Scripture: Leviticus 20:7-27

7 So set yourselves apart to be holy, for I am the Lord your God. 8 Keep all my decrees by putting them into practice, for I am the Lord who makes you holy.

9 “Anyone who dishonors[a] father or mother must be put to death. Such a person is guilty of a capital offense.

10 “If a man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, both the man and the woman who have committed adultery must be put to death.

11 “If a man violates his father by having sex with one of his father’s wives, both the man and the woman must be put to death, for they are guilty of a capital offense.

12 “If a man has sex with his daughter-in-law, both must be put to death. They have committed a perverse act and are guilty of a capital offense.

13 “If a man practices homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman, both men have committed a detestable act. They must both be put to death, for they are guilty of a capital offense.

14 “If a man marries both a woman and her mother, he has committed a wicked act. The man and both women must be burned to death to wipe out such wickedness from among you.

15 “If a man has sex with an animal, he must be put to death, and the animal must be killed.

16 “If a woman presents herself to a male animal to have intercourse with it, she and the animal must both be put to death. You must kill both, for they are guilty of a capital offense.

17 “If a man marries his sister, the daughter of either his father or his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a shameful disgrace. They must be publicly cut off from the community. Since the man has violated his sister, he will be punished for his sin.

18 “If a man has sexual relations with a woman during her menstrual period, both of them must be cut off from the community, for together they have exposed the source of her blood flow.

19 “Do not have sexual relations with your aunt, whether your mother’s sister or your father’s sister. This would dishonor a close relative. Both parties are guilty and will be punished for their sin.

20 “If a man has sex with his uncle’s wife, he has violated his uncle. Both the man and woman will be punished for their sin, and they will die childless.

21 “If a man marries his brother’s wife, it is an act of impurity. He has violated his brother, and the guilty couple will remain childless.

22 “You must keep all my decrees and regulations by putting them into practice; otherwise the land to which I am bringing you as your new home will vomit you out. 23 Do not live according to the customs of the people I am driving out before you. It is because they do these shameful things that I detest them. 24 But I have promised you, ‘You will possess their land because I will give it to you as your possession—a land flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the Lord your God, who has set you apart from all other people.

25 “You must therefore make a distinction between ceremonially clean and unclean animals, and between clean and unclean birds. You must not defile yourselves by eating any unclean animal or bird or creature that scurries along the ground. I have identified them as being unclean for you. 26 You must be holy because I, the Lord, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own.

27 “Men and women among you who act as mediums or who consult the spirits of the dead must be put to death by stoning. They are guilty of a capital offense.”

 

Observation: again today, a very small sample of the listed sins found in the law. So many different specific examples, it seems like they would be obvious and not need to be listed, but I suspect our human sin nature would take any loophole and say “it wasn’t mentioned specifically, so it must ok”. Could you imagine if this was the way things still ran in today’s society? There sure would be a lot of stonings.

 

Application: Again today, thankful. I’ve never committed the sins listed above, but i’m sure I’ve committed other sins that would have required heavy sacrifice or being stoned. Thank you Lord for the era of grace! Unfortunately I think we take advantage of that grace sometimes. I’ll bet our lives would look a lot different if we lived in fear of being stoned to death for sin.

Prayer: I thank you again Lord for your grace. Thank you that I have never had to be stoned to death for my sin. I thank you that you had a plan all along to save us and redeem us. God, today I ask for strength to resist when temptation arises. In your name I pray Jesus, amen.

 

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