Leviticus 19:19-37 NKJV
19 ‘You shall keep My statutes. You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind. You shall not sow your field with mixed seed. Nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you.
20 ‘Whoever lies carnally with a woman who is betrothed to a man as a concubine, and who has not at all been redeemed nor given her freedom, for this there shall be scourging; but they shall not be put to death, because she was not free. 21 And he shall bring his trespass offering to the Lord, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, a ram as a trespass offering. 22 The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the Lord for his sin which he has committed. And the sin which he has committed shall be forgiven him.
23 ‘When you come into the land, and have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count their fruit as uncircumcised. Three years it shall be as uncircumcised to you. It shall not be eaten. 24 But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, a praise to the Lord. 25 And in the fifth year you may eat its fruit, that it may yield to you its increase: I am the Lord your God.
26 ‘You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor shall you practice divination or soothsaying. 27 You shall not shave around the sides of your head, nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard. 28 You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord.
29 ‘Do not prostitute your daughter, to cause her to be a harlot, lest the land fall into harlotry, and the land become full of wickedness.
30 ‘You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary: I am the Lord.
31 ‘Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am the Lord your God.
32 ‘You shall rise before the gray headed and honor the presence of an old man, and fear your God: I am the Lord.
33 ‘And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him. 34 The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
35 ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume. 36 You shall have honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
37 ‘Therefore you shall observe all My statutes and all My judgments, and perform them: I am the Lord.’ ”
We notice in our reading today how God once again carefully identifies Himself with the statutes and ordinances that He gives to His people. It is as if God signs His name to each instruction. Twenty-five times in three chapters (Leviticus 18, 19, 20), God invokes His holy name, “Yahweh.” This is the name God gave to Moses on Mt. Sinai. Although we usually translate “Yahweh” as “LORD,” the Hebrew name for “Yahweh” conveys the meaning, “I am who I am” or “I will be who I will be” or “I bring into existence whatever exists.”
By linking His name to His instructions, God is underscoring His authority as the one and only, true God of heaven and earth. All things exist by His authority. He is the living and eternal God, and we live according to His reality. What God says, what He sees, and how He looks at life is the way it is. To follow worldly ideas and practices is to fall out of step with reality. Right and wrong, truth and error, is established on the basis of His holy Word. Therefore, God says to His own, “I am your God, and I am telling you the truth, the way life is, what will hurt you and what will not. So, believe me because I am the LORD your God.”
God’s people broke the covenant they made with God at Sinai. Disobeying God’s Word always leads to pain and brokenness. Although we are prone to lawlessness because of our sin, in His mercy, God sent His Son to redeem sinners. His plan for our redemption is fulfilled in the Word made flesh, Jesus. He came as the mediator of the New Covenant in His blood and in doing so He used for Himself the very name of God when He proclaimed, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
Let us pray: Almighty and everlasting God, sanctify me in Your truth that that I may live for You alone. Guard me from the errors and deceptions of this world and keep me steadfast in Christ Jesus, my Lord and Saviour. Amen.