Leviticus 24-25

Leviticus 24 Light, Blasphemy, and eye-for-eye retaliation

Leviticus 24:1-4 The Israelites are to bring pure olive for the priests to burn in the tent of meeting, outside the most holy place, continuously (continually). The priests will put flame on top of the golden altar.  After God created the heavens and earth, the very next thing He created was light. (Genesis 1:3-5). The psalmist says that God’s word is light, going beyond simply saying God spoke to bring light into existence. (Psalms 119:105,130) The point being, coming into God’s presence brings the opportunity to hear from Him, and thus have our lives and paths illuminated by truth. Of course, this is only opportunity, we are free to accept or reject what He slows us, or unintentionally or deliberately misinterpret it. The flame of burning olive oil simply symbolizes this opportunity to partake of the truth. (John 8:12, 9:15)

Leviticus 24:5-9 The Israelites are to bring twelve loaves of bread to set on the table in the holy place every sabbath. Each loaf is to contain 0.2 ephah (about seven cups) of flour. These will become food for the priests, part of their food allotment. This bread probably speaks on at least three levels. On the physical level, it reminded Israel of the manna He provided in the wilderness for forty years to the twelve tribes, and continued to provide as they farmed in the promised land. Next, God provides His word as bread for our souls. At the spiritual level, Jesus is the bread of life, represented in the New Testament by the Eucharist. Twelve loaves probably represent the tribes of Israel or Jesus’ apostles.  (Matthew 4:4,  Luke 22:19)

Leviticus 24:10-16 A mixed breed man (perhaps teenager), cross between Israelite and Egyptian, got into a fight and cursed the Lord’s Name, violating the third commandment. (Exodus 20:3) The Lord told Moses that anyone who curses His Name is to be stoned. This is an equal opportunity rule, applying to both Israelites and gentiles residing with them. His Name is to be respected because He is holy. The entire assembly is to lay their hands on him  (reminiscent of 4:15, 16:21) and participate in the execution.  Presumably this was to transfer any guilt for the offense to the offender, and to remind the rest of their responsibility to honor God with their speech.

Leviticus 24:17-22 The punishment for violating the sixth commandment is death. (Exodus 20:13) The eye-for-an-eye rule is to be applied to injuries of all sorts, including fracture, eye or tooth damage, or loss of an animal. It also applies equally to both Israelites and gentiles. Jesus contravened this rule. (Matthew 5:38-42) He said to forgive and turn the other cheek. He went on to tell us to love our enemies and pray for those who despitefully use us (Matthew 5:43-48), because this is the character of God who forgives us. But at this point in Israel’s formation, having just spent 400 years in Egypt, they needed to understand that might does not make right, and the powerful could not abuse the downtrodden with impunity.

Leviticus 24:23 The Israelites obeyed God and stoned the blasphemer.

 

Leviticus 25 Sabbath Years and Slavery

Leviticus 25:1-7 Israel was to let the land lie fallow for one year every seven, calling it a Sabbath year. The land was to be allowed to rest. God would provide such an abundant harvest the sixth year that they could have food until the harvest of the eighth year, which reset the clock.  Verse 6 is a bit puzzling because it says whatever a land yields the Sabbath year would be food for them, but since they weren’t to harvest it, it is not clear how this worked.  Perhaps this simply means harvesting for sale was not to happen, but the farmer could feed his household from it. There is some recent thought that letting the land rest was a natural way to allow for ecological health in farmlands.

Leviticus 25:8-13 The year of jubilee is an additional Sabbath year that occurs after seven Sabbath years, so that there will be two Sabbath years in a row. Hence this happens every fifty years. The rules for this jubilee year are the Sabbath rules with additional provisions for the  return of families to their ancestral properties, the forgiveness of debts, and the freeing of slaves.  

Leviticus 25:14-17, 23-28 Further elaboration on the return of the land emphasizes that the land belongs to the Lord and the Israelites are only tenants. If someone sells their ancestral land, they are really only subleasing it to the other party for the number of years until the next jubilee. Hence, the sale price should be accordingly pro-rated. 

Leviticus 25:18-22 As with the year of jubilee, the Lord promises bountiful harvests to feed the Israelites, in this case for two full years of rest for the land.

Giving the land rest possibly stands for giving our bodies rest, although on a larger scale than weekly Sabbaths. Certainly God rested on the seventh day of creation, although the duration of the days in Genesis has been the subject of some debate. (Genesis 2:2-3) It appears that He planted the garden of Eden after He created Adam and Eve. I can find no hint at a year of jubilee in the Genesis account. Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years, and did not plant nor harvest in the desert, but simply gathered manna for six days per week.  (Exodus 16:22-30) Entering the promised land was a celebration of sorts, but the Israelites had to fight. There is no record of them observing Sabbath years during the era of the judges. In the New Testament there isn’t any parallel dynamic matching this time line, of celebrations of rest every seven or every fifty years. 

Leviticus 25:29-34 Rules for the redemption of non-agricultural dwellings: The right of redemption extends to dwellings in small towns. However, houses in walled cities have only a one year right of redemption. After that, the sale is permanent. All houses of Levites have a permanent right of redemption, regardless of location. And a special rule, the pastures of Levites  are never to be sold, because they belong to God.

Leviticus 25:35-43 A warning about mistreating fellow Israelites who become poor. They are not to be taken advantage of, by gouging them financially. They are to be helped. They do not lose their status as Israelites, even if they sell themselves as slaves to other Israelites. Treat them with respect.  In the year of jubilee they are to go free and return to their ancestral land, to which they did not lose the right of redemption.  

Leviticus 25:44-46 By contrast, foreigners can be treated as chattel slaves, property, to be owned, bought, and sold. No right of redemption. This applies whether they are bought from other nations or are immigrants to Israel. Unfortunately, verses like this have been used to justify slavery across the centuries and millennia. Often in the antebellum era, slaves had a much deeper relationship with Christ than their owners, who practiced the form of religion without substance or depth. Seeing these verses from a racial perspective completely ignores the spiritual dimension. A person with a personal relationship with Jesus will see those lacking that personal relationship as a mission field for evangelization, not as property to be bought and sold.

Leviticus 25:47-55 If a foreigner living within Israel becomes wealthy and an Israelite sells himself to them, the right of redemption remains. In addition to the year of Jubilee, a relative has the statutory right to buy him back from the foreigner. Prices to be prorated based on the calendar.