0:03
So, we're moving into Leviticus 19, but um trailing Leviticus 18 and 20 as we go. So, kind of moving a little bit slowly. I think we're going to speed up as we get beyond uh Leviticus 19, which
0:14
is really the core of the holiness code. But, um we've had some good conversations and discussions. I hope they've been helpful in terms of the
0:25
content of those two difficult chapters 18 and 20. Um also the the markers uh the um the the repeated uh statement
0:35
about uh I am the Lord or I am the Lord your God, the comment about uncovering nakedness and then finally the the involvement of the land. And and so as
0:48
we move into Leviticus 19, we have a much more positive set of statutes than we've seen in 18 or see in 20. uh but I do want to
0:59
talk about the orientation of of this whole section and and the the reason for the particular the particular sins that are enumerated. Uh certainly
1:12
there are many other sins that would be in the same categories and certainly many other sins that are listed elsewhere in scripture but they're not necessarily listed in this section of
1:24
Leviticus. And I think the reason is because there is a is a uh there there's a fundamental structure of what God is doing here at the base of
1:36
Sinai with this nation he has just created Israel. And as I've said before that time in the wilderness is incredibly important and formative.
1:47
Um, and Um, and if they get the right lesson in the wilderness, then things will go well with them in the land. If they don't get it in the wilderness, they're actually
1:58
not going to get it in the land. And I think the ministry of the prophets shows us the latter situation, the latter combination was sadly what happened.
2:08
They they didn't get it or they didn't follow through with it. And in spite of as Jesus said, I sent you my prophets um they didn't come around even then and
2:19
most of the prophets they killed. So we see that it is ultimately a failure in that regard. But of course it's still part of God's overall redemptive plan.
2:30
Um and what happened in the wilderness and what happened in the land are by no means unimportant that we can simply ignore them that they have nothing to teach us. One of the things that I think
2:40
it this particular se section teaches us is the essential uh importance of the community.
2:52
That the whole idea of holiness has two um inseparable components.
3:04
inseparable components. One is the cult and the other is the community or the camp. the cult being the the tabernacle and the and the ironic priesthood, the we
3:14
might call it the sacred and the secular, although I don't think that's a good way to put it. But if we look at
3:31
Leviticus as a book of holiness and I think that's a very good way of looking at Leviticus. You see, it is divided up into two primary sections, though there is definite overlap. The first half of the book is primarily about the
3:43
sacrificial tabernacle ministry and the role of the ironic priest, but then in chapters 21 and 22, we return to the priesthood and we have additional
3:53
stipulations. So, we have the the Torah or you might say the the law of the sacrifices in Leviticus 1-17
4:08
and 17- 27. There's a bit of overlap in chapter 17. As you transition from one section to the other, we have what we call the holiness code.
4:28
And this is where I think we we we see that this that this has to do with the cult, the what we would call the the religious worship, um the sacrificial system. That is often
4:40
primarily what people think about when they think of Old Testament Israel and they think of the Old Covenant. They tend to think of the Mosaic law and the Levitic rituals and the sacrifices.
4:51
But there was another half of the book that you we have to read and it has almost entirely do to with the camp. Now we've already dealt with that in Leviticus 11 for example when we deal
5:03
with the the clean and unclean and and that has has very little to do with the priests except their role in the purification process. But the primary focus back there was how the average
5:15
Israelite would find himself or herself unclean and therefore ineligible to approach the sacred to approach the tent. Okay? So the the camp and the cult
5:35
overlap. I don't mean that there's something special in the center, but they're by no means divided that you have uh you know church on Sunday and work at Monday. It's it was that's not even an ancient
5:47
view there. There's no sense in the ancient world in which in which state and church were separated. What did I say? Cult and cult. Yeah, camp. Thank you.
6:07
So this is where we are in the holiness code. But as I said, when we get to chapters 20 and 20 21 and 20 22, we'll see that we're back with the priests again. And one of the reasons for that is the priests are also part of the
6:18
camp, but but in a way that is exemplary. And and so certain stipulations that apply to everyone in the camp apply even
6:29
more to the the priests. But that's 21 and 22. We're not there yet. So in Leviticus 18-20, we have as as typically
6:40
called uh the heart of the holiness code. Leviticus 19 is often viewed as the decalogue or the 10 words of the holiness code because it is fairly
6:52
obvious at least for nine of the ten commandments that they are referred to or implied in chapter 19. Uh many commentators find all 10. Uh I I don't I
7:06
only find nine of them. I I I can't find uh um I can't find the one against adultery in there. We'll talk about that hopefully this evening as that's the
7:17
kind of the framework of chapter 19 that that many people see, but it's definitely rooted in the decalogue in the in the the 10 words. Um, and and so
7:28
that's that's something you pick up on really almost right away as he talks about rever your mother and your father, honor the Sabbath, and do not make any idols. So, it's like the opening verse
7:39
kicks off three of them, and then others are are also woven into chapter 19. But as we move into chapter 19 and we have 18 and 20 bracketing that chapter,
7:54
I think there is a a tangible essence or a tangible evidence of the family unit
8:05
being the the indispensable building block of the community. The community is by no means treated
8:15
as a separate entity unto itself, some type of an amalgam of of all Israelites. Now, the Israelites are are themselves
8:27
divided obviously into tribes, but those tribes are divided into families. And so I I put up on the board the idea this that's often bannered about especially by politicians. The idea of
8:39
biblical family values. And whenever I hear someone like that use the word biblical, I want to ask, well, what part of the Bible are they using?
8:51
The Bible has a great deal to say about the family, the family, but to kind of summarize what I'm about to say, the emphasis is almost entirely
9:02
and very powerfully on the relationship or the the identity of the husband and wife. That in terms of what the Bible says about family,
9:14
about family, it's the father and mother that are of supreme importance. supreme importance. In fact, for this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave
9:24
unto his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. The idea of one flesh is only used of the husband and wife. It
9:34
is the foundation of monogamy. Okay? It's also the analogy of Christ and his church. So it's it's an incredibly important part uh in our culture,
9:47
western 21st century Christianity, conservative Christianity, conservative Christianity, we do emphasize marriage and the importance and integrity of marriage,
9:57
but I don't think to the degree that scripture does scripture does relative to the role of the parents and the children and the children to the
10:08
parents. Does that make sense? How many? Uh, well, I am planning on teasing it out. Yeah, I just want to make sure I'm not I'm not stumbling anybody, you know,
10:20
right off right out of the gate. We live in what is is called the age of the child. the child. I secular, not not necessarily, you know, Christian, but it's called the age
10:30
of the child. Uh, because a great deal of legislation focuses on the children. Um and um the the children are considered the hope of the future and and and some of this is is true and
10:42
good. But I would I would maintain that we have inverted the proper relationship of the family unit
10:52
to the point that even within Christianity the emphasis upon is upon the children. the children. um sometimes even to the detriment of the marriage.
11:03
the marriage. Not necessarily right away, but over time the emphasis that is placed on the children becomes um
11:13
overwhelming and I think in some cases can be obsessive. Now on on the one hand the scripture has some very significant and positive things to say about the responsibility
11:26
of raising children and I think we even within the law. So if we look at
11:38
the positive commands we have for example Deuteronomy 6 the shama here. Oh Israel, the Lord thy God, the Lord is one. And you shall teach his statutes to your children. You
11:51
will speak of them in the way. You will speak of them when you rise up and when you lie down and when you sit around the table. And so that that's a very significant passage.
12:07
I think it's 4 through six, but don't hold me to that. Um, but it it it's it's very significant. it um it it's kind of an expanded version of what Paul says when he says, you know, or when he um
12:19
says to raise up your children in the honor and admonition of the Lord. Okay, that there's there is a there is a venue that um within which a biblical family,
12:30
a biblical husband and wife raised their children. Once again, we don't really realize how incredibly radical that was in the ancient near east.
12:41
Children were basically property and not of much value until a certain age and not much value at all at any age. If a woman, if a daughter,
12:53
children were typically at the earliest possible age for the poor and the working class, they were put to work or indentured for the benefit of the family. Even within Israel, we see this
13:04
happening. In wealthy families, children were raised by a slave. Typically in the Roman world, it would have been a Greek slave. And whatever education they might have gotten, that's how they would have
13:16
gotten it. But the idea of public education for all children, now that's a very modern concept. And even the idea of of um devotion to children is not an
13:29
ancient one. Okay. Uh, and I think it's important, and this, as I said a couple weeks ago about archaeology, I do think it's important to realize just how radical the biblical teaching of the Old
13:41
Testament was in its day. Does that does that make sense? You know, in marriage and in raising children, something like this was was really very um very very
13:54
radical. So there's a very very strong positive, you know, the the prophecy that that the the forerunner would turn the hearts of the fathers back toward the children and the children toward the
14:04
fathers, you know. Yeah, that's that's all very true. Um the Proverbs and I think it's 26. I didn't look it up. But raise up a
14:14
child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. Well, I think they they go handinand glove. How how do you raise up a child in the
14:25
way he should go? Well, you speak of the statutes of the Lord as you rise up, as you lay down at night, as you walk in the way, as you sit at the table. That's how you raise up a child in the way he
14:36
should go. In our day, what I've witnessed in in conservative Christianity, uh, Western Christianity is a
14:48
is a kind of a spectrum of raising up a child in the way he should go. On the one end, you you um you raise up all your children to go
14:59
into Christian ministry. You smirk. You smirk. Um, that's not uncommon in Protestant Christianity over the last 500 years,
15:11
normally within the conservative elements, but it's it's it's got that little Roman Catholic tint of the sacred vocation
15:22
versus the secular vocation. And being Christians, obviously, the way our children should go is on the mission field or into the ministry. Okay? Okay.
15:32
So, we should raise them up to go in in those paths. That's pleasing to the Lord. I would say no. Not all the time at all. Not by any means. That's not raising up the child in the way they
15:44
should go. It's raising up the child in the way you think they should go. And and that that's a problem when you you decide what the path will be and then
15:55
you kind of make them go in that path. Okay. So, um I I don't I'm not saying that I see that um in in our congregation. I definitely have seen
16:07
it in Milton um in in some of the families that that are part of our our Milton Academy where it's really amazing how you know you the Lord calls every
16:19
one of your children to do the same thing. That's a miracle. Okay. um you know that that's that's not I
16:29
don't think that's raising up the child in the way he should go or she should go. Okay. Uh and also it's it's it can be very chauvinistic for example and and I'm again I'm speaking my mind here not
16:41
not something thus sayeth the lord but typically in those situations it's the men the boys who will go on to Bible college and then some form of ministry and the girls are going on to get their
16:53
MRS degree. they're supposed to marry and have children. Um, that's how we see in many branches of American conservative Christianity, that's how we
17:03
see the biblical role of raising a child in the way he should go. Okay. Um, I don't agree with it. I think it's an extreme and I think it can do a lot of harm because it's going to put people in
17:15
situations uh where where they're really not suited uh either temperamentally or by actual calling to be in that situation. And to say that men have not
17:26
gone into the ministry because of expectations would just be naive. Throughout history, men have done things because of expectation. They've gone into military because, you know, their
17:37
whole family is military. They go into the uh into the ministry because their father was a minister. It's what's expected of them. Um and typically in those cases, they if their heart is not in it, they make lousy generals or
17:49
horrible preachers. Um, and the on the other side, I don't think that it's biblical to assume that it is the the God-given destiny of every young lady to
18:01
be married. So, you this is this is an extreme, but it's a real one. Then the other side and the other extreme is that w within conservative Christianity,
18:13
we still uh encourage our children to pursue a path that is no less worldly than our unbelieving neighbors,
18:24
college career. Okay, it's it's no different. And it's not there's no recognizable difference between how we encourage our children to pursue a
18:34
career to pursue a path than what unbelievers do. I think that's the other extreme certainly. extreme certainly. But as I said with the first one, going
18:45
into the ministry is not a bad thing and marrying is not a bad thing, nor is getting a career a bad thing. There's nothing inherently wrong with either, you know, in terms of just what it is you're doing. What's wrong is when we
18:58
think that that is what mean what it means by raising the child in the way they should go. And I'm not going to try to elaborate on what I think it means. But I do I do want to focus on something
19:09
here that I find in Leviticus 18:19 and 20. And that is raising a child in the way they should go. Well, let me let me do something else before I go there. Um I'll I'll say
19:22
that and then I'll come back to it. raising a child in the way they should go in at least the Old Testament model and I think also the New
19:33
is measured relative to the community. the community. It is not actually measured relative to the individual
19:45
the individual because the first of all the main metric that we're introduced to is the land itself. And then we have a whole series and this
19:55
is what's conveniently left out. There are quite a number of very negative things with regard to
20:07
children who apostatize, children who uh disgrace the Lord and blaspheme his name or even children who
20:17
are uh disobedient to their parents. And the punishments are quite severe. One case, of course, they're to be taken
20:28
outside the city gates and stoned. In the case of a priest's daughter who prostitutes herself, very unusual punishment for the Old Testament, she's to be burned. She's to be executed by
20:45
fire. We can't take the one and not the other. Now I think it is very interesting that such statutes and such punishments and you
20:56
can correct me if you know of one because I I I don't even pretend to know all the scripture as it pertains to this but it doesn't pertain to the relationship of husband and wife. Again,
21:08
husband and wife. In fact, when it talks about whom for whom the priest may mourn, the wife is not mentioned among the
21:19
close relations. close relations. The reason is, as we will learn from Ezekiel, the reason is the wife is one flesh with the husband. It need not be mentioned.
21:33
The implication of what Ezekiel is told, don't mourn for her. it presumes that he would otherwise though he was a priest he would otherwise mourn for his wife. Okay. So
21:46
in that in that it's like the husband and wife situation need not be elaborated it's it's a given it's just taken um they they are one um and and certainly when the wife is uh
21:57
disobedient when the husband is disobedient uh when we see things like um Nabal and and is it Nabal who was Abigail's husband Nabal Nabal and Abigail it's the Lord who intervenes
22:10
there is one mentioned that your eye will not
22:23
okay so there's an example of of the um the severity but the severity of that I think pertains to the integrity of the holiness of the community and so what I'm proposing and and I do
22:36
believe that the the holiness the community of Israel and its holiness is a type of the church and I think that that bears out by what Peter and Paul
22:47
say with regard to being holy and being a holy nation. The same phrase that is used to describe Israel gathered at Si is used by Peter to describe the church.
22:57
And then Paul says the same thing, come out from among them and be separate. Uh and and John says, "Everyone who has this hope within him purifies himself as he is pure." And Jesus in the sermon on
23:09
the mount says, "You shall be holy for the Lord your God is holy." So I I don't think there can be any in my mind I don't see how there can be any doubt that what we're reading about the
23:19
holiness of Israel and what it means is all typological of what the church is supposed to be in the world. And I also think that the the relationship of the
23:30
husband and the wife and that of the parents and the children is still the building block of that community. But I do not believe that the measurement of success or failure if you
23:41
want to put it that way. I don't believe the measurement is either the family itself or the children themselves. For example, in one extreme, oh, you did a great job. All of your sons grew up to
23:52
be pastors. Oh, you know, let's all applaud. Or on the other side, look at that. Three sons. You got a doctor, a lawyer. Uh, what else is there out there? An engineer. Okay, he's the one
24:03
without a sense of humor. Um, you know, they're successful. Good job. No, both. No, it it might be wonderful that that those sons turned out to be a
24:14
doctor, a lawyer, an engineer, and the other one's pastors. I'm not saying it's any I was an engineer. I mean, it's nothing really wrong with it. I'm saying that that is not the metric. That is not
24:24
the measure. In fact, if they attain all of that, whether in ministry and maybe they have a very successful ministry as far as we can tell, and yet then doing so they do harm to
24:38
the integrity of the community, they are a failure and they would have been treated as such in the community of Israel. If Israel
24:49
had been faithful to the commandments of God, they would have been cut off from their people, if not actually executed. So the the the the metric that I'm
25:01
proposing, and this is really kind of radical. We don't see we don't think this way in in a modern American Christianity. But the metric of our holiness
25:13
is not individual devotion or piety. I hate the word piety. I think it is an excellent mask for
25:25
hypocrisy and pride. It has a very good meaning and I don't want to I I don't want to uh blaspheme the word um but its application in the church over the
25:36
generations is sometimes nauseating. Okay, devoted that's good. Devotion is important but we also have kind of uh
25:48
mechanized devotion. In fact, we've turned it into a verb, haven't we? You did you did your devotions. you you know you you did your your your time and we made it into something that's kind of uh
26:00
you can get very proud of it if you're not careful. Okay. So, but we're measuring ourselves by ourselves. We're measuring our holiness by our own progress. We're we're measuring our our
26:10
our um our growth by, for example, our knowledge of the word or the time we spend in prayer. This is encouraged by many very large famous ministries in our
26:23
day that this is what it means to be holy. This is what it means to to be a disciple of Jesus. And and what is left out almost entirely is the role of of the individual family
26:36
and of course the individuals in the family in and on the community. But when you go back to the Old Testament, and I think if you read the
26:46
New Testament correctly, the community is where it's at.
26:57
Does that make sense? It It's where worship and witness are intended to take place is in the community. So when we see the prohibitions against
27:09
the various sins in Leviticus 18 and Leviticus 20, generally they are very much oriented
27:21
toward the person of the father and the offense committed against that person. So, if we look at a uh and I didn't even
27:33
write anything down here, but you know, um uh disobedient,
27:44
stoned, you know, the you you know, they're they're there. They're they're very positive injunctions as to how we are to raise up our children. And I think they fit very well with what we're told in the New Testament. But also we
27:56
find that um there are some negatives that are to be dealt with and if they're not dealt with that then you're going to have problems first in the family but you can't you can't convince yourself
28:08
that the problems are only in the family. the problems are in the community. And that's I think what these that's what Israel in the wilderness Israel at Sinai
28:19
teaches me because that is like um almost um almost um a petri dish you know where where the whole thing's under a microscope and we
28:31
see the the fullness and the depth of holiness teaching in one place at one time that they are supposed to embibe and inculcate into their lives and then carry that on into the hand and if they
28:44
would do so then they would worship in spirit and truth. They would worship and they would witness but obviously they didn't do that consistently.
28:55
Um and and there are some connections that I'm making that in order for you to even remotely agree with what I'm saying, you need to make the same connections or agree with them.
29:06
And the primary one as I said earlier is that what we learn about Israel is typological of the church not the sacrifices and we've talked about that we you know we have to
29:18
discern we don't simply blindly follow what Israel did we try to understand why God made Israel do that what was the
29:29
purpose of them doing that but Israel's role in the world at that time is I believe the church's role in the world at this time and that is predominantly
29:39
worship and witness. But even the witness was not Israel going out into the nations but rather it was Israel living in obedience to God's statutes in
29:50
the place where God put them. So I don't think the church has done well as I said Sunday morning. I don't think the church has done well with its
30:00
missions programs. missions programs. I think it could be well if everything were well at home, but oftentimes it isn't. And so the the
30:12
if it's not well at home, then it's not going to be well out on the mission field either. So we we've we've not I don't think we've understood the
30:22
redemptive historical purpose of Israel as a called people. And because we're told in the New Testament that we are a royal priesthood, we are a holy nation, we are
30:34
the called of God, the ecclesia, then the pattern that was established for Israel in terms of holiness is our pattern. And the root of that, as I said, quite
30:47
radical in the ancient world, the fundamental building block of that holy community was the family. And I think it is the same today. But I don't think it's the way we think it is.
31:18
particularly oriented toward Leviticus 18 and 20 and the primary nature of the sins not exclusive. There are others that are listed there that are only questionably
31:30
it can be argued that they fit into this rubric. Um but the first one I think is fairly obvious
31:44
and this is not radical. It is radical in the role of the father not in the f not in the fact that the father was the undisputed head of the marriage and the family. But it is also radical that the
31:56
fifth commandment does not say honor thy father. It says honor thy father and thy mother. Again that was not something that was
32:06
part of ancient neareastern or ancient Greco Roman culture. The mother was a higher form of possession than the children. But she did basically belong
32:18
to and was under the complete legal control of the husband. Now, there's some elements of that in the Old Testament, but then we have that interesting um the daughters of of who
32:29
it was. I keep thinking, pardon me, I knew I keep thinking Zerapath and I know that's not the right one. There's a there's a woman from earth. Um uh but anyhow, there were no men to inherit and
32:40
they were going to lose everything. Moses goes to the Lord. The Lord's come back and say, "No, they're right." You know, they they will inherit. So um women's rights had their first
32:50
historical advance at Sinai and in and in the community of Israel. Okay, that's the beginning of the feminist movement. Um in in truth, okay, in truth and very
33:01
and really just the fifth commandment, we read it and say, you know, but that's that's become so much a part of our culture that we don't even question the radical nature of adding mother there.
33:12
Okay. So, when I say patriarchal, I mean, some people cringe because they think misogyny, they think, you know, they think oppression, not biblical
33:23
patriarchy. That's not how it works. And yet, you still have, as you do with the Godhead, you still have hierarchy. And you have submission, willing
33:33
submission that actually redowns to the glory of the Godhead rather than detract from it. And again, Paul uses that as the pattern for a biblical marriage.
33:44
Okay? The the Godhead itself is the pattern for the biblical marriage. And and it's it's um it's mysterious. Um how do we maintain that there is but one God
33:54
of of equal divinity and yet the head of Christ is the father and the spirit proceeds from the father through the son. You know, we see ontological equality. We see hierarchical economy
34:07
that they there is mutual submission that that Jesus says of himself. I only do what I see the father do and he says of the spirit. The spirit will not speak on his own account but will take from me
34:18
and deliver it to you. So if it works for the godhead and it doesn't detract from the glory of the godhead or any of the members of the persons of the godhead then it needs to work in a
34:31
Christian marriage. it needs to work in a biblical family. So, patriarchy. Now the the the reason I say that that this flows out of Leviticus 18 and 20 is that
34:42
most of the sins that are mentioned there have a direct impact on the authority of the father which was I believe the fundamental problem of what
34:53
Ham did in Noah's tent and and what and what Reuben did with his father's concubine these or what Abselum did with
35:05
David's concubines or what Abhja wanted to do or Adinijah excuse me with Abhja and that was to usurp the authority of the father or Solomon the king in that
35:17
last case. Um so that's the under that's underlying the uncovering the nakedness. It it it is clearly a a certain type of sin and that's described. But what what
35:29
ties all those statements together is the supremacy and the integrity of the father of the patia. Okay? And and again
35:40
not in an oppressive not in a godfather sort of way but rather in a way that that imitates the fatherhood of God who
35:51
says it is in Malachi if I am a father where is my honor? So, patriarchy, that's that's really not very popular in
36:02
modern western culture. And I will I will freely admit that it's been given and deserves a bad name in many Christian eras. And even today,
36:14
there are those who teach a form of patriarchy that is nothing nothing more or nothing less than misogyny. And that's not what I'm saying. I don't think that's what we find in scripture.
36:26
we find more what what Paul says in Ephesians that the husband is to love the wife as Jesus loves the church and gave himself up for her and he is to
36:37
raise the children in the honor and admonition of the Lord. So there there are distinct biblical guidelines for the meaning of this word but I think if we abandon the word or the concept behind
36:47
it we've abandoned biblical family. We we have to do it right. We can't do it wrong. But to not do it at all is to
36:58
abandon the whole biblical model that God himself has patterned before us in what how he has revealed himself in the godhead. So the these particular sins that we
37:09
read about in Leviticus have distinct ways of challenging the father. First of all, the authority.
37:33
its historical roots are all related to a a grab for authority that rightfully belongs either to the father or to the king. It's illegitimate.
37:46
It's illegitimate. But that's another part of the problem with these um uh these particular sins and that is
38:02
the sins that are enumerated in Leviticus 18 and 20 along with others but particularly these muddy the waters in terms of lineage
38:14
and lineage. and lineage. isn't as important today as it was in the ancient world and certainly um not as important it was as as it was in the messianic line. Lineage was very
38:29
important. It it determined the birthright, the blessing, the possession, the authority that would then be transferred from the father to the s to the son.
38:42
It's it's interesting there was not primogenature the idea that the firstborn received everything. That's a later development that wasn't even common or at least not
38:52
universal in the ancient world. For example, in the Roman world, uh especially during the era of what's known as the five good emperors in the second century,
39:02
second century, the sitting emperor would adopt a grown man to be his heir because that man will have at that point showed his medal,
39:13
showed himself to be honorable, showed himself to be capable. And that's why that era is known as the five good emperors. It kind of ended when the the emperor um the emperor chose his son
39:26
Aurel Marcus Aurelius chose his son Comeodus to succeed him and he was a lousy emperor. Um and so that pattern was was was purposeful but it also shows
39:37
that primogenature was not the law of the land. In the Bible in Genesis 49, we do see that the birthright does go to
39:48
the unloved wife, Leah, but not to the first son, rather the fourth, Judah. fourth, Judah. Okay? Now, the blessing goes to Joseph,
40:00
but the birthright goes to Judah. The the the right of authority within the family is passed from Israel to Judah. Okay? So that that was a very
40:11
significant thing. And we learn later that Esau that Esau um is is really uh considered hopelessly reprobate
40:22
hopelessly reprobate because he cared so little for his birthright that he was willing to sell it for a a bowl of of stew. Okay. So um
40:32
lineage was very important. It was the order of birthright. which was very important to the Israelites even in the tribes uh that
40:45
were not messianic or Levitical. But for example the the we do know that of course as we go along the the Messiah
40:55
will be from the tribe of Judah and later we learn he will be from the lineage of David. We learn that the priests are to be of the lineage of Aaron. Okay. So the strictctures uh
41:06
against the the strictctures that are that are apply to all the people are intensified when it comes to the priests because if they could not we find as they come back from the exile that some
41:17
of them could not prove their lineage and they were excluded from the tabernacle service, the temple service. Incredibly important. And it was important in the ancient world. Not
41:28
again, not so much for the layman, not so much for the peasant as it was for the priest and for the nobility, but in Israel it was important for everybody. Well, the the sins that we read in
41:39
Leviticus 18 and 20 muck up things pretty badly. If those things go on, then the family tree becomes a kudzu and
41:49
it becomes very hard to discern the proper lineage. Uh now that may seem unimportant but but I think it's very important it's not important it's not unimportant
42:33
it's like when the father died took the father's concubine and then there was like daughter in there and another tribe in so Manisa was assigned the territory of West Virginia is that what you're saying but you come to them being in the land
42:45
there actually seems to be a need to disentangle that a bit the tribe and they're going to settle on two sides
42:56
of the Jordan important attention in the law that you might miss
43:08
out and I don't and I I don't want to to say that that is the reason why these particular sins are are forbidden today. They're forbidden because they are wicked. Okay, I'm not I'm not saying
43:19
that this is some justification for the practice of these sins outside of Israel or outside the old covenant. No, I'm just trying to show why these particular ones were highlighted in this way. Okay,
43:32
they are fundamentally and inherently wicked. They are violation of God's pattern of of one flesh marriage. But see, all of God's patterns are are clean
43:45
lines. Okay? So, so the the mucking up of the lineage was a was a terrible thing in Israel. And so it it was it it it complicated
43:59
holiness because one part of holiness is wholeness or completeness or purity is involved in holiness and of course separatedness is involved. But in
44:09
holiness everything is as it ought to be. Well, if you pursue the culture that is forbidden in Leviticus 18, then within a few generations,
44:22
nothing is the way it's supposed to be. And and that would be um a travesty and a sacrilege. a sacrilege. But also there there is another thing
44:33
that we really don't focus on anymore, but that is the the central importance of procreation. of procreation. Okay. Now this was the uh primary
45:06
um and I don't want to resurrect it. Okay. I'm I'm not advocating as I as I've said on other things. There are there are things that were done under the old covenant that we need not do now and
45:17
some things that we should not do now. I do think that obviously procreation properly procreation belongs within the institution of marriage.
45:29
But I don't mean by that that there is a set amount of children that every married couple ought to have. Right? And I don't think that any particular married couple is holier by having many
45:42
children versus having few children or I kind of struggle with this. No, no children. um you know I don't quite agree with that if it's by choice and
45:54
not by uh physical limitations but it was fundamentally the purpose of Adam and Eve being brought together be fruitful and multi multiply and it was
46:07
the um the purpose of Israel to grow in the land so that they might overcome all of the enemies. The reason they were not
46:17
given the biblical or God's given reason why they weren't conquering all the land is because they couldn't inhabit all the land and the land would be taken over by weeds and by wild animals. And so some
46:29
of the people were allowed to remain in the land but eventually they were to be displaced as Israel grew. So some of the commandments are against those particular sins that do not produce
46:43
a child. Okay. And and they're in there. Um but also the the the practice uh whereby the the insemination is avoided
46:55
was also considered a sin and in the face of God. Judah's sons are an example there prior to the land of course, but they're an example of of not doing their
47:05
duty and producing a son. The Livite mar or the liverite marriage uh kind of also not only that combines these two. Okay. That if that if a a a man dies without
47:18
issue, then the next brother is to take the widow as his wife and do what? Raise up a seed for his brother. So even the
47:29
lineage of the dead brother is preserved in Israel. So these are these are fundamental features of these particular laws that that do not pertain to our
47:39
culture today. And and so it could be argued that that none of them do. I I don't think you can argue that. I still think that the fundamental framework of
47:50
marriage is patriarchal. I think the New Testament bears that out. I think that the the having and raising of children is still a creation mandate and a very
48:03
important one. And as far as lineage, I think that that applies today in terms of
48:14
the continuation from generation to generation of faith.
48:28
I don't think that God has committed to save all the children of every believer. I don't think there's any biblical evidence that that he has committed that you could say, you know,
48:40
I'm a believer, therefore my children are among the elect. It would be nice and convenient if we could say that. I don't think we have scriptural warrant. And if anybody disagrees with me,
48:51
please speak up. I do think we have scriptural warrant from 1 Corinthians 7 to say that the children of believers are holy in the sense that they are set
49:03
apart. And I do think that it is, if we can use human terms, it's the predisposition of God that the faith of the parents should pass on to their children. Again,
49:14
I don't think it's it's it's like the proverb, raise up a child in the way they should go. That's a proverb. It's not a promise because no man can save another man's soul. And that also applies parent to child. If we if we
49:29
could, come on, all of our children would be believers, right? It would it would be wonderful. But we we can't.
49:46
idea is that the holiness of the community was to be complete and any
49:57
and any deviation from that holiness had its repercussion. Now it had its means of purification. But if we turn to numbers 15 for example
50:09
in terms of the purification rituals, what was to happen to the man who refused to be purified? He was cut off. He was cut off from the
50:24
people. That's how important the purification and the holiness of the community was. Bad company corrupts good morals. Paul quotes that proverb.
50:37
It's pretty obvious as we read through the the impurity laws and how you could become impure that it was pretty hard to go through a 24-hour period without becoming impure. Certainly a 30-day
50:48
period. You you couldn't go through any length of time without somehow becoming even if someone died in your family and you touched the corpse or were near it, you're impure until evening. you know
50:59
you there's something you need to do to make things right. The camp would have very quickly descended into corruption had these purity laws, these taboss,
51:12
these laws of pollution not established as they were intended to do established in their mind the intensity of the holiness of the God in whose presence they dwell.
51:25
they dwell. None of these things in any way cleanse their consciences. We learn that from Hebrews, but we can see it in the Old Testament itself. The sacrifice did not wash away all sin. All of these things
51:38
were meant to maintain the cleanliness, the cleanness the cleanness that was established by God in calling Israel out of Egypt and establishing
51:48
them as his people. So the normal condition, we saw when we looked at those chapters, the normal condition is clean. But there were so many things that could
51:59
make you unclean and then you would have to do whatever was prescribed to get back to the status of clean so that you could still approach the tabernacle and bring your offerings to the altar. So it
52:11
was like a day by day, every minute of the day, the day, you were presented with the holiness of God and of his community.
52:21
You could not abide in that situation. willful apostasy, willful apostasy, willful idolatry, willful unholiness
52:40
without the entire camp becoming hopelessly corrupted.
52:56
How do we apply that today? or or do we apply that today? Is that something that we can even think of in terms of Christian families in the church today?
53:42
I think so. The bad word is Christianizing the culture, especially in western culture when it's just a given that
53:52
adultery is bad. You don't have to be a Christian to know that cheaters are bad, you know. And so we sort of I think
54:07
world. I I think that is I personally think that that is capable of historical proof and particularly following the path over the last 500 years of Protestant
54:20
Christianity that you can see that the church has been a leavenvening influence. But we also have to remember that levan and I I think that's exactly the right word. I really do because it's not something
54:32
that you see happening. It's something that as Jesus says is happening. The kingdom of heaven is as levan that a woman placed in a lump and it worked its way through the hole. And I know that
54:44
many interpreters try to find something negative about that because usually levan is used as a negative metaphor. But I think that's that's that's an
54:56
improper exugesus. Levan doesn't have to be used. Levan Levan is a force. Yeast is a force we understand. And it's a force that works powerfully
55:06
but invisibly, right? And it's one that's pervasive and permeating. That's the meaning of the metaphor levan. And what you're saying is Christianity can
55:17
be levven for good. But we still have to remember that a little levan leavenvens the whole lump. beware of the levan of the Pharisees. You know, we still have to remember that levan can work the other way too.
55:28
And I think that both truths apply to the community. That if, as you said, the families are living by God's grace in
55:40
obedience to his commands, then they are a a positive leavenvening influence for the whole community. But on the converse side, if there is
55:52
apostasy and unbelief within the family, does that not also leaven the community?
56:05
If there is disobedience or dishonor in a family, whether it's husband and wife or parent children to parents, is that not also leavenvening the community?
56:16
And I think that's what we're dealing with here is that we have to recognize the leavenvening influence of what we do, whether good or bad. That what we do, whether good or bad, is not for
56:29
ourselves. It's for the body of Christ. And we may think that it has no impact because it's part of the it's just family. No, it it has impact on your testimony, on your
56:50
So that raises the importance of the family in terms of the responsibility of the parents to raise up the children in the way they should go. But it also raises the ante in terms of what the church, what the family does when they
57:06
don't. Okay? And and I made the comment between Leviticus 18, Leviticus 20. Leviticus 18 tells us what's going to happen to the Canaanites because this is how they lived. But in all of the sins in
57:17
Leviticus 18, there's no mention of punishment because the punishment is summarized at the end. The land is going to vomit them out. In Leviticus 20, every single one has a punishment
57:28
associated with it because Israel must police itself or the land is going to vomit you out.
57:39
Okay? So, there's all and and when we get into 19, we see this is positive stuff. This is things we should be doing for one another. not harvesting into the corners, not gleaning the the vineyard
57:50
twice, not not picking up the sheath that you dropped, but rather leaving them for the poor and the alien and the widow. We have the beautiful example of Boaz, you know, to to show us how it was
58:01
supposed to be done. But we have to realize that in the midst of the positive, it's sandwiched between two negatives, two negatives, right? It's not just standing out there.
58:12
It it is actually in a in a fitting, in a setting. a setting. And the heart of it, the the gemstone right in the middle is verse 18. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
58:23
Okay? And then Paul takes that in Romans 13 and says, "What what is what does this mean?" Well, it means love does no harm to one's neighbor. But it means that the whole law is is summarized. You
58:35
know, he he lists, you know, all the the second table really is what people call it. But he lists those and he says all of this is summarized in you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So that's
58:46
where we're heading and it's a very positive thing for the community. But I think it's also incredibly important that we realize that the community was to be self-p policing.
58:59
And I think the church is as well. There was one example in the Old Testament where uh a sin against God and we might even call it a sin against the Holy
59:10
Spirit was immediately and visibly and graphically punished Naab and Abihu. There's one example in the New Testament where a sin against the Holy Spirit was
59:20
immediately and visibly and powerfully and that's Ananas and Safh. They were struck dead. struck dead. What would happen in the churches today
59:32
if every such sin was immediately dealt with by by death?
59:43
hurry, but I think maybe our numbers might be fewer. Okay, we are a self-p policing
59:54
community. I mean, Paul was was grieved in 1 Corinthians 5 by the sin that was being committed. But I think his greatest grievance was that the community itself was not dealing with it. They were so
1:00:06
proud of their liberty and their freedom to allow this to be happening in their midst. You know, and there were other things they were doing where he would say, "I I praise you. I cannot praise you." They were not policing themselves.
1:00:20
And I and and I think that that's where we find the negative influence of levan that that kind of behavior if it's allowed if it's not dealt it cannot
1:00:31
always be reversed. The man who was committing the sin in first in 1 Corinthians 5 may be the one who is to be restored in 2 Corinthians.
1:00:41
We don't know that. Seems to connect but we don't know that. Okay. So there's there's no evidence what we don't know what handing him over to Satan for the
1:00:52
punishment of his flesh really means. It's it's obviously not a picnic. Okay. It it's obviously something very serious. But there's no indication that
1:01:03
the man will be restored to fellowship. Though I'm sure that was Paul's desire. And again maybe in 2 Corinthians we actually read of that. Um, but we can't.
1:01:14
We we, you know, if if a child goes astray, if u we're we're even told that if a believer has an unbelieving spouse, they're really not to do anything about it. That's part of their good
1:01:26
leavenvening. They don't try. They don't leave. They don't divorce, you know, they stay with it because it's providence. If you're a slave, you don't
1:01:36
try, you don't claim your your emancipation because now you're free in Christ. No, you you maintain that situation. Although he says if you can gain your freedom, rather do that. Um
1:01:50
your response to life's circumstances is part of holiness. And I think where where it really
1:02:01
matters in in reading these passages is in the home. And the second place where it really matters if we look at um harvesting in the corners and is in your
1:02:13
work in your home and in your occupation. Those are the two areas where the integrity of your holiness will be most apparent and most tested.
1:02:24
And again, it's not always doing everything right, everything right, but it's responding correctly when it's done wrong. done wrong. that the the Israelite could not
1:02:36
possibly maintain cleanness perpetually because some of the uncleanness were natural human processes.
1:02:47
And I think they're included not to say, "Oh, these things are inherently evil." No, but to show that cleanness is something to be pursued,
1:02:57
something for which God has given a path of purification. of purification. So, I mean, he says, "If any of you sin, then you confess your sin and and God is
1:03:08
right um holy and just to forgive you your sin and to cleanse you from all unrighteous." There's a path. There's a repentance. There's restoration. There's reconciliation. Okay? But we we can't always guarantee
1:03:20
that a child, for example, will take that path. And how we deal with that is a matter of integrity and holiness for the
1:03:53
or in the case of the pericious skin disease keeping the man inside the camp was not the path to his restoration.
1:04:15
We tend to think that reconciliation and restoration is the first priority. I would submit that in a matter of discipline the risk of contamination is of greater
1:04:25
importance. And I think the analogy in the par and the parallel of course is quarantine. Quarantine is was not intended simply to isolate the person till he died.
1:04:42
It was to keep others from contracting the plague. the plague. The doctor still went in and killed the patient by bleeding him to death. I mean, the doctors the doctors still went in and and the monks and the priests and
1:04:54
the laymen, they still went in and they ministered bravely to the sick person, but quarantine, it did not preclude restoration of health, but it was the first step to preclude the spread. And I
1:05:07
think that's what Paul's saying in 1 Corinthians 5. And I think that's what we're dealing with in the in the negative prescriptions concerning apostate children.
1:05:18
apostate children. If they are not removed, not only will their apostasy spread, they will not
1:05:35
the blessings of the community of faith belong to the children of faith. The food of the table does not belong to the dogs.
1:05:48
And so biblical family values include the positive p uh prescriptions of how to raise up your children, how to inculcate the word, how to live the word. I think Deuteronomy 6 is not memory verses. Deuteronomy 6 is living
1:06:02
the life of scriptural obedience in their presence. their presence. Okay, that's the positive. But it's also as it is in Leviticus 20 dealing firmly
1:06:13
with the negatives and dealing in such a way that the integrity of holiness of the community is maintained.
1:06:26
Now I think that that's where the rubber meets the road between Leviticus 18:19 and 20 in that era and the church today. I think there are direct applications of
1:06:37
many of the things that we'll read in Leviticus 19. So when when when we say that when we read that the wage of the of the worker is not to be or the cloak
1:06:48
given in pledge is not to be held until the morning or even gleaning in to the corner of your fields. Well, how many of us are farmers?
1:06:58
Okay, we don't live in that environment or that economic culture anymore. But what does it actually teach? It teaches against avarice and greed.
1:07:12
It teaches against grasping for every nickel you can squeeze out of a contract, for example, or out or every penny of a wage you can squeeze out of
1:07:22
an employee. That's to me that's that's harvesting into the corner of the fields. And I think Boaz as an exemplar of this, he basically told his his
1:07:35
workers, when you're out in the field, drop two out of every three sheave, you know, just kind of hold him like this. And God honored him
1:07:46
and he blessed him and he brought him into the lineage. Well, he already was, but he he gives him the son that would then move all the way to David and then eventually to Jesus Christ. I I don't
1:07:57
know. I think one of the greatest blessings in scripture that we see is when a person is put into the lineage of the Messiah. I mean, think that's that's big stuff. That's better than the Congressional Medal of Honor any day.
1:08:09
You know, you got you got T you got Rahab, you got Ruth, you got Tamar, you know, and they're there they are. They're they're in the lineage. Okay. Um
1:08:19
and and so when we get in as we move into chapter 19, this is kind of what I I want to emphasize is that this this applies to
1:08:29
the positive 11. And this is where I think Aaron when you were saying about the influence in the community.
1:08:42
If Christian churches lived according to the principles of Leviticus 19, they would be so incredibly countercultural in our day. if they lived in the workplace or in
1:08:54
their businesses or even within their congregation the way they're instructed, the way the Israelites were instructed, they would be the the word that is used
1:09:05
that that I have adopted. It's not original to me.
1:09:20
economy and we have examples of this but sadly the examples that we have of this and they're incredibly in effective they're
1:09:31
ethnic for example Vietnamese okay uh or the Italians when they came over you know they would congregate in little Italy and they would look out for
1:09:41
one another and they would help one another succeed another succeed And eventually they would move out and they would the Cubans in in Miami were another example of this. There are no
1:09:51
there are no Cubans living living in Cayo anymore. They're out in the suburbs now. Okay. So the enclave economy is embedded in the host culture but it
1:10:02
lives in such a way not as the Amish but rather as the AMA communities in Iowa from which we get the AMA appliances.
1:10:12
But there were seven communities that lived in a distinct communal manner but interacted commercially with the with the world with the world around them and
1:10:23
what they made was considered to be of such high quality that it became a standard and of course was bought out by a big corporation. Uh I don't know I don't know if they even make a mana
1:10:33
anymore but it no longer has anything to do with those communities. Um this was done in England in the in the 19th century at a place called Lannarch. It was a textile village but it was run by
1:10:46
a Christian who was following the principles uh that he saw in Boaz or that he reads in Leviticus 19. So that the the workers were educated, they were
1:10:56
well-housed, they were wellfed, they were well they were well paid and in doing so he got the best workers and so his products were of the highest quality. Sadly none of these things have
1:11:08
ever lasted in time. U and even the ethnic communities eventually they intermar they assimilate and then those cultures dissipate and are a memory. I
1:11:21
don't think the church was intended to ever dissipate. ever dissipate. I think it was always intended to be a culture of new creation embedded in the old creation.
1:11:31
old creation. And it was going to do that by living by the principles of holiness that we read in Leviticus and elsewhere in the Old Testament. So I think it has to do with not only
1:11:42
our family life very much so but I think it has very much to do with our commercial life with the way we conduct ourselves in a commercial manner and it doesn't even mean that you have to have
1:11:53
a job. It could simply mean the way the way you interact with merchants. You know are you are you constantly trying to cheat them? Are you constantly
1:12:03
trying to get get more for less? Are you are you in fact trying to use uneven scales which are forbidden in Leviticus 19 in order to benefit yourself?
1:12:15
Or are you looking rather for equity? Or even beyond equity rather be wronged as he says in 1 Corinthians 6, why do you not rather be wronged than to take
1:12:27
one another to civil court before unbelievers? You know, even that even even our civil rights, even the rights that we have as American citizens
1:12:43
do not always have to be pressed. Uh, I said that purposefully, awkwardly. Paul pressed his rights to a trial before Caesar.
1:12:54
before Caesar. Why did he do that? for the further spread of the gospel and the glory of God. Okay? But he didn't always press his rights as
1:13:05
a Roman citizen. Okay? So he had rights that the other apostles did not have, nor did most of the Christians in his churches have that right. And and and we
1:13:16
have rights. And I am not saying that we should not press our rights in certain circumstances. Sometimes it is better for the community that we press our
1:13:28
rights. Other times all we're doing and and this is a matter of conscience and examining yourself. All we're doing is seeking to save our own neck and we're pressing our rights for personal gain and not for
1:13:40
communal gain or the community beyond us for which we have care. Okay? Or for the glory of God. So we have rights but they need not
1:13:51
always be pressed. They can sometimes be sacrificed for the better of others. This is the this is the message of Paul when he says
1:14:02
consider others more important than yourself. That's the positive message. Okay. The negative message is hand such a one over to Satan for the destruction of his flesh. You know that's the negative. We need to do both. And that's
1:14:15
why it has to be done in terms of community. Discipline in the church both positive and negative is a corporate act. I think it's very clear that for example the
1:14:26
supreme discipline excommunication is a corporate act. Is it not? It is not a um pastoral act. It is not an act of fiat
1:14:38
by the elders. It's a corporate act and it must be maintained corporately. If a person is put out of the church by
1:14:49
the decision of the congregation and then members of the congregation continue to eat with such a one, what have they done? They've just undermined the integrity of
1:15:00
the congregation the congregation and they have allowed the contamination that was adjudicated to come back into the congregation. is very very important
1:15:11
because there are as I've been saying there there are two primary elements of the identity of God's people in either the old covenant and the new and that is
1:15:36
It can be argued I think that both of them can be done by individuals and there are many who do say I I worship the way I feel led by the lord you know out in the woods on a Sunday morning I'm worshiping the
1:15:47
creator um or I witness by going out to um Waffle House and and or Bojangles or whatever and and telling people you keep
1:15:57
eating that and you're going to be meeting your maker soon. Um, if you die of hardening of the arteries tonight, um, you know, maybe that's a great field ripe for harvest. I don't
1:16:07
know. But so much has been made in the last 150, 200 years of the individual's
1:16:19
responsibility for witness and the individual's ability to worship. to worship. that the biblical model in which worship and witness were always corporate
1:16:30
activities has all but been lost and I think that is not a good thing. I don't think that
1:16:41
we can have worship or witness in any biblical sense of those words alone and by alone I mean completely
1:16:52
alone. I'm not saying that you can't worship at home or that you can't witness in your family or your work or in the neighbor. I'm not saying that. I think that's just an outflow of the
1:17:04
community of the communal worship. I don't think that the private individual worship or witness can in any way take the place of the corporate. I think the one flows from the other. That
1:17:16
individual flows from the corporate and I do not think it can go the other direction. So what we're reading here is corporately oriented
1:17:27
corporately oriented and it in its application it's it's individually applied with a corporate focus if that makes any sense. Okay. The
1:17:38
farmer who owns the field is the one who determines not to harvest into the corners. Right? The man who owns the vineyard is the one who tells his workers, "Don't go
1:17:48
back over and glean twice." where he tells his harvesters, you dropped a sheave, leave it. It's for the poor. That idea of ministry and benevolence to
1:17:59
the poor, the alien, and the widow permeates the Old Testament and I think the New as well because it shows the heart of God who loves the unloly and
1:18:13
who pies the downtrodden and the vulnerable. Okay, again, don't get me wrong. I don't think you should hand out money to every pan handler that walks around. Okay? In fact, I'm not sure you
1:18:24
hand out any money to any pan handler. Personally, I'm not suggesting that at all. I'm saying it's the way we live life. We either live life like Boaz or
1:18:35
we live life like the rich fool who tore down his barns to build bigger ones. Okay, there those are kind of the extremes in scripture of the principles we're going to be getting into in Leviticus 19. But I want to establish
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the foundation that I think exists. And that is the just as the the land is the is the cup that is either storing up or draining depending on the response of
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the community, the wickedness, the sins, the uncleanness that accumulates. Okay? So Leviticus 17 is the cleaning up every year of that accumulated uncleanness,
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the day of atonement. But there's still that disobedience of not celebrating the the sabbatical years and that's being added up. It's just being collected by
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the land until as we read the land will enjoy its Sabbaths. Okay, I think that's Leviticus 26. So, we're heading there eventually. Um, all right. There's a lot
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to think about and it's going to come up a little bit here and there. I just wanted to kind of establish that what we're talking about when we talk about holiness is it's not what it has become
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in many people's thinking today. Many of you have heard of of the uh pyotistic or pyotism movement that kind of it's been chronic throughout the
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church. the idea that the church has become too institutional, too ritualized, maybe too doctrinal and and we need to get back to like a heartfelt spiritual religion and and we get some
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really great writings out of people that are going this way. Thomas Ampus, for example, uh Philip Jacob Spainer is is another excellent example of devotional writing from a pyotistic point of view.
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I think they have something to contribute. But one negative from that is an emphasis on individual Christian living to the to the exception
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of the corporate contribution and responsibility of the individual. We are baptized into one body. We are not baptized as isolated believers. So when
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we go through the waters of baptism, we are baptized into the body of Christ. And so when we rise to walk in newness of life, the orientation of that newness
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of life is the body of Christ. It's the church. And I think in the long run, as hard as this may sound, and and I
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hope you you can um you know, from the way Angel and I have lived life, I think in the long run, the community
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trumps the family. that the family is a part of the community but its orientation is also to be the community
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and not simply itself. Well, let's close in prayer. in prayer. Father, we do ask that you would give us wisdom in our age, not to slavishly follow what we read in
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the Old Testament without seeking to understand those things that have been fulfilled, those things that were that were of that era, that culture, and those things that pertain to us by means
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of typology and fulfillment that we ought to do them today. Help us to understand the idea of corporate holiness and to understand how
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to live as families and as individuals as levan that is good and brings honor and glory to your name through Jesus Christ. But also give us wisdom to know
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how to deal with levan that is bad and how to remove it as you guide with your wisdom for the sake of the community and the restoration of the apostate.
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Father, we do ask that you would glorify your name in the name of Jesus Christ in your church. We ask this in Jesus name.
