Leviticus 18

Leviticus 18:1-30

Leviticus 17:1-16; Leviticus 18:1-30; Leviticus 19:1-37; Leviticus 20:1-271. Personal Holiness (Leviticus 17-20)(a) The People of God, Being a God-Governed and Theocratic Nation, are to be a Separated People Their lives are to be characterized by otherworldliness. “ After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances.” “ Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants.” “ (For all these abominations have the men of the land done, which were before you, and the land is defiled;) That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you. For whosoever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commit them shall be cut off from among their people. Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not anyone of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 18:3; Leviticus 18:24-25; Leviticus 18:27-30). The keynote to their conduct shall be “ I the Lord” -a consciousness of the immediate presence of Jehovah-and not the customs of the people around about.

Leviticus 18:6-30

Leviticus 18:6-30(b) The People of God Must Manifest Purity in All the Various Relationships of Life (Leviticus 18:6-30) First. In the marriage relationship (Leviticus 18:6-18). This is put first because it is the most sacred institution among men and is vital to the welfare and moral integrity of society. The marriage relationship is the backbone of all morality. Marriage is not so much a civil as a divine institution. It therefore should not be lightly spoken of, nor treated irreverently. It is also a figure of Christ and His Church (cf. Ephesians 5:24-28). Second. Purity must be manifest in the personal habits of individual life (Leviticus 18:19-23; Leviticus 18:29-30). The body, as well as the soul, is to be holy, for it is the temple of the Holy Ghost. Nothing that defiles the body should receive recognition in the experience of the man who would be devoted to God (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 6:18-20). Third. Purity must be manifested in the national life (Leviticus 18:24-28). A man’ s sin reaches beyond himself. The solidarity of the race is a fact. The sin of Achan (Joshua 7:1-26) involved a nation in guilt. What a weight of meaning there is in the words of Jesus, “ For their sakes I sanctify myself” (John 17:19). Eight times is it said of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that “ he made Israel to sin.” The sins of the nation referred to in these chapters defiled the land so that it stank. Sin, like leprosy, defiles the individual, the walls of the house, and the nation. It is doubtless for this reason that God punishes nations for their sins, just as He punished the Amorites (Genesis 15:1-21; Genesis 16:1-16). Fourth. The holiness of the sanctuary is insisted upon. No place is so holy but what sin may defile it. Satan took Jesus up into the holy city and into the holiest place in that city, namely, the temple of God, and there presented to Him the temptation recorded in the Gospels. Even heaven itself has been affected in some way by sin. Hence the necessity of Christ cleansing the heavenly things with blood (cf. Hebrews 9:22-24).