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LEVITICUS
Lesson 40 – Chapter 26
Basically we’re done now with law giving and the establishment of holy rituals. So chapter 26 sort of stands back and says: IF you will FOLLOW what I’ve told you to do then there will be many blessings heaped upon you. If you do NOT follow what I’ve told you to do, then there will be much punishment. God’s justice was then, and is now; a 2-way street or justice loses all meaning.
Let’s read chapter 26 together.
READ LEVITICUS 26 all
The first 3 verses remind Israel of a short list of the most important principles God has set down: 1) no idol worship, 2) Yehoveh is Israel’s Lord, 3) the Shabbats are to be observed, and 4) God’s dwelling place, the Tabernacle, is to be scrupulously maintained according to His regulations.
There are two reasons that these 4 principles are stated over and over in the Torah: first, the Israelites had a pagan mindset. They DID worship idols, they DID worship a number of gods, they WEREN’T observing the 7th day Sabbath rest (which Yehoveh set up from the beginning of the world); and because of these iniquities the barriers to uncleanness and commonness that God set up between mankind and His earthly dwelling place, the Wilderness Tabernacle, had to be maintained without compromise.
Second, these principles represent a kind of foundational core that spells out the basis of Israel’s relationship with their God.
So with that in mind verse 3 says IF you follow my laws…….that is, all the rules and regulations of Torah….. then that’s when all the good stuff happens. Later in verse 14 it says that if you BREAK my laws then this is when all the bad stuff happens.
Here’s something that is easy to forget: our response to God’s commands always bring consequences with them. There is no neutral position. That’s the system of God’s justice and we cannot escape it. Obedience brings positive consequences and disobedience brings negative consequences. The Bible calls the positive consequences of obedience “blessings” and the negative consequences of disobedience “curses”. The blessings of being obedient to the Law bring us life with God. The curse of being disobedient to the Law brings separation from God.
This listing of blessings and curses of Lev. 26 follows a well-known and well established form for that era and that region; the laws found in the codes of Lipit-Ishtar, the Old Babylonian Kingdom, the Hittites, the Laws of Hammurabi and others usually spell out a series of laws and then concludes with blessings upon those who obey and curses upon those who rebel. I tell you this because there is such pressure in the scientific community to constantly try to make Leviticus out to be NOT something received by Moses on Mt. Sinai around 1300 BC by Bible chronology, but rather something created from the minds of the Jews after their return from their exile in the New Babylonian Kingdom about 530 BC. And it also serves to prove that these Israelites were not an isolated people who disregarded the world around them. They were very much in tune with all those of humans they shared the globe with, especially those who surrounded them in the Middle East. So Yehoveh had quite a task ahead of Him in making the Israelites a people separate and distinct from all others.
One more thing: I want you to recognize that the main thrust of this chapter is that it is addressing Israel as a nation; it is speaking to the whole congregation of Israel, not just leaders or individuals. While in some cases each of the blessings and curses that will be established can be applied individual by individual, this is more about how Yehoveh will react to Israel as a group, a community. That said what is a nation but a large group of individuals? So if one in a thousand of a nation’s citizens are disobedient the overall effect on the nation is usually small. If 100 in a thousand are disobedient the overall effect on the nation is more significant. If 500 in a thousand are disobedient the effect on the nation’s well-being grows darker still. At some point (and I don’t know where that point is) the cumulative effective of many individuals within a nation or group being disobedient puts the entire nation or group at risk. This is why the punishments we saw in previous chapters that went along with the laws of Leviticus seemed so harsh. God wants to cull out those who are habitually disobedient because it can be infectious. And the danger of that infection of some can cause Him to smite the nation as a whole in order to carry out His justice. When it comes to national judgment the fact that YOU are righteous may not sway God from reacting severely toward your nation as a whole. Which means that even the most righteous and obedient can get caught up in that judgment as well as sort of collateral damage.
We see that exact thing happen in the Bible at every turn.
The first blessing Yehoveh promises Israel is that the rains will come WHEN THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO. This is an agrarian society; its not only IF they get rain but also how much and WHEN that all play significant roles in the crop yields. As we saw in the disaster of Katrina in New Orleans the basics of life begin with food and water. Without those two things the rest is meaningless. And this blessing concerning rain continues by saying in verse 5 that the crops will be so robust that the Hebrews will barely have time to finish harvesting before its time to start planting again.
The next promise of blessing is security in the land. After that is a promise that Israel will have peace with their neighbors.
Before we look at the next several blessings that result from observance of the Torah commands I want you to notice something: when it comes to the good things that result from
obedience God says, “I will”. In other words God is actively causing blessings to flow. This is not passive, this is not “allowing”, this is Yehoveh CAUSING security to happen….CAUSING peace to happen…CAUSING the rain to fall at the right time and the right amount and so on.
When we get to the curses resulting from disobedience we’re ALSO going to see each bad thing, each punishment, preceded by “I will”. Not passively but ACTIVELY Yehoveh WILL bring judgments upon those who disobey His Torah. The Lord will cause calamities to happen.
I have to tell you that while most of we disciples of Yeshua would shake our heads and say, “amen!” in full agreement with what I just said, most of us would also have a tendency to question whether the bad things that happen to us, or to others, or to our nation are God ACTIVELY, personally, dealing with us. Somewhere along the line much of the Church has decided that our Salvation is a sort of inoculation against the divinely directed consequences of our sinful behaviors. Or that God is a kindly old grandfather who winks and nods at the indiscretions of His people. Well that’s NOT what Scripture says, and it’s not the picture that the Bible as a whole portrays.
Back to the list of blessings that come from observance of God’s Torah: wild animals will not torment and armies will not cross Israel’s land as they make war with an enemy. Next if for some reason war erupts Israel shall be very strong and win easily. By the way this talk of wild animals is right on the money; the land of Canaan was full of Bears and Lions at this time…..these carnivores were a big problem both to flocks and people.
In verse 9 as part of God’s favor upon Israel the people will be fertile and multiply greatly. Naturally this is part of the covenant promise Yehoveh gave to Abraham, that he will father a great nation, and that his descendants will be a great multitude.
In verse 11 Yehoveh says He will dwell among Israel……what a GREAT honor for the Hebrews! And that Israel will be His people and He will be Israel’s God. This is a sheep/shepherd relationship that is being described; the sheep shall obey their shepherd and in turn the shepherd shall guarantee the sheep’s security and well-being.
So let’s review: what is it that God sees as blessing for His people? In the Lord’s economy, what does blessing amount to, because THAT is what we must learn to agree with and hope for. Abundant food, peace and security, safety from enemies and beasts that would do harm, having many children, and God’s perpetual presence in their midst guaranteeing the continuation of His covenants. Let me give you another word for this divine blessing: prosperity. What we just read is God’s definition of prosperity. I’m afraid OUR definition of prosperity is somewhat different, is it not? I challenge you to find a definition of prosperity anywhere in the Scriptures as amounting to enormous bank accounts, large houses, a fleet of luxury automobiles, a powerful position in the public or private job sector, and a large closet full of the latest designer clothing, vacations in Europe, and early retirement. I’m certainly not condemning these things; I’m saying that this Prosperity Gospel that is all the rage, especially among too many TV evangelists, is a false gospel. Because that Gospel says God WANTS you to be materially wealthy. He wants you to have a Mercedes and to be draped in gold jewelry. In fact as a child of God, you’re entitled to all this wealth and the ONLY reason you
don’t have it is because you don’t believe in the Prosperity Gospel. Is God against our having all these nice things? Generally speaking no. Is it God’s purpose that all His people achieve these things? Also generally no. But it is His purpose that if His people are obedient to Him that all their needs will be met according to His will. The things that are important to Him, that OUGHT to be important to us, are what define Biblical prosperity.
Starting in verses 14 and 15 we find out what happens if Israel does NOT obey God’s Torah commands; this amounts to “breaking His covenant”. And the result is a series of curses on the lawbreakers. And here we go again with the “I wills”…….Yehoveh says, “I will” do this to you, and “I will” do that to you…..and these are pretty unpleasant “I wills”. To wit it begins with, “I will wreak misery upon you”. And of course the first misery is poor health. Those of us who have been privileged to live long enough finally get it that if we don’t have our health all else is pretty insignificant. Next is that the fruits of Israel’s labors will be enjoyed not by them but instead by their enemies. Israel will be defeated by their enemies. Even more says verse 17, constant fear and anxiety will be Israel’s lot….that is what fleeing even though nobody is pursuing means.
Notice that verse 18 says, “and if, for all that, you still do not obey me….”. Here’s what is happening concerning God’s curses for the disobedient: He doesn’t always immediately destroy; usually He starts to warn through discipline . The disciplinary actions at first are less severe, but they CAN be ratcheted-up if necessary. Things start to happen from which an individual usually can recover. He makes you miserable, not dead. He makes your health go downhill; he makes it so that you can’t ever seem to get ahead……the faster you run, the behind- er you get. Your enemies get the better of you and keep you in constant turmoil. Even when real dangers aren’t present it FEELS like they are, and so you live in fear and depression and anxiety for reasons you don’t even understand.
Yehoveh’s discipline is about love. God disciplines His people because He loves His people. His hope is that discipline will cause His people to reverse their disobedient course of action. He doesn’t want to have to turn His holy back upon them and He certainly does not want to destroy them. But He will and He did in the past, and we know that this principle is NOT ONLY for the physical nation of Israel; in addition, at the least, it applies to all Believers because all Believers are under the covenants of Israel (whether we realize it or not); and since there are Believers in virtually every nation on earth then every nation on earth (it seems to me) is subject to this principle of discipline of Leviticus 26.
So notice the implication here: if Israel realizes that they are suffering under God’s hand of discipline and they repent and change their ways, returning to obedience, then the discipline stops. Even better the blessings begin anew. This is why it is crucial to understand when bad things start to happen to our nation…..when catastrophes come…..when there is a series of wars and turmoil and disasters…..that this is DISCIPLINE from Yehoveh, not bad luck. When we look inward and ask what have we done that has aroused His anger, we are headed in the right direction. When we look up and ask God why He as abandoned us, then we say the fault is with Him. When we take it to heart that it is His discipline upon us then we have an opportunity to do something about it. When we don’t….when we deny it…. then we think our job is to try and insulate ourselves from these disasters by building stronger houses, or buying
better insurance, or taking better care of our bodies, or reorganizing our governmental disaster services. Or we just blow the whole thing off as “our turn” or “that’s life”. Naturally not everything that happens to us is God’s wrath or discipline: bad things happen to good people. That is the state of this world until Messiah comes to make it right.
I do not ever want us to forget that Hurricane Katrina was born on the very weekend Israel succumbed to the USA’s demand that Israel’s land be divided, and that Jewish citizens be forcibly ejected from their homes in Gaza. This is not a coincidence it is Yehoveh’s hand of discipline upon us as a nation. I am hoping beyond hope that pastors, priests, ministers, and teachers in our churches across this land will understand that this is divine discipline, say so loud and clear, and explain just what the affront to our Lord was. The people of New Orleans are no better or worse that anyone else in our nation. They were just the ones who caught the brunt of it, even though it had also had a bad effect on our nation as a whole. I hope that people just like us will understand that we’ve been rightly reminded by a just God that He will do what He says He’ll do. Unfortunately, all I have read, seen, and generally heard about has been the exact opposite: religious leaders quickly telling their flocks NOT to think that this is God’s judgment because God would NEVER do such a thing. He’s all-merciful and He is a God of love and only the God of the Old Testament would punish. Nonsense.
Therefore most Christians have no idea of this connection between Israel, Gaza and Hurricane Katrina; my goodness most don’t know Israel from Australia. They don’t know anything about God’s Torah and so don’t even recognize that they have disobeyed Him or what that disobedience was.
If you have no other reason to stand with Israel and against those….including our own government…..who would divide Israel’s land and give it to their enemies, then do it out of enlightened self-preservation. For when a nation is disciplined the righteous are affected right along with the wicked.
So verse 18 has Yehoveh turning up the heat; and he says He will make the skies like iron and the earth like copper. What this means is that there will be no rain from the sky and the ground will become dry and the springs will stop flowing. Result: crop failure.
In verse 21 the idea is that all the previous disciplines have been ignored; so more terrible and greater punishments, curses, will come. But even more we get a glimpse into the OTHER side of disobedience. That is, on our side we don’t follow God’s commands and on HIS side what this amounts to in His view is hostility towards Him. Therefore a whole series of escalated bad things will happen; and naturally these bad things are described in terms of being exact opposites from the blessings promised from obedience.
Obey, and wild animals will be restrained from harming you, your family, and your flocks and herds. Obey and your children will be protected from harm and you will have many children. Disobey and “I will” send wild animals to get you; these wild beasts will kill your children and reduce the size of your family and your flocks. The Hebrew word used here for “I will send” or “I will loose” wild animals upon you, is ve-hishlachti ; it is a rarely used word construction and the idea of it is to drive….. to cause a stampede….. of wild animals to descend on the rebellious
Israelites. It emphasizes that this is not God so much “removing His hand of protection”; this is not about God allowing natural phenomenon to plague Israel. This is about a supernatural act of God; an act of Yehoveh putting it in these carnivorous wild beasts’ primitive minds to attack and kill humans. And of course the implication is that the NUMBER of wild beasts would multiply.
Let me just remind you that the USUAL way God punishes is by means of using normal and usual things of nature but using them in a supernatural way. When we recall the plagues upon Egypt they were all things that existed and happened regularly in nature; the supernatural element was that they happened upon Moses’ command, and they happened in such an exaggerated and amplified way as to wreak havoc. The Nile normally produced a lot of frogs; but not so many that they flowed across the great Egyptian Cities like a crawling carpet. Egypt of course had flies and gnats; but not so many that they tormented the people and the animals to the point of misery and even death. People got boils on their skin from time to time but not EVERY person at the same time and certainly not boils that covered their bodies head to foot (and so on and so on). Hurricanes happen normally in nature; but category 5 hurricanes, the size of the entire Gulf of Mexico, that hit precisely in a way to cause maximum damage to a major US city and disrupt our vital energy and grain supplies coast-to-coast, aren’t normal.
Even in Revelation, when Yehoveh is judging the world, he will use things of nature against us. The Sun is normally hot and bright, but at His command it will burn hotter and brighter. Scientists have been fascinated, for some time, with why it is that planet earth has been spared cataclysmic collisions by meteors and comets for the last several thousands of years when every other body in our solar system experiences them on a regular basis. Well in the near future they won’t be asking that question any more because according to John the Revelator we WILL be hit with meteors and comets and it will devastate the earth’s population and ecology. Goodness, Rev. 6:8 even tells us that wild beasts will roam the earth killing people; and how does that come about? How do wild animals take control when modern man has weapons and other means to eradicate entire species at our whim? The Bible says, “ authority was given to God’s angels to CAUSE it to happen”. Doesn’t that sound an awful lot like what we’ve just been reading in Leviticus about the Lord causing calamities to befall those who come against Him; even His own people? Of course it does; God’s response to mans’ rebellion has never changed; only the teaching about it has changed.
Right about now you’d think someone might ask: “what kind of dumbbell would CONTINUE to challenge God with all this horror happening to him as a result? What kind of leader of any nation would find his people getting deathly sick, starving on a widespread scale, wild animals suddenly roaming unchecked and attacking humans, the weather becoming violent and deadly, foreign enemies constantly seeking to annihilate them, the children dying and common sense becoming a thing of the past, and yet keep right on doing these same things that are bringing Yehoveh’s harsh justice down upon them and their people?”
Any of that sound familiar…….or recent?
Well, man being what he is forgets quickly and doesn’t learn easily. So in verse 23 God says that DESPITE all of this incomprehensible destruction they’ve experienced, if His people
STILL won’t obey Him then just when it can’t get any worse, it will. And He says He will “wreak vengeance for the covenant”, or “ execute the vengeance of the covenant” or some such thing. The Hebrew phrase is nokemet nekam berit . Of course berit means “covenant”. And the sense of this very unique phrase is that the cause and purpose of all these punishments is to bring about those promises written in the covenant of both a positive and a negative nature. In other words because the covenant has promised these curses if Israel disobeys Yehoveh then these things WILL be done for God never changes, and God never goes back on His promises. Further that part of the result of these bad things justly being visited upon His disobedient people is that the ultimate divine goals of the covenant will also happen!
A quick case in point: Yehoveh’s people were scattered and dispersed for their rebellion against Him. When at the appointed time after the Lord had prepared the Holy Lands for their return, it seemed that the vast majority of the Jewish population of the world didn’t wish to go home; they were comfortable where they were. Yet one of the promises Yehoveh made was that His people, while in dispersal among the nations, would be persecuted and murdered simply for being Hebrews. It was that greatest persecution and genocide in history against the Jews in Germany (that event we call the Holocaust) that led to the Jews returning to their homeland and the nation of Israel being reborn in 1948. A negative aspect of the covenant occurred because of the Jews’ stubbornness, but part of the result was that a positive aspect of the covenant came about anyway. This is the notion behind the words of Lev. 26:25.
I think it is fascinating that we’re next told that going into the cities for protection won’t help those who go against the Lord God. Of course in the realities of the era this was written it is referring to the fact that typically there was a walled city surrounded by small unprotected villages. Even though a lot of people lived within these walled cities, the majority of the population lived in the thousands of outlying villages. The blue-collar labor and the field workers lived in the villages; while the leaders, teachers, merchants, and governmental authorities lived inside the walled cities. When an attack was imminent the people of the villages immediately fled to the walled cities for protection; it was understood by all that this was the system.
Isn’t it interesting that in our day our American cities with all their levels of government and police protection and private security, are what has become the prime target of our terrorist enemies. And that after a century of many coming in off the farm for a more secure and predictable life in the cities of America, many city dwellers are now trying to find ways to move OUT to the rural areas because of this threat.
And then verse 26 speaks of famine. Just as the first and foremost blessing of God back in verse 4 was abundant food, an advanced and very severe curse is lack of food. This idea of 10 women baking bread in a single oven and doling out bread by weight is speaking of severe food shortage and the rationing of what little there is.
In yet another transition to even worse consequences for STILL not recognizing that what is happening is Yehoveh’s judgment for His people’s hostility against Him we are told in verse 29 that people will become so desperate from hunger that they will literally eat their own sons
and daughters. Would a people who had for centuries carefully drained the blood from the animals they intended to eat, and before that ate meat ONLY that had been offered at the Bronze Altar of the Wilderness Tabernacle; would THAT people actually turn to eating human flesh under ANY circumstances, to save their own lives?
Yes they would and they did; and the Bible records when it happened. In the long siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in the early 6th century BC the Bible reports in Lamentations that Hebrew women killed, cooked, and ate their children while huddled starving inside the walls of the Holy City. And they’re not the only people every to do such a thing.
Understand that this section of Lev. 26 is speaking of the lowest lows, the worst of the worst. Death is not the worst thing that can happen to a person; eating the flesh of your own children to keep yourself alive is the worst. But notice what goes hand in hand with this abominable (.unthinkable, really) place that mankind (Israel in this case) has sunk; rampant idol worship. Verse 30 Has the Lord saying, “I will cut down your high places, your altars of worship, and then you will be killed and your lifeless bodies placed upon those lifeless idols you just love to bow down to”.
Let’s examine this a little bit; what is being destroyed here is in Hebrew bamah. It is a word that has typically been translated as “high places”. And as far as it goes it is correct as long as we grasp that a high place is a term that eventually came to mean an altar of sacrifice or a place where worship of a deity occurs. Understand, that invariably this is speaking of a PAGAN altar of sacrifice or place of worship. It COULD speak, in later books of the OT, of altars of sacrifice to the God of Israel but, generally speaking, these were unauthorized altars that were called high places, bamah . These are high places that Hebrews should NOT have built so they are not viewed in a positive light.
Because of the science of language cognates we now know that the Hebrew word bamah comes from the Ugaritic word bemat. And bemat means “back”…..like the back of a horse. It is a place upon which a burden is loaded, but it is also a place that is high up on the anatomy of a beast of burden. Therefore the Bible will at times refer to the back of a mountain or the shoulder of a hill; and such a reference means a high-up ridge or an upper part of the terrain. So the Hebrew bamah carries with it all these contexts.
What will also be destroyed are the incense altars that were used at these pagan “high places”. The Hebrew word used here is chammanim . And it is sometimes translated (as in the Complete Jewish Bible) as pillars for sun worshipping or some such thing regarding sun worship because of its prevalence. It is certain that chammanim does not literally indicate sun worship. But it does indicate incense burned to false gods.
Finally we find where Yehoveh says, “your carcasses will be thrown upon your lifeless idols”. Actually the Hebrew word gillulim that is usually translated as idols is more literally “fetishes”; that is this should more correctly be worded, “ your carcasses will be thrown upon your lifeless fetishes”. So what’s a fetish? A fetish is any object thought to have magic power; it is also something to which someone is abnormally devoted or something that arouses erotic feelings in someone but there is nothing inherently erotic at all about that thing (we have all heard of
people who have a foot fetish, or a glove fetish, and so on). So what is being spoken of here is something well beyond what we usually think of as an idol like a little wooden or stone or clay statue of a god. Rather God is speaking of those things in the lives of His people that are supremely important to them but ought not be so important. Things that abnormally grab hold of them and THEY, the people, won’t let go for anything.
So the thought in this verse is that His people will be killed and their bodies will fall while still with a death grip on the worthless, lifeless, useless things that mean more to them than life itself; or better, more important than the God of Israel. Things they counted on for security or to make them feel good. Things that THEY have glorified in defiance of God. Things that THEY have declared as holy but God has not. Things that THEY have pronounced as good but the Lord has pronounced evil. Hear me: this is not my allegory or twisting of an ancient Bible verse; this is what it meant AT THAT TIME and it STILL means the same thing to this day.
Oh but Yehoveh is not yet done dishing out the curses for disobedience against His Law. Next it says He will destroy His peoples’ cities and their places of worship; meaning places they had actually set aside for worshipping HIM! But guess what; HE doesn’t get any honor from those places. God says that He will not savor their fragrant aromas. No he’s not talking about how nice the Israelites smell. He’s talking about their burnt offerings. Remember how we talked at length about the constant mention in the early chapters of Leviticus of Yehoveh smelling the smoke from the burnt offerings to Him and regarding it as a pleasant and pleasing aroma? The idea here is that the Temple where sacrifice is made will be destroyed and that even if Israel chooses to sacrifice from the ruins of the Temple or elsewhere, the Lord will NOT accept their burnt offerings because their state of sin is so great. Yikes! In other words the sacrificial system of the blood of animals the Hebrews count on for atonement won’t be acceptable to God BECAUSE the people are so impure of heart and deed.
Let me tell you something: don’t you EVER let anyone tell you that the sacrificial system of the Torah was mechanical, legalistic, and useless. It was God ordained for Israel’s benefit and it did exactly what God purposed it to do. It ONLY became useless when THEY became faithless. When the Israelites turned from God and tried to use the sacrificial system like a magic spell or in an unauthorized way then it WAS indeed useless. The sacrificial system ALWAYS required fidelity to the God of Israel and a heart full of faith by those who trusted in Him. It is absolutely no different with Yeshua HaMashiach. His sacrifice is ONLY efficacious for those who have faith in Him. Now what His sacrifice accomplished was somewhat different and on a higher level than what the sacrificial system accomplished, but that’s another matter for another lesson.
Please see the precise parallel between these verses of Lev. 26 where God is saying that He will not accept their sacrifices just because they do them in His name, in His Temple, even generally in the way Yehoveh TOLD the Israelites to do them because their hearts are not right; versus what Jesus said about those who will offer their own form of sacrifices to God in Christ’s name but THEY will not be acceptable either. NAS Matthew 7:22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
The words of Leviticus 26 ARE the context for Yeshua’s words of Matthew 7. And as Revelation reveals, in the end times our Church buildings will be chocked full of people who come every Sunday, sing in the choir, serve as deacons and elders, faithfully tithe, wouldn’t miss a Wednesday evening service, and know all the right things to say. Yet because these folks (likely really nice people) just went through the motions and enjoyed the Christian traditions but their hearts were not filled with the Holy Spirit because they never put their trust in Yeshua, they were cast out. They were told by Jesus to depart from Him. Scarey. Scarey. Scarey.
And by the way: what words did Jesus use to identify this group of people whom He would not accept? He said, “you who practice lawlessness”. Those of you whose Bibles say, “ you who practice iniquities” just cross that word out right now because its wrong and it leads you down useless rabbit trails. The Greek word is anomia . Let me quote a couple of standard concordances for you as to what that word means:
458 avnomi,a anomia {an-om-ee’-ah} Meaning: 1) the condition of without law 1a) because ignorant of law 1b) because of violating law 2) contempt and violation of law
Yeshua wasn’t speaking about common criminals. This isn’t about breaking the Roman system of laws in His day or even the American system of laws now. For any Jew there was only one Law. When Jesus referred to the law it ALWAYS meant only ONE thing: the Laws of Moses.
What was it that these people were doing that Jesus said amounted to lawlessness? They were prophesying and casting our demons in His name! That was their crime. Casting out demons in Yeshua’s name was certainly not against any Roman law. No, the issue is that these people who were casting our demons and prophesying in His name were doing so without faith and without the Torah (the Law) written on their hearts! This is Law-lessness.
So just as the sacrificial system was NOT for the whole world but only for the Israelites, so the sacrifice of Christ was NOT for the whole world but only for that part of the world that would trust Him. I’m heartsick over hearing preachers and pastors yell the politically correct, “Christ died for the whole world!”…… NO HE DIDN’T. He died for those who preferred Christ TO the world. As a result we now have Gay ministers, churches who don’t believe one Biblical thing about Christ, and we have the doctrine that a merciful God wouldn’t every send ANYBODY to Hell.
NAS John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life . And sadly that is only a few people…..a remnant…..compared to the billions and billions who have come and gone on this planet.
We’ll finish up Leviticus 26 next time.