Live-Wire Bible Study - Day 39 - Leviticus 19–20 · Hebrews 7 - FeedTheGoodHorse
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Day 39: Leviticus 19–20 · Hebrews 7 · Commentary · Commentary² · Audio
The Bible text is included for reading continuity; it is accurate in substance, aligned with major modern translations, and may be read alongside any Bible you prefer.1
Special Note about the following Bible text: The following translation uses the Hebrew terms tamé (טָמֵא) and tahor (טָהוֹר) instead of the traditional “unclean” and “clean.” These terms describe ritual status in relation to sanctuary access, not moral fault, shame, or physical dirtiness. A fuller explanation will follow in a dedicated article.
Leviticus 19
Jehovah spoke to Moses:
Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them: You are to be holy, for I, Jehovah your God, am holy.
Each of you is to fear his mother and his father. You are to keep my sabbaths. I am Jehovah your God.
Do not turn to idols or make cast images for yourselves. I am Jehovah your God.
When you sacrifice a peace offering to Jehovah, you are to sacrifice it so that you may be accepted. It is to be eaten on the day you sacrifice it or on the next day. What remains until the third day is to be burned with fire. If it is eaten on the third day, it is unacceptable; it will not be credited. The one who eats it will bear his iniquity, because he has profaned what is holy to Jehovah. That person will be cut off from his people.
When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the edge of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You are not to strip your vineyard bare or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You are to leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am Jehovah your God.
You are not to steal. You are not to deal falsely. You are not to lie to one another.
You are not to swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am Jehovah.
You are not to oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker are not to remain with you overnight until morning.
You are not to curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind. You are to fear your God. I am Jehovah.
You are not to do injustice in judgment. You are not to be partial to the poor or show favor to the great. In righteousness you are to judge your neighbor.
You are not to go about as a slanderer among your people. You are not to stand against the blood of your neighbor. I am Jehovah.
You are not to hate your brother in your heart. You are surely to rebuke your neighbor and not bear sin because of him.
You are not to take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your people. You are to love your neighbor as yourself. I am Jehovah.
You are to keep my statutes. You are not to let your livestock breed with a different kind. You are not to sow your field with two kinds of seed. You are not to wear a garment made of two kinds of material mixed together.
If a man lies sexually with a woman who is a slave assigned to another man and not redeemed or given her freedom, there is to be an inquiry. They are not to be put to death, because she was not free. He is to bring his guilt offering to Jehovah, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, a ram for a guilt offering. The priest is to make atonement for him with the ram before Jehovah for the sin he committed, and the sin he committed will be forgiven him.
When you come into the land and plant any tree for food, you are to regard its fruit as forbidden. For three years it is to be forbidden to you; it is not to be eaten. In the fourth year all its fruit is to be holy, a praise offering to Jehovah. In the fifth year you may eat its fruit, so that it may yield more for you. I am Jehovah your God.
You are not to eat anything with the blood. You are not to practice divination or soothsaying.
You are not to round off the hair at the sides of your head or destroy the edges of your beard.
You are not to make cuts in your flesh for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am Jehovah.
Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, so that the land does not become prostituted and filled with depravity.
You are to keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. I am Jehovah.
Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists and be made tamé by them. I am Jehovah your God.
You are to rise before the gray head and honor the face of an old man. You are to fear your God. I am Jehovah.
When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you are not to oppress him. The stranger who sojourns with you is to be to you as the native among you. You are to love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am Jehovah your God.
You are not to do injustice in judgment, in measures of length, weight, or quantity. You are to have honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin. I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
You are to keep all my statutes and all my judgments and do them. I am Jehovah.
Leviticus 20
Jehovah spoke to Moses:
You are to say to the sons of Israel: Any man of the sons of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his offspring to Molech is surely to be put to death. The people of the land are to stone him with stones. I will set my face against that man and cut him off from among his people, because he has given some of his offspring to Molech, to make my sanctuary tamé and to profane my holy name. If the people of the land close their eyes to that man when he gives some of his offspring to Molech and do not put him to death, I will set my face against that man and against his clan and cut off from among their people both him and all who follow him in prostituting themselves to Molech.
If a person turns to mediums and spiritists and prostitutes himself after them, I will set my face against that person and cut him off from among his people.
You are to set yourselves apart and be holy, for I am Jehovah your God. You are to keep my statutes and do them. I am Jehovah who sets you apart.
If anyone curses his father or his mother, he is surely to be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is on him.
If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife, with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress are surely to be put to death.
If a man lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness. Both of them are surely to be put to death; their blood is on them.
If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them are surely to be put to death. They have committed perversion; their blood is on them.
If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They are surely to be put to death; their blood is on them.
If a man takes a woman and her mother also, it is depravity. They are to be burned with fire, both he and they, so that there may be no depravity among you.
If a man lies with an animal, he is surely to be put to death, and you are to kill the animal.
If a woman approaches an animal and lies with it, you are to kill the woman and the animal. They are surely to be put to death; their blood is on them.
If a man takes his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is disgrace. They are to be cut off in the sight of the sons of their people. He has uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he will bear his iniquity.
If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual tamé-status and uncovers her nakedness, he has laid bare her flow, and she has uncovered the flow of her blood. Both of them are to be cut off from among their people.
You are not to uncover the nakedness of your mother’s sister or your father’s sister, for that exposes one’s close relative. They will bear their iniquity.
If a man lies with his uncle’s wife, he has uncovered his uncle’s nakedness. They will bear their sin; they will die childless.
If a man takes his brother’s wife, it is tamé. He has uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they will be childless.
You are to keep all my statutes and all my judgments and do them, so that the land to which I am bringing you to live does not vomit you out. You are not to walk in the statutes of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things and I detested them.
But I have said to you, You will possess their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am Jehovah your God, who has separated you from the peoples.
You are to distinguish between the tahor animal and the tamé animal, and between the tamé bird and the tahor bird. You are not to make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything that creeps on the ground, which I have separated for you as tamé.
You are to be holy to me, for I, Jehovah, am holy and have separated you from the peoples to be mine.
A man or a woman who is a medium or a spiritist is surely to be put to death. They are to be stoned with stones; their blood is on them.
Hebrews 7
This Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he was returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him. Abraham gave him a tenth of everything. His name first means “king of justice,” and then “king of Salem,” that is, “king of peace.” Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, and resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest without interruption.
Consider how great he was. Even Abraham the patriarch gave him a tenth from the best of the plunder. Those descended from Levi who receive the priestly office have a command in the law to collect a tenth from the people, that is, from their siblings, though they too are descended from Abraham. But this one, whose genealogy is not traced from them, collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises. It is beyond dispute that the lesser is blessed by the greater. In one case, mortal humans receive the tenth. In the other, it is testified that he lives. One might even say that Levi, who receives the tenth, paid a tenth through Abraham, because he was still within his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.
If completion had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood, for under it the people received the law, what further need would there be for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek rather than according to the order of Aaron? When the priesthood changes, a change of law follows as well. The one about whom these things are said belonged to another tribe, from which no one has served at the altar. It is clear that our Lord arose from Judah, a tribe about which Moses said nothing concerning priests.
This becomes even clearer if another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, one who has become a priest not according to a law of physical descent but according to the power of an indestructible life. For it is testified,
“You are a priest into the age
according to the order of Melchizedek.”
On the one hand, a former command is set aside because of its weakness and ineffectiveness, for the law made nothing complete. On the other hand, a better hope is introduced. Through it we draw near to God.
It was not without an oath. Others became priests without an oath, but he became a priest with an oath through the one who said to him,
“The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind,
‘You are a priest into the age.’”
By this, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.
The former priests were many in number, because death kept them from continuing. But he holds his priesthood permanently, because he remains. Therefore he is able to rescue completely those who come to God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them.
Such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people. He did this once when he offered himself. The law appoints humans in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints a Son who has been brought to completion into the age.
Commentary - Day 039
Leviticus 19–20 · Hebrews 7
Leviticus 19 opens with a sentence that frames everything that follows: “You are to be holy, for I, Jehovah your God, am holy.” The commands move quickly: fear of mother and father, keeping sabbaths, refusal of idols, correct handling of offerings. The refrain returns: “I am Jehovah your God.” Holiness is not defined apart from practice. It appears in harvest, wages, speech, judgment, and restraint.
The edges of fields are left unreaped. Fallen grapes remain for the poor and the stranger. What is “holy to Jehovah” is not to be eaten on the third day. Time protects what has been set apart. The one who eats beyond the boundary “profanes what is holy.” The same chapter speaks of slander, false oaths, and oppression. Hatred “in your heart” stands beside vengeance and grudge. “You are to love your neighbor as yourself.” The interior and the exterior are addressed together.
Mixtures are named without explanation: livestock of different kinds, seed in the field, cloth of mixed material. They stand among commands about divination, cutting the flesh, and prostitution of daughters. The pattern is not interpreted. The repetition of distinction is. “You are to keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary.” Mediums and spiritists make a person tamé. The stranger is to be “as the native among you.” “You are to love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” The refrain binds it again: “I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.”
Leviticus 20 returns to acts already named and attaches consequence. Giving offspring to Molech is said to make the sanctuary tamé and to profane the holy name. If the people close their eyes, the text says Jehovah will not. Sexual unions listed in the previous chapter reappear with phrases such as “their blood is on them,” “they will die childless,” “they are to be cut off.” The land is again described as capable of vomiting out its inhabitants. “I have separated you from the peoples.” Distinction between tahor and tamé animals concludes the chapter. “You are to be holy to me … and have separated you from the peoples to be mine.”
Across these chapters, holiness is spoken as separation that touches land, sanctuary, name, body, commerce, memory, and belonging. The refrain “I am Jehovah” gathers them without commentary.
Hebrews 7 introduces Melchizedek with minimal detail: “king of justice,” “king of peace,” “without father, without mother, without genealogy.” Abraham gives him a tenth and receives a blessing. “The lesser is blessed by the greater.” The argument lingers on that exchange. Levi, who receives the tenth under the law, is described as still within Abraham when Abraham gives the tenth.
The chapter asks: “If completion had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood … what further need would there be?” It states plainly: “the law made nothing complete.” A priest arises “not according to a law of physical descent but according to the power of an indestructible life.” The citation repeats: “You are a priest into the age.” The difference is marked by oath. Others became priests without one. “The Lord has sworn.”
Former priests were many because death interrupted them. This one “remains.” He “always lives to intercede.” He has offered himself “once.” The text contrasts succession with permanence, weakness with oath, repetition with completion.
Leviticus speaks of a people separated from nations, practices, mixtures, and profanations. Hebrews speaks of a priest separated “from sinners” and established by oath into permanence. In both, approach to God is ordered. In both, belonging is named.
Leviticus 19 ties holiness to ordinary life: parents, sabbaths, refusal of idols, careful handling of offerings, leaving field edges and fallen grapes for the poor and the stranger, honest wages and scales, guarding speech, refusing vengeance, and loving neighbor and stranger. The refrain “I am Jehovah” binds worship, economics, and daily conduct. Leviticus 20 sharpens consequences: Molech profanes the name and makes the sanctuary tamé; mediums defile; sexual transgressions carry cutting off, death, or childlessness; the land can “vomit” a people out.
Hebrews 7 argues that Melchizedek’s priesthood stands above Levi’s: blessing and tenth precede genealogy, priesthood change brings law change, and Jesus is priest “into the age” by oath and indestructible life, introducing “a better hope” through which people draw near.
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