Look what comes up from the depths of the sea.

Look what comes up from the depths of the sea.
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Saturday, February 19, 2011

Leviticus 19-21

...and some of these laws seem so strange for this time and place, don't they.....remember that God was setting up a nation.  These people were delivered from Egypt where they had pagan rituals, and they were going to Canaan where there were pagan rituals.  Canaanites practiced incest and it was frequently practiced to maintain royal power in the ruling family (Didn't they realize that they were going to get an inbred product and their kids would be like the ones in "Deliverance" LOL)....we talked about Molech yesterday.....there was also Baal and Astarte...these were fertility deities worshipped to bring good crops on the land.

Here's Baal, who sent rain and was honored in the scattering of the seed.




Here's Astarte, Queen of the Earth


Nice, huh?

God is not a God who needs to be appeased so that he won't wreak havac on nature.

Some other explanations for "odd" stuff that we don't have today:

The prohibition agains intermingling two breeds of animals, two kinds of seed, two different fibers in clothing reflects the constant heartbeat of one...one...one...in everything, beginning with the unity-the oneness-of God the Lord.

Fruit trees are held in special regard in this land.  The young treees are not to be forced to bear fruit; the fruit in their fourth year is brought as an offering to the Lord.  Only in their fifth year are fruit trees regarded as sufficiently mature to produce food ready to eat.

Sorcery and magic were prohibited because they attempted to tell the future.....this stuff could just be fake, or the people could truly be involved with evil spirits which was extremely dangerous.  Only God knows the plan and the future.

They were to take care of the poor and respect the aged (I really have to work on this when the snowbirds drive below the speed limit on Canal Rd.....pray for me....)

And finally we get rules for priests to handle the unclean (dead bodies)...this dealt with close family members of the priests.  The priests weren't to cut (get scars) or tatoos or cut the sides of their hair in rememberence of the dead. (I read a comment on a blog that said if this haircut was a mullet, it should have been outlawed, because a mullet is just WRONG)

You will see that the laws that apply today are reiterated by Jesus in the New Testament.....They can all be summed up by:  Love the Lord your God above all else; and love your neighbor as yourself.
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1 comment:

  1. BonnieFebruary 19, 2011 at 5:58 AM

    Here we see some more laws and rules we should abide by and apply today...respect the old....

    I guess this is where rules for morality began.....

    The part about not lying with an animal....that is just gross.....I didn't realize this would be here, but here it is again.....that just makes me sick and to think people having been doing that sort of thing all along......

    God wanted man to live an honest and moral life and follow his commandments, but they had to be told exactly what to do and not to do.....and unfortunately, many need to know this today...

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