Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20001108.htm

LEVITICUS: GOD'S CALL FOR A SEPARATED WITNESS
Part II: The Path Of Walking In Fellowship With God (Leviticus 11-27)
F. God's Call For Separation From Our Culture's Sins
(Leviticus 17:1-16)
  1. Introduction
    1. Though we believers live in the world, we are to live separate from the world system, 1 John 2:15-17.
    2. We might identify some obvious forms of that world system to avoid, things like drug abuse and pornography, but our culture often sports sins that we find hard to identify as such, and hence avoid.
    3. Leviticus 17:1-16, taken in its cultural context, is a revelation that God expects us to take a good look at our culture's forms of sin and live as separate from its cultural sins as follows:
  2. God's Call For Separation From Our Culture's Sins, Leviticus 17:1-16.
    1. To understand the significance of God's directives in Leviticus 17:1-7, we must note Israel's cultural background to see that the nation had been heavily exposed to evil Egyptian goat sacrifice rituals:
      1. Israel had settled in the land of Goshen during the days of Joseph, Genesis 46:28; 47:1.
      2. Now Goshen was located in the eastern part of the Nile river delta, Z.P.E.B., vol. Two, p. 778.
      3. A significant form of an idolatrous worship of goats occurred in this part of the Nile delta at the time, cf. Bible Knowledge Commentary, Old Testament, p. 199 (citing R. K. Harrison, Leviticus, p. 180)
      4. Hence, after hundreds of years in Goshen, Israel had a cultural tendency to practice this idolatry.
    2. Accordingly, Leviticus 17:1-7 records God's stipulations to Israel to counter this cultural sinful tendency:
      1. When Israel first traveled in the wilderness upon leaving Egypt (this stipulation was later modified in the Holy Land due to logistical reasons, Ibid., B.K.C., O.T.), God directed that any time a domestic animal was to be slain for food, it had to be done at the tabernacle where its blood and fat were offered up to the Lord as a peace offering, Lev. 7:1-4b. Such an order was not a hardship as Israel's staple was manna, and animals were eaten for festive purposes, Ryrie St. Bib., KJV, ftn. to Lev. 17:1-7.
      2. If this stipulation was not heeded, the guilty party was excommunicated, Leviticus 17:4c.
      3. The reason this order arose was to inhibit Israel's culturally conditioned idolatrous goat worship bent:
        1. The people tended to practice idolatry were such animals slain away from the tabernacle, 17:5-6.
        2. That tendency was to practice goat worship of their Goshen heritage in Egypt: (a) the word "devils" (KJV) or words "goat idols" (NIV) is literally "hairy ones" which stands for male goats which were the hairier gender of the breed, B.D.B, Hebrew-English Lex. of the O.T., p. 972; McGee, Thru The Bible, vol. I, p. 405. (b) God opposed Israel's common practice of sacrificing to such goat gods as seen in Leviticus 17:7. (c) Hence, God sought to get Israel to abandon this culturally-conditioned sin by having the priests slay their domestic animals only at the tabernacle site!
    3. Additionally, even aliens among the people had to bring their sacrificial animals to the tabernacle, meaning that God was seeking to obliterate any idolatrous goat worship influences in their midst, 17:8-9.
    4. Since blood was used for pagan rituals to prolong one's life, and since God alone was to be seen as life's author, and blood was meant only for atonement, blood was forbidden for human consumption, 17:10-12.
    5. Even the blood of wild game killed outside the camp was forbidden under the same directives, 17:13-14.
    6. If anyone ate an animal that had died of itself or by another animal, he was seen as unclean and needed to bath his clothes and himself, Lev. 17:15-16. This stipulation shut the door tightly against goat worship.
Lesson: God sought to separate Israel from her cultural sins so she could fellowship with Him in truth.

Application: (1) God expects us to view our allegiance to HIM and to HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS above even our earthly life's cultural beliefs and practices. (2) Once we NOTE such an error in our CULTURAL heritage, we should set up practices that remove us from the temptation for failure there!

Illustration: Covetousness is idolatry according to Col. 3:5: hence, (1) the CULTURAL tendency to feel we have to get our child a special toy as a Christmas present simply not to feel left out because of what other parents are buying for their children must be countered. (2) To feel that we MUST have a nest egg of $1 million when we retire just because a lot of financial managers say so must be countered! GOD is our financial Help (Hebrews 13:5-6), so we must follow His lead in setting retirement goals!