SCRIPTURE: LEVITICUS 24
IMPORTANT VERSES:
OIL AND BREAD SET BEFORE THE LORD (vs. 1-23)
The Lord said to Moses, “Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually. Outside the curtain of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting. Aaron is to tend the lamps before the Lord from evening till morning, continually. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. The lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the Lord must be tended continually.
“Take fine flour and bake twelve loaves of bread, using two-tenths of an ephah for each loaf. Set them in two rows, six in each rows, on the table of pure gold before the Lord. Along each row put some pure incense as a memorial portion to represent the bread and to be an offering made to the Lord by fire. This bread is to be set out before the Lord regularly. Sabbath after Sabbath, on behalf of the Israelites, as a lasting covenant. It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a holy place, because it is a most holy place of their regular share of the offerings made to the Lord by fire.:
A BLASPHEMER STONED (vs. 10-23)
Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse; so they brou8ght him to Moses. (His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite) They put him in custody until the will of the Lord shou8ld be made clear to them.
Then the Lord said to Moses: “Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. Say to the Israelites. If anyone curses his God, he will be held responsible; anyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.
“‘If anyone takes the life of a human being, he must be put to death. Anyone who takes the life of someone’s animal must make restitution – life for life. If anyone injures the neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has injured the other, so he is to be injured. Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a man must be put to death. You are to have the same law for the alien and the native-=born. I am the Lord your God.'”
Then Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him. The Israelites did as the Lord commanded Moses.
THOUGHTS: (From Life Application Study Bible)
The punishment for blasphemy shows how seriously God expects us to take our relationship with him. Often we use his name in swearing or we act as though he doesn’t exist. We should be careful how we speak and act. We must treat God with reverence.
THOUGHTS: (By Warren Wiersbe)
Three import responsibilities “before the Lord” are given in this chapter.
- Provide the oil (vs. 1-4) – Only God and the priests saw the light, but the lamps had to be kept shining for there was no other source of light in the Holy Place. The purest olive oil had to be used, supplied by the people. Today, as God’s people, we must help the light of the church keep shining continually.
- Present the bread (vs. 5-9) – Twelve loaves were put on the table each Sabbath, and then the old loaves were given to the priests to eat. They were a reminder that God fed the twelve tribes both physically and spiritually, and they in turn were to feed the world the truth about the Lord.
- Protect the name (vs. 10-23). The man could not be blamed for his parentage, but he could be blamed for blaspheming. Like Moses, we should wait on God for direction. It was a capital offense, and the man was stoned to death. Gods emphasized again the basic principle of equal justice and not personal vengeance.