S2E205-Leviticus 19-21: Set Apart

Transcript Today's Bible Translation Bible translation used in today's episode: Ch. 19-20 HCSB, Ch. 21 NASB Executive Producer Roderick Prince Associate Producer Jørn Rune Reinertsen Podcast Introduction Today is the Law Monday. We’ll read Leviticus 19-21. I’m calling the episode “Set Apart.” Design: Jason Paschall | Photo: Gary Barnes at pexels.com Comments on Leviticus 19-20 19:1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2“Speak to the entire Israelite community and tell them: Be holy because I, Yahweh your God, am holy. Leviticus 19:1 HCSB 20: 22  “You are to keep all My statutes and all My ordinances, and do them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out. 23You must not follow the statutes of the nations I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and I abhorred them. 24And I promised you: You will inherit their land, since I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am Yahweh your God who set you apart from the peoples. 25Therefore you must distinguish the clean animal from the unclean one, and the unclean bird from the clean one. Do not become contaminated by any land animal, bird, or whatever crawls on the ground; I have set these apart as unclean for you. 26You are to be holy to Me because I, Yahweh, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be Mine.  Leviticus 20:22-26 HCSB In chapter 19, verses 1 and 2, God called the Israelites to be holy, as He is holy. To be holy is to be separate, different, set apart. (Apart, not a part. When an orange is still hanging on the tree, it is a part of the tree. Once I pluck the orange, it is apart from the tree, no longer a part of the tree.) God is holy, in that He is different from everything else in all creation. Every aspect of who and what God is, is different than every other thing. Because He is God, He is greater, He is more righteous, He is more just, more pure, more loving, more MORE than can be expressed. So how can He call His people to be holy, because He is holy? We are not God. We are human. How can we be holy? Because we are made in His image. He is not calling us to be gods, because God is the only true God. So what is He calling us to do? He is calling us to be separate, different, set apart from the things in the world that are not pleasing to Him. Or put another way, set apart from the things that are not like Him. We are to be more like Him. We are to reflect Him as much as we can. The word "Christian" means, "like Christ".  So in chapter 19 and most of chapter 20, God, through Moses, talked about the punishment that was to be meted out for various sins, which had already been spoken of in previous chapters. And then in verses 22-26 of chapter 20, God gave His reason for calling Israel to be holy. God has called His chosen people out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. This is a land that had been inhabited by people who practiced many things that were evil in the sight of God, and He did not want any of that behavior to be brought into the Israelite culture. The fact that the previous inhabitants did such heinous things is why God had the Israelites expel and, in fact, why He commanded them to completely wipe them out in almost every case.  And God told the Israelites to keep all of His statues and laws so that the land where He was bringing them would not vomit them out, as He was having them do to the Canaanites who were presently in that land. This is why He called them to be holy. And this idea of being different, of being separate, is the reason for many of the laws in these two chapters. Whenever there was a behavior that was practiced by the Canaanites, God said, "Do not do that."  Some of the seemingly random laws are examples of this. Like the shaving of the sides of the heads or the trimming of the beards. These were things done by the pagans in their worship of idols. The same for cutting the flesh or tattoos.

Episode Transcript

Steve Webb (00:00):
How can we be holy?
It's the Lifespring! One YearBible coming to you from
Riverside, California, andpodcasting since 2004, I am your
OG Godcaster, Steve Webb. Howare you today? It's The Law

(00:20):
Monday. We'll read Leviticus 19through 21. And I'm calling the
episode "Set Apart." Before weget started, let's pray. Our
gracious heavenly Father, how welove you and we thank you so
much for this time that we cangather around your Word and read
and study and talk about whatyou show us in your Word, who
you reveal yourself to be. Iask, Lord, that you would touch

(00:42):
our hearts and touch our minds.I pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen. Okay, let's get going.
Leviticus, chapter 19. The Lordspoke to Moses: “Speak to the
entire Israelite community andtell them: Be holy because I,
the Lord your God, am holy.“Each of you is to respect his

(01:03):
mother and father. You are tokeep My Sabbaths; I am the Lord
your God. Do not turn to idolsor make cast images of gods for
yourselves; I am the Lord yourGod. “When you offer a
fellowship sacrifice to theLord, sacrifice it so that you
may be accepted. It is better tobe eaten on the day you
sacrifice it or on the next day,but what remains on the third

(01:26):
day must be burned up. If any iseaten on the third day, it is a
repulsive thing; it will not beaccepted. Anyone who eats it
will bear his punishment, for hehas profaned what is holy to the
Lord. That person must be cutoff from his people. “When you
reap the harvest of your land,you are not to reap to the very
edge of your field or gather thegleanings of your harvest. You

(01:50):
must not strip your vineyardbare or gather its fallen
grapes. Leave them for the poorand the foreign resident; I am
the Lord your God. “You must notsteal. You must not act
deceptively or lie to oneanother. You must not swear
falsely by My name, profaningthe name of the Lord your God; I
am Yahweh. “You must not oppressyour neighbor or rob him. The

(02:14):
wages due a hired hand must notremain with you until morning.
You must not curse the deaf orput a stumbling block in front
of the blind, but you are tofear your God; I am the Lord.
“You must not act unjustly whendeciding a case. Do not be
partial to the poor or givepreference to the rich; judge
your neighbor fairly. You mustnot go about spreading slander

(02:38):
among your people; you must notjeopardize your neighbor’s life;
I am the Lord. “You must notharbor hatred against your
brother. Rebuke your neighbordirectly, and you will not incur
guilt because of him. Do nottake revenge or bear a grudge
against members of yourcommunity, but love your
neighbor as yourself; I am theLord. “You are to keep My

(03:01):
statutes. You must notcrossbreed two different kinds
of your livestock, sow yourfields with two kinds of seed,
or put on a garment made of twokinds of material. “If a man has
sexual intercourse with a womanwho is a slave designated for
another man, but she has notbeen redeemed or given her
freedom, there must bepunishment. They are not to be

(03:24):
put to death, because she hadnot been freed. However, he must
bring a ram as his restitutionoffering to the Lord at the
entrance to the tent of meeting.The priest will make atonement
on his behalf before the Lordwith the ram of the restitution
offering for the sin he hascommitted, and he will be
forgiven for the sin hecommitted. “When you come into

(03:44):
the land and plant any kind oftree for food, you are to
consider the fruit forbidden. Itwill be forbidden to you for
three years; it is not to beeaten. In the fourth year all
its fruit must be consecrated asa praise offering to the Lord.
But in the fifth year you mayeat its fruit. In this way its
yield will increase for you; Iam the Lord your God. “You are

(04:09):
not to eat anything with bloodin it. You are not to practice
divination or sorcery. You arenot to cut off the hair at the
sides of your head or mar theedge of your beard. You are not
to make gashes on your bodiesfor the dead or put tattoo marks
on yourselves; I am the Lord.“Do not debase your daughter by
making her a prostitute, or theland will be prostituted and

(04:32):
filled with depravity. You mustkeep My Sabbaths and revere My
sanctuary; I am the Lord. “Donot turn to mediums or consult
spiritists, or you will bedefiled by them; I am the Lord
your God. “You are to rise inthe presence of the elderly and
honor the old. Fear your God; Iam the Lord. “When a foreigner

(04:53):
lives with you in your land, youmust not oppress him. You must
regard the foreigner who liveswith you as the native-born
among you. You are to love himas yourself, for you were
foreigners in the land of Egypt;I am the Lord your God. “You
must not be unfair inmeasurements of length, weight,
or volume. You are to havehonest balances, honest weights,

(05:15):
an honest dry measure, and anhonest liquid measure; I am the
Lord your God, who brought youout of the land of Egypt. You
must keep all My statutes andall My ordinances and do them; I
am the Lord.”
Leviticus, chapter 20. The Lordspoke to Moses: “Say to the

Israelites (05:34):
Any Israelite or foreigner living in Israel who
gives any of his children toMolech must be put to death; the
people of the country are tostone him. I will turn against
that man and cut him off fromhis people, because he gave his
offspring to Molech, defiling Mysanctuary and profaning My holy
name. But if the people of thecountry look the other way when

(05:57):
that man gives any of hischildren to Molech, and do not
put him to death, then I willturn against that man and his
family, and cut off from theirpeople both him and all who
follow him in prostitutingthemselves with Molech. “Whoever
turns to mediums or spiritistsand prostitutes himself with
them, I will turn against thatperson and cut him off from his

(06:19):
people. Consecrate yourselvesand be holy, for I am Yahweh
your God. Keep My statutes anddo them; I am Yahweh who sets
you apart. “If anyone curses hisfather or mother, he must be put
to death. He has cursed hisfather or mother; his blood is
on his own hands. If a mancommits adultery with a married

(06:42):
woman — if he commits adulterywith his neighbor’s wife — both
the adulterer and the adulteressmust be put to death. If a man
sleeps with his father’s wife,he has shamed his father. Both
of them must be put to death;their blood is on their own
hands. If a man sleeps with hisdaughter-in-law, both of them

(07:03):
must be put to death. They haveacted perversely; their blood is
on their own hands. If a mansleeps with a man as with a
woman, they have both committeda detestable thing. They must be
put to death; their blood is ontheir own hands. If a man
marries a woman and her mother,it is depraved. Both he and they

(07:25):
must be burned with fire, sothat there will be no depravity
among you. If a man has sexualintercourse with an animal, he
must be put to death; you arealso to kill the animal. If a
woman comes near any animal andmates with it, you are to kill
the woman and the animal. Theymust be put to death; their own

(07:46):
blood is on them. If a manmarries his sister, whether his
father’s daughter or hismother’s daughter, and they have
sexual relations, it is adisgrace. They must be cut off
publicly from their people. Hehas had sexual intercourse with
his sister; he will bear hispunishment. If a man sleeps with
a menstruating woman and hassexual intercourse with her, he

(08:10):
has exposed the source of herflow, and she has uncovered the
source of her blood. Both ofthem must be cut off from their
people. You must not have sexualintercourse with your mother’s
sister or your father’s sister,for it is exposing one’s own
blood relative; both people willbear their punishment. If a man
sleeps with his aunt, he hasshamed his uncle; they will bear

(08:33):
their guilt and die childless.If a man marries his brother’s
wife, it is impurity. He hasshamed his brother; they will be
childless. “You are to keep allMy statutes and all My
ordinances, and do them, so thatthe land where I am bringing you
to live will not vomit you out.You must not follow the statutes

(08:54):
of the nations I am driving outbefore you, for they did all
these things, and I abhorredthem. And I promised you: You
will inherit their land, since Iwill give it to you to possess,
a land flowing with milk andhoney. I am Yahweh your God who
set you apart from the peoples.Therefore you must distinguish
the clean animal from theunclean one, and the unclean

(09:16):
bird from the clean one. Do notbecome contaminated by any land
animal, bird, or whatever crawlson the ground; I have set these
apart as unclean for you. Youare to be holy to Me because I,
Yahweh, am holy, and I have setyou apart from the nations to be
Mine. A man or a woman who is amedium or a spiritist must be

(09:39):
put to death. They are to bestoned; their blood is on their
own hands.”
Leviticus, chapter 21. Then theLord said to Moses, “Speak to
the priests, the sons of Aaron,and say to them: ‘No one shall
defile himself for a dead personamong his people, except for his
relatives who are nearest tohim, his mother and his father

(10:02):
and his son and his daughter andhis brother, also for his virgin
sister, who is near to himbecause she has had no husband;
for her he may defile himself.He shall not defile himself as a
relative by marriage among hispeople, and so profane himself.
They shall not make any baldnesson their heads, nor shave off

(10:22):
the edges of their beards, normake any cuts in their flesh.
They shall be holy to their Godand not profane the name of
their God, for they present theofferings by fire to the Lord,
the food of their God; so theyshall be holy. They shall not
take a woman who is profaned byharlotry, nor shall they take a
woman divorced from her husband;for he is holy to his God. You

(10:45):
shall consecrate him, therefore,for he offers the food of your
God; he shall be holy to you;for I the Lord, who sanctifies
you, am holy. Also the daughterof any priest, if she profanes
herself by harlotry, sheprofanes her father; she shall
be burned with fire. ‘The priestwho is the highest among his

(11:06):
brothers, on whose head theanointing oil has been poured
and who has been consecrated towear the garments, shall not
uncover his head nor tear hisclothes; nor shall he approach
any dead person, nor defilehimself even for his father or
his mother; nor shall he go outof the sanctuary nor profane the
sanctuary of his God, for theconsecration of the anointing

(11:28):
oil of his God is on him; I amthe Lord. He shall take a wife
in her virginity. A widow, or adivorced woman, or one who is
profaned by harlotry, these hemay not take; but rather he is
to marry a virgin of his ownpeople, so that he will not
profane his offspring among hispeople; for I am the Lord who
sanctifies him.’” Then the Lordspoke to Moses, saying, “Speak

(11:52):
to Aaron, saying, ‘No man ofyour offspring throughout their
generations who has a defectshall approach to offer the food
of his God. For no one who has adefect shall approach: a blind
man, or a lame man, or he whohas a disfigured face, or any
deformed limb, or a man who hasa broken foot or broken hand, or

(12:13):
a hunchback or a dwarf, or onewho has a defect in his eye or
eczema or scabs or crushedtesticles. No man among the
descendants of Aaron the priestwho has a defect is to come near
to offer the Lord’s offerings byfire; since he has a defect, he
shall not come near to offer thefood of his God. He may eat the

(12:34):
food of his God, both of themost holy and of the holy, only
he shall not go in to the veilor come near the altar because
he has a defect, so that he willnot profane My sanctuaries. For
I am the Lord who sanctifiesthem.’” So Moses spoke to Aaron
and to his sons and to all thesons of Israel.
Well, Beloved, I'd like to focusfor a little bit on some verses

(12:57):
from Leviticus chapter 19 andchapter 20. The verses in
chapter 19, are verses 1 and 2,and I'd like to read them for
you again, "The Lord spoke toMoses: 'Speak to the entire
Israelite community and tellthem: Be holy because I, Yahweh
your God, am holy.'" And then inchapter 20, verses 22 through

(13:18):
26, say, “You are to keep all Mystatutes and all My ordinances,
and do them, so that the landwhere I am bringing you to live
will not vomit you out. You mustnot follow the statutes of the
nations I am driving out beforeyou, for they did all these
things, and I abhorred them. AndI promised you: You will inherit
their land, since I will give itto you to possess, a land

(13:41):
flowing with milk and honey. Iam Yahweh your God who set you
apart from the peoples.Therefore you must distinguish
the clean animal from theunclean one, and the unclean
bird from the clean one. Youmust not become contaminated by
any land animal, bird, orwhatever crawls on the ground; I
have set these apart as uncleanfor you. You are to be holy to

(14:04):
Me because I, Yahweh, am holy,and I have set you apart from
the nations to be Mine." Okay,in chapter 19, verses 1 and 2,
God called the Israelites to beholy as he is holy. What does
that mean? To be holy is to beseparate, different, set apart
(Apart, not a part. When anorange is still hanging on the

(14:28):
tree, it is a part of the tree.Once I pluck the orange, it's
apart from the tree, no longer apart of the tree.) So we are to
be set apart. God is holy inthat he is different from
everything else in all creation.He is apart from creation. Every
aspect of who and what God is isdifferent than every other

(14:52):
thing. Because he is God, he isgreater. He is more righteous.
He is more just, more pure, moreloving, more..., *more* than can
be expressed. So how can he callhis people to be holy because he
is holy? We're not God, we'rehuman. How can we be holy?
Because we are made in hisimage. He is not calling us to

(15:14):
be gods (small g), because Godis the only true God. So what is
he calling us to do? Well, he'scalling us to be separate,
different, set apart from thethings in the world that are not
pleasing to him. Or put anotherway, set apart from the things
that are not like him. We are tobe more like him. We are to

(15:37):
reflect him as much as we can.The word Christian means "like
Christ." So in chapter 19, andmost of chapter 20, God through
Moses talked about thepunishment that was to be meted
out for various sins, which hadalready been spoken of in
previous chapters. And then inverses 22 through 26, which I

(15:58):
just read for you, God gave hisreason for calling Israel to be
holy. God has called his chosenpeople out of Egypt, and into
the Promised Land. This is aland that had been inhabited by
people who practice many thingsthat were evil in the sight of
God. And he did not want any ofthat behavior to be brought into

(16:18):
the Israelite culture. The factthat the previous inhabitants
did such heinous things, is whyGod had the Israelites expel
and, in fact, why he commandedthem to completely wipe them out
in almost every case. And Godtold the Israelites to keep all
of his statutes and laws so thatthe land where he was bringing

(16:39):
them would not vomit them out,as he was having them due to the
Canaanites, who are presently inthat land. That is why he called
them to be holy. And this ideaof being different, of being
separate, is the reason for manyof the laws in these two
chapters. Whenever there was abehavior that was practiced by
the Canaanites, God said, "Don'tdo that." Some of the seemingly

(17:04):
random laws are examples ofthis, like the shaving of the
sides of the heads or thetrimming of the beards. These
were things done by the pagansin their worship of idols. The
same thing for cutting the fleshor tattoos. God said do not do
those things because you are tobe holy, separate, different.
Don't do what they do. Themixing of textiles was forbidden

(17:29):
because the pagans did that,thinking that there was some
sort of magic associated withclothes made in this manner.
Many of the laws concerningsexual activity have the same
basis. The pagans had manyperverse practices in their
religions, so God was veryexplicit in what he had to say
about what was not allowed.Today, as we read through these

(17:51):
laws, we say, "Well, of course,you shouldn't do that!" But
remember, Beloved, our culturehas the benefit of being founded
on Judeo-Christian principles.For now, as long as it lasts
(and Judeo-Christian culture isunder attack today), most of our
way of life is defined even inour legal system by these
principles. As God warned theIsraelites to keep all his

(18:14):
statutes and all his judgments,so that the land would not vomit
them out, I believe that we haveenjoyed God's blessing here in
America because we were foundedon these ideals. And for those
of you not here in America, whatI'm talking about still applies
to you, too. And just as Godallowed Israel to be judged when
they forsook him, I believe weare in danger of his judgment,

(18:38):
today. We in America are in thatdanger, and so is the rest of
the world as we well know fromreading the Bible. Beloved,
again, I say that we must returnto God. He said in 2 Chronicles
7:14. “Then if my people who arecalled by my name will humble
themselves and pray and seek myface and turn from their wicked

(19:00):
ways, I will hear from heavenand will forgive their sins and
restore their land.” Notice,Beloved, who God is calling on
to humble themselves and prayand seek his face and turn from
their wicked ways? It wasn't theheathen. It wasn't the sinner.
God said, "If *my* people whoare called by *my* name..."

(19:21):
Beloved, *we* must humbleourselves. *We* must pray. *We*
must seek his face. *We* mustturn from our wicked ways. You
say, "Steve, I'm not wicked." Isay, "Are you sure?" Okay. Maybe
it's just me. But I know that Ifail God every day, and I am so

(19:43):
not like Jesus. I have so far togo. I know that I'm not the man
that God wants me to be. I knowthat the only way I'm getting
into heaven is because I amwashed in the blood of the Lamb,
Jesus Christ. But I still wantto continue to strive to be more
like him. Beloved, all of us*must* seek his face. We *must*

(20:06):
ask him to reveal to us where wefail him, and to humbly ask him
to forgive us. We *must* ask himto heal our land. Will you join
me in this? Will you commit toearnestly pray with me? Our
nation, our world will only findhealing and peace through God.

(20:26):
Political leaders or politicalsystems won't do it for us.
That's more clear today than itwas even just last year. God is
the only answer. Would you praywith me? Oh, God, we humbly come
to you now in Jesus' preciousname. and we plead with you to
reveal to us those areas in ourlives that are not pleasing to

(20:49):
you. Show us, God, where we arefalling short. We know that
you're not happy with us. Weknow that we need the
forgiveness that can only comebecause of your great mercy.
Please, God, forgive us. Forgiveus for the things we do and for
the things we don't do. Forgiveus, Lord, for our cowardice.

(21:09):
Forgive us for not standing upfor what we know is right and
for not fighting against what weknow is wrong. Father, we ask
you now to give us the couragethat can only come from you.
Give us courage to speak for theweak among us. Give us courage
to fight for what is right. God,we ask that you heal our land,

(21:29):
not just here in America, Lord,but in our world. Oh God, we
need you. Let this generationsee a revival the likes of which
have never been seen. Pour outyour Spirit on us, Lord. Make us
a mighty army for you. We humblyask that you'd make us worthy to
be called by your name. I praythis in Jesus' name. Amen. Will

(21:52):
you commit to pray with me for arevival in the world, every day?
If you'll do that, do me a favorand send me an email. It doesn't
have to be a long email. As amatter of fact, if all you want
to do is put in the subjectline, "I'm with you, Steve,"
I'll know that you're prayingwith me.
[e-mail],subject line: "I'm with you,
Steve." Let me hear from you.Call the Lifespring Family

(22:16):
Hotline at [phone]. Andyou can also comment via
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You'll find a form there thatyou can just put in whatever
you'd like to say. I do readevery comment and there's a good
chance your comment will appearon the show. Tomorrow will be
History Tuesday and our readingwill be 2 Kings 16 through 20.

(22:47):
I have some people toacknowledge today we have an
Executive Producer. RoderickPrince sent in his monthly $50
Zelle donation. Thank you,Roderick. God bless you. And we
have an Associate Producer todayby the name of Jørn Rune
Reinertsen who sent in hismonthly $20 donation. God bless
you Jørn. Thank you.

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Steve Webb (23:06):
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(23:27):
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Steve Webb (23:51):
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You know the team helps me to dothings for the show that I just
don't have time for, so thanksto Sister Denise who does the
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(24:14):
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be the point of doing the show?So thank you for being here. And
thank you for inviting me to bewith you today. Until tomorrow,
may God bless you richly. Myname is Steve Webb. Bye.

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