In this chapter we learn what characterises those who walk near with God, what characterises those who do not, but most importantly the mercy that characterises God.  With destinies of two very different paths laid out so clearly in this passage, the only logical choice seems to be to walk as closely with God as possible.  Only then will people be content with all God has provided, and be free from worry as they experience His protection and witness His victory over the enemy.  The absence of such assurance is too much to bear.  To lack God’s protection and His peace; to experience constant

Instructions for holy living in this passage involve the livelihood of God’s people.  God was making His way into every corner of their lives, imploring them to learn to trust Him.  If they would just trust Him and obey Him they would learn what it means to truly prosper.  There was no risk involved.  He would provide.  While He done so His creation would recover naturally from years of toil, the poor and destitute would be provided for abundantly, and His people would be blessed with a time of rest and restoration.  In the year of Jubilee they would be reminded that nothing was truly their

This chapter is concerned with a lamp that should continually burn, bread that should be continually replenished and the name of the Lord that should be revered and honoured.  We move from annual festivities, to daily and weekly routines, reminding us that our service to Him should not be calendar based but ingrained into our daily lives.  These acts of service would have reminded the Israelites that God’s light shines in a dark world, that He provides for the hungry, and that He is always with them.  In John’s gospel (8:12, 6:35) Jesus claims that He is the ‘light of the world’ and the ‘br

The next set of instructions that Moses was to bring to the people of Israel was regarding the feasts and celebrations that would mark the Jewish calendar.  Mere mortal men have added and detracted to this over the centuries, but here we have God with his Filofax setting out how and when His people would rest, how they would remember their deliverance from Egypt, how they would acknowledge and return His provision, how they would remember His covenant with them, seek His forgiveness, and regularly reconnect with both their God and His community.  God was seeking to bless them throughout all

Against passages like todays in Leviticus the challenge of ‘holy living’ can seem an impossible standard.  In these two chapters we read of the higher standard that was required of the priests; standards that involved their personal affairs and relationships, standards that involved their physical appearance, and standards that involved their professional conduct.  We live in a society that set’s its own standards, that measures itself against itself, and that provides very few strong examples that we can follow in our own pursuit of holy living.  As Christians we look to the church to prov

A fuller understanding of this passage should convey a tone of an overwhelmingly concerned father, watching His children about to enter a perilous, dangerous territory; a territory where people worshipped false gods and even sacrificed their children to them; a land where people turned to every form of idolatry rather than worship the true and living God.  Even though He had given His distinct holy people every kind of instruction to set them apart, He understood their frailty and their weakness, and to protect them He makes them fully aware of the consequences of failing to follow His decr

In Leviticus 19 we find the origin of ‘love your neighbour as yourself’.  The fullness of meaning of ‘holy living’ can be discovered here as we realise it is not only a private individual pursuit, but is traced in social relationships; ‘holiness’ is not just inward, but outward; ‘holiness’ was the mark of a community, and not just the individual.  In order for a healthy society to function as God intended the family and the church are to play a crucial part, hence the people are reminded to honour their parents and honour the Sabbath.  Idols are to be repudiated.  Israel should not need to