Daily Scripture Reading Leviticus 23:39 - 24:16
Jeremy was very active in church. He ran the sound booth every Sunday, participated in every work day, and volunteered for multiple mission trips. He earned many compliments for his strong work ethic.
However, he could not control his tongue. One day at work, a coworker made a mistake during a presentation. At the next break, Jeremy blurted out, “That guy has the IQ of a houseplant.” When his wife suggested they visit his Aunt Rachel, he instantly said, “She is fake and annoying.” When he arrived home from work one day and supper was not ready, he immediately scoffed at his wife, saying, “You can’t plan ahead.”
The Bible warns us about our tongues. The tongue is very difficult to control. Many people speak before they think and say things they should not say. However, we should not just brush that off as something other people just have to accept. There are consequences for saying things we should not say. Leviticus contains a grave example of how our tongues can get us into trouble.
The twenty-third chapter of Leviticus opens with God instructing Moses to declare the appointed festivals of the Lord—holy convocations for Israel. It begins with the weekly Sabbath, followed by the spring feasts of Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the offering of Firstfruits, and the Feast of Weeks fifty days later. The instructions include harvest offerings and provisions for the poor.
The chapter then moves to the fall festivals, which are the Feast of Trumpets, the solemn Day of Atonement, and the initial instructions for the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles.
Lev. 23:39 ¶ ‘On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of Yahweh for seven days, with a rest on the first day and a rest on the eighth day.
Lev. 23:40 And on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall be glad before Yahweh your God for seven days.
Lev. 23:41 You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to Yahweh for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
Lev. 23:42 You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths,
Lev. 23:43 so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.’”
Lev. 23:44 So Moses spoke to the sons of Israel the appointed times of Yahweh.
Lev. 24:1 ¶ Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
This verse indicates that chapter 24 shifts to a different topic.
Lev. 24:2 “Command the sons of Israel that they bring to you clear oil from beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually.
Lev. 24:3 Outside the veil of testimony in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall keep it in order from evening to morning before Yahweh continually; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations.
Lev. 24:4 He shall keep the lamps in order on the pure gold lampstand before Yahweh continually.
Lev. 24:5 ¶ “Then you shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it; two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake.
Lev. 24:6 And you shall set them in two rows, six to a row, on the pure gold table before Yahweh.
The construction of this table is described in Exodus 25. These verses in Leviticus explain how the table was to be used.
Lev. 24:7 And you shall put pure frankincense on each row that it may be a memorial portion for the bread, even an offering by fire to Yahweh.
Lev. 24:8 Every sabbath day he shall set it in order before Yahweh continually; it is an everlasting covenant for the sons of Israel.
Lev. 24:9 And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place; for it is most holy to him from the offerings to Yahweh by fire, his portion forever.”
The bread was exclusively for the priests. However, 1 Samuel 21 records a time when David was fleeing from Saul and needed food. The priest gave this bread to David because that is all the food available. Jesus used that incident to point out the inconsistency of the teachings of the Pharisees (see Matthew 12).
Lev. 24:10 ¶ Now the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the sons of Israel; and the Israelite woman’s son and a man of Israel struggled with each other in the camp.
Look at the phrase “whose father was an Egyptian”. We often think of the Israelites as a racially pure people group. However, we see in this verse that some of the Israelites were part Egyptian.
Don’t miss the words “struggled with each other”. There was some sort of confrontation in the camp.
Lev. 24:11 And the son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name and cursed. So they brought him to Moses. (Now his mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.)
Look at the words “blasphemed the Name and cursed”. The only accusation against this man was what he did with his tongue.
The phrase “the Name” refers to the name “Yahweh”.
The third commandment found in Exodus 20 prohibited taking the name of God in vain. This man did not take God’s name in vain, but the Israelites knew blaspheming the name was equally serious.
Lev. 24:12 And they put him in custody so that the command of Yahweh might be made clear to them.
Since the man blasphemed the name, but did not take it in vain, the Israelites were unsure what to do.
Lev. 24:13 ¶ Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
Lev. 24:14 “Bring the one who has cursed outside the camp, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head; then let all the congregation stone him.
Lev. 24:15 And you shall speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘If anyone curses his God, then he will bear his sin.
Lev. 24:16 Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of Yahweh shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall certainly stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.
Yahweh made it clear that blaspheming His name was just as bad as taking His name in vain. The punishment for blaspheming the name of Yahweh was death. Keep in mind, stoning was used to punish words. Words are merely sounds that come out of people’s mouths, but those sounds can be very harmful and serious.
James wrote that no one can tame the tongue (see James 3:8). It is very easy to blurt out statements that we later regret. However, James also said if we don’t bridle the tongue, then our religion is worthless (James 1:26). Furthermore, our tongue is the member that defiles our bodies (see James 3:6). We Christians must control our tongue. We should not allow ourselves to say anything and everything that comes to our mind.
Is your tongue under control or out of control?
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”