. Lastly, in close accord with Exodus 19:5, we read in Deuteronomy 7:6, " a holy people thou art for Jehovah, thy God : thee has Jehovah thy God chosen to be His, for a people of peculiar treasure from among all the peoples which are upon the face of the earth." The above passages, from the Books of the Law, are samples of some 200 others. In all of them the meaning is the same, and is clearly marked. These holy objects, men, things, or time, stood in special relation to God as exclusively His own. They had no human owner who could do with them as he pleases. None could touch them except at His bidding. This solemn relation to God is the one element common to all the holy objects. Consequently the word holy is a relative term, denoting always a relation to Deity, viz. unreserved devotion. And, since to Israel there was only one God, the word holy denoted devotion to Jehovah, the God of Israel. The added words, " holy for Jehovah" called attention to the great Object of Israel s devotion. In Numbers 3:13; Numbers 8:16-17 God asserts with emphatic repetition that the first born were sanctified expressly by Himself and for Himself. Similarly, it was God who sanctified the tabernacle and the altar, Aaron and his sons, the people and the Sabbath: Exodus 29:44; Exodus 20:11, Leviticus 22:32. All this and much else similar imply that the devotion to God of the holy objects originated, not in men who gave them to God, but in God who expressly claimed them for Himself. With very few limited exceptions, nothing could be given to God except that which He had first claimed for Himself. This claim of God at once put the objects claimed, apart from anything which man did or failed to do, in a new and very solemn relation to God. Men might desecrate the holy things or holy day : the holy men might desecrate themselves. But they remained holy, to the condemnation and destruction of those who profaned them : Leviticus 10:2, Numbers 15:35. This relation, created by God s claim and incapable of being set aside by man’s unfaithfulness, may be called OBJECTIVE Sanctification and Holiness. It is the most frequent use of the word.
Moses also, as the minister through whom the consecration of these objects was brought about, is said in Exodus 19:14; Exodus 19:23;
Since some of the objects claimed by God were themselves intelligent beings, and others were in the control of such, their devotion to God could take place only by man s consent. Consequently, the priests and people are said in Exodus 19:22, Leviticus 11:44; Leviticus 27:14 to sanctify themselves and some of their possessions. They did this, either by formally placing themselves or their goods at the disposal of God, or by separating hemselves from whatever was inconsistent with the service of God. Consequently, in Leviticus 20:25-26; Leviticus 21:1-8, holiness involves renunciation of idolatry and of meats pronounced unclean. This may be called SUBJECTIVE Holiness. It is man s surrender to God of that which He has claimed. This distinction of objective and subjective holiness is, both in Old and New Testament, of utmost importance. For the world around us stands in intimate mutual relation to the subjective world of our own inner thought. This distinction, coextensive with human thought and life, moulds both thought and language. We need ever to distinguish, in the use of words, the objective and subjective.
Objective holiness traces holiness to its source in God : subjective holiness points to the obligation laid on man by this claim of God. So in Exodus 20:8 men were bidden to sanctify the Sabbath be cause (Genesis 20:11) God had already sanctified it. It was already objectively holy\ and therefore must needs be sanctified by men.
Light is shed on the radical meaning of the word holy in Genesis 38:21, Deuteronomy 23:17, where a cognate word is used to designate a profligate woman. This recalls the " sacred slave-girls" at Corinth " whom both men and women presented to the goddess : " Strabo bk. 8:378. The essential idea of holiness is found here, though in a perverted form. Devotion to an impure deity creates impurity in the devotee : whereas devotion to God involves separation from all impurity.
Another trace of the word is found in the name Kadesh in Genesis 14:7; Genesis 16:14; Genesis 20:1, Numbers 13:26; Numbers 20:14; Numbers 20:16; Numbers 20:22, etc. It suggests that these towns were specially devoted to the service of some deity. We may compare the Greek name Hierapolis, of a city in Phrygia, noted for its temple of Cybele ; and of another in the north-west of Syria, a chief seat of the worship of Astarte.
We have now gained, from many visible objects described in the Pentateuch, and from much there said about them, a clear and definite conception of holiness. The holy objects, men, things, places, or times, were distinguished from all others in that by the express command of God they had been placed in special relation to Him as devoted to His service. The term is relative, noting always a relation to deity. The idea of morality has not yet been suggested, except so far as it is implied in the devotion of intelligent beings to the service of God. The holiness of God will be considered in our next chapter.