Introduction

One sure way to start an argument is to introduce a very controversial topic into the conversation. One such topic is that of capital punishment. Since capital punishment is the central theme of Leviticus chapter 20, it may appear that we are approaching a very sensitive subject. Actually, I do not believe that our text has very much to say regarding the contemporary debate over capital punishment. In fact, I want to settle this issue before we even begin to study our text. I do not think that Leviticus chapter 20 was recorded to convince 20th century Christians of the need for capital punishment any more than I believe that the primary purpose of Genesis 1 and 2 is to refute the relatively recent theory of evolution.

It should be clear at the outset that the Old Testament in general, and our text in particular, requires capital punishment in a number of instances. The issue, however, is whether or not the capital punishment of Leviticus can be viewed as timeless and universal, so that what God commanded Israel to observe is also binding on those who lived in later dispensations. Some would dogmatically maintain that Old Testament texts such as ours do make capital punishment a mandate. Let us beware in being too dogmatic on the basis of our text, however, since it “proves” far more than we would wish. Are we willing to insist on capital punishment for every offense which is listed here? We may insist that God’s word requires the life of the murderer, but do we also insist that the one who has sexual relations with his wife during her monthly period also has to die for such a sin?

The New Testament does seem to suggest that even heathen governments have the right to execute criminals. In John 19:11 our Lord implied that Pilate had the legal right to take human life in the form of capital punishment. So, too, the apostle Paul seems to say that government may “bear the sword” so as to be able to pronounce and execute the death sentence (Rom. 13:4). Following the three-fold question which I raised last week (Does the New Testament accept, reject, or revise a particular teaching or command of the Old Testament?), I would say that the New Testament “modifies” the teaching which we find in texts such as Leviticus chapter 20.

The principle issue addressed by Leviticus 20 is not whether or not governments should execute men for their crimes, but whether or not God does so. And if He does, as both the Old and New Testaments demonstrate, then we had best devote our attention to discovering the reasons why He does so. We should identify those reasons so that we can avoid committing any of these “capital crimes.” This will be the principle aim of our study.

The Approach of This Message

Our approach in this lesson will be to begin by making some general, overall observations about chapter 20. Then I will attempt to surface some of the “tensions of the text” which present the contemporary Christian (and the Old Testament saint as well) with some difficulties, but also point the way to the interpretation of the passage. Next I will seek to resolve these tensions or problems by finding an explanation for them in the Old Testament. Finally, looking through the filter of the revelation of the New Testament, we will seek to discover how the principles underlying God’s determination of what constitutes a capital crime apply to your life and mine.

The Context of Leviticus 20

Chapter 20 falls into the broader context of chapters 18-20, which stress the practical outworkings of holiness in the everyday life of the Israelite. Chapter 18 has focused primarily on the family . Chapter 19 approaches holiness from the standpoint of one’s neighbor, and here God requires that His holiness be reflected by His people loving their neighbor. Chapter 20 follows up the teaching of the previous two chapters by prescribing the punishment for the capital crimes forbidden which have been outlined there. The serious nature of the punishment of these crimes serves to strongly underscore the importance of obeying the commands found in these chapters.

Structure of Chapter 20

The structure of the chapter can be seen as outlined below:

• Prohibition: Molech and Mediums (vv. 1-6)
• Exhortation to be holy: Obey God’s Statutes (vv. 7-8)
• Prohibition: Sins against the Family (vv. 9-21)
• Exhortation to holiness: Keep God’s Ordinances (vv. 22-26)
• Prohibition of Mediums: Must be executed (v. 27)

Observations of Leviticus 20

The general tone of the chapter, along with some of the “tensions,” becomes evident in the following observations:

(1) The chapter prescribes capital punishment¹¹⁷ for some of the sins forbidden in chapters 18 & 19.¹¹⁸

(2) There is a co-participation between God and His people Israel in condemning and executing those who are guilty of these capital crimes. Men must cooperate with God in judging the wicked or they become accessories to the crime (vv. 4-5).

(3) Not all capital crimes are listed here, but only selected capital crimes. In particular, those capital crimes are listed which have been forbidden in the immediately preceding context.

(4) The capital crimes mentioned here are not those which we would have expected, those which governments generally condemn, such as “murder,” “kidnapping,” and “rape.”

(5) The capital crimes of this chapter are not those which are universal, applicable in all dispensations, and would thus be directly applicable to or binding upon the 20th Century Christian.

(6) Quite frankly, some of these capital crimes are offenses which we might doubt as worthy of the death penalty. For example, one finds it difficult to conceive of a man having sexual relations with his wife during her monthly period as being a crime on a par with murder, adultery, or incest.

The ‘Tensions of the Text’

These general observations present the thoughtful reader with some perplexing questions, which I call the “tensions of the text.” These are troubling questions which occur to the reader as a result of grasping what is being said in the text. Such tensions are critical to good study and interpretation of the Bible, for I believe they are the means of finding the heart of the issue being taught, or what I call the “punch of the passage.” Let us consider the tensions which the above observations pose for the reader.

(1) Why is it that some seemingly minor offenses are considered capital crimes in Leviticus 20? Why, for example, should one be executed for having sexual relations with his wife, during her monthly period? Today, this is viewed as simply a matter of personal preference and nothing more. Having sex with another man’s wife we can more readily accept as a capital crime, but having sex with one’s own wife at a certain time of the month seems excessively severe.

(2) Why are the capital crimes listed in Leviticus 20 “odd-ball” capital crimes? The offenses listed here are those which, at least to the 20th century reader, seem off-beat and unusual. We would have expected this list of capital crimes to be quite different. Murder, kidnapping, and rape are the kinds of sins which nearly every government condemns and severely punishes. But the sins listed in chapter 20 are not of this type.

(3) The bottom line is this: why does what God calls worthy of death differ from our expectations of what He should have listed?

The solution to our dilemma, to these “tensions in our text,” is to discern those principles on which these particular capital crimes are selected, rather than others. We must, in other words, discern the divine reasoning and rational behind the crimes which are called capital. Here is the key to the correct interpretation of our passage, and the key to understanding its relevance to us.

The ‘Punch of the Passage’

Before attempting to answer the questions raised by our text, we must begin by establishing a fundamental premise: CAPITAL CRIMES REFLECT A GIVEN SYSTEM OF VALUES.

Acts which are called capital crimes are those which are considered most evil, and thus reflect the value system of the one (or ones) making the laws. Since capital punishment is the most serious penalty men can execute, those crimes which are capital crimes are those acts which are viewed as the ultimate evil.

Let me illustrate. In our country, it is possible, even likely, that a man might spend more time in prison for stealing than for murder or rape. This suggests that our society has become materialistic, and that those who take away our goods will be severely punished because we value things so highly.

This can be illustrated in another way. Think of the “crimes” for which our society is willing to put a person to death. While capital punishment for crimes such as murder and kidnapping is widely opposed by many, we will put the elderly to death for the crime of becoming a burden on us, for being a nuisance. The child that is born with a serious defect may be starved to death or have surgery which is necessary to preserve its life withheld so that the parents won’t be burdened with an “inferior” child. And, to cap it all off, we pronounce an infant in the womb worthy of death (and thus let the abortionist kill it) because it interferes with the freedom and pleasure of the parents. Our society has surely turned God’s values upside-down. The innocent are put to death because they violate our autonomy, our freedom, our pleasure. Our values become evident by those whom we sentence to death.

The only conclusion which we can reach from these illustrations is that our society worships money, freedom, and pleasure. These are the gods of 20th century America.

So, too, the capital crimes of Leviticus chapter 20 reflect God’s system of values. If it happens that we are troubled by what God has condemned as worthy of death, then we must recognize that our value system must be “out of sync” with God’s. What, then, are God’s values, which are the basis for His choice of capital crimes?

God’s Values, as Seen in Leviticus 20

There are several principles evident in our text which explain why the crimes listed are capital offenses, worthy of death. Let us consider these principles very carefully.

The first tension raised by our text was the fact that capital punishment seems to be prescribed for offenses which are not all that serious. The solution to this dilemma is to be found in our first principle. PRINCIPLE ONE: GOD VIEWS EVERY SIN AS A CAPITAL CRIME, WORTHY OF DEATH.

Let’s face it, you and I would not have deemed a man worthy of death for having sex with his wife during her monthly period. Our society views this totally as a matter of preference. This offense, which is but a misdemeanor in our minds, was a felony to God, a capital crime, deserving the death penalty. Our problem is solved when we come to view sin as a horrid crime against a holy God. When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, does this seem such a heinous crime that it necessitated not only the death of these two persons, but also the death of all their offspring?

In the midst of our consternation that God would condemn a person to death for what we would call a minor offense, let us not forget that the Bible portrays every sin as worthy of death. The wages of sin, we are told, is death (Rom. 6:23). There is no such thing as a small sin in God’s sight.

Society finds it necessary to categorize evils, and rightly so. It classifies crimes in relation to the harm which is done to society. Stealing a piece of fruit from a grocery store is therefore not viewed as being as socially destructive as killing the grocer would be. Thus, society categorizes sins as felonies and misdemeanors, as being in the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd degree. It fines men for the commission of certain crimes, imprisons men for others, and executes some for still others.

God views sin differently. God looks upon sin not only in terms of the action and its consequences, but also in terms of the attitude which is evidenced. At the bottom line, sin is an act of rebellion against God. It matters little what form our rebellion takes, for any act of rebellion against the sovereign God is worthy of death. Why should we be surprised, then, when God prescribes the death penalty for any sin, even one which we view as minimal? We ought rather to ponder the grace of God in not striking every one of us dead for our endless succession of acts of rebellion against Him.

The fact that all sins are capital crimes has a number of significant implications. Let us consider some of them.

(1) Since all sins are capital sins, worthy of death, all men desperately need to experience God’s provision for sinners—forgiveness through the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ, who died on the cross, bearing the (capital) punishment which we deserve.

We may deceive ourselves into thinking that God will accept us into His heaven because we are less sinful than others, but God views any sin as worthy of the death penalty. Thus, regardless of how society stratifies the sins we commit, God hates all sin and must, in His holiness, punish them. Some seem to find comfort in the fact that Jesus refused to condemn men in His first coming, even refusing to take part in the execution of the woman caught in the very act of adultery (John 8). This is because His first coming was not to condemn men, but to save them: “For God did not send the son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:17-18).

Let us not be lulled into a false sense of security, however, for while Christ’s first coming was not to pronounce God’s sentence on men, His second coming is. A reading of the 19th chapter of the Book of Revelation makes this painfully and dramatically clear. Let us be warned that all sin is worthy of death, that Jesus Christ has borne the death penalty in our place, but all those who reject Him now as Savior will face Him later as judge and executioner. If the ultimate penalty is eternal death—hell—then the ultimate crime is to reject Christ, who came to bear the penalty of sin and to break the power of death. Let us not reject Him who alone saves.

(2) The fact that all sins are capital crimes means that no sinner should feel more righteous than another. There is no room for self-righteousness if God views all sins as capital offenses. The scribes and Pharisees looked down their noses at the “sinners,” who were guilty of those offenses which the religious leaders had considered greater than their own. If we are not guilty of one form of sin, we are surely guilty of another, and seen from God’s point of view, the kind of sin of which we are guilty matters little. Thus, no sinner should feel more righteous than another. As James has put the matter, to be found guilty of offense at one point is to fall short in all points (cf. James 2:1-13, esp. v. 10).

Our second tension of this text concerned the fact that the capital offenses listed in Leviticus were not those commonly defined by society. In other words, the capital crimes of Leviticus were “oddball” crimes, rather than the typical crimes which governments almost universally condemn. This tension is solved by PRINCIPLE TWO: GOD’S LAW REFUSED TO DISTINGUISHES BETWEEN SINS AND CRIMES.

As a rule, governments do not concern themselves with moral matters, sins, but rather with social evils, crimes. As a friend of mine once put it: “There are a lot of crimes which aren’t sins, and there are a lot of sins which aren’t crimes.”

Those acts which God identified as capital crimes in Leviticus chapter 20 could also be called sins, for in the Law of Moses and in the Old Testament order sins were crimes. This is not universally true among nations however. Usually governments distinguish between crimes and sins. Governments don’t bother themselves with sins (that is, those acts which are against God) but with crimes (offenses against men).

The capital crimes listed in Leviticus 20 are those sins which the Canaanites would not have considered crimes at all. Thus, the Israelites would have been especially tempted to do the things penalized by death in our text.

The issue here is the difference between legality, or between crime (that which men declare to be a punishable social evil) and sin (that which God declares to be evil, and thus worthy of death). God is especially emphasizing the punishment for those sins (acts contrary to His law, as given at Mt. Sinai) which were not crimes (according to Egyptian or Canaanite law). God’s people are especially vulnerable to sins which are not crimes, for two reasons. First, the sins which are not crimes are acts which our culture will encourage us to commit. Secondly, the sins which are not crimes do not seem to have immediate (and dire) consequences. And so we are more naturally inclined to follow the speed limit than we are to shun covetousness.

In 1973 the Supreme Court overruled a law which declared abortion to be a crime. Before 1973, some women had abortions anyway, and became guilty of both a sin and a crime. After 1973 however, countless more women have had an abortion, largely because what was once both a sin and a crime is now no longer a crime. When God made certain sins crimes as well, the Israelites were strongly motivated to obey God’s laws and to avoid sin.

This lifestyle which is distinct from that of the surrounding nations is emphasized in chapters 18 and 20:

• Don’t do as Egyptians did or Canaanites do (18:1-5)
• Defilement will lead to expulsion from land (18:24-30)
• General encouragement to obey (20:7-8)
• More specific encouragement, with reference to evils of the land and to being expelled from land for sin (20:22-26)

Usually sins and crimes are not always synonymous. This was not true in Israel’s theocracy, but it is generally true, especially when that government is essentially godless and pagan. In such cases, government too often declares the practice of righteousness to be a crime, as when Darius was deceived into declaring prayer to be unlawful (Daniel 6) or when the Jews declared witnessing in the name of Jesus to be against the law (Acts 5). In such cases, God’s people must be righteous even when it is illegal to do so.

Recognizing the difference between sins and crimes is vital to godly living in America. In past years, America’s laws reflected Christian morality, thus homosexuality was a crime and divorce was not easily obtained. Now, however, we live in a post-Christian day. The fact that professing Christians are now getting divorced almost as often as unbelievers is not to be credited so much to a declining morality as to a changing legality. I am not convinced that Christians of a bygone day stayed together out of obedience to God so much as out of respect for the law.

Today, Christians must wake up to the fact that living a godly life requires much more than being a law-abiding citizen. If the Christian is to be distinct as one who belongs to God—as the Old and New Testaments both require (cf. Matt. 5:43-48; 1 Peter 2, 4), then we must live according to a much higher standard than the laws of our land. At times, we must even violate them, if obedience to God requires it. The American way of life is not a high enough standard for Christians. Let us live higher than the law demands, for avoiding sin requires this. The law can define what is crime, but God defines what is sin.

Our third tension in the text of Leviticus chapter 20 had to do with God’s basis for identifying certain acts as capital crimes. This tension is resolved by PRINCIPLE THREE: THE CAPITAL CRIMES OF LEVITICUS 20 ARE VIOLATIONS OF GOD’S COVENANT WITH ISRAEL.

The crimes in Leviticus for which death is prescribed are all crimes against God’s covenant given Israel from Mt. Sinai. The purpose of the covenant, God continually emphasized, was to set Israel apart from the surrounding nations, to distinguish them by means of holiness, as His people (cf. Exod. 19:5-6). The Mosaic Covenant was the definition of the holiness which God required in order for Him to dwell among this people and for them to be His holy nation. Thus, to violate that covenant was to seek to thwart the purposes of God for His people. The crimes which God punished by death were those against His covenant.

No wonder the sins which God defined as capital crimes were not declared crimes by the Canaanites. These were the very things which the Canaanites practiced and promoted, and for doing so they were thrust out of the land (cf. Lev. 18:1-5, 24-30; 20:22-26).

The crimes which are declared worthy of death in Leviticus 20 are those acts which God called sin previously, and which His covenant clearly prohibited. The reason why any violation of His covenant was a capital offense was that this was God’s expressed will, the basis for His blessing or discipline, the standard for holiness. Whether or not the act appeared to have great social significance, it had great spiritual significance: it would defile the land and God’s sanctuary, thus either causing Him to depart or to drive the nation Israel from the land.

Capital Punishment in the New Testament

Our study of capital punishment in Leviticus inevitably leads us to the New Testament, from which we derive our fourth principle. In the New Testament God is seen to exercise capital punishment on those who disregard His new covenant.

This same principles which we have found in Leviticus chapter 20 are found demonstrated in the New Testament, where God is shown to exercise capital punishment in several instances. When I speak of “capital punishment” here I am referring to direct interventions of God which resulted in the death of individuals. In this sense, God “cut off” these offenders.

Ananias and Sapphira were “cut off” for lying to the Holy Spirit regarding their gift (Acts 5:1-11). The Galatian legalists who perverted the gospel were pronounced “accursed” by the apostle Paul (Gal. 1:6-9). While they were not put to death, they were pronounced worthy of death. The saints in Corinth who inappropriately observed the Lord’s Table suffered sickness and death for their disregard (1 Cor. 11:17-34). So, too, the one who would willfully disregard rebuke and persist in his sin was turned over to Satan, which, apart from repentance, would have led to his death (1 Cor. 5:1-5). In addition, note how strongly Paul reacted to the conduct of Peter when he fell in with the separatism of the Judaizers, based upon the inconsistency of this act with the gospel (Gal. 2).

I contend, therefore, that God looks upon disregard for the New Covenant as an even more serious offense than disregard for the Old. This is precisely the point of the writer to the Hebrews:

For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb. 10:26-31).

If it is a most serious offense—can I say a capital offense—to disregard and disdain the covenant of God, whether the Mosaic or the New Covenant, then what are some of the ways which men are in danger of doing so? Let me conclude by suggesting some very practical dangers.

Twentieth Century Dangers

(1) The danger of rejecting Christ, through whose shed blood the New Covenant has been established. There is one danger which is common to all men, and it is by far the most dangerous. It is the danger of rejecting Christ, who is the means and the mediator of the New Covenant. He died, bearing the penalty of death which we should have borne. If we reject Christ, we have committed the ultimate sin, for which the ultimate penalty—eternal death—is justly appropriate. Do not reject Christ and thus disdain the New Covenant which God has made with men through Him.

(2) Christians disdain and disregard the New Covenant when they persist in sin. This is precisely what the writer to the Hebrews is warning his readers about. Cheap grace sees the shed blood of Christ as a license to sin. Christ died so that men may cease from sin. To persist in sin is, in the words of the biblical text, to “trample underfoot the Son of God,” and to regard “as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified” (Heb. 10:29). The punishment for such disregard is rightly most severe.

(3) Christians disdain and disobey the New Covenant when they refuse to initiate or participate in the discipline of a wayward saint. As I understand the matter, church discipline is the New Testament counterpart to Old Testament capital punishment. In this case, the Christian initiates discipline by rebuking the guilty party. If, after carrying out the entire process of rebuke (cf. Matt. 18; Gal. 6; 1 Cor. 5) the sinning saint refuses to repent, then the church must “cut off” fellowship. Unless repentance results, the process may well end in the death of the individual, in Paul’s words, “the destruction of his flesh” (1 Cor. 5:5). The sinning saint does not lose his salvation (“that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus,” (1 Cor. 5:5), but he may well lose his life. Just as the Old Testament Israelite disregarded God’s covenant by failing to take action against the sinner (Lev. 20:4-5), so the New Testament saint does likewise when he or she refuses to exercise church discipline.

(4) We disregard God’s covenant when we disdain or disregard the New Testament “sign of the covenant”—the Lord’s Table (cf. Luke 22:14-23; 1 Cor. 11:23-26). The sign of the Old Covenant was the keeping of the Sabbath. The violation of this observance was penalized by death. I am amazed at how easily Christians find it acceptable to fail to observe the Lord’s Table, the sign of the New Covenant. How can we honor the covenant without observing the sign of the covenant? How can a man love his wife and have no desire to enter into sexual union (the sign of his covenant) with her? We disregard the New Covenant by abstaining from a remembrance of the Lord’s Table. The immediately preceding context of Hebrews chapter 10 exhorts the Christian not to “forsake our own assembling together” (Heb. 10:25).

Furthermore, we disregard the New Covenant when we observe the Lord’s Table in an “unworthy manner.” The 11th chapter of 1 Corinthians tells us that some were sick and some died because of the drunken and disorderly conduct of those who did observe the Lord’s Table, but in an inappropriate way.

(5) We disregard the New Covenant when we pervert the terms of the covenant—when we distort the gospel. The legalists on the one hand (cf. Gal. 1:6-8) and the libertines on the other (cf. Rom. 6:1; 1 Cor. 8-10; 1 Pet. 2:16; 2 Pet. 2), distort the gospel, thus disdaining the covenant as God has established it. Such are those who are in great danger of divine judgment.

(6) We disregard the New Covenant when we fail to live a life on a higher standard than that of our society. Repeatedly in the Scriptures we find that God expects the Christian to live according to a higher standard than those around them (cf. Lev. 18:1-5, 24-30; 20:22-26; Matt. 5:43-48; 1 Pet. 2:11-25; 4). We must live distinct lives to be “salt” and “light” in our world, and may very well suffer persecution for so doing (Matt. 5:10-16; cf. 1 Pet. 4).

We disregard the New Covenant when we refuse to mortify (“put to death”) the flesh. God has, in Christ, condemned sin in the flesh. We are to mortify our members, to put sin to death in our lives. This is the outcome of the work of Christ, and of walking in His Spirit (cf. Rom. 6-8). To fail to mortify the flesh is to chose to follow Satan and to pursue sin to its logical and ultimate outcome—death (cf. Rom. 8:5-8).

Let us learn to shun those things which God has proclaimed worthy of death, and live in obedience to Him, honoring His covenant with us.

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¹¹⁷ It is not universally agreed that every crime listed in chapter 20 is a capital offense. Some, for example, tend to take the expression ‘to cut off’ (e.g. Lev. 20:5) to mean excommunication or expulsion. Wenham mentions this as a possibility, but nevertheless leans toward the view that it means an early, untimely, death, at the hand of God:

“The law refers a number of times to God cutting off an offender, or the guilty person being cut off from among his people (e.g., Exod. 12:15, 19; Lev. 7:20-21, 25, 27; 17:4, 9, 14; 18:29; 19:8; 20:3, 5-6, 17-18; Numb. 15:30-31). It is a punishment generally reserved for religious and sexual offenses. Since some of these offenses may also attract the death penalty, ‘cutting off’ could conceivably be an alternative way of describing capital punishment (e.g., Lev. 20:6 and 27). However, since cutting off is contrasted with judicial execution in Lev. 20:2ff. (the man who escapes stoning must still face the possibility of being cut off), something different must be meant. For one case of incest Babylonian law demands expulsion from the community, where as biblical law speaks of the guilty man being ‘cut off’ (LH 154; cf. Lev. 20:17-18). It could be argued that ‘cutting off’ means excommunication from the covenant community. But this treatment is reserved for the unclean rather than for criminals (Lev. 13:45-46; Num. 5:1-4). It seems best, therefore, to retain the traditional interpretation of ‘cutting off’: it is a threat of direct punishment by God usually in the form of premature death. Insofar as many of the offenses punishable by ‘cutting off’ would easily escape human detection, a threat of divine judgment would have been the main deterrent to committing them.” Gordon J. Wenham, The Book of Leviticus (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979), pp. 285-286

It might be argued that the expressions “they shall bear their guilt” (Lev. 20:19) and “they shall be childless” (20:21) may refer to something less than the death penalty. The context militates against this. For example, it is clearly stated that a man who marries a woman and her mother are to be “burned with fire” (v. 14), so the man who commits adultery and uncovers his brother’s nakedness by taking his brother’s wife surely must die also, even though the text says “they shall be childless” (v. 21). From verse 20, it is made clear that to be childless is to die childless.

¹¹⁸ “Most of the subjects dealt with in this chapter have already been discussed earlier in chs. 18 and 19 (cf. 20:2-5//18:21; 20:6,27//19:31; 20:9//19:3; 20:10-21//18:6-20, 22-23). The exhortations to holiness (vv. 7-8, 22-26) are similar to those found in 11:44-45; 18:2-5, 24-30; 19:36-37.” Wenham, p. 277.

Introduction¹²¹

“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord’s appointed times which you shall proclaim as holy convocations—My appointed times are these:’” (Leviticus 23:2).

The Lord’s appointed times are festivals and holy days that commemorate significant times and events in Israel’s history. I had the unique privilege of attending Beth Hallel, a Messianic Jewish congregation, from 1988 through 1994. During these six years I joined with my Messianic Jewish friends in celebrating these holidays. They were a rich experience. In the fall of 1992, I was teaching through the Book of Revelation. As I heard the shofars blowing in the synagogue, I began thinking of the seven trumpet judgments. I asked myself what the association might be between these shofars and the trumpets in Revelation. This paper, in part, is what I discovered.

How do you learn best? Do you prefer to hear a lecture or read a book? Do you get more out of a documentary movie or studying the printed page? Can you learn about something abstractly, or do you need hands-on experience? As with many other things, the Lord has given each of us different learning styles. Therefore, it should not surprise us that the Lord communicates His truth in diverse ways. This is, at its core, what Leviticus 23 and related scriptures have to tell us. We not only have His written word, but we have commemorative holy days to transmit truth to the young and the old, the literate and the illiterate alike. The holy days tell and show the great truths of God’s salvation, His love, and His plans. They contain things to hear, see, taste, build, and do, and they appeal to everybody. They are “holy days,” but that really means that they are holidays.

The celebrations are fun, mostly, but they also teach us about eternal things. From a New Testament perspective, these holidays take on a meaning much richer than the Old Testament saints could have dreamed of. As Paul wrote to the Colossian church:

Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ (Colossians 2:16-17).

These holidays look back, in time, to miracles that God performed for the world and for the Israelites. They also look forward, in time, to the work of Jesus Christ. Occurring during the spring and fall harvests, they speak of God’s continuous provisions. Together they promise God’s eternal care for His people.

This paper tells the story of these events on three levels. The first level discusses how the holidays have been celebrated through the centuries. The second level discusses the sensory elements and how they teach the truth in non-verbal ways. The third level discusses how Jesus Christ fulfilled or will fulfill the substance of each celebration.

The Jewish Calendar

Having invited you to the fun, I must ask you to pause to consider the calendar through which these celebrations flow. This is because the Jewish Calendar is very different from ours. There is no January or February to be found. Instead, the Bible refers to “the first month,” “the seventh month,” or names like Abib and Ethanim. There is no quick way to say that, for a particular year, the 15^th of Abib occurs on the 6^th of April. Also, most of you know that October is in the fall, but do you know what season Ethanim occupies? Do you know that the Bible has another name for the month of Abib? I hope that you find this section useful for this and other studies that you do.

As I have already stated, the Lord’s “appointed times” occur through the year. The Jews, because they celebrate them every year, can and do anticipate each one in its season. They are a part of their culture. A Jew knows that the Feast of Tabernacles occurs in the fall as readily as we know that Easter occurs in the spring. The placement of these festivals through the year has prophetic significance. To be specific, Jesus’ death and resurrection are the substance of the spring holidays. His return and the establishment of His kingdom are the substance of the fall holidays. In between, there is the summer season of church history.

Our calendar, known officially as the Gregorian Calendar, is based on the relative motion of the sun through the heavens. For this reason, it is sometimes called a solar calendar. It takes 365.2524 days to complete the year. To keep the start of spring from shifting into February and then January, we insert a leap day every four years. This keeps the calendar and the seasons together. Consequently, the vernal and autumnal equinoxes always occur in March and September respectively.¹²²

The Jewish Calendar, however, is based on the relative motion of both the moon and the sun. It is, therefore, called a luni-solar calendar. Since it is based on the moon, the first of every month coincides with a new moon and the fifteenth of every month coincides with a full moon. In other words, each month is defined by the phases of the moon. The Jewish Calendar keeps the months and their respective seasons together by the insertion of leap months. This means that most years have twelve months, but some have thirteen. The whole system has a nineteen-year cycle. It is more accurate than our solar calendar, but it’s more difficult to follow. The Jewish calendar does not mark the first day of spring, summer, fall, or winter. The primary markers in the Jewish Calendar are the holidays.

The modern Jewish Calendar has its secular and religious forms. The secular calendar begins with the month of Ethanim. The religious calendar begins with the month of Abib. The Bible consistently uses the religious form; i.e., the first month is always Abib. Ethanim and Abib are ancient Canaanite names for the first and seventh months respectively. However, beginning with the Babylonian exile, the Jews began using the Babylonian names for the months. Consequently, the post-exilic Biblical authors, Nehemiah and the author of Esther, used the Babylonian names. Today’s Jewish Calendar also uses the Babylonian names.

The following table presents these essential ideas:

Religious Month	Canaanite Name	Babylonian Name	Gregorian Placement	Leviticus 23 Holiday
First	Abib	Nisan	March or April	Passover; Feast of Unleavened Bread; Wave Offering of First Fruits
Second	Ziv	Iyyar	April or May
Third		Sivan123	May or June	Pentecost
Fourth		Tammuz	June or July
Fifth		Ab	July or August
Sixth		Elul	August or September
Seventh	Ethanim	Tishri	September or October	Trumpets; Day of Atonement; Feast of Tabernacles
Eighth	Bul	Cheshvan	October or November
Ninth		Chislev	November or December
Tenth		Tebeth	December or January
Eleventh		Shebat	January or February
Twelfth		Adar	February or March
Thirteenth		Adar II	March	This is the leap month

Although these technical details may sound dry, they have important implications in certain passages of scripture. For example, Passover begins on the fourteenth day of the month of Abib. Since the months, in the Jewish Calendar, follow the phases of the moon, we know that this must be a full moon. The darkness that fell over the earth when Jesus was crucified could not, therefore, have been an eclipse of the sun. It had to be, therefore, of supernatural origin.

The important thing for us to note for this study of Leviticus 23 is that the first month, Abib, occurs sometime during March or April and the seventh month, Ethanim, occurs sometime during September or October. To get back to the study at hand, Leviticus 23 tells us first about a weekly celebration, the Sabbath. It then describes several spring celebrations (Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Wave Offering of First Fruits, and Pentecost). It then moves on to describe several fall celebrations (Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles).

The Weekly Holy Day

Sabbath (Shabbat¹²⁴)

“For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwellings” (Leviticus 23:3).

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made (Genesis 2:1-3).

Sabbath means “rest.” The Sabbath celebration, spoken of in Leviticus 23, has its roots in the very creation of the world. God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. That is, he separated it from the others in kind and character. He made it holy. Because He rested after six days of labor, He enjoins His people to do likewise. Thus, the Sabbath becomes a weekly reminder that God is the creator of all things. Whenever I read of God resting on the seventh day, I imagine Him reflecting on and enjoying the work that He had done. Obviously, this is an anthropomorphic sentiment, but it helps me understand the intended purpose of this day. As it was for God, so it can be for our children and for us. It is a day of rest from the fast pace of the week. It is a day to reflect on God and His creation. It is a day to reflect on the week’s activities. It is a day to worship and express thanks. It is a day to do good to our neighbors.

The Jewish Sabbath liturgy invokes images of not only the creation, but also the moment by moment sustaining of it by God’s almighty hand. As Colossians says, “in Him all things hold together.”

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who at your word brings on the evening twilight, with wisdom opens the gates of the heavens, and with understanding changes time and varies the seasons, and arranges the stars in their watches in the sky, according to your will. You create day and night; you roll away the light from before the darkness, and the darkness from before the light; you make the day to pass and the night to approach, and divide the day from the night. The Lord of hosts is your name; a God living and enduring continually. May you reign over us for ever and ever. Blessed are you, O Lord, who brings on the evening twilight.¹²⁵

Common Christian culture, until recent times, observed Sunday as a special day. It, too, was to be different from other days. Given the Sabbath’s roots in the creation rather than the Law, this seems appropriate. The day of rest was always intended to bless mankind, and, according to Isaiah, the Sabbath will continue, for all mankind, into the New Heavens and the New Earth:

Isaiah 66:22-23 “For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before Me,” declares the Lord, “So your offspring and your name will endure. And it shall be from new moon to new moon and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all mankind will come to bow down before Me,” says the Lord.

For Christians, the Sabbath also speaks of our future rest in the Lord:

Hebrews 4:9-11 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.

What continues to wreck the concept of Sabbath is legalism. Time and again it infiltrates the practice of a weekly rest and turns it into dull affair. God set aside a day for us to rest, to enjoy Him and His creation, and to do good deeds to others. Without such an appointed time, we would work seven days a week 365 days a year. If we did not set aside the time, we could let our relationship with God slip away. Unfortunately, the legalists cannot be comfortable until “work” is defined in detail. By the time they are done, the blessing and joy are gone. The day starts to speak of the sternness of God, rather than His loving-kindness. It loses sight of its roots in creation, rest, and fellowship with God. Instead, it becomes one more illustration of His awesome commands and our responsibility to obey them at all costs. It was true in Jesus’ day and it has often been true in Church practice. I am reminded of the story told by Laura Ingalls Wilder in her series Little House on the Prairie.

When Grandpa was a little boy, Laura, Sunday did not begin on Sunday morning, as it does now. It began at sundown on Saturday night.¹²⁶ Then everyone stopped every kind of work or play.

Supper was solemn. After supper, Grandpa’s father read aloud a chapter of the Bible, while everyone sat straight and still in his chair. Then they all knelt down, and their father said a long prayer. When he said, ‘Amen.’ They got up from their knees and each took a candle and went to bed. They must go straight to bed, with no playing, laughing or even talking.

Sunday morning they ate a cold breakfast, because nothing could be cooked on Sunday. Then they all dressed in their best clothes and walked to church. They walked, because hitching up the horses was work, and no work could be done on Sunday.

They must walk slowly and solemnly looking straight ahead. They must not joke or laugh, or even smile. Grandpa and his two brothers walked ahead, and their father and mother walked behind them.

In church, Grandpa and his brothers must sit perfectly still for two long hours and listen to the sermon. They dared not fidget on the hard bench. They dared not swing their feet. They dared not even turn their heads to look at the windows or the walls or the ceiling of the church. They must sit perfectly motionless and never for one instant take their eyes from the preacher.

When church was over, they walked slowly home. They might talk on the way, but they must not talk loudly and they must never laugh or smile. At home they ate a cold dinner, which had been cooked the day before. Then all the long afternoon they must sit in a row on a bench and study their catechism, until at last the sun went down and Sunday was over.¹²⁷

This same attitude was present in Jesus’ day. A distorted view of the Sabbath, held firmly by the Jewish leadership, inhibited them from recognizing Him as the Messiah. Sabbath controversies occupy all four of the gospels. In each, the controversy hinges on Jesus’ practice of healing on the Sabbath. To the Jewish leadership, healing was work and should not take place on the Sabbath. Besides, the joy expressed by those Jesus healed “disrupted” the sanctity of the Sabbath. Then, as in Laura’s day, the observance of the Sabbath was strictly constrained by tradition. Jesus’ comments about the Sabbath speak more of blessing and service than cold soup.

“But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what this means, ‘I DESIRE COMPASSION, AND NOT A SACRIFICE,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:6-8).

“How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:12).

Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27).

But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him? And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?” (Luke 13:14-16).

So, it is okay to show compassion on the Sabbath rather than rest. It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Even those who accused Jesus of breaking the Sabbath attended to the comfort of their own animals on that day. They just could not extend the concept to people. At creation, God rested and enjoyed the work of His hands. He gave mankind a day for rest and fellowship. He gave mankind a day when it was possible to do good deeds, because during the rest of the week finding the time to do such things is harder. It should reflect love and joy. It should take on the characteristics of a holiday.

To close this section, I want to relate the story of someone whose life showed a balanced concept of the Sabbath for the Christian. That man was Eric Liddel. The movie, Chariots of Fire, told the story about his giving up an Olympic medal opportunity, because a qualifying heat, for his race, was to be run on Sunday. At that time, Eric Liddel rightly chose God’s glory over his own. Less known is an incident that occurred shortly before he died, of a brain tumor, in a Japanese internment camp during WWII. The camp conditions were crowded and the young children were constantly at loose ends. There simply was nothing to do. Eric Liddel organized soccer games for the young people. Guess what? They played on Sunday! Perhaps he had a change of theology, but I think that he found the balance between two scriptures. The first, Isaiah 58:13, tells us to “turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day.” The second, Matthew 12:12, says, “It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

The Spring Holy Days

Passover (Pesach)

“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight is the Lord’s Passover” (Leviticus 23:5).

Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for each household. Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb. Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it at twilight. Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with its entrails. And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is the Lord’s Passover. For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Now this day will be a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a permanent ordinance’” (Exodus 12:1-14).

The first month is Abib. In Hebrew, “abib” means green. It suggests the singular expression of spring: the re-greening, or re-birth, of the earth. For Israel, Passover means their birth as a nation. For this reason, although Leviticus gives only a few words to this holy day, Passover is the king of them all. It is by reason of Passover that Abib marks the beginning of the sacred Jewish Calendar. As the Lord told Moses, “This month … is to be the first month of the year to you.” This is fitting, because Passover marks the beginning of the nation of Israel. When Moses commanded the congregation of Israel concerning this first Passover, they were still the slaves of the Egyptians. The day following this Passover meal, they were free.

The story’s elements are familiar: The Lord’s call to Moses from out of the burning bush; Moses before Pharaoh crying, “Let my people go”; the ten plagues; and the parting of the sea. Passover is the holiday for remembering these things. The Jewish celebration combines sights, words, songs, and tastes to communicate the story. The telling of the story surrounds a festive meal and contains these basic elements:

Four Cups of Wine

Although not mentioned in Exodus 12, the Passover in modern times and the time of Jesus included drinking four cups of wine. These cups stand for the four-fold deliverance spoken by God in Exodus.

“Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians’” (Exodus 6:6, 7).

The first cup speaks of our “being brought out.” The second speaks of our “deliverance from bondage.” The third speaks of our “redemption.” The fourth speaks of our “belonging.” The Gospel of Luke records the use of the first and third cups during the Last Supper:

And He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I shall never again eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He said, “Take this and share it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.” And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood (Luke 22:15-20).

I understand this as meaning that Jesus did not inaugurate something new when He established communion, but rather identified and extended an existing tradition to communicate truth about Himself. The cup immediately after the meal was the “cup of redemption.” To Jesus and to us, it symbolizes the new covenant and our redemption, by His blood, from slavery to sin.

Unleavened Bread

In the Exodus story, there was no time to let the bread rise before the Israelites had to leave Egypt. Unleavened bread represents the speed of their salvation. It also speaks of sinlessness. I will have more to say about this in the next section, which is about the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

One interesting practice during the Passover celebration is the breaking of one of three pieces of unleavened bread. The first half is used immediately, but the second is wrapped in a cloth and hidden until after the meal. This is the bread that Jesus broke during the Last Supper. It speaks of His sinless perfection. The second piece wrapped, hidden, and resurrected speaks of Jesus death, burial, and resurrection.

Bitter Herbs

Tasting the bitter herbs, i.e. horseradish, is an experience to bring tears to the eyes and a dramatic reminder of the bitterness of slavery. It was eaten on the broken unleavened bread, so it can also speak of the bitter tears of Jesus in Gethsemane and the bitterness of His coming death for mankind’s sin.

Lamb

Since the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 AD, the Jews do not eat roasted lamb during Passover. Instead they commemorate the lamb with the roasted shank-bone of a lamb. The lamb represents protection against the last plague that befell the Egyptians. It seems that the Angel of Death would also have slain the first born of the Israelites, were it not for the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts. On seeing the blood, the Angel of Death passed over the house. From this the celebration gets its name.

Other Things

There are other elements in the Passover celebration. There is a mixture of apples, wine, nuts, and honey called “Charoseth.” The apples are grated and left exposed to turn brown. Consequently the mixture looks a little bit like the mud the Israelites used to make bricks.

There is some green vegetable like parsley or celery to speak of spring and hope. There is salt water to represent tears. There are 10 drops of wine dripped from the second cup to represent the 10 plagues on the Egyptians. The 10 drops lower the volume of wine in the cups and indicate that the suffering of the Egyptians reduces our joy.

Multi-Sensory Learning

Sweet, bitter, and salty tastes for the mouth; dripped wine; broken bread; and so forth are devices to teach the deliverance of God in a unique way. As I said before, it appeals to all ages.

Jesus and Passover

During the Last Supper, Jesus appropriated elements of the Jewish Passover. That is, He endowed them with new meaning, and that meaning was tied to Himself. Instead of having meaning restricted to God’s past redemption, these elements now symbolize the redemption of Jesus Christ as the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” by His death at Calvary. At Passover, the Old and New Covenants meet. He is the lamb without defect. He is the broken bread. He is the cup of Redemption. As He said in Luke, He will not partake of Passover again, until He can share it with us in the coming Kingdom. The hand of God delivered from slavery in the past. On the cross, He delivered us from slavery to sin.

The early church clearly identified Jesus with Passover. Paul says,

Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our Passover also has been sacrificed. Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth (1 Corinthians 5:6-8).

Leaven represents sin. Allowing sin in our lives and the church has a corrupting influence. But we are unleavened, because Christ our Passover has been sacrificed. Thus we see that Jesus completes the promise of Passover.

Note the suggestion in Paul’s words, “Let us celebrate the feast.” This implies that the early Christians celebrated Passover for some time. Some would argue that Paul is simply referring to Communion. That ignores Paul’s Jewish upbringing. Does not Exodus 12:14 call Passover “a feast?” Why would Paul use the term “feast” and intend an ambiguous reading of it? Along these lines note also Acts 20:6, “We sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread.” The least that can be said is that the early church marked a Jewish Calendar. In any case, the observance of Passover is today growing among the churches. This is a good thing. It is a celebration of the salvation of God from slavery in Egypt and slavery to sin. To the young ones in our families, it provides an opportunity to present the gospel to our children at a very early age.

Feast of Unleavened Bread

“Then on the fifteenth day of the same month there is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work. But for seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any laborious work” (Leviticus 23:6-8).

“Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person, that alone may be prepared by you. You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an alien or a native of the land. You shall not eat anything leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread” (Exodus 12:15-20).

“You shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ And it shall serve as a sign to you on your hand, and as a reminder on your forehead, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth; for with a powerful hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt” (Exodus 13:8, 9).

The Feast of Unleavened Bread is an extension of Passover. The celebration is simple. Before it begins, you pass through your entire house to clear out all leavening agents and foods made with leaven. Leavening agents are things like yeast, baking powder, baking soda, and sour dough. Leaven makes bread and rolls rise and become soft and fluffy.

For centuries the Jews have made a special event in the evening of this day. Crumbs of bread and other things are planted throughout the house. In the evening, the father leads the children through the house with a feather and dish to search for the last traces of leaven. When they find them, the father swishes them into the dish with the feather. After all remaining traces are swept away, they are taken outside and burned.

For the next seven days, all food is unleavened, but the recipes are incredibly creative. Whipped egg whites can add sponginess to cake recipes. Unleavened flour is made into “matzo balls” and used in soups. Nevertheless, for seven days the diet reminds the household and the children that God delivered the Israelites from slavery.

Unleavened bread relates two aspects of God’s deliverance. The first is the simple fact that the Israelites left Egypt in such a hurry that they did not have time to let their bread rise. The second is that the first several days saw them hurrying away, so that there still was not enough time to let bread rise. There would be no safety until there was enough distance between them and those who would come after them. Then they came to the Red Sea. In this sense the Feast of Unleavened Bread marks the very first stage of the journey. It was a time of hurry and danger, and then the trap.

We know, of course, that the Lord parted the Red Sea so that the Israelites could cross over. When Pharaoh’s armies followed, the sea came together again and destroyed them. This celebration is an effective reminder of God’s faithfulness. Exodus 13:8 says, “You shall tell you son on that day …” The Bible anticipates that children will ask what the change of diet is about. When they do, you can tell them the whole story. Besides, young children get to pretend what it must have been like, at least as far as food goes, to live during those first days after leaving Egypt.

Given that leaven also symbolizes sin, this feast is an object lesson in righteousness. As the family cleans the house and searches for all leaven, they play out the process of sanctification. It is a reminder of God’s righteousness. For those of us who are Christians, this Feast of Unleavened Bread reminds us of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit as He searches out and frees us from the sin that inhabits our house. As Psalm 139 says,

Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way (Psalm 139:23-24).

Wave Offering of First Fruits

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the Lord for you to be accepted; on the day after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. Now on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb one year old without defect for a burnt offering to the Lord. Its grain offering shall then be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering by fire to the Lord for a soothing aroma, with its drink offering, a fourth of a hin of wine. Until this same day, until you have brought in the offering of your God, you shall eat neither bread nor roasted grain nor new growth. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places’” (Leviticus 23:9-14).

One of the days during the Feast of Unleavened Bread will be a Sabbath. The day following this Sabbath is the celebration of First Fruits¹²⁸. On this day, the first sheaf of harvested barley is brought to the Lord and waved before Him. The grain is then left for the priest and for the poor. This is an act of thanksgiving for the Lord’s provision and bounty. No one is to eat from the new harvest until the wave offering is made.

There is no direct Jewish Celebration of this today. However, given its placement between Passover and Pentecost and its emphasis on the Lord’s provision, I see it as a reminder of the manna in the desert, which began shortly after the crossing of the Red Sea.

In terms of Christianity, it is worth noting that the resurrection of Jesus Christ occurred the day following the Sabbath. His resurrection corresponds to this wave offering. He is, Himself, a first fruits offering. As Paul says,

But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death (1 Corinthians 15:20-26).

Jesus’ resurrection is the assurance of our resurrection. It is the promise that we will not see eternal death, but share in eternal life. When He rose from the dead, we became able to share in the new harvest, which I believe is the Holy Spirit.

First Fruits is such a simple holiday, and, yet, it has such significant meaning to us in the Church. Passover is our redemption, Unleavened Bread is our sanctification, First Fruits is our promise of eternal life and resurrection.

I have a personal First Fruits story to tell. I have for years looked upon the Old Testament as containing principles of righteousness living. This is not to be confused with legalism. It should rather be viewed as an attempt to view the Law as Paul did (see 1 Corinthians 9:9, 1 Timothy 5:18, and 1 Timothy 1:8). Anyway, I began meditating about the First Fruits offering and how someone who is not a farmer might participate. In my heart, I committed to a special practice to celebrate the event whenever I got a raise. The gross net increase of the first paycheck containing the raise would be a First Fruits offering to the Lord. This was not to gain approval or special status. It was simply to say thanks and acknowledge that He provides for me every day.

Following this heart commitment, not a month went by before my manager at IBM came to me and said, “I am giving you a raise. It is early and out of grid.” The translation of these words are, “IBM policy says it’s too early to give you a raise, but I am giving you one anyway. IBM says that your next raise should not be more than such-and-such, but I am giving you more than that.” At the time this occurred, my wife and I had custody of my three nieces. IBM benefits did not cover them. My manager had worked out the raise to help our situation.

Pentecost (Shavuot)

‘You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete Sabbaths¹²⁹. You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the Lord. You shall bring in from your dwelling places two loaves of bread for a wave offering made of two-tenths of an ephah; they shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as first fruits to the Lord. Along with the bread you shall present seven one year old male lambs without defect, and a bull of the herd and two rams; they are to be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord. You shall also offer one male goat for a sin offering and two male lambs one-year-old for a sacrifice of peace offerings. The priest shall then wave them with the bread of the first fruits for a wave offering with two lambs before the Lord; they are to be holy to the Lord for the priest. On this same day you shall make a proclamation as well; you are to have a holy convocation. You shall do no laborious work. It is to be a perpetual statute in all your dwelling places throughout your generations. When you reap the harvest of your land, moreover, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field nor gather the gleaning of your harvest; you are to leave them for the needy and the alien. I am the Lord your God’ (Leviticus 23:15-22).

In the third month after the sons of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. When they set out from Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness; and there Israel camped in front of the mountain (Exodus 19:1, 2).

Pentecost gets its name from the counting of fifty days from the Sabbath following Passover. This places the holiday in the third month (Sivan) of the Jewish Calendar. It coincides with the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai, which is what the holiday celebrates. The most unique aspect of this celebration in the temple was the waving of two leavened loaves of bread before the Lord. This was the only leavened offering made in the temple! These loaves, like the earlier wave offering, are also declared to be a First Fruits offering. Perhaps the loaves were to look like the two tablets of the Law.

The Jewish celebration of Pentecost often begins by staying up all night to read Torah. They emphasize the Ten Commandments. In this way they remember the events that took place at Mount Sinai. Also, because of its association with the spring harvest, the Jews will read the Book of Ruth. And because Mount Sinai also looks forward to the time when Israel would enter the “land flowing with milk and honey,” the foods of Pentecost are rich with milk, cream, and honey. This is the season for the cheese blintzes and apples dipped in honey. I should add that the honey also speaks of the sweetness of God’s word.

Pentecost completes the Exodus story. Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread tell of the escape from Egypt. The First Fruits speaks of manna and God’s provision in the desert. Pentecost speaks of the giving of the Law, which is some respects became the Constitution for Israel, the nation.

In Christianity, Pentecost marks the giving of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1). Perhaps Paul was even thinking of the wave offering of the two loaves when he wrote,

For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body (Romans 8:19-23).

Today’s Messianic Jews¹³⁰ have an interesting view of the two leavened loaves of bread offered in the temple during Pentecost. Since leaven is a symbol for sin, why is this offering different from all other grain offerings by specifying the inclusion of leaven? It is this: Because of the atonement brought about by Jesus, the Holy Spirit can indwell us and we are able to “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace.” Though we still contain leaven, we can get help in time of need. They see in the loaves the Jewish and Gentile believers offered before the Lord as first fruits of what is to come. The Church is not complete without the Jews and the Gentiles. I find the argument compelling. To me, it is just one more example of the prophetic core in the appointed times. In this light, the practice of reading Ruth also foreshadowed the unity of the Jewish and Gentile believers.

Jesus and the Spring Holy Days

The flow of Passover, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, and Pentecost mark the timings of two stories of real history. The first story is that of deliverance from slavery in Egypt and the giving of Law. The second story is that of deliverance from slavery to sin and the giving of the Holy Spirit. Two stories with different emphasis and meanings. It should be noted, however, that there is no hint that the older meanings were either discarded or demeaned. In fact, the older meanings are essential to the new meanings. In any case, the following table succinctly shows the relationships:

	Old Covenant (Shadow)	New covenant (Substance)
Passover	Moses the mediator Lamb’s blood Unleavened Bread Wine	Jesus the mediator Messiah’s blood His body His blood
Feast of Unleavened Bread	Removing leaven Redemption from slavery in Egypt	Sanctification Redemption from slavery to sin
Wave Offering of First Fruits	Waving of the sheaf Manna	Jesus’ resurrection Bread of life
Pentecost	Fire on the mountain Giving of the Law Law written on stone Two leavened loaves Birth of a nation	Fire on the believers Giving of the Holy Spirit Law written in the heart Jews and Gentiles Birth of the Church

The Fall Holy Days

Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah; Rosh Hashannah)

Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘In the seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord’” (Leviticus 23:23-25).

Leviticus 23:23 begins with the words “Again the Lord spoke to Moses …” and, therefore, indicates the start of a new section. Following this verse are the commands concerning the holidays of the fall season.

The first of these occurs on the first day of the seventh month of the religious calendar. To the ancient Hebrew authors this was the month of Ethanim. In the modern calendar, the month is called Tishri. The holy day is designated as “a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets.” The phrase “blowing of trumpets” translates the Hebrew word “teruah.” The word is loosely like the English word “fanfare.” Like “fanfare,” “teruah” has an association with the sound of a trumpet, but really means those things for which we might sound a trumpet: to alert, to call to battle, to announce the arrival of a king, etc. In the case of this holiday, the trumpets announce the coming of the holidays to follow. The holidays that follow, therefore, are incredibly important. Perhaps, it is better to say that you did not want to be found unprepared when their day arrived. As the Boy Scouts say, “Be prepared!”

The Jews begin blowing ram’s horns (shofars) in their synagogues in the sixth month (Elul) and continue up to the Day of Atonement. The trumpets remind the people that the Day of Atonement is approaching. It is a time to reflect on the year and the state of your character and your relationship to God. Then, on the first day of the seventh month (Rosh Hashanah), there is a special service that features an elaborate ceremony of trumpet blowing.

The trumpets remind the Jews of at least eight things¹³¹:

1. To prepare for the coming Day of Atonement by examining the life you have lived this past year.

2. To celebrate the creation with God as its King. This is because, according to Jewish tradition, creation began on the first day of the seventh month.

3. To remember that the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai with the loud blast of a shofar (Exodus 19:16-19).

4. To imagine the sound of the heavenly shepherd recalling those who have strayed from Israel’s fold.

5. To rejoice in freedom from slavery. In the past, slaves were freed at the blast of a shofar.

6. To rejoice in restoration. Property was returned at the blast of the shofar at the Jubilee Year (Leviticus 25:9).

7. To remember Abraham’s obedience when he offered his son Isaac. When Abraham sacrificed Isaac, a ram was caught in the thicket by its horns.

8. To look forward to the coming of Messiah’s kingdom, which the blast of the shofar will bring in.

As the spring holy days spoke of the first coming of Messiah, so we can begin to see that the fall holidays speak of His return. This is seen by the consistent imagery of trumpets in the New Testament.

And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other (Matthew 24:31).

… in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed (1 Corinthians 15:52).

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first (1 Thessalonians 4:16).

And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them (Revelation 8:6).

The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts (Revelation 9:20, 21).

The first three verses above have direct correspondence to the final trumpet sounded on the eve of the Day of Atonement. The next two (Revelation 8:6 and 9:20, 21) have clear association with the trumpets announcing the coming of the Day. Like the trumpets that announce the Lord as King over His creation, so trumpets announce the coming of Messiah as King. Like the trumpets that announce the Jubilee Year and freedom to slaves, so trumpets announce the translation of our corruptible flesh into incorruptible new bodies. As the trumpets sounded before the Day of Atonement call the Jews to repentance, so these trumpets call all of mankind to repent before the terrible Day of the Lord. The seven trumpets in Revelation, like the shofars that sound in the synagogues, are a call to the earth to repent. Consequently, we have the significance of Revelation 9:20, 21: The trumpets have sounded and the world has not repented. The Bowl Judgments, containing the Wrath of God, may now be poured on the earth.

In short, the trumpets announce the coming of the King. As such, they call for the people of God to prepare their hearts for His coming. As Jesus has said, He wants to come and find us at our posts. For the lost, the trumpets call for repentance. Failing repentance, the trumpets announce the coming Judgment of God. Consequently, the next holy day will be, for each person, either a Day of Atonement or the Day of Judgment.

Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur)

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “On exactly the tenth day of this seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and present an offering by fire to the Lord. You shall not do any work on this same day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord your God. If there is any person who will not humble himself on this same day, he shall be cut off from his people. As for any person who does any work on this same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. You shall do no work at all. It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest to you, and you shall humble your souls; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening you shall keep your Sabbath” (Leviticus 23:26-32).

“He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting. Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. Then Aaron shall offer the goat on which the lot for the Lord fell, and make it a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as the scapegoat. … for it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the Lord. It is to be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may humble your souls; it is a permanent statute. So the priest who is anointed and ordained to serve as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement: he shall thus put on the linen garments, the holy garments, and make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar. He shall also make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly. Now you shall have this as a permanent statute, to make atonement for the sons of Israel for all their sins once every year.” And just as the Lord had commanded Moses, so he did (Leviticus 16:7-10; 30-34).

The Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, represents the day when the priest puts on special clothes and makes offerings to atone, or cleanse, the holy sanctuary, the temple, and the altar. He then makes atonement for the priests and the people. The day is solemn and serious. It is a day of complete rest and fasting with a goal of humbling the soul. As a holy day, it serves to remind us of the gravity and offense of sin. The eve of the Day of Atonement begins with the blast of a shofar. Afterwards, the shofars are silent until next year.

Yom Kippur begins in the evening of the ninth day of the seventh month. In modern Judaism there is an important liturgical chant sung on this evening. It is called Kol Nidre, which in Hebrew means “All Vows.” It is a rescinding of vows: a cleansing of vows that were made, but remain unfulfilled and un-fulfillable. Kol Nidre originated in seventh century Spain, where Jews were tortured or burned unless they bound themselves, by oath, to cease from Jewish religious expression. Those Jews, whose constitutions could not rise to suffering an excruciating and fearful death, renounced their Judaism. When better days came along, the Kol Nidre was created to absolve them of their rash vows and re-open full fellowship in the community. To me it catches the spirit of Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. It is the full expression of forgiveness to one who forsook the community, but later came to his senses.

If Kol Nidre is the open door to renewed fellowship for the repentant apostate, those who treat the day lightly stand in the path of destruction. As the Lord says, “As for any person who does any work on this same day, that person I will destroy from among his people.” Those who would work on the day when sin is to be confronted, fail to understand the seriousness of sin. It is to say, by my actions, that sin is not a problem for me.

Before the destruction of the temple, the atonement of the people involved two goats. By casting lots the priest chose between the goats. One was chosen for the Lord (hwhyl, l’yhvw) the other was chosen for Azazel (lzazul, l’azazel) (usually translated as scapegoat). The priest transferred the sins of the people onto the scapegoat and then it was driven into the wilderness. The first goat paid the penalty of the people’s sin, the second took the sin away. The ancient Jews considered the two goats to be two halves of a single sacrifice. Therefore, they would select two goats that very closely resembled each other.

The reference to Azazel only appears in Leviticus 16. It appears no where else in the scriptures. Although it is typically translated as “scapegoat,” the actual language suggests a being for which this goat is chosen. As one goat is chosen “for (to) the Lord,” so the other is chosen “for (to) Azazel.” Who or what is Azazel?

There is only one extra-biblical reference to him: the Book of Enoch. It identifies him as one of the angels (as hinted by Genesis 6) who corrupted the earth. An intriguing connection to the Day of Atonement occurs in Enoch chapter 10.

“And again the Lord said to Raphael: ‘Bind Azazel hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness: and make an opening in the desert, which is in Dudael, and cast him therein. And place upon him rough and jagged rocks, and cover him with darkness, and let him abide there forever, and cover his face that he may not see light. And on the day of the great judgment he shall be cast into the fire.’”

How reliable might this reference be? This is a hard question. The Book of Enoch does not have the antiquity it claims, but it is still thousands of years closer to the meaning of Azazel than we have anywhere else. The fact that Jude quotes from it (Jude 14, 15), at least, attests to its cultural pertinence. On the other hand, the Septuagint translation of Azazel, avpopompaiw| (“a carrying away”), is closer to the spirit of a “scapegoat.”

Nevertheless, the Enoch picture is intriguing. The goat “for (to) Azazel” is sent to the domain of Azazel in the wilderness. We have a picture of Israel’s sins taken away and cast into the abyss to await the final judgment.

Although the Day of Atonement is about the payment and removal of the sins of the nation for a year, it also looks forward to the day of Israel’s salvation. Note the thematic connections in the following verses.

BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen (Revelation 1:7).

“I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn” (Zechariah 12:10).

“I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed (Daniel 7:13, 14).

And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other (Matthew 24:30, 31).

For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB. THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS” (Romans 11:25-27).

First, Revelation 1:7 links two Old Testament Messianic prophecies: Zechariah 12:10 and Daniel 7:13, 14. That is, the day the Lord returns is the day that Israel receives “the Spirit of grace and supplication” and finds national salvation. Second, Matthew links these events to the blowing of a great trumpet (or shofar) that begins the Day of Atonement. Third, it is the day to which Paul, in Romans 11:25-27, looked ahead. As the goat chosen for Azazel takes away the sin from Israel, so according to Paul the coming of the Lord will take away the sins of Israel. The meaning of all this is that the future fulfillment of the Day of Atonement is the second coming of Jesus Christ on the earth and the salvation of Israel.

Feast of Tabernacles (Succoth)

Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘On the fifteenth of this seventh month is the Feast of Booths for seven days to the Lord. On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall do no laborious work of any kind. For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the Lord; it is an assembly. You shall do no laborious work. These are the appointed times of the Lord which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, to present offerings by fire to the Lord—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each day’s matter on its own day—besides those of the Sabbaths of the Lord, and besides your gifts and besides all your vows and freewill offerings, which you give to the Lord. On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord for seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day. Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God’” (Leviticus 23:33-43).

Five days after the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Booths (or Tabernacles) begins. The principle element of this celebration is “living in booths” for a week. The actual practice among the Jews consists of building a “hut” in the backyard or on the porch. They make the hut by tying branches together, because it is not to be nailed or constructed in any way that suggests permanence. In fact, the properly made hut will leak. This virtue permits the occupants to see the stars. Although the Jews do not actually live in these things, they will share meals in them and sometimes spend at least one night camping out. I know of a Jewish family that sometimes takes a backpacking trip during this time.

I like to call the Feast of Tabernacles, “The holiday of the manifest presence of God.” Here is why. Leviticus says, “Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that the sons of Israel lived in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt.” The hut lets children pretend to be Israelites in the wilderness. So, what was it like in those days? The twelve tribes had their camps on the north, south, east, and west. In the center stood the tabernacle. Over the tabernacle appeared the manifested presence of the Lord.

The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst? I will smite them with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they.

But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from their midst, and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, O Lord, are in the midst of this people, for You, O Lord, are seen eye to eye, while Your cloud stands over them; and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if You slay this people as one man, then the nations who have heard of Your fame will say, ‘Because the Lord could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared, ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.’ Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”

So the Lord said, “I have pardoned them according to your word; but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord” (Numbers 14:11-21).

What an incredible sight to see everyday. “They have heard that You, O Lord, are in the midst of this people, for You, O Lord, are seen eye to eye, while Your cloud stands over them; and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.” When the Lord wanted them to move, the pillars moved. When the Lord wanted them to stay, the pillars stayed. This is the tale parents can tell their children during the dinner meal in the hut. When the sky gets dark and you can gaze at the stars, the parents can tell their children how the universe manifests the presence of God. It is a good time to read Psalm 19.

The Feast of Tabernacles also looks ahead to the Messianic Kingdom. It looks ahead to the time when the presence of God, through the reign of His son, is as manifest on the earth as it was in the days of the wilderness travels. In fact, according to Zechariah, the Feast of Tabernacles will be an international celebration during the Kingdom.

And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one. … Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them. If the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which the Lord smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths (Zechariah 14:9, 16-19).

It should be clear, by now, how the fall holidays of Leviticus track the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The blowing of trumpets speak of the warnings and shaking on the earth to call all mankind to repent. The Day of Atonement speaks of the day that Jesus will physically return and the day that Israel as a nation will find salvation. The Feast of Tabernacles speaks of the Millennial Kingdom.

	Old Covenant (Shadow)	New Covenant (Substance)
Blowing of Trumpets	Trumpets announce the coming Day of Atonement.	A series of plagues announce the coming Day of the Lord.
Day of Atonement	Annual atonement and removal of sin from Israel.	The return of Jesus Christ and the salvation of Israel.
Feast of Tabernacles	Remembering the wilderness travels with the presence of God in the camp.	The reign of Jesus Christ over the Kingdom of Israel.

Conclusion

Should the Church of Jesus Christ celebrate these things? Four times in Leviticus 23 we are told, “It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places.” Of course, the command is addressed to the Jews. On the other hand, these appointed times testify over and over again about the past and future work of our Lord. Should we not make room for the principal ones like Passover, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles? These speak of three major doctrines of our faith: the Death of Jesus for our sins, His return, and His coming Kingdom. Think how clearly these holidays speak of these truths, because they are free from the secular clamor that surrounds Christmas and Easter. Besides, as I said above, the Feast of Tabernacles appears to be the big international holiday of the Millennial Kingdom.

Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths (Zechariah 14:16).

We can share the Passover meal with family and friends and celebrate Jesus Christ as our Passover Lamb. We can fast for the Day of Atonement to humble ourselves before God and reflect on His return, and pray that we be found at our posts. We can build our huts during the Feast of Tabernacles and look ahead to the coming Kingdom. In this way, our children can begin learning important truths at very early ages, free from the confusing signals of secular culture.

With the tastes of Passover, the waving of the sheaf during First Fruits, the waving of two leaven loaves on Pentecost, the sound of trumpets, the fasting on the Day of Atonement, and the huts of the Feast of Tabernacles, the story of God’s deliverance and salvation is told without words. The events stimulate the questions of the very young and provide mental pictures of sublime concepts. These days speak of past and future deliverance. They are historical and prophetical at the same time. How great is our God who can so engineer time and history to use the same holidays twice!

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¹²¹ This message was preached by Don Curtis ( email) an excellent student of the Scriptures, teacher, and good friend. Don graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1974 with a degree in Philosophy. He has since become a Senior Computer Programmer with the IBM Corporation. For a number of years, Don and his family attended Community Bible Chapel in Richardson, Texas, until his job took him to Atlanta, Georgia. Partly from Bob Deffinbaugh’s influence, biblical studies and teaching have become a passion in his Christian life. Don is currently an elder and teacher at Cobb Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Kennesaw, GA.

¹²² Our calendar is known as the Gregorian Calendar because of the reforms Pope Gregory instituted. In particular, he mandated a 10 day correction in 1582 AD, which meant that October 4^th was followed by October 15^th that year. Since then, the century years, like 1600, 1700, etc., are not leap years unless they are evenly divisible by 400. Thus 1900 is not a leap year, but 2000 is.

¹²³ The Jewish Calendar has preserved the Babylonian names for the months. The Bible records four of the Canaanite names, the other eight Canaanite names are lost. Of the Babylonian names, the Bible only refers to Nisan.

¹²⁴ The title for each section includes the Christian and (Jewish) name for the holiday.

¹²⁵ Hertz, Joseph The Authorized Daily Prayer Book (Revised Edition), Copyright 1948, 1975 Ruth Hecht, Bloch Publishing Company, p. 365.

¹²⁶ This is an interesting historical note that shows the degree to which Christianity, in the past, understood the Biblical notion of time. As Genesis says, “there was evening and there was morning, one day.” The Jews still reckon the days in their calendar as beginning at sundown. This was why, when Jesus was crucified, that it was so important to have the executed criminals dead and off their crosses before sundown.

¹²⁷ Wilder, Laura Ingalls Little House in the Big Woods, Harper Trophy (1971 edition) pp. 87-89

¹²⁸ Although the text in Leviticus 23 does not make this timing explicitly clear, it can be determined implicitly from the calculation for the date of Pentecost in Leviticus 23:15, 16.

¹²⁹ Several Greek manuscripts of Luke 6:1 contain the phrase “sabbatw| deuteroprwtw|” or “second first sabbath.” Most translations, including the NASB and NET bypass the strange phrasing and simply say “a certain Sabbath” or simply “a Sabbath.” From the perspective of Leviticus 23, it would be better to translate Luke 6:1 as “On the Sabbath following the second Passover of Jesus ministry …” To put this another way, the Jews counted Sabbaths following Passover leading to Pentecost. First Sabbath is the first following Passover; Second Sabbath is the second following Passover; and so forth up to the Seventh Sabbath. By saying “second first Sabbath,” Luke, being closer to the Jewish roots of Christianity, is pinpointing the start of the second year of Jesus’ ministry.

¹³⁰ For those who may not be aware of this contemporary move of God, Messianic Jews are Jews who believe that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. They fully affirm salvation by faith alone. What makes them distinct is that they maintain their Jewish identity. Texts that point to the legitimacy of what they are doing include Romans 1:16, Romans 9–11, Acts 21:17-25.

¹³¹ A fuller description can be found in The Authorized Daily Prayer Book by Joseph H. Hertz Copyright 1948, 1975 Ruth Hecht pp. 864, 865

Introduction

When we began our study of the Book of Leviticus (which we never thought would be so extensive), I referred to the book as a “liver and onions” book, one that was good for you, but wasn’t very enjoyable. Well, I’ve changed my mind. This book is “steak and ale,” a real feast. Through the weeks of my study I have grown to love this book. Far from being dull and irrelevant, it is a book which conveys the character and the heart of God. The 25th chapter of Leviticus especially reveals the grace of God and His compassion for the poor and the oppressed. The Sabbath year and the Super-Sabbath, the year of Jubilee, are one of God’s gracious provisions for His people, especially the poor.

It is not just the “spirit” of the chapter which is relevant to the 20th century Christian. The content of the chapter deals with one of the most pressing problems our world is facing—that of the equitable distribution of property among the population of the world. Communism is dead wrong in its theology (atheism—religion is the opiate of the people), in its solutions and methodology (revolution), but it has certainly grasped the fact that the dispossessed peoples of the earth have a great desire to own a portion of land. The peoples of the world care little for the philosophy of communism, but they are very much attracted by its offer of property for those who have none.

It is not just communism, per se, which addresses this problem of the possession of the land. A more religious revolutionary approach is to be found in the “liberation theology”¹⁴⁸ of our day. Indeed, such “theologians” capitalize on biblical books like Exodus and Leviticus to validate their erroneous views.

Furthermore, our study of God’s laws and God’s land will enable us to understand why the Jews feels so strongly about the possession of Palestine. The centuries old struggle between the Arabs and the Jews is essentially one over the possession of the holy land. Some of the reasons for this struggle will become evident in our study.

Finally, the year of Jubilee is one of the beautiful prototypes of the redemption which will be achieved in the person of Jesus Christ, Israel’s Messiah. This great event is described and defined almost entirely in Leviticus chapter 25, with only incidental references being found in Leviticus 27 and Numbers 36:4. If we would understand the concept of Jubilee, we must learn it here.

Overview of the Chapter

The entire chapter deals with the sabbath year and the super-sabbath, the year of Jubilee, which comes every 50th year. The two events are very much inter-related, and are thus both dealt with at the same time. The sabbath year has already been dealt with previously, but from a different perspective.¹⁴⁹ The observance of the sabbath and the super-sabbath as defined here focuses primarily on the land and on the people. Verses 1-34 lay down God’s law pertaining to the land, while verses 35-55 prescribe the application of the sabbath to the people.

The Approach of This Lesson

In this lesson we will direct our attention to the first matter, the laws and the land of God. We will begin by reviewing what has already been written in the Pentateuch, in preparation for the instruction of this chapter. Then we will briefly survey what practices were a part of the observance of the sabbath and the super-sabbath. We will next turn to the application of the legislation of this chapter in the history of Israel. Turning to the New Testament, we will consider the impact of our Lord’s teaching pertaining to Himself and to the land of promise. Finally, we will consider the application of the “laws of the land” by the New Testament church, which includes the 20th Christian as well.

Pentateuchal Preparations for the Laws of the Land

It is my contention that the land of Canaan, the promised land of Israel, was consistently viewed in the Old Testament as the place of God’s presence and of His blessing. This begins at the very outset of divine revelation in the Book of Genesis, chapters 2 and 3. The Garden of Eden was, as it were, a kind of farm—at least an orchard. God placed Adam and Eve there, to keep the garden, and to enjoy its blessings. These blessings included fellowship with God, who came to walk with them in the garden (3:8), and the blessing of everlasting life, the result of eating from the fruit of the tree of life (3:22). To enjoy these blessings, all this couple had to do was to keep one commandment, to refrain from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (2:16-17). When they disobeyed and ate of this fruit, they were expelled from the garden (in general), and kept from eating of the tree of life (in particular, 3:22-24). The parallels between the Garden of Eden and the promised land of Canaan, the land of “milk and honey,” are not difficult to grasp. For now, let us simply observe that the earth was created with a special place for man, where God’s presence and His blessings were available. To enjoy these blessings, man had to obey God’s commands. To be expelled from this place was to be deprived of these blessings.

Abraham came to grasp the fact that the promised land was the place of God’s special blessing too. God called Abram to leave his land and to go to the place He would show him. The Abrahamic Covenant consisted of three particular promises: a land, a seed, and a blessing (cf. Gen. 12:1-3). These three promises were rightly understood to be somehow bound together, inseparable. During Abraham’s life, he built altars and called on the name of the Lord only in the land of promise. At his death, Abraham’s last two recorded acts had to do with the land. In chapter 23, Abraham purchased a family burial site in the land of promise. In chapter 24, Abraham gave solemn instructions to his servant concerning how he was to procure a wife for his son, Isaac. His most stern warning to his servant was that not under any circumstance was he to take Isaac out of the land (24:5-8). Abraham had learned that the blessings of the covenant God had made with him were inseparable from dwelling in the land. Even though his descendants might be removed from this land for a number of years, God would bring them back to it to experience the fulfillment of His promises (cf. 15:13-16).

Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, learned that this land of promise was a very special place, the place of God’s presence and blessing. Because of his deception and deceit, Jacob was forced to flee from the promised land, to live in the very place which Abraham warned his servant not to take Isaac. Nevertheless, God appeared to Jacob before he had left the land of promise:

And he had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it (Gen. 28:12).

In this vision, God reiterated His covenant, which He had made with Abraham and Isaac. He promised to be with Jacob wherever he went, and to bring him, once again, to this land, where He would bless him. Jacob’s response to this dream is very significant: “Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.’ And he was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven’” (Gen. 28:16-17).

Jacob’s dream convinced him that this land was special. It was the dwelling place of God, the place of God’s special blessing. And, more than this, it was the “gate of heaven.” No wonder the land of promise was so important to the Israelite! And no wonder that Joseph, Jacob’s son, would instruct his sons to bury his bones in that promised land, rather than in Egypt (Gen. 50:24-25).

In the Book of Exodus we see this same emphasis being revealed to Moses and the people of Israel. When God called Moses to deliver the Israelites from Egypt He promised, “Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain” (Exod. 3:12).

In Leviticus chapter 26, God promises to bless His people in their land. He will give rains in their season and crops in abundance if they obey His commandments. If they disobey, He will drive them out of their land, and they will experience cursing, not blessing. Being in the land is essential, for it is the place of God’s special blessing.

Later, in the Book of Deuteronomy, the land of promise is referred to as the place of rest:

“You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes; for you have not as yet come to the resting place and the inheritance which the LORD your God is giving you. When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security, then it shall come about that the place in which the LORD your God shall choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you …” (Deut. 12:8-11a).

However, since the people will not obey God, God’s words of warning (cursing) in the last part of Deuteronomy speak of the judgment of God in terms of having no rest, outside of the land of promise:

“Moreover, the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone, which you or your fathers have not known. And among those nations you shall find no rest, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul. So your life shall hang in doubt before you; and you shall be in dread night and day, and shall have no assurance of your life” (Deut. 28:64-66).¹⁵⁰

The story of Ruth is especially interesting in relationship to finding “rest” or God’s blessings in the land of promise. Naomi encouraged both of her daughters-in-law to return to their own land and to their homes (her mother’s house), where they might find “rest” (1:8-9). Ruth declined however, determining to find her rest with Naomi, in her land, and by the hand of her God (1:16-18). This Moabite woman looked for God’s blessing only in the land of promise, with His people.

The Practical Outworkings
of the Sabbath Year and the Super-Sabbath

According to the instructions God gave in Leviticus 25 the observance of the Sabbath year involved several things. First, the land must lie fallow and given its rest (v. 2). The seventh year, crops could not be planted, and those crops which were permanent (e.g. grapes, olive trees) were not to be pruned or cared for as they were the other six years (v. 3). The annual crops would re-seed themselves and thus there would be grain, and the perennial plants would continue to bear fruit. No harvests were allowed during the sabbath year (v. 5). By this, I understand that the crops were not to be harvested for sale. This did not prohibit the people from eating the crops, however. In fact, all the people, especially the poor (and even the animals) could eat in the fields (vv. 6-7). Rather than having the corners of the fields in which to glean, the poor could eat from any portion of the field.

Elsewhere the Israelites were instructed to forgive debts which were owed them and unpaid by their Israelite brethren (Deut. 15:1ff.). Also in Deuteronomy 31 we learn that the sabbath year was to begin at the Feast of Booths (31:10) and that the law was read at this time as well (31:13).

There was a great deal of faith required of the Israelites to follow these commandments pertaining to the sabbath year. After all, letting the fields lie fallow for a whole year seemed like a waste, and put the Israelite in the position of having to trust God for his daily bread. In verses 18-22 of Leviticus 25 God assumed that some would have their doubts about the sabbath year observance, and thus He assured the Israelites of His provision. In addition, let it be kept in mind that in Exodus chapter 16 God instituted the sabbath day observance with regard to the gathering of the manna. For some time, then, the people had been experiencing God’s faithfulness in this matter. God gave the people a small test of faith before He gave a larger one. Israel was thus prepared for what God commanded here.

The super-sabbath was similar to, but not identical with, the sabbath year. The year of Jubilee commenced with the sounding of the ram’s horn on the annual day of atonement¹⁵¹ (on the tenth day of the seventh month). It would seem that the land had to lie fallow for 2 years since the year of Jubilee was the 50th year, following on the heels of the 7th (49th) year. Some have questioned this, suggesting that the sabbath year and the Jubilee were observed simultaneously¹⁵². These discussions are hypothetical and conjectural. The bottom line is that God is able to provide for a one or a two year period.

On the sabbath year the all debts were canceled, but in the year of Jubilee the Israelite who has sold himself to another is released, and the land which has been leased (since it cannot be sold, v. 23) to another is restored to its original owner. Only houses which were in walled cities were exempt, and after a redemption period of one year, it became the permanent possession of its purchaser.

Parenthetically, one can imagine that the aggressive promoter types would have been inclined to buy such houses (in walled cities) since they were one of the few properties which could be accumulated permanently. I think that the “widows houses” which the scribes and Pharisees were accused of devouring (Matt. 23:14), were those houses in walled cities. Where would a widow wish to live out her last days, if not in the security of a walled city? And who would an unscrupulous Pharisee find an easier prey than a helpless widow? The letter of the law was meticulously observed, but the spirit was greatly violated, and thus the stern rebuke of our Lord.

There is an interesting and very obvious contrast between loans which were made to a needy Israelite and the lease of an Israelite’s land, until the year of Jubilee. Loans were to be made without any consideration of how many years were left to repay the loan (Deut. 15:7-11). Leases, however, must be made by calculating the number of years remaining until the Jubilee (Lev. 25:14-16; cf. 26-28). The difference is not so much that between the sabbath year and the year of Jubilee, but between a loan and a lease. One is an act of generosity, which is considered more as a gift than a loan, while the other is a business arrangement, which is therefore very carefully governed so that a fair deal is struck. This is important since people are often taken advantage of in times of dire financial need.

The Purpose of the Sabbath and Super-Sabbath

Several purposes are evident in the commandments given here regarding the observance of the sabbath and super-sabbath.

(1) The sabbath and super-sabbath were a reminder of the fact that God owned the land. There is a folk song that goes something like this, “This land is my land, this land is your land …” This is a song which the Israelite could not sing. God clearly stated that the land was His, and that the Israelites were His tenants (v. 23). The Israelites would need a very practical and pointed demonstration of this from time to time, and the sabbath regulations did this beautifully. Let’s face it, the things we own we attempt to maintain, and we attempt to restrict their use. If the Israelite really owned the land, he would feel obliged to maintain his fields, and he would be inclined to post “No Trespassing” signs, keeping out others, especially strangers. God’s regulations forcefully underscored the fact that the Israelites did not own the land because they were prohibited from maintaining the land for one year out of every seven, and they were also instructed to allow their neighbors to come onto their land and to partake of their crops. The poor and the aliens were included here (cf. vv. 5-6). Those who own something feel free to use it when and how they like. The land could not be used other than in the ways God prescribed. Thus, the sabbath and Jubilee regulations proved the land was God’s.

(2) It made it possible for the people of Israel to become the recipients of divine blessing. Remember that a large part of the blessings which God promised His people consisted of the rain and the crops which God would give His people. To be a recipient of God’s blessing, one must have his own land by which means he will be benefited.

(3) The commands related to the observance of the sabbath and Jubilee years were tests of the Israelite’s faith and obedience, and the basis for God’s blessings or discipline.

(4) The regulations regarding the use of the land were a provision for the poor, providing them with food in times of need and with the possibility of a new beginning.

(5) The “laws of the land” were designed to hinder materialism and to keep in check those who would try to accumulate vast land holdings, at the expense of others. If these land laws were followed, there would be little incentive for one to lease the land of another, since the land would ultimately be returned to its owner, and since the price of the lease was directly tied to the value of its crops. There were no speculation land deals in that day, not if God’s laws were obeyed.

The Practice of the
Sabbath and Super-Sabbath Years in Israel

There are two very different incidents recorded in the Old Testament which show us how these “laws of the land” were either ignored or implemented by God’s people. First we turn to the account of Ahab’s “acquisition” of the vineyard belonging to Naboth, recorded in 1 Kings chapter 21. Ahab was Israel’s king, who had plenty of his own land, but there was this nice little vineyard, very near his palace … When approached by Ahab, Naboth refused to sell, not merely out of stubbornness or possessiveness, but knowing that God had intended the land to remain in the hands of those families and tribes to which it was first given: “The Lord forbid me that I should give you the inheritance of my fathers” (1 Ki. 21:3).

In obedience to the intent and stated purposes of the “laws of the land,” Naboth could not sell his land without disobeying God. What Naboth knew well, Ahab was either ignorant of or it didn’t matter. Ahab was nevertheless ready to give up, but was depressed over his frustrated efforts. Jezebel handled the matter for him in a way that grossly violated the “laws of the land,” but in the pretext of keeping the Mosaic laws. The one way that the king could keep the property of an Israelite was to find him guilty of a capital offense, like blasphemy (which, you will recall, is dealt with in Leviticus chapter 24). A banquet is arranged, Naboth is invited, and two false witnesses are employed to bring the charge of blasphemy against Naboth, who is executed with a hypocritical sense of indignation and divine duty. God was not mocked, however, for Ahab “bought the farm” in more than one sense. His sin cost him his dynasty (cf. 1 Ki. 21:20-22; 22).

The contrast between Ahab and Boaz is a beautiful one. Ahab and Jezebel abused the law, using it as a pretext for doing good (punishing a blasphemer) when it was an instrument for doing evil (taking a man’s property and his children’s inheritance). Naomi was the widow of an Israelite who, due to a famine, had to sell (lease) his property and to move outside the land (Ruth 1:1-5). When Naomi returned to her land, Ruth went with her, seeking rest in Israel from Naomi’s God (1:15-18). Ruth quickly learned about the rights of the poor and went to the fields to glean (2:1ff.). In the providence of God, she happened upon the farm of Boaz, and also providentially God brought Ruth to his attention. Boaz went far beyond the requirement of the “laws of the land” and fed Ruth at his table, looking after her protection and welfare, and providing her with more of his produce than the bare minimum requirements (cf. 2:8-9, 14-16). Here is the law at its best, not viewed as a standard too high to strive for, but as a minimum to be surpassed. The kindly intent of God in giving the “laws of the land” is seen in the practice of this godly man, Boaz.

Beyond these two accounts we have little information concerning the observance of the sabbath and super-sabbath. Roland de Vaux writes, “The sabbatical year is therefore an ancient institution, but it is hard to say how faithfully the Israelites observed it. Positive evidence is rare and late, and comes from periods of national and religious fervour.”¹⁵³

Of the year of Jubilee, de Vaux writes,

There is no evidence that the law was ever in fact applied. … The Law of Jubilee thus appears to set out an ideal of justice and social equality which was never realized. It is difficult to say when it was thought out. … But we must note that nowhere outside the Bible is the fiftieth year marked by a redistribution of the land or a remission of debts and of persons taken as sureties; nor is there any evidence whatever of such a general liberation, at any time whatever.¹⁵⁴

We do now have evidences that, in general, God’s commandments were not kept, thus bringing about the expulsion of God’s people from His promised land and from His blessings. A disregard for the sabbath is seen in the Book of Amos, which is the basis for the divine judgment of God:

Hear this, you who trample the needy, to do away with the humble of the land, saying, “When will the new moon be over, So that we may buy grain, And the sabbath, that we may open the wheat market, To make the bushel smaller and the shekel bigger, And to cheat with dishonest scales, So as to buy the helpless for money And the needy for a pair of sandals, And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?” (Amos 8:4-6, cf. vv. 7ff.).

Isaiah, too, condemned Israel’s failure to care for the poor, which was a central purpose for the giving of the “laws of the land.” Isaiah spoke of Israel’s obedience to these laws as the basis for restoration and blessing:

“Is this not the fast which I chose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To undo the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free, And break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry, And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring forth; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, If you give yourself to the hungry, And satisfy the desire of the afflicted, Then your light will rise in darkness, And your gloom will become like midday. And the LORD will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, And give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. And those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; You will raise up the age-old foundations; And you will be called the repairer of the breach, The restorer of the streets in which to dwell” (Isa. 58:6-12).

Because Israel failed to obey God’s laws of the land, Israel and Judah were sent into captivity:

And those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until seventy years were complete (2 Chron. 36:20-21).

The prophets spoke much of Israel’s restoration. Through Jeremiah God promised restoration, based upon Israel’s keeping of the sabbath day (Jer. 17:24-27). But even when the captives were loosed and God’s people returned to the land of promise, observance of God’s “laws of the land” was imperfect (cf. Neh. 5). The later prophets thus speak of a great and future day of restoration, which will be fulfilled only in the coming of the Messiah and the establishment of His kingdom. The “laws of the land” are very much in view in these promises. Ezekiel, for example, speaks of the restoration of Israel and its implications:

‘Thus says the Lord God, “If the prince gives a gift out of his inheritance to many of his sons, it shall belong to his sons; it is their possession by inheritance. But if he gives a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall be his until the year of liberty; then it shall return to the prince. His inheritance shall be only his sons’; it shall belong to them. And the prince shall not take from the people’s inheritance, thrusting them out of their possession; he shall give his sons inheritance from his own possession so that My people shall not be scattered, anyone from his possession”’ (Ezek. 46:16-18).

“So you shall divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel. And it will come about that you shall divide it by lot for an inheritance among yourselves and among the aliens who stay in your midst, who bring forth sons in your midst. And they shall be to you as the native-born among the sons of Israel; they shall be allotted an inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel” (Ezek. 47:21-22).

This latter prophecy is significant in that it foresees and foretells of the inclusion of the Gentiles (aliens) in the coming kingdom, which Messiah will establish.

Likewise, Micah foretold the day of Israel’s restoration in the land:

And each of them will sit under his vine And under his fig tree, With no one to make them afraid, For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken. … “In that day,” declares the LORD, “I will assemble the lame, And gather the outcasts, Even those whom I have afflicted. I will make the lame a remnant, And the outcasts a strong nation, And the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion From now on and forever” (Micah 4:4, 6-7).

One of the most significant prophecies of Israel’s restoration, couched in Jubilee terminology, is found in the Book of Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the LORD has anointed me To bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to captives, And freedom to prisoners; To proclaim the favorable year of the LORD” (Isa. 61:1-2a).

It will be this text which our Lord reads in the synagogue of His home town, Nazareth, as recorded in the 4th chapter of Luke’s gospel. Before we turn to the teaching of our Lord and the land of Israel, let us take a moment to pause and reflect on the meaning of the land to the Israelite of old.

The land of Israel was, to the Jew, the place of God’s presence and of His blessing. To be in the land was to be in the place of blessing, and to be outside of the land was to be apart from the place of blessing.

It would be wrong, however, to conclude that the godly Jew saw some magical power inherent and active in the land of promise. Ultimately it was God who was the source of blessing. Thus, we read in the Psalms that God is the saint’s dwelling place, the place of security, safety, and blessing:

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!’ (Ps. 91:1-2).

Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in Thee. I said to the LORD, “Thou art my LORD; I have no good besides Thee. … The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and my cup; Thou dost support my lot” (Ps. 16:1-2, 5).

“I love Thee, O LORD, my strength.” The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold (Ps. 18:1-2; cf. Ps. 27, 31).

Asaph summed up the fact that God is the saint’s true reward, who is always present, and who is one’s true good, even when he is afflicted and the wicked momentarily prosper:

Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And besides Thee, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. … But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, That I may tell of all Thy works (Ps. 73:25-26, 28).

The writer of the Book of Hebrews sums up the view of the godly Old Testament saint with regard to the land, and its relationship to their faith:

All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them (Heb. 11:13-16).

And so it was that the godly Israelites of the Old Testament dispensation were eagerly waiting for the coming of Messiah, in whom their hope rested. The heavenly country was that which He would bring to pass. The Messiah’s arrival and message was not welcomed by all, however.

The “Laws of the Land” and the Messiah

The year of Jubilee, to a large degree, was an ideal, one not realized by the nation Israel in the Old Testament dispensation. This does not mean that these laws, found in Leviticus 25 (and elsewhere) were of no value, however. In the first place, these laws revealed the compassionate heart of God toward the poor and the downtrodden. In the second place, it revealed how far short the nation Israel fell from living up to the standards which God had set. Thirdly, the ideals established by the “laws of the land” prepared the way for the Messiah who was to come, and through whom both men and the land would be brought to full restoration (cf. Rom. 8:18-25).

It is not surprising, then, that when our Lord appeared as Israel’s Messiah, He spoke of Himself and His ministry in “jubilee” terms and imagery. In the fourth chapter of Luke’s gospel our Lord read from Isaiah 61:1-2a in the synagogue and said that these words had been fulfilled in the hearing of His audience (Luke 4:21). I believe that our Lord was claiming to be the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, as well as to being the antitype of the year of jubilee. Wenham agrees when he writes,

In Isa. 61:1, from which Jesus was quoting, the word used for “release” … is the same as that found in Lev. 25:10. It seems quite likely, therefore, that the prophetic description of the “acceptable year of the Lord’ was partly inspired by the idea of the jubilee year. The messianic age brings liberty to the oppressed and release to the captives.

This age was inaugurated with Christ’s first coming (Luke 4:21). It will be completed by his second coming (Jas. 5:1-8; cf. Luke 16:19-31). The jubilee, then, not only looks back to God’s first redemption of his people from Egypt (Lev. 25:38, 55), but forward to the “restitution of all things,” “for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (Acts 3:31; 2 Pet. 3:13).¹⁵⁵

This is but the beginning, however. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus’ beatitudes, such as “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” convey the concept of jubilee. Who were more blessed than the poor and oppressed, for whom jubilee was to provide deliverance and a new beginning.

It is striking to observe that in the gospels Jesus used much of the symbolism and terminology which was related to the land, as viewed by the Old Testament, to refer to Himself and to the blessings which He had come to bring. The text in Genesis 28, where Jacob’s ladder was described, seems to be referred to when Jesus said to Nathaniel, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you shall see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” (John 1:51).

If Jesus was claiming to be “Jacob’s ladder,” as I believe He was, then He is saying that while the land of Israel was once the special place of God’s presence, and the mediating point between heaven and earth (in Jacob’s words, “the gate of heaven,” Gen. 28:17), then Jesus has now assumed this role. He is the place where God abides in a special way, and He is the gate to heaven. To put the matter in words which our Lord Himself spoke,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep … I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:7, 9).

“I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me” (John 14:6).

If the Lord Jesus was Jacob’s ladder, He was also the “water of life.” In the Old Testament, God promised water for the land of promise:

The afflicted and needy are seeking water, but there is none, And their tongue is parched with thirst; I, the LORD, will answer them Myself, As the God of Israel I will not forsake them. I will open rivers on the bare heights, And springs in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, And the dry land fountains of water (Isa. 41:17-18; cf. Lev. 26:4; Deut. 11:10-12).

Later on, God Himself was spoken of in terms of water:

As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for Thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God? (Ps. 42:1-2; cf. Ps. 63:1).

“For the people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns, That can hold no water” (Jer. 2:13).

When our Lord speaks of Himself in terms of water, I believe that He is referring to Himself in terms of those blessings (in the land) with which the godly Israelite was most familiar. Think of these words in this light:

“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water” (John 4:10).

Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:37-38).

How shocking it must have been to an Israelite, one who would scarcely consider giving up his farm, to hear these words of Jesus, which pronounce a blessing on those who give up farms: “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake, shall receive many times as much, and shall inherit eternal life” (Matt. 19:29).

Farms were the means by which God’s blessing was poured out on His people in the Old Testament. Farms were not to be given up, but were to be kept as in inheritance. Jesus pronounces a blessing on those who do give up farms, and speaks of one’s inheritance as “eternal life.” What has changed here? Why has the Old Testament emphasis on the land been so radically reversed?

The reason is that the Lord Jesus Christ has come; Israel’s Messiah has come. The special place of God’s dwelling is now Christ Himself, not a land, not a temple, not a tabernacle (although the terms tabernacle and temple are referred to by our Lord, cf. John 1:14; 2:19). The evidence, in my opinion, is more than abundant proof of this.

In the Old Testament, especially in the Book of Deuteronomy, Israel’s blessings were spoken of as “rest,” while her cursings were spoken of in terms of “no rest.” Rest was to be given in the land, while no rest was to be experienced outside the land. In the light of the relationship of “rest” to the “land,” think of the claim which our Lord was making when He said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). The Jews were in the land of promise, but they did not have rest. Jesus offered them rest, in Himself, not in the land. Rest is now something which is found in Christ, not in a physical location.

So, too, worship is something which is no longer to be limited to a certain place, to the land of Israel, to designated places of worship in the promised land, to the tabernacle or the temple. When Jesus was talking to the “woman at the well” in John chapter 4, she raised a very tender point of dispute between the Jews and the Samaritans, a dispute over which mountain was the place where God was to be worshipped (cf. John 4:20). Jesus’ answer to this woman was that worship is no longer a matter of place, but of a person. The worship of the Father is to be done through, by means of, the Son.

It is therefore not the place—the holy land of Israel—which is so important in the New Testament, but the person of Christ.¹⁵⁶ God dwells in Him, and it is in Him that we are saved, secure, and blessed. Thus, men can forsake their farms and follow Him without losing God’s blessing. In fact, not to follow Christ is to lose one’s blessing. That is why we find in the newly founded church, as described in the early chapters of the Book of Acts, that when a believer was in need, people sold their possessions (including their property) to meet these needs. Barnabas was just one notable example of this kind of generosity:

For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales, and lay them at the apostles’ feet; and they would be distributed to each, as any had need. And Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means, Son of Encouragement), and who owned a tract of land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet (Acts 4:34-37).

If the Old Testament saint looked on the land of Canaan as the special place of God’s presence and His blessing, the New Testament teaches emphatically that the dwelling place of God and the place of security, peace, and prosperity is none other than Jesus Christ. If the Old Testament saint delighted to be in the land, the New Testament saint delights in being “in Christ.”

The great dangers of which the New Testament saint is warned are those which tend to draw him away from the centrality of being in Christ. The early chapters of Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, all focus on the centrality of Christ.

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me (Gal. 2:20).

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3).

But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one, and broken down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow-citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, growing into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit (Eph. 2:13-22).

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Phil. 1:21).

For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fulness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven (Col. 1:19-20).

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead (Col. 2:8-12).

The great danger of the Christian life is to be drawn away from Christ, from seeing in Him all the fullness, the sufficiency, the power and blessings of God. It is for this very reason that our Lord spoke to His disciples about the importance of abiding in Him: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:4-5).

Abiding in Christ is to abide in God and to experience the peace and prosperity (fruit) which God gives through Him. The results of abiding in Christ are remarkably similar to those of trusting in God in the Old Testament, as outlined by our Lord in John 15: keeping His commandments (15:10) and loving one another (15:12). Loving God and loving men, is both an Old and a New Testament obligation.

Conclusion

I wish to make three points of application as I conclude. First, let me remind you of the great continuity between the Old Testament revelation and the New. Those of us who are dispensationalists (I still include myself in this camp)¹⁵⁷ sometimes tend to look at the New Testament only in terms of its contrasts and “newness,” without acknowledging sufficiently its continuity, its “sameness.” Let us be careful to look for the continuity of teaching and application between the two testaments.

Let me attempt to illustrate my point by talking about one of my favorite subjects for a moment—computers. I happen to have had one of the first IBM personal computers. Since the purchase of this first computer, IBM has come out with several later versions, which are faster and more powerful. Naturally, I look at these with eager interest, even desire. But my point is that while the heart of the computer, the microprocessor (an Intel 8088), has changed (I like the 80386!), essentially the design of these different processors is so similar that the same software can be run on all machines. The Old Testament revelation is like that. It is definitely surpassed by the New, but there is still a compatibility, a sameness. Sometimes in our efforts to stress the “betterness” of the New, we imply a “badness” about the Old. This is not true, and it inclines us to miss much of the blessing which could be gained from a study and meditation of the Old Testament.

Second, if the place of God’s blessing is now a person, and this person is Jesus Christ, then you will only be blessed in Him. In other words, you have little right to ask God for His blessings if you are not in His Son. The message of the gospel is that forgiveness of sins and eternal life are the result of being “in Christ,” that is by receiving Him as your Savior, your sin-bearer, your righteousness, and your eternal life. If you are not “in Him,” I urge you to trust in Him today, to be “born again” (cf. John chapter 3).

Finally, for Christians, we should be reminded that our source of blessing and security is Christ and Christ alone. Satan would like nothing more than to distract and divert you from who and what you are “in Him” to virtually anything else. If you do not sense the nearness of God and His blessings, it may be because you have been seduced by someone or something other than Christ. The words of our Lord are clear, blessing and fruitfulness come from abiding in Him, the One in whom the presence of God has been manifested, the One in whom all blessings are found.

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¹⁴⁸ Kaiser writes, “The tragic near-sightedness of ‘liberation theology,’ which loves to focus on the Exodus and laws like Leviticus 25, is that it overlooks the redemptive themes of the Lamb’s blood, the atonement, and the conditions of the covenant and thus it is left with merely a humanistic leftover from the passage.” Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., Toward Old Testament Ethics (Grand Rapids: Academie Books, 1983), p. 219.

¹⁴⁹ Cf. Noordtzij observes, “There was more than one side to the sabbatical year. In Exodus 23:10-11 it is regarded from a social and humanitarian perspective, since the sabbath rest of the land here formed the occasion for poor persons, and also animals, to freely partake of its produce. Leviticus 25:1-7 in contrast, although it does not disregard social and humanitarian concerns (vv. 6-7), draws attention primarily to the land’s right to have a ‘sabbath of rest’ (v. 4) every seventh year, a rest which, like that of the Sabbath day (23:3, 38), was dedicated to the Lord. The land is therefore in a certain sense personified here; it had been granted its own rights by its divine owner, and the Israelites were required to respect these. The previously held view that it was economic considerations that induced the lawgiver to direct that the land be left fallow every seventh year is therefore incorrect. Unlike elsewhere in the ancient Near Eastern world, the primary concern here is not the simple fact that the land was left fallow, but rather the inclusion of this agricultural practice within the overall framework of the sabbath idea. This notion of a sabbath rest for everyone and everything is a religious conception that is met with only in Israel. The verses under discussion therefore expressly direct that, although a person could farm his land for six successive years in order to satisfy his needs, he was to grant it a ‘sabbath of rest’ (or ‘time of complete rest,’ v. 6; the same expression, sabbath sabbaton, is used in 23:3, 32) in the seventh year and content himself with whatever grew of itself in his fields and vineyards. The produce of that year is referred to literally as the ‘sabbath of the land’ (v. 6; see KJV and RSV), and everyone, from the owner to the animals, was allowed to partake of this freely. No one could make any special claim to what grew during this sabbath year. For this reason, there is also no mention of harvest, it being merely stated that the produce of the land could be eaten (v. 7). The fact that Exodus 23:10-11 explicitly mentions the rights of the needy, while Leviticus 25:6-7 does not, may not be taken to indicate any essential difference between these two passages, for if the latter takes note even of the needs of animals, it could not deny those of the poor.” A. Noordtzij, Leviticus, trans. by Raymond Togtman (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), pp. 249-250.

¹⁵⁰ Cf. also Dt. 3:20; 25:19; Josh. 1:13, 15.

¹⁵¹ “The blowing of trumpets, or blast of the far-sounding horn (shophar, see at chap. xxiii. 24), was the signal of the descent of the Lord upon Sinai, to raise Israel to be His people, to receive them into His covenant, to unite them to Himself, and bless them through His covenant of grace (Ex. xix. 13,16,19, xx. 18). Just as the people were to come up to the mountain at the sounding of … the shopar, to commemorate its union with the Lord, so at the expiration of the seventh sabbatical year the trumpet-blast was to announce to the covenant nation the gracious presence of its God, and the coming of the year which was to bring “liberty throughout the land to all that dwelt therein” (ver. 10),—deliverance from bondage (vers. 40 sqq.), return to their property and family (vers. 10,13), and release from the bitter labour of cultivating the land (vers. 11,12). This year of grace was proclaimed and began with the day of atonement of every seventh sabbatical year, to show that it was only with the full forgiveness of sins that the blessed liberty of the children of God could possibly commence.” C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, trans. by James Martin (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1968 [reprint]), II, p. 458.

¹⁵² “It is generally thought that this is the year following the seventh sabbath year, i.e., the fiftieth year by our figures. This would mean, however, that the end of every seventh sabbath of years, Israel would have two successive years of a special character—the sabbatical year, and then the Year of Jubilee—and it is highly unlikely that this could have been the case. Such a position overlooks the fact that verse 8, unlike 23:15, does not state that the counting was to begin after a particular date. In 23:15, the counting began “from the day after the Sabbath,” whereas 25:8 only commanded Israel to “count off seven sabbaths of years.” This therefore means that the sabbatical year on which the counting began was the first of the fifty years spoken of (vv. 10-11), and the seventh sabbatical year would then be the fiftieth year counted. In conformity to this, verses 11-12 clearly describe the Year of Jubilee as a sabbath year.” Noordtzij, p. 251.

Keil and Delitzsch challenge this view, however: “It is quite evident from vers. 21 and 22, according to which the sixth year was to produce enough for three years, and the sowing for the ninth was to take place in the eighth, that not only the year of jubilee, but the sabbatical year also, commenced in the autumn, when they first began to sow for the coming year; so that the sowing was suspended from the autumn of the sixth year till the autumn of the seventh, and even till the autumn of the eighth, whenever the jubilee year came round, in which case both sowing and reaping were omitted for two years in succession, and consequently the produce of the sixth year, which was harvested in the seventh month of that year, must have sufficed for three years, not merely till the sowing in the autumn of the eighth or fiftieth year, but till the harvest of the ninth or fifty-first year, as the Talmud and Rabbins of every age have understood the law.” Keil and Delitzsch, II, pp. 460-461.

¹⁵³ Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 2 vols. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1965), vol. 1, p. 175.

¹⁵⁴ Ibid., pp. 175-176.

¹⁵⁵ Gordon J. Wenham, The Book of Leviticus (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979), p. 324.

¹⁵⁶ Christ took the place of land, as the place and means of divine presence and blessing. He also took the place of the people, who were unable to earn or obtain the blessings. Israel must identify with Christ as the True Israel. Thus, the one who is in Christ is the true Israelite. Cf. Rom. 9:6; Gal. 3:9, 27-29; 6:16; Phil. 3:3.

¹⁵⁷ For any who may be wondering if I have taken a kind of Amillennial position here, I have not. I believe that God is still going to literally fulfill His promises to Israel and to give this land to His people. At this point in time, however, I do not think that the issue of the land is the crucial one for Israel, but rather it is the person of Christ, who is Israel’s Messiah, and in whom every true Israelite is found.

Introduction

We are constantly being warned. We have yellow flashing lights to warn us that we are in a school zone, and buzzing radar detectors, to tell us that a radar trap is nearby. A yellow light warns us that a red light is soon to follow. As a rule, yellow lights warn us about what is soon to happen, while red lights tell us it has happened. The flashing red lights on the dash of our cars inform us of an engine malfunction, or that an emergency vehicle is nearby, or that we are about to be cited by a policeman for violating the law.

And then there are the verbal and non-verbal warnings. Various forms of body language serve as a warning. A stern look on the face of the school teacher warns us that we had better not press our luck any further. Many warnings are spoken. Some are amusing; others pathetic and even disgusting. A frustrated mother “warns” her child that any more fussing and whining will result in a spanking. The child knows it is only a threat, so long as it doesn’t precipitate an explosion by making mom mad, or by embarrassing her too much at a time.

We are so accustomed to warnings, and so used to them proving to be groundless, that we have learned to take them in our stride—indeed, to ignore them. Leviticus 26 is one of the clearest words of warning in the Pentateuch. It is reiterated more emphatically later on in the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy. The Israelites did not heed this warning and they paid a severe penalty for doing so.

We may think that the warning found here is one that we can easily ignore. After all, we are not Israel; we do not live in the land of Canaan; and we don’t live under the Mosaic Covenant, but under the New Covenant. So then, why not simply pass by this passage, tipping our mental hats, if need be, but not getting too serious about it?

There are several reasons why this passage is vital to New Testament Christians. Quite frankly, I have agonized about a different way of saying something that you have gotten too used to hearing over the past few weeks: “This text is absolutely crucial to us …” Nevertheless, it is true. The warnings of the 26th chapter of Leviticus are vital to the New Testament Christian, just as they were to the Israelite of Moses’ day. Consider the following reasons for the importance and relevance of our text.

First, this text is the key to understanding the history of Israel. The warnings of Leviticus are an outline of Israel’s history. The consequences for sin of which our text warns are precisely those which the nation Israel experienced for her disregard of the covenant which she made with God on Mt. Sinai.

Second, Leviticus 26 is also the key to understanding the message of the prophets of Israel. The outline of the prophets of Israel seems to be taken from our text. Also, the promises of Israel’s future deliverance and restoration are rooted in the blessings and cursings of the Pentateuch.

Third, the principle underlying the promises of blessing and cursing is just as valid in our dispensation as it was in the days of Moses.

Fourth, the passage we are studying contains a great deal of instruction for parents, and for all who are required to discipline others. The principles underlying this passage, which have to do with divine discipline and human obedience, are both relevant and practical.

Fifth, this chapter does not just contain words of warning, but also some of the greatest words of hope found in the Bible. Thus, this is a text which positively encourages and motivates obedience. The more I read this chapter, the more I fall in love with it, and the deeper my sense of the hope and love which permeate it.¹⁶⁵

There are a number of passages which are parallel to our text, in form and substance. Exodus 23:22-33 is the first instance of the promise of blessings and cursings, based upon Israel’s obedience to the Mosaic Covenant. Later, in Deuteronomy chapter 28, the blessings and cursings are repeated, in even greater detail, for that second generation of Israelites, who were about to possess the land of Canaan. Joshua 24:20 is a very brief summation of the warnings of our chapter, and the writings of the prophets reveal some direct dependence on our text (cf. Isa. 49:1ff.; Ezek. 34:25-30; 37:21-28).

These Warnings and the Culture of That Day

In form, and to some degree in content, this list of “blessings and cursings” is similar to those found at the end of other covenants of Moses’ day, made between the king (the suzerain) and his subjects (vassals).¹⁶⁶ There are, however, some significant differences.¹⁶⁷ I believe that it is in the unique aspects of these “blessings and cursings” that we will find the most insight and relevance for our lives.

The Structure of Our Text¹⁶⁸

Overall, one can quickly see that Leviticus 26 has three major divisions: (1) a description of the blessings which God will pour out on His people for keeping His covenant (vv. 1-13); and (2) a description of the dire consequences—cursings—which will accompany Israel’s disobedience of the Mosaic covenant (vv. 14-39). Finally there is the concluding section (vv. 40-45), in which God reassures His people of His unfailing love. Here, there is the assurance of Israel’s ultimate restoration and blessing, based upon God’s faithfulness to His covenant with Abraham and upon Israel’s repentance.

The expression, “I am the Lord (your God),” is the structural key, which marks out each section at its conclusion (cf. vv. 13, 44, 45). The blessings are introduced by the expression, “If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments …” The cursings are initially introduced by the statement, “But if you do not obey Me … ,” and are then followed up by a statement concerning Israel’s failure or refusal to repent when God’s discipline is imposed (vv. 18, 21, 23, 27), with the added warning of being punished “seven times”¹⁶⁹ for her disobedience (vv. 18, 24, 28).

The chapter may thus be outlined as follows:

• Preface—Summary of the Mosaic Covenant (vv. 1-2)
• Promised blessings for keeping the Mosaic Covenant (vv. 3-13)
• Promised penalties for disobeying the Mosaic Covenant (vv. 14-39)
• Promised fulfillment of Abrahamic Covenant (vv. 40-45)
• Conclusion—Summary (v. 46)

Our Approach in This Lesson

Once again, we will not be able to analyze each verse in detail. We will begin with an overview of the three major sections of the chapter, identifying the major features of each. We will then seek to identify the principles which underlie the passage, along with their abiding application to saints through the ages. Finally, we will focus on the principle thrust of the text for saints in this age, along with some of the perversions of its teachings.

Divine Blessing: Its Causes and Characteristics
(26:1-13)

The divine blessings outlined in verses 4-13 are the result of keeping the conditions set down in verses 1-3. In its broadest definition, God’s blessings on Israel are conditioned by Israel’s keeping of the Mosaic Covenant: “If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, then I shall give you …” (Lev. 26:3-4a).

Verses 1 and 2 speak of this obedience as manifesting itself in both positive and negative ways. Negatively, the Israelites must keep themselves from the idols and the idolatry of their heathen predecessors: “‘You shall not make for yourselves idols, nor shall you set up for yourselves an image or a sacred pillar, nor shall you place a figured stone in your land to bow down to it; for I am the LORD your God’” (Lev. 26:1).

Such idols would lead to false worship, worship directed to false deities, rather than toward the God who had saved them from bondage in Egypt.

Positively stated, the Israelites should give heed to God’s sabbaths and His sanctuary: ‘“You shall keep My sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary; I am the LORD’” (Lev. 26:2). God’s people must not only abstain from making and worshipping idols, they must actively observe God’s sabbaths and revere His sanctuary. We know, of course, that other actions are required of God’s people, but this is the heart of the covenant, and is thus emphasized.¹⁷⁰

The blessings which God promised Israel are directly related to her possession of the land of Canaan. They are largely, but not altogether, physical and material. They can be summed up in three categories: (1) PEACE; (2) PROSPERITY; (3) THE PRESENCE OF GOD.

Peace can be seen in several areas. First, there is peace from Israel’s enemies. It does not mean that there won’t be any war,¹⁷¹ but rather that God will grant Israel victory over her foes, and that they will not live in constant fear of attack or of defeat. There will also be peace with respect to the wild animals which could endanger the Israelites. There is a deep sense of security promised for those who keep God’s covenant.

Prosperity is principally material. Agriculturally, the Israelites will prosper because God will give them the needed rains, at the proper time, which will make their harvests bountiful.¹⁷² Also, God will give great fertility to the Israelites and to their cattle, which will cause them to prosper greatly. It should be recalled, at this point, that the religions of Canaan and the ancient Near East had fertility as a central focus. Many of the pagan gods were fertility gods. God promised prosperity and fertility, but it would come when Israel worshipped Him and avoided idolatry and heathen worship. Implied by its removal in the cursing section (v. 16) is the prosperity of good health, which enables one to enjoy the “good life.”

Finally, Israel was blessed by the presence of God in their midst. Israel was His people, and He had promised to dwell in their midst: “‘Moreover, I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject you. I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people’” (Lev. 26:11-12).

One of the great issues at stake as an aftermath of Israel’s “fall” in the worship of the golden calf (Exod. 32) was whether or not God would be present with His people (cf. Exod. 33:3, 14-16; 34:9). God’s covenant with Israel promised His presence, but only of His people kept His statutes and ordinances (cf. Exod. 34:10ff.). The tabernacle and the sacrificial system was one of the prerequisites for God’s presence, and thus it is easy to see why the Israelites must “reverence His sanctuary” (Lev. 26:2).

It is my opinion that this last category of blessing, the presence of God, is the ultimate blessing, and that it is also the basis for the other blessings. God’s presence assures Israel of prosperity and peace, as His absence will bring poverty and peril. The ultimate joy of heaven is the presence of God (1 Thes. 5:17; John 14:3), just as hell is banishment from God’s presence (2 Thes. 1:9). Thus, one can truly feel blessed, even in the midst of tribulation and persecution, knowing that God is with them in their distress (cf. Ps. 73:21-28; Matt. 28:20; Heb. 13:5, 6). In God’s “absence” or removal, man brings many of the evils which Leviticus 26 describes on himself, as is the case in the progressive judgment of Romans chapter 1.

These three categories of blessing are promised to God’s people, if they but obey His commandments and keep His covenant: peace, prosperity, and God’s presence. We shall also see that these are the areas in which God’s discipline will come as a result of Israel’s disobedience and disregard for His covenant. Let us look, then, to the “cursings” of our text, which outline the consequences of disobedience.

The Consequences of Israel’s Disobedience

The “cursings” of this chapter are virtually a reversal of the promised blessings. While the cursings are presented differently, we can summarize them in terms of these same three categories:

(1) FROM PROSPERITY TO POVERTY
(2) FROM PEACE TO PERIL;
(3) FROM GOD’S PRESENCE TO HIS ABSENCE¹⁷³

Instead of prosperity, disobedience will bring poverty. Initially, Israel’s crops will be consumed by raiding enemies (26:16). If Israel’s disobedience persists, as it surely will, the rains will cease, Israel’s crops will fail, and thus a famine will result (26:26). It is not stated but is likely implied that fertility will also cease.¹⁷⁴ Not only will new life be limited by infertility, but men will be killed by hostile animals (26:22). Pestilence will kill many (26:21, 25), and eventually this people will turn against one another, resorting to cannibalism (26:29).

Instead of peace and security, disobedience will bring about insecurity, peril, and fear. Initially, Israel will suffer from the raiding attacks of some of their neighbors, who will steal their crops (26:16). Then, Israel will be defeated by her enemies and delivered into their hands, so that they are ruled by them (26:17, 25). Finally, the Israelites will be driven from the land and will live, dispersed and scattered, in the land of their conquerors (26:31-32, 36, 38). The remnant who remain in the land will suffer as much as those who are taken away (26:39). The peace and security which they could have known is traded for insecurity, fear, and constant apprehension (26:36-37).

In place of the presence of God in the midst of His people, Israel will experience a growing separation from Him. He will first set His face against His people (v. 17). Then, because His people have been hostile against Him (26:21, 23), He will become their enemy (26:24, 28). He will drive them from His sanctuary (which they have not reverenced) to the land of their enemies, far from His (perceived) presence. In their absence, the land will enjoy the sabbaths which the Israelites never observed (26:34-35).

Characteristics of the Chapter

This text provides us with a pattern and principles for discipline. Note the following characteristics of the promises of blessing and cursing which can be identified from a study of Leviticus chapter 26.

(1) The rules which God has laid down for Israel, as well as the results of obedience or disobedience, are clearly defined. The law has not only been clearly stated, it has been reiterated, illustrated, and expanded. No one could ever consider excusing their disobedience by the claim that they didn’t know what was expected of them, or that they were ignorant of the consequences of their actions.

(2) God’s standards for Israel’s conduct and the consequences for obedience or disobedience are given well in advance of punishment or blessing. As parents, it is easy to react to wrong doing, rather than to seek to prevent it. The 26th chapter of Leviticus is primarily preventative. In a different way, the Book of Proverbs attempts to accomplish the same end—the avoidance of evil by giving ample warning in advance, as well as to spell out the incentives for obeying the commandments of God. Thus, the “father” warns his “son” of the evils which lie just down the path of life, and gives his words of wisdom as to how the wise son should respond to the tests and temptations of life.

(3) The motivation of Leviticus 26 is both negative and positive. While the warnings are more emphatic and extensive than the promises of God’s blessing,¹⁷⁵ both rewards and punishments are spelled out in this text. Israel has good reason to obey (the blessings of verses 1-13), further motivated by the painful consequences of disobedience (the cursings of verses 14-39). The purpose of this chapter is to motivate Israel to keep God’s covenant, and the best motivation, as is illustrated here, is both positive (blessings/rewards) and negative (cursings/discipline).

(4) The purpose is always positive, as is the motivation of the God who prescribes these blessings and cursings. Throughout this chapter, as gruesome as some of the warnings are, the benevolence of God is underscored. First, God’s response to Israel’s sins is to discipline¹⁷⁶ His people, to bring them to repentance. At every stage of increasing penalty, it is due to the fact that the Israelites have not repented and turned from their disobedience (cf. vv. 18, 21, 23, 27). And, in the final outcome, God assures Israel that He will restore them, not based on their obedience to the Mosaic Covenant, but on the basis of His faithfulness to His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (vv. 40-45). Israel is always assured of God’s love and of His good intentions and purposes for His people.

(5) The consequences of Israel’s disobedience are sequentially and more progressively painful. This progression of painfulness can be seen in two ways in this chapter. First, it can be seen in the sequence of penalties outlined:

• First stage (vv. 14-17)
• Second stage (vv. 18-20)
• Third stage (vv. 21-22)
• Fourth stage (vv. 23-26)
• Fifth stage (vv. 27-33)
• Results of this last stage (vv. 34-39)
• Land gets sabbaths (vv. 34-35)
• People fear, flee, perish (vv. 36-39)

Also, when one considers the three areas of blessing and cursing, peace, prosperity, and the presence of God, the punishment for Israel’s disobedience and rebellion gets progressively worse. The repeated expression, “seven times” (vv. 18, 21, 24, 28) further emphasizes this progression. Note the intensification of divine discipline in the three areas of blessing or cursing:

• Prosperity:
• Crops stolen
• No rain, crops fail, famine
• Cattle die by wild beasts
• Health progressively fails, finally death for many (cannibalism)
• Peace:
• Israel first attacked, raided by enemies
• Then ruled by enemies
• Then scattered to live in enemy’s land
• Presence of God:
• God with them
• God sets face against them
• God “abandons” them—expels from His land, His dwelling place

(6) Finally, God dealt with Israel’s sin and with her repentance at its roots, at the level of motivation. Israel’s disobedience is seen to be the result of her abhorrence of God’s laws (v. 15). God reaffirms His love for Israel, which is intended to encourage and stimulate Israel’s love for Him. God assures Israel of her ultimate hope, which encourages repentance and obedience. It is not mere mechanical compliance which God desires of His people, but obedience, rooted in love.

Principles of Discipline

Before pressing on, let me pause to suggest how the characteristics of this chapter apply to the problems of parenting (as well as to teachers and others who are responsible for the discipline of others). Consider the following guidelines for discipline, based upon the blessings and cursings of Leviticus 26.

(1) Make sure that rules and their consequences are clearly communicated. Before one can require a certain kind of conduct, the rules must be clearly communicated. In order to motivate men to observe this standard, the rewards for obedience and the penalties for disobedience must also be clearly stated. This must be done well in advance of the time when obedience or disobedience is dealt with. Many of us who are parents do not declare the rules until unsatisfactory conduct has occurred. Individuals can only be held accountable for what they know, and thus the Israelites were completely accountable. God’s rules were clearly spelled out, repeated, restated, clarified, and illustrated. Truly the Israelites were “without excuse.” We would be well advised to be as clear in our expectations.

(2) Don’t make threats, but promises. Don’t promise consequences which you cannot (or won’t) produce. Once we have prescribed the standards for conduct which we require and our response to obedience or disobedience to these requirements, we are obligated to follow through, to keep our word regarding our requirements. Just as the Mosaic Covenant stipulated a certain conduct on the part of the Israelites, it promised a certain conduct on God’s part. There was never any doubt about how God would respond to Israel’s actions, only a question of timing. The rules are no better than the consistency with which they are enforced. If we can’t be counted on to punish misconduct, how can we be counted on to reward right conduct?

(3) Have a sequence of dire consequences, which get progressively worse, and which come at specified points of disobedience. The problem with most of us (parents) is that we threaten our children with the worst possible punishment (spanking?) for any number of offenses, from spilling their milk (normally a childish mistake) to rebellion. We must save our biggest “stick” for the worst offense, and must think of a sequence of unpleasant consequences for the progression of offenses which fall short of the worst. As a school teacher, I learned that I needed a large bag of “tricks” (punishments), which would be appropriate for a wide range of offenses, and also for a wide range of personalities. The cursings and blessings reflect such a broad range of penalties.

(4) Make sure that your rules include both positive and negative consequences, to that the child is doubly motivated to obey. Most of our children feel that we as parents only say “no” and that there are few rewards to obedience (other than the absence of punishment). Good discipline gives positive incentives (rewards) along with negative ones (punishment). I believe that the Bible does this, in the New Testament as well as in the Old. The Christian looks for rewards for obedience, even as he does penalties for disobedience.

(5) Whenever you are involved in the process of discipline (from the giving of the rules to the enforcement of them), always assure of your love, encourage repentance, and give hope for restoration. Some children lose heart, feeling that there is no chance of pleasing their parents. They feel that the rules are an expression of hostility toward them, rather than of love. When such an attitude is caught (whether intended or not), the child has little or no motivation for obedience or repentance. No matter what the child does, let them know there is hope, and that you will continue to be faithful to love them and to stand by the rules (both the promise of blessing and of discipline).

Blessings and Cursings in the History of Israel

The blessings and cursings of Leviticus 26 (as well as Deuteronomy 28) play a significant role in the history of Israel, as recorded in the Old Testament. First and foremost, the historical books of Joshua and Judges dramatically testify to the fact that God does keep His promises. While the Book of Joshua does record some failures on Israel’s part (e.g. Achan, Joshua 7), the book as a whole describes God’s faithfulness in blessing His people as they obey His commandments (both those of the Law and those given by Joshua). The Book of Judges, on the other hand, forcefully conveys the fact that God disciplines His people when they disregard and disobey His commandments. The many “cycles” of obedience, blessing, victory, apathy, disobedience, defeat, reiterate the absolute accuracy of God’s promises and warnings in Leviticus 26.

In Asaph’s recounting of the history of Israel in Psalm 78 (especially verses 54-64), the disobedience of Israel led to the consequences, the cursings of Leviticus 26. So, too, in the psalms, the psalmists’ prayers for deliverance from their enemies revealed an intimate knowledge of the blessings and cursings attached to the Law, and thus shaped their prayers (cf. Psalms 71 and 72 for example).

The prophets explained the defeat and disasters of Israel’s history as the fulfillment of God’s warnings concerning disobedience to His commandments. They also promised a future deliverance, which was virtually a reversal of the cursings of our text. Note the parallels of this prophecy of Ezekiel to the blessings and cursings of our text:

“And I will make a covenant of peace with them and eliminate harmful beasts from the land, so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. And I will cause showers to come down in their season; they will be showers of blessing. Also the tree of the field will yield its fruit, and the earth will yield its increase, and they will be secure on their land. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and have delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them. And they will no longer be a prey to the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not devour them; but they will live securely, and no one will make them afraid. And I will establish for them a renowned planting place, and they will not again be victims of famine in the land, and they will not endure the insults of the nations any more. Then they will know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people,” declares the Lord GOD (Ezek. 34:25-30; cf. also 37:22-38).

It was recognized in the Old Testament that no Israelite could keep God’s commandments perfectly, and that the future deliverance of Israel would be the work of God Himself through the coming of His Messiah. Thus, Isaiah spoke of the Deliverer, whom God had appointed to save His people:

Listen to Me, O islands, And pay attention, you people from afar. The LORD called Me from the womb; From the body of My mother He named Me. And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword; In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me, And He has also made Me a select arrow; He has hidden Me in His quiver. And He said to Me, “You are My Servant, Israel, In Whom I will show My glory.” … He says, “It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant To raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also make You a light of the nations So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” … Thus says the LORD, “In a favorable time I have answered You, And in a day of salvation I have helped You; And I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people, To restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages; Saying to those who are bound, ‘Go forth,’ To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ Along the roads they will feed, And their pasture will be on all bare heights. They will not hunger or thirst, Neither will the scorching heat or sun strike them down; For He who has compassion on them will lead them, And will guide them to springs of water. And I will make all My mountains a road, And My highways will be raised up” (Isa. 49:1-3, 6, 8-11).

It is wholly consistent with the Old Testament, then, that John the Baptist should introduce the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, in Old Testament terms that were employed in reference to Israel’s Deliverer. It is also to be expected that our Lord would introduce Himself as the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies about Israel’s Deliverer:

And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book, and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are donwtrodden, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” And He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon Him. And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:16-21).

As the verses immediately following in the text of Isaiah (61, vv. 4ff.) indicate, this prophecy is one pertaining to Israel’s restoration, from the deliverance from her cursing to the experience of her blessing. This, our Lord announced, was to be fulfilled in His person and work. Jesus was not accepted as God’s Messiah by Israel’s religious leaders, and thus He was crucified as a criminal, thus bearing the sins of men, and thus also fulfilling other prophecies concerning His (first) coming, prophecies such as those found in Isaiah 52:13–53:12.

Knowing of His rejection and crucifixion, Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 24 and 25 were once again warnings of future judgment, along the same lines as that given in Leviticus 26. It will not be until the ultimate and final judgment of Israel, as is graphically described in the Book of Revelation, that Israel would be saved.

But of this salvation, there was no doubt. Just as God assured Israel of her ultimate repentance and deliverance, so the apostle Paul assured his readers of the restoration of blessings to His people, Israel:

For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in; and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.” “This is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.” From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, in order that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience that He might show mercy to all (Rom. 11:25-32).

The promises of cursing, but also of ultimate restoration and blessing which we have been studying in Leviticus 26, are the basis for Israel’s future hope, and for Paul’s teaching in Romans 9-11. Israel has a great future. The Great Tribulation, which is described most fully in the Book of Revelation, will be required to turn Israel from her sins, but she will turn and repent, and she will be restored.

Thus, Leviticus 26 was intended to be a word of warning and of hope to the Israelites of old, and it will continue to be this until Israel is restored. But there are also very important applications of this text to contemporary Christians. It is the apostle Paul who points his readers to the undergirding principles of this passage and applies it to Christians. And he does this in the Book of Galatians, a book written to correct the errors of legalism, based upon an inaccurate interpretation and application of the Law of Moses. Paul writes,

Brethren, I speak in terms of human relations: even though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been ratified, no one sets it aside or adds conditions to it. Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed … What I am saying is this: the Law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise. Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed should come to whom the promise had been made (Gal. 3:15-19).

Paul corrects those Judaizers who taught that justification and sanctification were produced by works, by men’s efforts to keep the Law. He shows that the Abrahamic Covenant is the primary covenant, that covenant which is not dependent upon men’s obedience, but only on God’s faithfulness to His word. The Mosaic Covenant, Paul taught, was secondary, a temporary, provisional arrangement, which in no way set aside the Abrahamic Covenant. Thus, the Judaizers, who placed their emphasis on man’s obedience to the Mosaic Covenant, were wrong. Salvation and sanctification is the work of God, based upon His covenant with Abraham.

While Paul does not directly refer to Leviticus chapter 26, I believe that this text clearly teaches this same principle (of the priority of the Abrahamic Covenant over the Mosaic Covenant), and that Paul based his teaching upon it. Leviticus 26 promised blessing for keeping the Mosaic Covenant, and cursing for disobedience. The very fact that the cursing section is much more detailed than the blessing section suggests that Israel will not keep the covenant. The progressive disciplinary sequence in the chapter indicates that Israel will persist in her disobedience and rebellion. The concluding paragraph, that which assures Israel of her future restoration, is based upon God’s faithfulness to His covenant with Abraham, not Israel’s faithfulness to her covenant with God, the Mosaic Covenant. Paul simply underscores a truth which was taught in the Law itself, a truth taught in Leviticus 26.

Second, Paul taught that there was a principle underlying Leviticus 26 which is just as applicable to Christians as it was to the Israelites of old:

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we shall reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith (Gal. 6:7-10).

Leviticus 26 promised blessing for the keeping of God’s Law, and cursing for disobedience. The underlying principle is that our actions have consequences. Our obedience to God’s commands bring blessing, and our disobedience brings discipline. Paul spoke of this as “sowing” and “reaping” and he stressed that sowing evil results in discipline, while sowing righteousness brings blessing. Our actions are either the sowing of evil or the sowing of righteousness, and thus they will produce either blessing or cursing. It does matter what we do or do not do.

Let me focus on the application of this principle in the most important act we will ever make, that of responding to God’s offer of forgiveness and salvation in the person and work of His Son, Jesus Christ. History has made it painfully clear that men will never be able to attain God’s blessings by means of law-keeping. The apostle Paul put it this way:

Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith (Rom. 3:19-25a).

The Law could only prove all men to be sinners, worthy of divine punishment. The Law proved that all men are sinners and need to be saved, but cannot do so themselves. The Law prepares men for Christ, who came to save sinners. He perfectly fulfilled the Law, keeping its every command. He also died to the Law, bearing the sins of the world, and meeting the demand of the Law that the one who sins must die.

God has thus made provision for man’s salvation and blessing through the coming, life, death, burial, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. The benefits, the blessings of Christ’s death, are available to every sinner, and yet God has required that those who will be restored must do so by repentance, by acknowledging their sin and by accepting God’s provision for forgiveness. Salvation is for all who will repent and believe. Salvation is for all who will “call on the name of the Lord.” There is nothing more important than your response to God’s offer of salvation in the person of His Son. To receive Him is to receive forgiveness, eternal life and the blessings of God. To reject Him is to remain in your sins and to bear the consequence of eternal separation from Him and from His blessings.

If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for the witness of God is this, that He has borne witness concerning His Son. The one who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness that God has borne concerning His Son. And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life (1 John 5:9-12).

How will you respond to God’s offer of salvation. To repent, to acknowledge your sin, and to look to Jesus Christ for salvation, for forgiveness, and for eternal life, is to receive the eternal blessings of God. To refrain from doing so is to continue to experience divine condemnation. If the Old Testament teaches us anything from its account of the history of Israel it is this: that God keeps His promises, as outlined in Leviticus 26. Those who obey are blessed, and those who rebel are cursed. May you be among the blessed, because you have turned to the Son of God and trusted Him for forgiveness, restoration, and blessing.

For those who are Christians, those who have already trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation, I remind you of Paul’s words that we sow what we reap. Our obedience brings blessing and our rebellion brings discipline. Let us seek, by His grace, to obey.

Perversions of This Passage

As I conclude, let me simply mention some of the ways in which this passage has been perverted, misinterpreted and misapplied, by some in our own day. I will not describe these positions in detail, nor will I refute them, but simply name them, so that the reader can ponder them in relationship to our text and our teaching.

(1) The legalists, who still teach that God blesses or curses the Christian, on the basis of his keeping (perfectly) the Law of Moses. Milton Green is but one who does so in our time and in our city. He says that if we fail to “keep the covenant” God will curse us, usually by some kind of demonic attack or possession. On the other hand, he says, if we perfectly keep the covenant, God will enable us to perform all the miracles and wonders which our Lord did, and more.

The errors here are many, but the worst is the failure to distinguish between the Abrahamic Covenant and the Mosaic, and between salvation and sanctification achieved by our Lord alone, and that which is allegedly achieved by men keeping the Law.

(2) The prosperity themes of our day. The “gospel of the good life” looks upon a text like ours and says, “If we but do the right things, we will prosper.” There is, of course, an element of truth here, but they generally see prosperity in material terms, and they see it happening immediately, rather than having any delays. They also equate human suffering, trials and testings with disobedience. If you’re not prospering, you must be sinning. Thus we have Job’s friends revisited.

There is also the view that the prosperity which the United States has experienced is due to the piety of its people. The flip side is for us to look down upon impoverished nations, such as India, and to feel that their poverty is the direct result of wrong belief and impiety. We give ourselves too much credit if we think this way.

One error is in equating the Christian with the Israelite. We do not live under the Mosaic Covenant, nor do we possess the land of Canaan. Thus, our blessings are going to differ somewhat from those of the Israelite. Our blessings may not be immediate. As a matter of fact, neither were the blessings of the faithful Israelite. Hebrews 11 focuses on the faith of these saints and on the fact that they died without having received the promises of God. These saints also suffered greatly for their faith, experiencing deprivation, denial, and death for their faith in God. Psalm 73 is but one illustration of the fact that the righteous may not immediately prosper, while the wicked may. The gospel of the good life has to be very selective about its Old Testament texts, for this version of Christianity is very selective in what it chooses to believe. Incidentally, God often delays His judgment, as well as His blessings. This is longsuffering, intended to encourage repentance (cf. 2 Pet. 2, 3).

(3) The positive mental attitude school of Christian thought. This school of thought, which has its origins in pagan thinking, would have us believe that thinking only positive thoughts, thoughts of success and prosperity, will assure us of experiencing success and prosperity. Moses must have been mistaken, then, to have introduced such “negative” thinking into the Old Testament. The Bible has much to say which falls into the negative category of warning, and yet this is intended to play a very positive role in the life of the saint, warning him to abstain from evil.

(4) The view that the grace which is manifested in the New Covenant sets aside all judgment, and thus the need to be concerned about avoiding sin. The underlying assumption is that the goodness and grace of God results only in blessing, and never in discipline. The goodness and grace of God are constantly emphasized in our text and in the Old Testament, and yet His goodness requires God to discipline His wayward children. Christian liberty and the grace of God are never to be used as a pretext, an occasion for sin (cf. Rom. 6:1ff.; 1 Pet. 2:16).

Addendum A
Blessings and Cursings in Leviticus 26

BLESSINGS OF VERSES 1-13	CURSES OF VERSES 14-39
God Confirms Covenant (9)	God’s Vengeance For Covenant (25)
God’s Presence	God’s “Absence”
God turns toward His people (9)	God set’s His face against them (17)
God will dwell among them (11)	God sends them into captivity (38-39)
God walks among them (12)	God becomes their adversary (33)
Peace	Peril
Security (5)	Soul pines away/sudden terror (16)
Peace of mind (6)	Terror, fear, panic (36-37)
Beasts won’t harm them (6)	Beasts destroy and decimate (22)
Prevail over their enemies (7-8)	Attacked by enemies—raids (16) Struck down by enemies (17) Ruled by enemies (17) Flee, but none pursue (17) Delivered into enemy hands (25) Scattered among nations (33) Destroy themselves—cannibalism (29)
Prosperity	Poverty
God gives rains in season (4)	God withholds the rains (19)
Crops will grow abundantly (4-5) Old grain cleared out for new (10)	Crops don’t grow (20) Enemies raid and steal crops (16) Famine—lack of bread (26) Land is desolate (32)
Israelites fruitful and increase (9)	Consumption, fever, waste away (16) Wild animals decimate (22) Pestilence in cities kills (25) Israelites kill and eat their own (29)

Addendum B
Israel’s Judgments

BLESSINGS Lev. 26:1-13	WARNING OF JUDGMENT Lev. 26:14-39	JUDGMENT EXPERIENCED	FUTURE DELIVERANCE
	GENERAL WARNINGS vv. 14-17 Physical, emotional anguish Crops stolen by enemies Defeat by enemies	Judg. 6:3-4, 11	Isa. 11:10
	DROUGHT & POOR HARVESTS vv. 18-20 Break pride No rain Crop failure	Isa. 2:11-17; 5:15-16; 1 Ki. 17:1-2; cf. 18:2
	WILD ANIMALS ATTACK vv. 21-22 People and cattle Stricken by beasts	Ezek. 5:17; 14:15, 21; 1 Ki. 13:24; 20:36; Jer. 5:6*; cf. 2 Ki. 2:24; 2 Ki. 17:25-26* (*Samaritans)	Isa. 11:6-9
	RAVAGES OF WAR vv. 23-26 A sword Pestilence in cities Delivered into hands of enemies Famine—no bread	Judg. 2:11-15; 2 Ki. 17:7ff.; 1 Sam 10:5ff.; Isa 3:1; Jer. 24:8-10; Ezek 4:16; 5:16; 14:13	Isa. 11:14; 13:1-22; 14:1-2; 24-27
	WAR AND EXILE vv. 27-33 Cannibalism Destroy high places Cities & Sanctuaries destroyed Land made desolate People scattered/dispersion	2 Ki. 6:26-30; Lam. 2:20; 2 Ki. 23 (esp. v. 20); Isa. 63:18; Jer. 44:2, 6, 22; Jer. 12:1; 33:10; Ezek. 12:15	Isa. 19:5-10 Isa. 11:11-12
	RESULTS OF EXILE vv. 34-39 Land has sabbaths Those left behind victims, rot away	Jer. 50:34; Ezek. 33:10	Isa. 19:1-4

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¹⁶⁵ I like Wenham’s title for this chapter: “Exhortation to Obey the Law: Blessing and Cursing.” Gordon J. Wenham, The Book of Leviticus (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1979), p. 324.

Noordtzij seems to share my enthusiasm and appreciation for this chapter. He writes: “Leviticus 26 is one of the most moving chapters, not only in the Book of Leviticus and the Pentateuch as a whole, but in the entire Old Testament revelation. In looking toward the future, the Lord laments the fact that He soon might be compelled to chastise His people. If they, in utter ungratefulness, should sinfully reject the love that He had shown to them, He would have no choice but to cause them to feel the destructive weight of His divine indignation, even as this love continued to reach out to them. As a single, poignant lament of divine love, the chapter also contains a warning and a prayer that the Israelites would not have to undergo such punishment.” A. Noordtzij, Leviticus, trans. by Raymond Togtman (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), p. 262.

¹⁶⁶ Wenham writes, “Lists of blessings and cursings were a common practice in the ancient Near East in the suzeranty-vassel treaties.” Wenham, p. 327.

¹⁶⁷ “There is nevertheless an important and significant difference in outlook. Whereas the biblical texts are straightforward promises about how God will respond to his people’s behavior, in blessings on the obedient and judgment on the careless, the nonbiblical texts are prayers to the gods to act.” Ibid., p. 327.

¹⁶⁸ “Internally, the chapter is quite clearly structured. Phrases that were keys to the division of the material in previous chapters reappear in this one, ‘I am the Lord (your God)’ (vv. 1, 2, 13, 44, 45). As in ch. 19 we have a double formula at the beginning and end of the chapter. … The curses are further divided into six subsections by the introductory clauses, ‘If you will not listen to me (vv. 14, 18, 21, 23, 27), I shall punish you (seven times for your sins)’ (vv. 16, 18, 21, 24, 28). Verse 40 states the converse and offers a promise of restoration when the people repent.” Ibid., pp. 327-328.

“Using the last criterion as our guide the blessings fall into three groups each beginning with ‘I shall give’ … The blessings are then divided as follows: 4-5 the gift of rain and good harvests; 6-10 the gift of peace, no wild animals, defeats, or famine; 11-13 the gift of God’s presence. Though the blessings do not exactly match the curses in length or number, the subject matter of both is similar and there are a number of clear echoes of the blessings in the curses.” Ibid., p. 328.

¹⁶⁹ Wenham writes, “Seven seems to be a round number for repeated punishments (cf. Ps. 79:12; Prov. 24:16; Isa. 4:1). It is an appropriate and evocative number in view of the importance of the seventh in Israelite religion, and it serves as a reminder that these punishments are for breach of the heart of this religion, the covenant (cf. v. 25). The book of Revelation portrays a series of sevenfold judgments overtaking the world in the last days (Rev. 5-16).” Wenham, p. 331.

“This ‘seven’ is not to be understood in an arithmetic sense, for as the Semitic number of totality (cf. Deut. 28:7, 25; Ps. 79:12), it rather indicates punishment in full measure.” Noordtzij, p. 267.

¹⁷⁰ Wenham cites Bonar, who has written, “‘All declension and decay may be said to be begun wherever we see these two ordinances despised—the sabbath and the sanctuary. They are the outward fence around the inward love commanded by v. 1.’” Bonar, p. 473, as cited by Wenham, p. 329.

¹⁷¹ “Although Canaan was constantly coveted by the inhabitants of the desert, since its rich agricultural land provided what they could not obtain in the steppe (e.g., Judges 6), and it sometimes became the battlefield of nations—the armies of Egypt and Mesopotamia met there more than once—the promise is given that there would be no enemies in the land.” Noordtzij, p. 265.

¹⁷² “Gentle early rains would fall in October and November and make the land ready for plowing and sowing; strong winter storms would come from mid-December to mid-March in order to saturate the ground, filling the wells and making the springs overflow; and the later rains of April would cause the ears of grain and the fruit to swell and enable the fields to endure the heat of summer. The granting of the necessary rain at the proper time would allow the land to produce to its fullest capacity and yield an abundant harvest (Deut. 11:14; Jer. 5:24; Hos. 6:3), whereas a failure of the rains meant famine and misery. If Israel obeyed the Lord’s commands, the grain would be so plentiful (cf. Amos 9:13) that the threshing and harvest of April and May, the proverbial time of rejoicing (e.g., Ps. 4:7; Isa. 9:3), would continue until the grape harvest in August and September, when the joyful Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated (Deut. 16:13-14; Judg. 21:19-21; 1 Kings 8:2; 12:32); and the grape harvest would likewise continue until the time of planting that began after the early rains. The people would then also live in the land ‘in safety’ (literally, ‘in confidence,’ cf. 25:19), without anxiety about the satisfaction of their daily needs.” Ibid., p. 264.

¹⁷³ The brief chart in Addendum A helps to see how the blessings of verses 1-13 are reversed to cursings in verses 14-39. The chart in Addendum B plays out the cursings in Israel’s history, from their realization to their removal.

¹⁷⁴ The matter of fertility is clearly addressed in the parallel passage in Deuteronomy 28. In verse 4, fertility is promised, while in verse 18 it is taken away.

¹⁷⁵ I have a theory about the difference between the length of the blessing section, as compared with the cursings. First, the cursings are more certain than the blessings. That is, Israel’s experience will be more that of cursing than of blessing. Second, we tend to ponder, visualize, and meditate more upon blessings than upon cursings. Thus, the Israelites could be counted on to “fill in the blanks” of what wasn’t said of God’s blessings, but God made certain that He “filled in the blanks” of the cursings, in graphic detail. Finally, the righteous would not look at the chapter in terms of its warnings as much as its blessings. As the Scriptures teach, “to the pure, all things are pure” (Titus 1:15). One can see this in the Psalmist’s attitude toward God’s law. While it warns him (Ps. 19:11), much more is made of its blessings (cf. vv. 7-10).

¹⁷⁶ “These judgments are described as discipline. Throughout the Bible divine discipline is referred to: God punishes his people not merely because they deserve it, but because he loves them and wants to correct their foolish ways (Deut. 8:5; Jer. 30:11; 31:18; Ps. 38:2 [Eng. 1]; 94:12; Prov. 3:11-12; Heb. 12:5-11). Amos laments that, despite judgments of famine and drought, disease and defeat, ‘yet you did not return to me’ (Amos 4:6, 8, 9, 10, 11).” Wenham, pp. 330-331.