Leviticus 25:23-26:13

Leviticus 25:23-26:13

The rest of Leviticus 25 looks at the responsibility of the Israelite. As children of God, they were to look after those around them. They were supposed to care for and help their neighbors as well as their family members. In doing so, they were commanded to not sell their property to one another, not make other Israelites into slaves, and not allow a poor Israelite become slave to a foreigner in the land. As for their property, the land was God’s, and not theirs to sell to someone else. As for slavery, by making a fellow Israelite a slave, they would be taking advantage of their poor situation. By allowing them to become a slave to a foreigner, they were failing to help out their brothers in need. The point of this passage was to show the Israelites that they were responsible for each other. If someone was hurting financially, they were responsible for helping them out and should never take advantage of their poor situation. In the same way, we should never take advantage of someone’s misfortune. Let’s say that a fellow Christian was struggling financially and you had loaned them money. They were trying to pay you back and made an honest effort to do so. Would you expect interest on that payment? According to this Israelite tradition, asking for the interest would be taking advantage of the situation. They do have a responsibility in paying you back, but if they are making an honest effort at it, then we should not greedily ask for more. Even today, we need to be more loving toward one another, taking care of those around us who are hurting.

The opening verses of Leviticus 26 serve as another review of some of the commands that God had given them. He expected complete obedience, and part of that was recognizing Him as the one and only God, the only one worthy of worship. As a result, God promised to bless them. Notice that these blessing in life came as a result of obedience. Now this does not mean that hard times would not come. Even when we remain obedient to God, hard times will come because that is life. However, God did promise to bless those who obeyed Him. There is a list of some of the physical blessings He would give them, but those are not nearly as important as the other promise He gave them. Not only did He promise to meet their physical needs, but He also promised to remain with them. Through their obedience, He would dwell with them, living life alongside them, promising to keep His end of the covenant. Most importantly, He promised that He would always be their God (no matter what). Through obedience, they were showing them that they wanted to be His people. In the same way, we must live a life of obedience. This section of Leviticus ties this book in with Genesis and Exodus. We have seen how we are to remain obedient to God in these previous books, and now we see another part of that picture. To live a holy life, which is one of the major themes of Leviticus, we must live a life of obedience.

Matt