March 11, 2020

This chapter is one of those chapters that a lot of people speed read whenever they are doing a reading plan. This chapter is a literal list of laws that God gave to the Israelites and that Moses was told to pass on to them. If you did speed read through this chapter, you’re going to probably miss a couple of  things.

First, you’re going to miss verse 2 where it says, “’Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.’” Why does he start with this? So I’m a person that really wants to know the reason behind most things. Whether it’s a rule, procedure, idea, law, or really almost anything. Although sometimes I can drive myself, and others, crazy with this, I find that I have a greater desire to follow or listen when I am given a why. This is God’s why! They should be holy because He is holy. So he tells them to be holy because He is holy and then tells them how they can do this. How much clearer could God have made it?

Second, you notice that after most of the rules or laws he repeats the phrase, “I am the Lord your God.” This is a reminder of the importance of following these commands. Now if you read through these laws you are going to find some obvious don’ts and some peculiar ones. Like an obvious don’t is putting a stumbling block in front of a blind person (verse 14), but a less obvious don’t would be to not wear clothes woven of two kinds of materials (verse 19). Don’t get caught up in all the different laws that are presented. The point of them was to set God’s people apart from the rest of the world. His people should be different.

So I’ll leave you with this: in 1 Peter 1:13-15 it talks about this notion of being holy because God is holy. These verses even take it a step further when it says, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do.” That’s what God was calling his people to do, and that is what he is calling us to do. He’s calling us to be holy in ALL that we do.

By: Jacob Kerr – West Campus Pastoral Ministry Apprentice: Worship & Students