February 22: Leviticus 17:1 –19:37

The Place of Sacrifice – Leviticus 17

• God tells Moses to instruct Aaron, his sons, and the Hebrew people that if anyone (including strangers who sojourn among them) slaughters a lamb or goat either in camp or outside camp, they are to bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to be offered as a sacrifice (this was to prevent men from worshiping goat demons). Anyone who violated this law was to be cut off from the people.

Laws Against Eating Blood

• God instructs that no person from the house of Israel (or those who sojourn among them) are to eat blood. If they do, they will be cut off from the people. This is because the blood is what makes atonement by the life. If any person does eat blood, he will bathe himself and wash his clothes and be unclean till evening. If he does not bathe and wash, he will bear his iniquity.

Unlawful Sexual Relations – Leviticus 18

• God tells Moses to instruct the people that they are not to do as the people of Egypt or the people of Canaan do. They are to follow God's laws instead. The people are not to "uncover the nakedness" (have sexual relations) with family members, have sexual relations while the woman is menstruating, commit adultery, have sexual relations with members of the same gender, or have sexual relations with animals. Those who do these things will be cut off from the people.

The Lord Is Holy – Leviticus 19

• God tells Moses to remind the people of these things: They are to be holy because He is holy. They are to honor their parents, keep the Sabbath, and not worship idols. When offering sacrifices, they are to eat of them on the day of sacrifice or the day after only.

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself

• When the people reap their harvest, they are to leave some of the field unreaped and not gather the gleanings; this way the poor and the sojourner will have food. They are also not to steal, deal falsely with one another, or oppress each other. They must deal justly in court and not take vengeance or hold a grudge. They are to love their neighbors as themselves.

You Shall Keep My Statutes

• God continues his statues, saying that the Hebrew people are not to crossbreed domesticated animals or weave with two different types of cloth. When they come into the Promised Land, they are not to eat of the fruit trees for the first three years; they are to offer the fruit as a praise offering to God in the fourth year, then in the fifth year they may eat of the fruit.
• The people also may not interpret omens or tell fortunes, round the hair on their temples or the edges of the beard, or make cuts on the body or tattoo themselves for the dead.
• They are to follow all God's statutes.