Leviticus 20:6

The Bible says in Leviticus 20:6-8, “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.” Verse eight is about avoiding false religion. Anyone who gets involved in false religion is said “to go a whoring after them.” Marriage between a man and a woman has a spiritual significance. It symbolizes the relationship of a believer with the Savior. Knowing Christ is true religion. Therefore, being unfaithful to God by joining false religion is whoredom and prostitution from a spiritual perspective. That makes it very clear how much God rejects and condemns all false religion. It is also one of the reasons that reading, hearing, studying, and learning all the teachings of the Bible is so important.

Verse seven says, “be ye holy.” We are justified by faith without works, but that does not mean that God does not want us to have good works. The standard of holiness is very high. The question is this: are you living a holy life? We should all examine our lives, confess our sins, and find areas where we need to improve in order to be holy. Do not justify yourself, do not rationalize, and do not take God’s forgiveness for granted.

In Leviticus 20V8 God says, “ye shall keep my statutes.” God gave us His Word for a reason. In order to keep his statutes, we must first of all read, study, and learn the statutes. Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word of God.” It says in Second Timothy 2:15, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God; a workman that needeth mot to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.” God gave us His written Word so that we would benefit from it. His Word will guide us. His Word will enlighten us with truth. His Word will give us a sure foundation. His Word will keep us from falling into false teachings or false religion. His Word will encourage us and strengthen our faith.

The Bible says in Leviticus 20:9, “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.” This verse and one like it in Exodus is quoted by Jesus in Matthew chapter 15 and verse 4 when the Pharisees created a way to stop taking care of their aging parents. The verse is related to one of the Ten Commandments that says, “Honor thy father and thy mother.” One reason that some people stop honoring their father or their mother is that they blame the father or the mother for their own faults and their own failures. Instead of taking responsibility for their own actions, it is human nature to blame someone else. Another reason that some people dishonor their mother or their father is related to divorce. The perfect life would be for a child to be loved and raised by its own mother and father all the way from birth until they enter adulthood; but this is not a perfect world, and that does not always happen. Some divorces are a disaster for children. The animosity, the fighting, and the separation can have a great affect on a child that they will never forget or get over. Some of these children will lose respect for one parent or the other and stop honoring them. But remember: do not judge. You have not walked in their shoes, and you do not know what they faced. Also, the commandment to honor your parents is not qualified. It does not say to only honor them if they have not been divorced. There are few things uglier than seeing a child, no matter what age it is, dishonoring, disrespecting, and even cursing one of its parents. I have seen adults who condemned or cursed their own parents even as the parents became senior citizens with little time left to live on the earth. All senior citizens should be honored for the good they have done in their lives, and because they are now weak and vulnerable. They should also be honored for the wisdom that they have acquired. You will not learn from them unless you honor them. In other words: you will be a fool.

Just in case the Israelites were not sure what God thinks about immorality, great detail is given here on all kinds of immoral situations. The Bible says in Leviticus 20:10-21, “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.” Where would the Israelites learn such craziness? They would see it and hear of it from the heathen peoples that lived around them. Notice the punishments for these terrible sins, ranging from “shall surely be put to death” in verse ten to “they shall die childless” in verse twenty and twenty-one. There is one more punishment given in verse twenty-two: they would be kicked out of the land. “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.”

The Bible says in Leviticus 20:23-27, “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.” One thing that is clear about these verses is that God wants His people to be different from the unbelievers of the world in regards to their sinful deeds and false teachings. That was one of the reasons for the dietary restrictions: to show a difference between the clean and the unclean. That symbolized a difference from those who know God and those who do not know Him through faith in Christ. “A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard” were the false teachers of that day. False teachings about God will always be the cause of bad actions and immoral activities. The Word of God has God’s truth about Jesus, and salvation, and every other thing that God wants us to know.

The Bible says in Leviticus 21:1-4, “And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto the priests the sons of Aaron, and say unto them, There shall none be defiled for the dead among his people:[2] But for his kin, that is near unto him, that is, for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother,[3] And for his sister a virgin, that is nigh unto him, which hath had no husband; for her may he be defiled.[4] But he shall not defile himself, being a chief man among his people, to profane himself.” In the law there is a prohibition against touching dead bodies. And so these verses are an exception to that law. There are always exceptions based upon practical realities. Do not get too hung up on the law. When someone dies, their body will have to be prepared for the burial. The closest family members will do that preparation. That is what this passage of scripture is talking about: “for his kin, that is near unto him.” Verse four is saying that the man who is the head of the family is not allowed to touch the dead even in that situation.

The Bible says in Leviticus 21:5-6, “They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in their flesh.[6] They shall be holy unto their God, and not profane the name of their God: for the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and the bread of their God, they do offer: therefore they shall be holy.” Once again God emphasizes that the people should not mar their bodies. Just because some people do it, does not mean that you should do it. God made your body the way that He wants it to be. This principle is also found in First Corinthians 3:16-17, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?[17] If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”

The Bible says in Leviticus 21:7, “They shall not take a wife that is a whore, or profane; neither shall they take a woman put away from her husband: for he is holy unto his God.” God’s perfect will for each person is that a man would leave his mother and father and cleave unto his wife. One implication of this principle is that everyone would be a virgin when they got married. That is the goal. Think of the result if this was true for everyone. There would be no unwanted pregnancies, no abortions, no STDs, and no guilty consciences. But of course, this is not a perfect world. God forgives and forgets. And it is interesting that even though God put this command into the law, “They shall not take a wife that is a whore,” God told one of the prophets to marry just that. It says in Hosea 1:2-3, “The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.[3] So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and bare him a son.” There are exceptions to everything. What is really the most important is how God guides your life.

The Bible says in Leviticus 21:8-9, “Thou shalt sanctify him therefore; for he offereth the bread of thy God: he shall be holy unto thee: for I the LORD, which sanctify you, am holy.[9] And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire.” Notice the phrase in verse 9 that says, “if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father.” This is an important truth for children to remember. The children will reflect on the parents whether it is deserved or not. One of the common old saying is about this is: “The fruit does not fall far from the tree.” If you want to honor your parents, do not do anything that will shame them in the community. The same principle applies to us as children of God. Do not do anything that will make your heavenly Father ashamed of you. You represent Christ. Make sure that you represent Him well.

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