Leviticus; The Law of Holiness and Grace

Holiness and Community

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Pentateuch

Genre: Lessons with Q & A

Lesson: 37

Track: 37

Dictation Name: RR172U37

Date: Early 70s

Let us worship God. He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, he is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him will I trust. Return unto thy rest, oh my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.

Let us pray.

All glory be to Thee, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. We praise Thee for all Thy mercies and blessings, for Thy everlasting arms which undergird us in all things, for the blessed assurance that all things work together for good to them that love Thee, to them who are the called according to Thy purpose, for the assurance of victory in Christ. Our God, we praise Thee. Bless us in Thy service, and make us ever strong by Thy Word and by Thy spirit, that we may be sufficient unto every task to which Thou doest call us. In Christ’s name, amen.

Our scripture is Leviticus 19:1-8. Our subject, “Holiness and Community.” “Holiness and Community,” Leviticus 19:1-8.

“1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

2 Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.

3 Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father, and keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.

4 Turn ye not unto idols, nor make to yourselves molten gods: I am the Lord your God.

5 And if ye offer a sacrifice of peace offerings unto the Lord, ye shall offer it at your own will.

6 It shall be eaten the same day ye offer it, and on the morrow: and if ought remain until the third day, it shall be burnt in the fire.

7 And if it be eaten at all on the third day, it is abominable; it shall not be accepted.

8 Therefore every one that eateth it shall bear his iniquity, because he hath profaned the hallowed thing of the Lord: and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.”

Leviticus 19 is sometimes called, “The Old Testament Sermon on the Mount.” There are many familiar laws in this chapter, especially of course, verse 18, which tells us, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” These laws all have a strong emphasis on community life. The foundation of community life is set forth as holiness, hence the command in verse 2, “Ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”

Community life begins with communion with God. All modern politics is an effort to establish the great community—worldwide, on a political and economic basis—on Humanism. And thus, all such efforts are doomed to fail. The foundation of all true community begins with community with God. It begins with holiness. The foundations of social order are theological. Attempts at social peace, at social unity, apart from the triune God are merely repetitions of the fallacy of the Tower of Babel. Like the Tower of Babel, all such efforts are doomed to confusion.

The family is the basic social unit under God. As a result, we are told in verse 3, “Ye shall fear every man his mother and his father.” The word ‘fear’ in Hebrew (‘yare’), means “to dread, to revere, or to fear.” In the Ten Commandments, we are told to honor our father and our mother. It is noteworthy that the word is not ‘love,’ and it is not ‘obey.’ No parents have the right to command their children to evil. Honor, fear and reverence is required for the Lord’s sake, because of the importance of the family under God; not because the parents necessarily deserve it. Parental authority is theological in nature, and the failure to see this leads to problems for both parents and children. It is interesting that in this verse and also in Leviticus 20:19 and 21:2, the usual order, as we see it in the Ten Commandment, “honor thy father and thy mother,” is reversed. The mother is cited first. This is a law of holiness, and for that reason, the mother comes first. Holiness in the Bible is a very personal concept. It is not abstract. For this reason, priority is given where holiness is referred to, to the mother. The normal usage of the word fear (or yare), is with respect to God. God is the creator of all life. And the mother is the immediate source of our life; hence a common term is used. This means that our conduct toward our parents is not governed by personal considerations, but by God’s Law, by God’s requirement of holiness.

About two centuries or so ago, Thomas Scott, one of the great commentators said of holiness, “Holiness consists of separation from sin, devotedness to God, and conformity to His moral excellences which are transcribed in His holy Law. Without holiness, we cannot walk with God or have fellowship with him. And though an external or ceremonial purity was called being holy to the Lord, yet it was only an emblem of that purity—the purity of heart which was especially intended. Though the Lord is rich in mercy and goodness, yet His perfect holiness renders it impossible that we should be happy in Him or that we should—He should delight in us, unless we be made holy also. Those therefore, whom so He especially loves, He effectually sanctifies.” It is important to note that in verse 3, we have a single statement. It requires us to revere our parents and observe the Sabbath. What is the connection between the two that they are in one sentence? The common theme is rest. The Sabbath is to be a day of rest. And in Ruth 3:1, marriage is called rest also, although the word used is not identical with Sabbath. For modern man, rest means inactivity. Whereas for scripture it means, in part, being where we belong. It means being in God’s appointed place for us and under His Law Word. Marriage is thus, where we belong—in godly marriage and that’s why it is called rest, not because there is no work attached to it. The God who made us ordained both marriage and the Sabbath in terms of our being and our requirements.

Throughout the centuries, revolutionary movements have struck at both marriage and the Sabbath. The ancient {?} went so far as to abolish marriage and to insist on a communism of all goods, of all property, of all women, and of all money. But in some degree, both the French and Russian Revolutions struck at the Sabbath also, [Cough] but to their own detriment.

In verse 4, idolatry is forbidden. The word for ‘idols,’ (elilim) means “nothings” although Wenham has said that it could mean “godlings; weaklings,” a reference to the impotence and the nothingness of the pagan gods.

In verses 5 through 8, we have a reference to the peace offerings, a voluntary offering which we dealt with in Leviticus 3:1-17 and Leviticus 7:11-36. The peace offering was made at the sanctuary and was a communal meal. It was shared with the Levites, with one’s servants, workers, and the members of one’s family. A portion was given to the priest. The sanctuary thus was not only a place for sacrifice and worship, but also for community life with God’s teachers and with others. Now these verses say that it is strictly forbidden to retain any of the peace offering for use on the third day. Now, this is an important law. It shows that God knows people, and therefore, He doesn’t leave it to the goodness of our heart, because He doesn’t believe in our goodness of heart. If in the peace offering, you brought a cow, a bullock or a lamb, there was no way that you, all by yourself could eat that in two days. Thus, the Law by requiring that you destroy what is left on the third day compelled the believer to share his bounty with others. Thus, in reaffirming peace with God, a man had to develop community with God’s people, and since the food remaining had to be burned on penalty of excommunication, it was much more logical to share it with others than to burn it. This is not a popular law with modern man, but it is God’s sharp assessment of man.

A regular objection to Biblical Law is that you cannot compel people to be good. But this is a fallacy! All laws do that in some form, in an external, but still a very necessary way. The laws against murder do not change a man’s heart. But they compel his behavior. They put some restraint on him. I do not believe that men would be less murderous if the laws against murder were abolished. Similarly, would men be more honest if laws against theft were dropped? In the United States, because Christians demanded it, there are exemptions for charitable and religious gifts. They are tax-deductible. In other countries in the Western world, all such exemptions, in fact in virtually every country, only a handful have been dropped. And the result is that giving has fallen off dramatically and it has penalized religious and charitable trusts. This is a good example of the fact that Law can make people be good, or forget their goodness. When people do not have a tax deduction for religious and charitable gifts, a very large percentage, one country after another has found out, will cease to give.

Now, community is necessary to the kingdom of God and for business of living. God does not leave the matter up to the individual’s conscience, except in a limited degree. The Law says, “if ye offer a peace offering, ye shall offer it at your own will.” It is voluntary. But when you do, you cannot have peace with God unless you’re ready to share with your fellow men. There is nothing mandatory about initiating it, but the terms after that are mandatory. There is a condition—it’s God’s condition—that we manifest our community with all His servants. There is no communion without community.

In other laws, as in the next two verses, which we shall deal with next week, our community with the needy is required. Community, in other words, begins with God, but I cannot stop there. Let us pray.

Thy Word, oh Lord, speaks to our condition. Give us grace to hear it, to obey it, and to seek after that holiness without which no man can see Thee. Bless us ever in Thy service, in Christ’s name, amen.

Are there any questions now on our lesson?

Yes.

[Audience] {?} The State has replaced the Bible in terms of particularity of regulation.

[Rushdoony] Exactly. Exactly. And the net result is that we have less and less community, because the State wants community without holiness. And God says holiness is the conditions of community. It begins with Him. And when community begins simply with the State and its course of goals, nothing is accomplished. There is no moral quality to it, only a desire to exalt the State.

I think it’s especially interesting because it was so, ah, self-consciously done, that the Austro-Hungarian Empire moved against Serfdom, not because it recognized the evils thereof, but it was seeking to break every intermediate institution between the individual and the State. And so it moved against Serfdom, against the power of the local nobility, against the Church, and against every agency that could stand between the emperor and the individual. So, it destroyed a great deal of community. And ironically, having done that, since it destroyed the local loyalties, it created revolutionary loyalties, and it had a problem with revolutionists after that.

Any other questions or comments?

Yes.

[Audience] Along the same lines, I saw in the paper today that the Greek Government is now going to seize the property of 150 monasteries.

[Rushdoony] Yes, the ah, regime in Greece has increasingly moved to the Left. It has moved first against all evangelicals within Greece and now it is moving against the Greek Orthodox Church.

Well, if there are no further questions let us bow our heads in prayer.

Oh Lord, our God, in these troubled times as we see Thy judgment move against the nations and against men, against churches, give us grace to seek that true community with Thee and in Thee with all men, that we may re-establish and extend Thy kingdom here on earth. Bless us to this purpose. And now, go in peace. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost bless you and keep you, guide and protect you, this day and always. Amen.