Morning Light – Leviticus 20

[Leviticus 20] From Servanthood to Sonship. In Leviticus 20, God lays out to Moses the penalty for sin. The worship of Molech through child sacrifice is particularly singled out. Molech in ancient Israel evolved into the worship of the pagan deity Chronos (god of time) in Greek and Roman culture. Do we still pass our children through the fires of Molech? In this chapter, we see that God, through the severity of the law, is working to bring us to Christ. He wants us to see the sacred truth of where we come from and what He sees in us that would motivate Him to send His son to die for you. You are more than a servant; you are a son of the Highest. Through the giving of the law and the severe punishments thereof, our Heavenly Father is drawing us out of disobedience into sonship and relationship with Himself.

[Lev 20:1-27 KJV] 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever [he be] of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth [any] of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the land shall stone him with stones. 3 And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name. 4 And if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man, when he giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not: 5 Then I will set my face against that man, and against his family, and will cut him off, and all that go a whoring after him, to commit whoredom with Molech, from among their people. 6 And the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards, to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will cut him off from among his people. 7 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I [am] the LORD your God. 8 And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I [am] the LORD which sanctify you. 9 For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood [shall be] upon him. 10 And the man that committeth adultery with [another] man’s wife, [even he] that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death. 11 And the man that lieth with his father’s wife hath uncovered his father’s nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death; their blood [shall be] upon them. 12 And if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put to death: they have wrought confusion; their blood [shall be] upon them. 13 If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood [shall be] upon them. 14 And if a man take a wife and her mother, it [is] wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you. 15 And if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay the beast. 16 And if a woman approach unto any beast, and lie down thereto, thou shalt kill the woman, and the beast: they shall surely be put to death; their blood [shall be] upon them. 17 And if a man shall take his sister, his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it [is] a wicked thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity. 18 And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people. 19 And thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy mother’s sister, nor of thy father’s sister: for he uncovereth his near kin: they shall bear their iniquity. 20 And if a man shall lie with his uncle’s wife, he hath uncovered his uncle’s nakedness: they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. 21 And if a man shall take his brother’s wife, it [is] an unclean thing: he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless. 22 Ye shall therefore keep all my statutes, and all my judgments, and do them: that the land, whither I bring you to dwell therein, spue you not out. 23 And ye shall not walk in the manners of the nation, which I cast out before you: for they committed all these things, and therefore I abhorred them. 24 But I have said unto you, Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey: I [am] the LORD your God, which have separated you from [other] people. 25 Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. 26 And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD [am] holy, and have severed you from [other] people, that ye should be mine. 27 A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood [shall be] upon them.

Leviticus 20 is a very grim chapter. The Lord instructs Moses regarding the penalty for sin. When Paul penned what we call the “Roman Road” – Roman chapters 1–7, he made this statement:

[Rom 6:23 KJV] 23 For the wages of sin [is] death; but the gift of God [is] eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

When you read a chapter like this, you have to read it in the context of man’s fall and the choices made in the garden. In Gen. 3:5, when Satan tempted Adam and Eve, he closed the deal with the promise that they would “be as God” – INDEPENDENT of God. Then in Gen. 3:9, when God seeks them out, they hid themselves, trying to cover themselves with a fig leaf solution to their newly discovered nakedness. Adam excused this action to the Father, saying, “I was afraid.” He blamed his unwillingness to come to God in the garden upon God Himself. He was saying, “if you weren’t so scary, I wouldn’t have to hide.” What was happening was that he was still trying to be like God, independent of God.

After the fall, Abel and Cain bring sacrifices (Gen. 4:1-8). Abel brings sacrificial blood, but Cain brings of the works of his hands. Abel comes in low with a substitutionary offering, but Cain attempts to go to God as a peer on equal footing, demanding God to be impressed with the fruits of his labors in the field. He is trying to be like God, independent of God, and becomes angry when God refuses to validate the effort. This is fig-leaf religion. In Gen. 11:4, the peoples of the earth persist in this initiative of self-aggrandizement in building a tower “to reach to heaven.” The archeological evidence suggests that this tower was an observation platform for the study of the stars. Gen. 1:8 says that the stars were for signs and seasons. Man was purposing to study God’s plan revealed in the stars to leverage God into a negotiating position whereby they would be recognized as equal with God independent of God. To address the obstinant nature of man and man’s insistence of his self-worth, God gave through Moses a perfect standard by which man could measure himself and, in so doing, see his need of a Savior.

[Gal 3:24 KJV] 24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster [to bring us] unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

God did not send the law for the purposes of perfecting man’s behavior. In the book of Galatians, Paul makes it straightforward that the law was given to bring man to the end of himself. The law exists to expend man’s pursuit of independence with God and trying to be like God outside of a relationship with God. Pursuit of the law fatigues all our efforts to be moral and good and righteousness and deposits us empty-handed and exhausted at the foot of the cross, whereby we face the fact that yes, we need a savior. This is the lens by which we must view the law and the prophets – as our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.

The first thing God deals with is idolatry and worship of the god Molech. The worship of Molech involved human sacrifice, specifically the sacrifice of infants and children up to the age of six. The children would be placed on the idol’s outstretched arms, and a fire within the idol’s belly would heat the arms white-hot and consume the victim. Inexplicably Molech worship persisted in Israel through her history. Even down to the establishment of Jerusalem as the nation’s capital, Molech worship is known to have been ongoing. There was a rubbish heap outside Jerusalem called Gehenna (2 Chron. 28:3) whose fires of worship to Molech were known never to go out. This indicated a non-stop ongoing ritual of child sacrifice. We find this objectionable and utterly alien to us but let’s dig a little deeper.

Molech’s name means “king” or “ruler” just a Baal’s name (another god worshipped throughout Israel’s long history) means “dominative father.” While the idols are lost to antiquity, the spirits and ruling principalities behind these practices persist. In ancient Carthage, Molech was worshipped under the name of Chronos (which is where we get the name for our timepieces). Chronos was the god of time. Ask yourself how many sacrifices do we make in our lives to ward off and thwart the passage of time? Billions of dollars are spent on maintaining the appearance of youthfulness and denying the ravages of time on our appearance. We work a second job or become work-a-holics under the excuse we need to save for a rainy day. We spend all our time and shape our lives to pursue many things AT THE EXPENSE of our children’s well-being. I suggest to you that the influence of Molech is alive and well in our culture, and men and women commonly pass their children through the fires of Molech every day. The consequences of this are seen in generations of children who grow up completely asocial, without a moral compass, left to decide for themselves what is important in life and shocking the older generation with their lack of moral rectitude and good character.

The chapter continues with its grim litany of crime and punishment, turning attention to the importance of maintaining respect and honor toward mother and father. Many times, I have counseled those whose parents were abusive, neglectful, and judged by their works not worthy of respect or honor. The scripture does not say honor your mother and father because they are honorable. You honor them because they are the means by which God gave you life. Your life is not an accident of birth. You are not merely the biological end result of a sexual liaison between a man and a woman. The germ of life or seed of life has its origins in the person of God himself and is thereby sacred and holy even though the consequences of our birth marred our lives with original sin. There are many verses that flatly state that God opens the womb and formed you in your mother’s belly (Jer. 1:5). In the contemplations of Job, we find the following thought:

[Job 27:3 KJV] 3 All the while my breath [is] in me, and the spirit of God [is] in my nostrils;

The term “spirit of God” and “breath” are the same. The implication is that your biological life is a projection and formation of personality originating in God’s uncreated life. Your spirit is a direct projection of the uncreated life of God, which is why Ecc. 12:7 says when a man dies, his human spirit goes back to God that gave it – but his soul (if unregenerated) goes to its punishment. Your life is sacred. Scientists can manipulate life, but they cannot create life because your life is formed from God’s uncreated life. The same breath that God breathed into Adam, causing him to become a living soul, was breathed into you by God himself at creation.

When God gives these commandments, he is calling that part of himself that is in you into accountability to His greater self on the throne. Now listen to what I’m saying and what I’m not saying. One teacher calls this “God working with God.” You are made in God’s image. You are more than a servant; you are a son. In the law, God is not calling you to servanthood but to sonship. In giving the law, He is making an effort to bring you to Christ that you might rediscover and enter into a relationship with your elder brother Jesus and recover yourself from the grip of the father of lies and return to the bosom of the Father of lights in whom is no variableness or shadow of turning.