“Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so that you will not share in his guilt.”
~ Leviticus 19:17
Hi James and Ellen,
How do you feel after your dad and/or ma have told you that you cannot do something? How do you feel after your teacher has told you that you cannot do something? What helps you the best – to be told what you can do or to be told what you cannot do? Do you know what God does not want you to do? God told His specially chosen guys and gals what they could do and could not do. Leviticus 19 is filled with what God told His specially chosen guys and gals what they could not do. God had a reason for why He did not want His specially chosen guys and gals to do certain things. God wanted His specially chosen guys and gals to be holy – just as He is holy. God knew that His specially chosen guys and gals could not be holy – just as He is holy, because sin had polluted their lives. God still wanted to give His specially chosen guys and gals the best shot possible to be holy – just as He is holy. God began His list of ‘do not do that’ with a couple of ‘do this’ mandates that would lead them to live their lives as holy lives in His eyes. God expected each one of His specially chosen guys, gals and kids – among the Israelite people group’s guys, gals and kids, to show respect to their dads and to their mas and to literally rest on each Sabbath day. Do you show your dad and ma respect? Do you literally rest on Sundays?
The first ‘do not do that’ that God through Moses told His specially chosen guys and gals that He absolutely did not want them doing was making and worshipping cast metal idol gods. Because God’s expectation was that His specially chosen guys and gals would worship Him through animal sacrifices, God told His specially chosen guys and gals how and when to make animal sacrifices. God warned His specially chosen guys and gals not to deviate from His instructions on how He expected to be worshipped – that if any guy or gal deviated from His instructions on how He expected to be worshipped that He would kick that guy or gal out of the camp that was made up of the Israelite people group’s guys, gals and kids – His specially chosen guys, gals and kids. God told His specially chosen guys and gals that they were not to harvest what was growing at the edge of their fields and not to make a second picking of grapes in their vineyards. What God’s specially chosen guys and gals did not harvest in their fields and what was left in their vineyards, poor guys and gals and the strangers among God’s specially chosen guys and gals could harvest for themselves to use and/or to eat. God told His specially chosen guys and gals to ‘do not steal’, ‘do not lie’, ‘do not take advantage of a guy or gal’, ‘do not mess with My name’, ‘do not cheat’, ‘do not underpay salaries’, ‘do not insult a guy, gal or kid who is deaf’, ‘do not interfere with justice’, do not be partial to a guy or gal who has lots of money’, ‘do not do something that will get a guy, gal or kid physically hurt’, ‘do not hate a guy, gal or kid’, do not try to avenge a wrongdoing’, ‘do not plant two different kinds of seed in one field’, ‘do not wear clothes that have been made with two different kinds of material’, ‘do not eat meat that still has blood in it’, ‘do not practice sorcery’, ‘do not be tattooed’, ‘do not go to mediums or spiritists for help’ and ‘do not be dishonest’. Are you ready to live by a list of ‘do not do that’ like the one that God gave through Moses to His specially chosen guys and gals to begin observing as their new belief paradigm that He had given them to live by to replace the belief paradigm that they had lived by when they lived in Egypt?
What do you do when you know that another kid is stealing or lying or hurting himself or herself? What do you think the consequences will be for you if you do not do something when you know that another kid is stealing or lying or hurting himself or herself? Verse 17 says “‘ “Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so that you will not share in his guilt.” God expects His specially elected kids to go to kids who are clearly disobeying one of His mandated life rules and to kindly confront the kids about what they are doing or . . . God is very clear that if you do not confront a kid who is doing what He has said for the kid not to do that He will judge you just as accountable in His eyes and on judgment day as the kid who was doing something that disobeyed His will. No guy, gal or kid likes to confront another guy, gal or kid for doing something that is obvious that what he or she is doing is wrong for him or her to do. Your dad once went on a quick trip through rural eastern Bolivia with your grandpaa and with another dad and one of his kids. The quick trip to was to do setup in different rural Bolivian villages in preparation for a visit by that year’s pending Bolivia South America Mission summer team. One of the stops that your dad, your grandpaa, Rob and Robby made was in Chochís. The only ways for a guy, gal or kid to get in and out of Chochís was by a train that was passing through Chochís. A two car train called a ferrobus regularly passed through Chochís. The guy who ran the train depot in Chochís had no way of knowing if the ferrobus that was scheduled to show up at any moment had enough room for your dad, your grandpaa, Rob and Robby. The guy also said that the ferrobus would not come to a full stop to pick up a passengers or passengers so . . . a plan was made for Rob to run to the front of the ferrobus, check with the ferrobus’ engineer to see if it there was room on the ferrobus and if there was room, Bob would wave to your dad, your grandpaa and Robby to hurry and get on the ferrobus. When the ferrobus arrived, Robby ran to a back side door of the ferrobus while his dad ran to the front. Robby was let in by the guy who opened the side door. Because Robby did not obey what had been decided, he almost caused a very serious logistical dilemma. Because disobedience leads to debacles, your grandpaa spoke to Rob about his kid.
Leviticus 19 (448)