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Leviticus 24 and 26-27: The Death Penalty, Curses, and Vows

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Why were people in Israel stoned to death for sinning? What is God communicating through the blessings and curses of Leviticus? What are vow offerings and why would people make them?

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The Death Penalty, Curses, and Vows: How Leviticus 24 and 26–27 Point to Jesus

Show Notes

David and Seth wrap up their journey through the book of Leviticus by exploring some of its most intense and surprising chapters. From a mysterious interruption in the middle of Israel's feast laws to the sweeping blessings and curses of the covenant, to the strange laws about vows at the very end, this episode traces how each of these passages finds its ultimate resolution in the Gospel of Jesus.

The Lamp, the Bread, and God's Unbroken Presence

Leviticus 24 opens with instructions about the lamp and the showbread inside the tabernacle, and most commentators either speculate about why this section interrupts the flow of the feast laws or simply acknowledge its odd placement and move on. But there is something significant about its location. The feast days required Israel to make a pilgrimage to God's presence only about 18 days a year. The lamp and bread, however, were permanent fixtures. Twelve loaves of bread, representing the 12 tribes of Israel, sat in the tabernacle with the light of the menorah — a symbol of God's presence — always shining on them.

The original menorahs were even designed to look like the burning bush, the very place where God revealed himself to Moses and declared "I am with you." The picture is profound: even when Israel was not physically at the tabernacle, God's presence never left his people. The light was always burning, and there was always bread at his table — a constant reminder that God provides and dwells with his people at all times. Jesus picks up on both of these images directly. He calls himself "the light of the world" and "the bread of life" (John 6; John 8). He is the living, incarnated presence of God who provides and is always with his people. And in Matthew 28, he echoes this same reality when he says, "Surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age." The fire of God's presence that appeared on Mount Sinai and burned in the tabernacle lamp later appeared as tongues of fire on the day of Pentecost, when God's Holy Spirit came to dwell inside his people permanently.

Blasphemy, the Unpardonable Sin, and the Hard Heart

In the middle of this section about God's constant presence comes a jarring narrative: a half-Egyptian, half-Israelite man gets into a fight with another Israelite and curses God's name. He is taken into custody, and when Moses consults God, the Lord commands that everyone who heard the blasphemy lay their hands on the man and stone him to death. This act of hand-laying follows the same pattern seen throughout Leviticus — the transfer of uncleanliness onto a substitute — except in this case, there is no substitute. The text says in verse 15, "Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin." Unlike every other offense in Leviticus, where an animal could bear the penalty through atonement, there is no sacrifice available for the one who blasphemes God's name.

This connects directly to what Jesus calls the unpardonable sin in Mark 3:28–29, where he warns that anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never receive forgiveness. The unpardonable sin is not a single careless word but a persistent, hard-hearted rejection of God and his power — the kind of heart that sees miracle after miracle and still attributes God's work to something else. Pharaoh did this when he credited God's plagues to the work of his magicians. The Pharisees did it when they said Jesus performed miracles by the power of demons. And this half-Egyptian man, carrying the spiritual heritage of Pharaoh, likely did the same. That his Egyptian lineage is noted in the text is no accident; he bears the image and consequences of Pharaoh's hard heart. For anyone listening who wonders whether they have committed the unpardonable sin, the very act of wondering is evidence that they have not. A truly hardened heart never asks that question. It never doubts its own disbelief. But a heart that is troubled by the possibility is a heart that still cares about its standing before God.

Eye for Eye: Proportionate Justice and the Cross

Immediately after the blasphemy story, Leviticus 24 introduces the famous principle of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth." Contrary to popular understanding, this was not a license for personal revenge. If someone injured another person, the penalty was not a matching injury but a proportionate financial payment — covering the cost of the damage done. And compared to other ancient law codes like Hammurabi's, where the death penalty could be applied to property crimes and petty theft, God limited capital punishment to offenses that attack the dignity of human life and the holiness of God himself.

This principle of proportionate justice illuminates the cross. When people look at the crucifixion and find it barbaric or excessive, the Bible's response is that this is the proportionate response to human rebellion. What was done to Jesus on the cross is an eye-for-eye picture of what every person's disobedience actually deserves. The instinct to recoil from the violence of the crucifixion is itself a reflection of the holy revulsion God has toward Sin and Death. But instead of turning away, the Gospel invites people to recognize that the brutality of the cross is a mirror — it reveals what is already inside every human heart. Jesus did not die because God is bloodthirsty. He died because the proportionate cost of rebellion against a holy God is that severe. And the good news is that he bore it in our place, so that "whoever curses his God shall bear his sin" becomes "surely he has borne our sins" (Isaiah 53).

Eden Promised and Lost: The Blessings and Curses of Leviticus 26

Leviticus 26 functions as the conclusion to God's covenant with Israel, following the ancient pattern of treaty blessings and curses. But unlike every other ancient law code, where a king would promise to pray to the gods on behalf of the people, here God himself speaks directly. He does not say, "I will ask the gods to bless you." He says, "I will do these things." The blessings paint a picture of Eden restored: rain in its season, abundant harvests, peace in the land, no dangerous animals, and the crowning promise in verses 11–12: "I will make my dwelling among you, and I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people." This is Garden of Eden language — God walking with his people in a world without Sin, Death, or Chaos.

The curses, however, are far longer and far more detailed than the blessings, which itself hints that disobedience is the more likely outcome. God warns that he will bring panic, pestilence, famine, and ultimately exile. Where the blessings promised "I will walk among you," the curses threaten "I will walk contrary to you in fury" — the terrifying image of the omnipotent God on the opposite side of the battlefield. The specificity of the curses foreshadows what Deuteronomy will make explicit: Israel will not keep the covenant because God has not yet given them soft hearts, and exile is inevitable. Yet even within the curses, God provides a re-entry strategy in verse 40: if the people confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, God will remember his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and restore them. The prophet Jeremiah later picks up this promise, writing during the Babylonian exile that God's punishment will last 70 years — a number echoing the "sevenfold" punishment of Leviticus 26. When Daniel reads Jeremiah in exile and begins repenting for himself and for all of Israel, an angel appears and tells him the true proportionate punishment is not 70 years but 70 times 7 — 490 years. This number adds a zero to the 49-year cycle of Jubilee, signaling a cosmic debt that no amount of calendar time could repay. And the only other time "70 times 7" appears in Scripture is when Jesus tells Peter that this is how many times we must forgive (Matthew 18:22). Jesus is pointing to his own cross, where the full, proportionate punishment for all of Israel's — and all of humanity's — rebellion would finally be absorbed. In him, the 490-year curse comes to an end, and the blessings of Leviticus 26 begin to flow: God's people become new Eden ambassadors, carrying his Holy Spirit into the world, extending the boundaries of his presence until he returns to make all things new.

Vows, Bartering with God, and the Freedom of the Gospel

Leviticus 27 feels like an appendix. After the dramatic conclusion of chapter 26, with its sweeping blessings and curses and a line that reads like a final signature — "These are the statutes and rules the Lord made between himself and the people of Israel through Moses on Mount Sinai" — the book unexpectedly adds one more chapter about vows. Vows in the ancient world were a kind of barter with the divine: "God, if you do this for me, I will give you this in return." Hannah made a vow when she promised to dedicate her son Samuel to the tabernacle if God opened her barren womb (1 Samuel 1). Jacob made one before meeting Esau (Genesis 28). Jonah made one from inside the belly of a fish (Jonah 2).

Three categories of vows are described: vows of persons, animals, and property. If someone wanted to dedicate themselves to God's service in the tabernacle but was not a Levite, they could pay the monetary equivalent of their labor instead. The prices were steep — 50 shekels for a man in his prime, roughly four and a half years of wages. Commentators suggest the high cost was intentionally prohibitive, designed to make people think twice before making rash promises. If someone vowed an animal and then tried to substitute a lesser one, both the original and the replacement were forfeited. If someone vowed property or land, the full value went to the tabernacle. The placement of this chapter after the curses makes sense: hearing God's terrifying warnings could easily provoke an emotional, impulsive response — "I vow I will never fall away!" — much like Peter's rash promise that he would never deny Jesus (Matthew 26:33).

But the deeper point of Leviticus 27 is that vows are never commanded. They are merely regulated. God is not a deity who needs to be bribed or bargained with. The blessings of Leviticus 26 were not contingent on how much Israel sacrificed but on whether they walked in faithful obedience. Jesus picks up this thread when he teaches, "Let your yes be yes and your no be no" (Matthew 5:37), and when he tells his followers not to worry about food or clothing because their Father already knows what they need (Matthew 6:25–34). Hebrews 4:16 captures the freedom the Gospel provides: "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." The reason we can approach God boldly — without bartering, without proving ourselves, without making expensive vows — is that Jesus has already paid the ultimate vow offering. He obeyed every command of Leviticus. He bore the full proportionate punishment for rebellion. And because of his perfect righteousness, the blessings of Leviticus 26 can come upon God's people without the need for the vows of Leviticus 27. Eden is coming — now, in part, and perfectly in the future.

Transcript

Intro: [gentle music] Welcome to the Spoken Gospel podcast. This is our attempt to speak the gospel out of every corner of scripture. We believe every part of the Bible, Old Testament and New, is about Jesus, and this podcast is our experiment to publicly test that belief. Let's jump in. [upbeat music]

David: All right, everyone, welcome to the Spoken Gospel podcast. We are wrapping up Leviticus today.

Seth: Wrapping it up.

David: Wrapping it up. Let's, let's raise a coffee glass and, and tink it.

Seth: Clink.

David: There we go. Ooh, that sounded nice.

Seth: That, that sounded good.

David: And then we'll take a little sip. [slurping] Mm.

Seth: Laws.

David: Ah, delicious.

Seth: Tastes like sacrifice. [laughs]

David: Tastes like sacrifice. Um, yeah, well, um, I'm excited that we've made it through the end of Leviticus. What's been your, like, your take on our walkthrough of Leviticus?

Seth: We were talking about this the other day, but I think one of the things that I've taken away from Leviticus, which I wasn't expecting, was an appreciation, uh, for the holiness of the Lord.

David: Oh, right.

Seth: Like s- it's separate from his wrath and punishment.

David: Mm.

Seth: So just I've been able to meditate on the fact that God is unique, uniquely the giver of life and light, and because he's that, I want to approach him in the way that he desires.

David: Mm.

Seth: And, like, I want to be near to him, and I can meditate on his holiness without it feeling strange, and I can also meditate on the consequences of his holiness without necessarily getting caught up in, like, well, why is God allowed to be angry?

David: Mm.

Seth: You know what I mean?

David: Yeah.

Seth: Like, 'cause, uh, that wrath has so much, like, even for me as a Christian, grew up a Christian, who believes that God, when confronted with sin, must respond to it.

David: Right, yeah.

Seth: Like, who's, who's okay with that. Even that word, wrath, can feel hard. Holiness has, like, helped me redeem, like, helped me understand God's wrath and his anger towards sin more.

David: Yeah.

Seth: But al-

David: Or the, yeah

Seth: Yeah.

David: I think maybe another way to say what you're saying, 'cause we did talk about this, is, like, um, you've, anytime you try to meditate on God's holiness, um, his wrath ends up getting subsumed into it, and-

Seth: Right

David: ... becomes part of that picture that your mind is painting.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Um, and what you're saying is that God's wrath is a pro- is a product of his holiness, but his holiness can stand apart from wrath.

Seth: Right.

David: And he, he, he is, he can just be holy.

Seth: Yeah, 'cause I think a lot of my problem, like, my conceptual problem with God is, like, I don't know if I can love a God that's angry, like, who has-

David: Mm

Seth: ... anger as part of his personality. And what this has helped me do is like, no, God is fundamentally and primary, primarily holy.

David: Right.

Seth: And he's only wrathful, he's only has anger when he confronts sin.

David: Right.

Seth: So-

David: Whenever it's wholly appropriate for him to do so.

Seth: Right.

David: Yeah.

Seth: It's not like he's, like, anger's an intrinsic part of his character.

David: No. I mean, it's like-

Seth: He's waiting to lash out at people

David: ... yeah, you think about my, like, I think about my wife, and it's like, if I came home and I was just completely torn up about something that happened, you know, maybe something horrible, some, so it's maybe someone mugged my mom.

Seth: Right.

David: Right?

Seth: All right.

David: It'd be, I'd be so livid.

Seth: Right.

David: I would come home, "Megan, can you believe this happened? Someone mugged my mom." And she was like, "Oh, man, I just, let's, let's love that guy."

Seth: Right.

David: And I'm like-

Seth: It's like

David: ... "Well, yeah, eventually."

Seth: Yeah.

David: "But, like, be mad with me for a second."

Seth: Right, right.

David: I would, like, I would want... Yes, she's a very loving person-

Seth: And that's not be-

David: ... but I would want her to have some wrath right there.

Seth: Right, and-

David: 'Cause it's appropriate.

Seth: Right, it's appropriate, and be, and that's not, and you're angry in that moment not because you have a, you're constitut- constitutionally situated-

David: Right

Seth: ... to be angry towards your mom.

David: It's my default setting.

Seth: And it found a way to come out finally.

David: [laughs] Right.

Seth: It's that you have such a deep, holy love for your mom-

David: Yes

Seth: ... and a desire for the preservation of her life, that when someone comes and threatens that-

David: Yep

Seth: ... it releases itself and expresses itself as anger at the wrong done.

David: Right.

Seth: And so what I've, what I've loved, then, about Leviticus is the ability just to meditate on God's life and light, and how no bad thing can enter into it.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And my desire for God's holiness and his presence, it is, is a desire for all good things apart from bad things.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Like, you know what?

David: Definitely.

Seth: That, that's been really helpful.

David: That's good.

Seth: Exciting.

David: Yeah. Well, um, I'd be curious to hear what you guys are thinking as you're listening to, uh, the Leviticus podcast. If you wanna let us know, if you've listened through Leviticus and you've gotten to this point, uh, and you have something that's stuck out to you, maybe something you didn't know before, didn't notice before, didn't care about before, I'd love to hear your story. Uh, you can send-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... us an email at [email protected]. We'd love to hear your story and share some of them online, or on the air, I mean. So-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... yeah, write, write to us, [email protected]. Tell us your story about your trip through Leviticus. We'd love to hear about it. Um, but anyway, let's, we're gonna, today we're gonna look at, um, we're gonna look at Leviticus 24.

Seth: 24, and then the last couple chapters.

David: And then we're gonna look at the last couple chapters, 26 and 27. [upbeat music] Okay, so this part in chapter 24, um, most commentators either end up saying no one knows why this little break from the narrative flow is here, um-

Seth: 'Cause up to this point, we've been talking about feasts.

David: Yep.

Seth: And then we will go on to talk about feasts.

David: Yep.

Seth: But in the middle of talking about all the feasts and the holy days, there's a law about some lamps.

David: Yep.

Seth: A law about bread.

David: And a story.

Seth: And a story about a half-Egyptian, half-Israeli person.

David: Person, who curses God's name.

Seth: And is stoned for it.

David: And is stoned to death.

Seth: And then the, it ends, and you go back into feasts.

David: Right.

Seth: It's-

David: And so, yeah, it's, it's, and so either people are like, "We don't know. Maybe here's a suggestion." That's what some commentators do, and then some people just don't address it, and they're like-

Seth: It's like-

David: ... "I'm not even gonna try to postulate it."

Seth: It's just here. It's just here.

David: [laughs]

Seth: Here it is.

David: So I- I'm gonna just default to that latter one and just be like, "Here it is. It doesn't really matter why." [laughs]

Seth: [laughs] Right, right, right.

David: Um, and so, um, anyway, so the first thing we-

Seth: Well, you said something last week-

David: Oh

Seth: ... that, off the air-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... that we didn't mention here. Like, so we've talked about all these feast days.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Which are particular times the people-

David: Oh, yes

Seth: ... come to the Lord, his presence.

David: Yep.

Seth: But the bread, and-

David: They make their, they make their sojourn to God's presence

Seth: ... their sojourn to there

David: ... right.

Seth: But the bread and the lamp are supposed to always be in God's-Temple.

David: Yes.

Seth: As a symbol for what God always provides, even when they're not there.

David: That's right.

Seth: When they're not there, the light is always burning.

David: Yep.

Seth: The light of God's holiness and his goodness and the life is always burning, and there's always food at his table. He's always providing for the needs of his people.

David: Right, and what we need to see here, so, so what, what 24, w- what chapter 24 does is it talks about the lamp in the tabernacle, and it talks about the showbread. And, um, what we're supposed to see here is that there are these 12 loaves of bread stacked on top of each other that represent the 12 tribes of Israel, and right next to it is this lamp stand. And the lamp stand is supposed to represent the presence of God, his light and everything. And so-

Seth: It's like a menorah. Like a, yeah, like a menorah.

David: That's like a menorah. Yes.

Seth: This is the menorah.

David: This is the menorah.

Seth: Yeah. [laughs]

David: Yes. And so, um, this-

Seth: Did you know, like, the original menorahs looked like, uh, the burning bush?

David: Oh, no.

Seth: Yeah.

David: That's cool.

Seth: It's like that's the way they were originally designed was to look like the burning bush-

David: Well, so-

Seth: ... where the Lord-

David: There you go. God's presence.

Seth: Oh, I... Of course.

David: Yes, the light of God's presence, fire, God's presence.

Seth: I am with you.

David: I am showing up.

Seth: Yeah, okay.

David: Yes, I am with you. Yeah, his name is I am with you.

Seth: That's right.

David: And here's the lamp.

Seth: Right.

David: But yeah, so case in point, the light is supposed to be God's presence, and what would happen was the illumination of God's presence would always be shining down on the showbread. And so it's just this constant picture of the, the fact that God's presence is always with his people. The 12 tribes of Israel in the bread-

Seth: Right

David: ... is alway- always has light shining on it with the presence of God. And so what you're saying is, which I guess is what I said the other day [laughs]

Seth: Right, yeah. [laughs]

David: Is, is, is, uh, there's this, through these feasts, people come-

Seth: Spoke wiser words than you knew. [laughs]

David: I guess so. People come to the presence of God for short periods of time, a week here, a day here, whatever, but, um, that's only like 18 days a year. But this, this, in, the, the whole flow is interrupted-

Seth: Right

David: ... to show, "Hey, I just want you to know that God's presence always shines on his people."

Seth: Yeah.

David: "Whether you are at the tabernacle or not, God is always with you," which is a comforting word.

Seth: Right, and then Jesus picks up on this language, "I am the light of the world."

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: "And I am the bread of life." [laughs] Like, he picks up on these same images-

David: Right

Seth: ... and says, "I am the living, embodied, incarnated presence of God-"

David: Mm

Seth: ... that provides and is always with all of my people."

David: Right, and it's really interesting, too. It's like the light of the, of the, of the menorah always shines on the bread of God's people, and what does Jesus say, uh, in Matthew 28? "Surely I am with you always."

Seth: Even at the end of the age.

David: Yeah, and so, so it's like the same kind of picture we get here becomes a reality in God's-

Seth: Holy Spirit indwelling presence

David: ... Holy Spirit indwelling. [laughs]

Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

David: Yeah. It's amazing. So that's kinda what's happening here.

Seth: Which is why-

David: Yep

Seth: ... tongues of fire. Like, a lamp is-

David: Oh, yes

Seth: ... lit with fire.

David: Right.

Seth: And so you have the presence of God manifesting-

David: Mm

Seth: ... itself as fire on Mount Sinai-

David: Right

Seth: ... in the temple as the lamp-

David: Yes

Seth: ... and then on the tongues of fire-

David: Yep

Seth: ... on the people on the day of Pentecost.

David: Right.

Seth: And that fire is, comes inside you, and you, the living spirit of God is always-

David: Is present with you

Seth: ... is present with you.

David: Always. That's cool, yeah. Um-

Seth: So then that makes sense for the blasphemy laws a little bit then.

David: Okay.

Seth: So you have, like, God's presence. You come and visit God's presence 18 times a year, but God's presence is always present in his temple and for his people. So then you have this incident in the middle of the story of where somebody is taking advantage of it maybe, taking advantage-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... of the sense that God's presence is not there maybe.

David: Maybe, or I think what else might be happening here is you have this reminder that God is always with you, you know, which is really good news for the saint, but could be really bad news for the sinner. You know? [laughs]

Seth: Right.

David: Where it's like the wh- this whole thing in Leviticus is, how do we live in God's presence? And we just heard, "I'm with you all the time-"

Seth: Right

David: ... all throughout the year, and there's this person who's half-Israelite, half-Egyptian. Maybe he's off somewhere far from the tabernacle, and he curses God. Does God hear it?

Seth: Right.

David: Does God respond? Does God-

Seth: And-

David: ... maintain his holiness?

Seth: ... it shows that God's law and God's presence isn't just for his people. It's for all people.

David: That's right, yeah.

Seth: And so you have a half-Egyptian man, and the law of God for the Jewish people in the tabernacle extends to him as well.

David: That's right. Yeah, that's right. And so, and, and the, the text makes a, makes a point of, of bringing [laughs] this up. It says, uh, in verse 16, "Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him, the sojourner as well as the native. Um, when he blasphemes the name, he shall be put to death." So he's making sure, if you're native, if you're full-blood Israelite, uh, this applies to you. But if you've been brought into this nation and you're not an Israelite, the rules still apply. And, um, it, it's why the psalmist can say, um, "Against you and you alone, Lord, have I sinned." Like, he knows that ultimately, whenever he does something wrong, even in that psalm, I think he's talking about what he did to Uriah and Bathsheba, he's talking about, "I know I've done something wrong to people, physical people."

Seth: Right, right, right.

David: "I've done horrible things. I've murdered a man and, and had a, and had an affair with his wife." But ultimately, the sin was against God. And so no matter where you live, no matter who you are, God's law sits over you, and you are ultimately responsible to him. He is the one to whom all people will answer.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so that's kind of what's being communicated here, and the fact that this half-Egyptian man doesn't get a loophole out of the law.

Seth: Just because he's not a part of the people of God.

David: A part of the, quote-unquote, "covenant people of God."

Seth: But since all people are God's people-

David: Right

Seth: ... he comes under, he is liable. Like, God's holiness and his presence extends even to him.

David: Right.

Seth: God's presence extends throughout the entire world-

David: Yep

Seth: ... not just, uh-

David: The 12 tribes, the 12 bread

Seth: ... the 12 tribes of Israel.

David: Yep.

Seth: And that's what gets shown up in the Book of Joshua.

David: Mm.

Seth: God's presence takes over the whole world, and no matter what Canaanite nation or whoever else is being taken over, God's presence still holds sway over the gods of other nations as well.

David: Right, yeah. Uh, so there's a lot, actually, here, I think, that we can look at with this half-Egyptian person and what that represents as all the nations. Um, but before we leave it, I think we have to talk about what happens to him. So he curses God, um, which is breaking one of the Ten Commandments.

Seth: Yep.

David: You know, he takes the Lord's name in vain. He blasphemes God.

Seth: Right, right, right.

David: It says that he's, like, having a fight with another Israeli guy, and, and in that scuttle-

Seth: Somehow he-

David: Somehow he just ends up say- probably something about, like, "Oh, your god's not even real" or-

Seth: Right, right, right

David: ... you know, like, "I curse your God" or something like that.

Seth: Yeah, yeah.

David: We don't have that dialogue.

Seth: Right.

David: I would love to read that, but, [laughs] um.

Seth: [laughs]

David: It's like, what if-

Seth: David's darker side comes out

David: ... well, it's just, like, I wanna know what caused this guy to have-

Seth: Right

David: ... to be stoned is really, like... But all we're given is he's blasphemed God, which-

Seth: Right

David: ... should be enough apparently. And so, uh, so he blasphemes God, and they're like, "What do we do? We've not had this happen yet."

Seth: Right.

David: You know, we- we've had the 10 Commandments.

Seth: But nobody's broken this one.

David: No one's broken this one yet.

Seth: As far as we... Yeah.

David: So they put him in custody, and, and then they, they go and ask the Lord, um, what to do. "What should we do with this guy?" And God tells him, "Here's what I want you to do. I want you to take him and everyone who heard him blaspheme." So, like, not only the blasphemer, but now everyone who heard him is unclean, and they-

Seth: Okay

David: ... are all told to come and lay their hands.

Seth: Does it say unclean?

David: It doesn't, but that- that's the r- that's the reason why anytime someone lays their hands on something that's about to die, they're transferring their uncleanliness.

Seth: Oh.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

David: And so they've heard God been blasphemed. There's uncleanliness in, in them now.

Seth: Right.

David: And so they are told to come and lay their hands on this blasphemer, and then stone him. Throw stones at him until he dies. And, uh, that's really intense.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so, um-

Seth: And it says here, "And speak to the people of Israel saying, 'Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin.'"

David: Yeah.

Seth: And that's, uh, significant because they're... An animal has always been bearing sin-

David: Oh, right. Yes

Seth: ... for people, making atonement for other people, and so what, what is being said here is there is no atonement-

David: There's no atonement

Seth: ... for the one who blasphemes God's name.

David: That's right.

Seth: The one who takes the Lord's name in vain, the one who has a hard heart.

David: Right.

Seth: There's no atonement for this person.

David: Which is, which is what Jesus picks up on when he talks about the unpardonable sin-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... in the New Testament.

Seth: That's right.

David: He said, "Anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit."

Seth: Right. In Mark 3:28 and 29, it says, "Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men and whatever blasphemies they utter."

David: Right.

Seth: So there's-

David: So there's, there's always atonement for everything else

Seth: ... but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is subject to eternal condemnation.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Which is what we're seeing here.

David: Right.

Seth: This eternal condemnation, there's no atonement for the one who does this. And we talked, we've talked about this-

David: We have

Seth: ... a couple different times with the hardness of Pharaoh's heart.

David: Yep.

Seth: Uh, we have a whole special episode o- on it as well.

David: On that, and then we did another episode on how do you know you were saved. We, we briefly talked about the unpardonable sin.

Seth: We talked about this.

David: So go listen to those, too, but what is the unpardonable sin, and why is it unpardonable sin?

Seth: It's the hard-hearted-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... it's the hard-hearted, consistent denial of the Lord.

David: Okay.

Seth: Of the Lord and His power, and particularly in the case of Pharaoh and the Pharisees here in Mark, is the attributing of God's power to something else.

David: Right.

Seth: So in Pharaoh, he kept saying, "Oh, no, God's power is the work of magicians."

David: Right. Mm-hmm.

Seth: "My magician can do this. My magician can do this. Your God isn't in charge. I'm in charge."

David: Yes.

Seth: "My, like m- like I rule here. Obviously, look, the people that I employ, my, my underling magicians can do it."

David: Yeah.

Seth: They're exactly the same thing. And the Pharisees said, "The only reason you can do miracles is because you are the pr- like you're the prince of demons."

David: You're, you're, you have a demon in you.

Seth: Right, and the point there is that there is such a antagonism towards the Lord that no amount of evidence can unlock their presuppositions against Him.

David: Right.

Seth: Like no amount of evidence, no amount of miraculous signs, no amount of working can prove to them that the Lord is good, He is for them, and He is actually the Lord.

David: Right.

Seth: That, that hard-hearted, persistent rejection of God and His power is called the unpardonable sin.

David: Right. Now I, and I totally agree with that interpretation.

Seth: Right. Yeah.

David: But I'm gonna ask you a hard question.

Seth: Okay.

David: Okay, so just get ready.

Seth: Right.

David: Turn on your brain. Okay, here we go.

Seth: My brain is on.

David: It's on. All right. Um, it doesn't seem like this half Egyptian person has the opportunity to have long-term, um, like, uh, rejection of God and, like, the proof that he has a hard heart for a long time. It's like he curses God's name once, and he dies.

Seth: Right.

David: So, like, are these just different dispensations, or [laughs] are these, like, what's happening here?

Seth: Well, one, I would say that we probably don't have access-

David: To that person's story

Seth: ... to ev- to this, so, like, everyone who heard him.

David: Right.

Seth: This man doesn't exist in isolation.

David: Yep.

Seth: This event doesn't exist in isolation. So more than likely, like the, by the f- by the time it comes out in the middle of a fight, how many years of blasphemy has-

David: Mm

Seth: ... have, has it been evident?

David: Right.

Seth: And what was this one particular act that made it so mu- like made it evident that he had actually gone beyond.

David: Right, and I wonder, I mean, and it's, it's of no, it's, it's of serious consequence-

Seth: Right

David: ... that he is half Egyptian.

Seth: Right.

David: He's carrying over Pharaoh's hard heart.

Seth: Right.

David: Like he is bearing the image of Pharaoh and therefore bears his consequences.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so-

Seth: Exactly right

David: ... I think that, I mean, that's, that's a pretty good argument.

Seth: Yeah, and think about this. We don't actually know when Pharaoh's, like we are told that Pharaoh hardens his own heart.

David: Right.

Seth: And we're also told God f- hardens-

David: God hardens his heart

Seth: ... his heart.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And we, but we a- we actually don't know when it becomes-

David: And we're not-

Seth: ... unpardonable.

David: Right. Yeah.

Seth: And-

David: And I don't think that's the point

Seth: ... and we don't know in the case-

David: Right

Seth: ... of the Pharisees when it becomes unpardonable.

David: Nope.

Seth: And we don't know here when it becomes unpardonable.

David: Yep.

Seth: And so the point here isn't-

David: How many times do you have to do this before it becomes unpardonable?

Seth: It's do you have a heart posture that wants-

David: Right

Seth: ... to trust the Lord, or no matter how much you see God working-

David: Mm

Seth: ... particularly in Israel, clouds and all this stuff is happening, no matter, no, like [laughs]

David: [laughs] Right.

Seth: It's like no matter how many times you see God working, no matter how g- God is merciful towards you, no matter how much atonement He's provided-

David: Mm

Seth: ... you're always willing to say, "No, no, no, that's not God."

David: Right.

Seth: "That's, that's just nature following its course. No, no, no, that's not God. That's just the miracle of-

David: Right

Seth: ... evolutionary science."

David: Or, or-

Seth: That's, right

David: ... that's not God in the tabernacle. That's a goat demon.

Seth: Right.

David: I mean, who knows?

Seth: It does-

David: He could have said anything. I mean, imagine all this. Like God has just filled the tabernacle. He's lit the altar on fire. Uh, Nadab and Abihu have been killed. Like he's seen God on Mount Sinai. I mean, he's seen miracle after miracle after miracle, and he's probably done something like, "Oh, this is actually my, this is, this is our Egyptian god."This isn't Yahweh.

Seth: Right.

David: This is, this is my Egyptian god.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And he's, and like they're like, "Uh, no."

Seth: That would make s-

David: "You're breaking multiple commandments at this point."

Seth: Yeah.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And that would follow the pattern of Pharaoh-

David: It would

Seth: ... and the-

David: Exactly

Seth: ... Pharisees.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: And the point here is, do you believe the primary cause of these things is something that you can attribute and you would prefer to worship?

David: Right.

Seth: Or you would prefer to believe in?

David: Mm.

Seth: Or the God who rules over it all?

David: Right. Okay, and so now give me the caveat you always give to people who say, "Do I have a hard heart? Have I committed the unpardonable sin?"

Seth: Right. If you're wondering that as you're listening, you have not. [laughs]

David: [laughs]

Seth: If you're asking yourself the question, do I have a hard heart, you're proving you do not have a hard heart, because a person with a hardened heart doesn't care.

David: Nope, they never ask that question.

Seth: They never ask that question because they're so closed off to the Lord and His power, they're so, um... They never doubt themselves-

David: That's right

Seth: ... in their disbelief.

David: Right.

Seth: So if you are in a, if you're listening right now and you're doubting your belief or your disbelief or the amount of your belief, you do not have a hard heart.

David: That's right.

Seth: But if you're listening to this and you do not doubt your doubts, if you do not doubt your disbelief, you are in danger-

David: Mm

Seth: ... of having the hard heart of the man right here.

David: Right. Well, thank you, Seth. That's really helpful.

Seth: Caveat-

David: Well, well-

Seth: ... included. [laughs]

David: Caveat included. Okay. Um, I think what we have to see here, too, is, um, I mean, this is an amazing picture of the gospel. Um, oh, oh, before I get there, I had this note written down. So you know we've talked about the, the law of Hammurabi.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: Um, i- they have death, death penalties in there, too, for, for things, but theirs are included... Their, the, the death penalty in theirs also includes, um, like not just capital offenses, you know?

Seth: Right.

David: Like if you kill somebody else, you have to be killed. Like, it, it also includes things like, um, uh, property and, uh, stealing and things like that.

Seth: Right.

David: Like, you could die for anything. [laughs] And God limits the death penalty to just the most, um, like harmful-

Seth: Like what attacks the dignity of the Lord, what's, and attacks the dignity of life

David: ... of life.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Right. And so I, I just think that's interesting. Okay, anyway, so we, I, I just think this is interesting here with looking at the gospel because, um, Jesus gets, um, what, what, what am I trying to say? Jesus gets accused of blasphemy multiple times-

Seth: Right

David: ... in the New Testament. That's what the Pharisees c- like, that's his, his condemning sentence was blasphemy.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Was why, why, why, why is he here, Pilate would ask. It's like, "Oh, he blasphemed against our God."

Seth: Right.

David: You know, it's like, "Blasphemy, blasphemy" and they cover their ears, and they spit at him, and they-

Seth: Tear their clothes

David: ... tear their clothes.

Seth: Which by the way, did you notice when we were reading this, that's against the law for the high priest to tear his clothes.

David: Oh, you're right.

Seth: And so when the high priest tears his clothes-

David: Mm

Seth: ... like, he's proving that he has the heart of a lawbreaker.

David: Oh, interesting.

Seth: Because he's not even, like, he's-

David: I've never seen that before.

Seth: Anyway.

David: That's cool. And so what's interesting is, what they're supposed to do whenever they hear a blasphemer, right, is they're supposed to lay their hands on him and kill him.

Seth: Right.

David: Instead, they completely disobey, and they pass him off to a Roman court and have Rome do their dirty work.

Seth: Oh, I'd give the Pharisees a pass on that one.

David: Really?

Seth: Yeah, because they, they couldn't. They, that, that right was taken away from them by the Roman government.

David: No, he says, he, he like, even, even, uh, Pilate himself says, "I don't wanna deal with this. You take him and judge him yourself."

Seth: Oh.

David: He even gives them back the right. He, he's like-

Seth: 'Cause w- well, for the Romans they say, but the, the Pharisees keep saying, like, "Our laws do not allow us to execute a man."

David: What?

Seth: Right?

David: I think they say maybe on Passover. I think it's during Pa-

Seth: Oh

David: ... I think it's because during Passover, and they don't, they don't wanna wait because they, uh, like, you know, re- rebellion and riots and everything like that. And so I think it's, they just wanna get it done, and so they pass the buck.

Seth: Interesting.

David: Yeah. And so anyway, regardless, what we need to see here is that Jesus is the one that, you know, even our worst sins, you know?

Seth: Yeah.

David: Even our worst sins, um, w- He, we are able to come to Him and lay our hands on Him, and He dies for us, and w- we are atoned by just-

Seth: From-

David: ... by His death.

Seth: Right.

David: You know, He, we don't bear our sin like, like this person did. He bore his sin for blaspheming God. Instead, Jesus bore our sins. I mean, that is this language here, right? "He shall, He shall surely be put to death." Where's that? Oh, there it is, in verse 15. You read it. "Whoever curses God shall bear his sins." That is the language used-

Seth: Right

David: ... for what Jesus does for us in the New Testament.

Seth: Right.

David: That He, He bore our sins. Or like, or like, uh, Isaiah s-

Seth: Right

David: ... picks up on this in the Suffering Servant song.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Right? That He, surely He bore our sins.

Seth: Right. And it's not that He had sin-

David: No

Seth: ... but that when we place our hands upon Him-

David: That's right

Seth: ... when we trust in Jesus-

David: Yep

Seth: ... when we trust that God has appointed the sacrifice of His Son for our atonement and making clean and being brought into His presence-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... and being one with His holiness, when we trust that, our sins are actually transferred onto Him-

David: Yes

Seth: ... and He is stoned instead of us.

David: Right, and that's what's happening here. Okay, 'cause now some people might hear this and go, "That's a really intense punishment." Like, uh, not only, we've kinda talked about this person, but why would Jesus have to die? You know, like, why, why? And, and, and we kinda get that answer here in this eye for an eye stuff. So this is a very-

Seth: Right

David: ... famous language, even if you're not-

Seth: Yeah, so from-

David: ... a Christian. You've probably heard this t- this language before.

Seth: So just to, so we're, we go from blasphemy-

David: Uh-huh

Seth: ... to this whole other section about what it means to have proportionate justice.

David: That's right.

Seth: And it says, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a fracture for a fracture, bone for bone."

David: Right.

Seth: But it expands it not just to blasphemy, but also to killing another human-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... to injuring another human-

David: Right

Seth: ... and taking the life of an animal.

David: Right. And so if you, if you kill another human, you are supposed to be killed. I mean, that goes back to Genesis 9-

Seth: Right

David: ... with the Noahic Covenant. Uh, and then if you kill someone's animal, you need to pay for that animal a exactly proportionate amount, and probably a 20% extra.

Seth: Right.

David: Uh, if you injure someone, you need to be, you need to, like, be, uh, Aflac for them.

Seth: [laughs]

David: Right?

Seth: Yeah, yeah.

David: And pay, and pay, and pay the wages they could've earned.

Seth: It's probably important we say here, like, if you injure somebody, the punishment is not that you are injured too.

David: Right, they don't come and break your arm-

Seth: Right, 'cause that's what-

David: ... if you break their arm

Seth: ... sometimes that sounds like that, eye for an eye-

David: Right

Seth: ... tooth for a tooth.

David: Right.

Seth: Like, if you ta- knock out somebody else's tooth, your tooth's gonna get knocked out. No.

David: No.

Seth: You pay for the price of, to fix their teeth-

David: Right

Seth: ... which probably w- didn't exist in Israel at the time. [laughs]

David: [laughs] Dental bills.

Seth: But like, but you feel like, but that's, that's what's said.

David: Yeah. Yes, absolutely.

Seth: Proportionality.

David: And so what, what we need to see in Jesus's death then is, uh, if we're like, man, that, Him dying on the cross is really violent and really brutalAnd it seems a little overkill for me. And what we need to see is, no, this is an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. And when, when you-

Seth: This is the proportionate response to our sin.

David: This is the proportionate repor- response to our sin. When you look at the cross of Jesus, what you need to see is not, man, that just seems like overkill. What you need to see is that's what I deserved. Eye for eye, that should've been me. And if it, if it blows your mind and disgusts you and makes you turn away in revulsion, good.

Seth: Right.

David: Like, but you need to know that that's your sin. That should've been you on the cross. That should've been you bearing your sin, and instead Jesus did. And like, rejoice in that, and that's, that's the beauty of the gospel, is that we don't bear our sin. We don't get the eye for eye, tooth for tooth punishment we deserve.

Seth: Right.

David: Not because God just decided not to be just anymore-

Seth: Right

David: ... but because he was perfectly just by taking the punishment himself.

Seth: And I think the th- that revulsion that we feel, like-

David: Mm

Seth: ... oh, it's so barbaric.

David: Right.

Seth: Like, that, I think that is a seed of the holy wrath that God has towards sin.

David: Mm.

Seth: So like, I think a lot of non-believers will look at the crucifixion of Jesus and say, "That is barbaric. That is crazy." And they'll say it pejoratively.

David: Yes.

Seth: They'll say it as a way, like, "That's why I can't believe in that."

David: Right.

Seth: But I actually th- think that's a seed that the Lord has planted in non-believing hearts to say, "Actually, this is what sin deserves."

David: Mm.

Seth: Right? Do you know what I'm saying?

David: Keep going, yeah.

Seth: So, okay, so what I think what- what's happening there is that we have a sense of what life, light, and purity should be like.

David: Oh, yes.

Seth: Right?

David: Right, yes.

Seth: And so when we see the opposite of that-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... it, it-

David: Hurts us

Seth: ... rep-

David: Yeah, repulses us

Seth: ... it repulses us.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And what we want to do is say, in ourselves, we have light, life, and purity.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: We actually have holiness in and of ourselves, and we don't want to be in contact with, be near, or have anything to do with something that seems so disgusting.

David: With blood and death and-

Seth: And so-

David: ... loss of life.

Seth: But when we assume that we have holiness in ourselves-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... and look to Jesus and feel disgusted by it-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... we prove the Bible's narrative [laughs]

David: [laughs]

Seth: That we are not one with the Lord.

David: Mm.

Seth: That we have stolen God's holiness from him and assume we have it for ourselves.

David: Right.

Seth: Does that make sense?

David: Yeah, we say that that is ugly, and I am beautiful.

Seth: Right.

David: Right? [laughs] Instead of saying like, what Jesus is doing, he's trying to turn the inside out to show you the truth.

Seth: Right.

David: He's trying to say like, "Look, inside of you, there is blood and death and crucifixion."

Seth: Right.

David: "And I'm gonna put it on display so you can see what should, what you can't see, 'cause you're blind to your own-"

Seth: Right

David: "... what you deserve and what's actually inside of you. So here it is, fully displayed on the cross in all its grotesquery."

Seth: Right.

David: Right? "So look inside and realize that's what's in you."

Seth: Right.

David: But really, what's, what I should have done is, this shouldn't have been a cross, it should've been a throne.

Seth: Right.

David: It shouldn't have been a, you know, a dark Friday. It should have been this bright-

Seth: Right

David: ... Sunday. And like, but you think that's inside of you, but it's not.

Seth: Right. If you want that light and life and holin-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... if you wanna preserve that sense of purity that you think you have-

David: In and of yourself

Seth: ... in and of yourself, the way to get it is not by despising the brutality of the cross-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... but by recognizing that the brutality of the cross is actually what's already inside of you.

David: Yes.

Seth: If you want to be holy, if you want to be pure, if you wanna be right with the world in a right relationship to it, you need to recognize that it is available-

David: Mm

Seth: ... but only through the means that God has ordained. And that hardness of heart that we've been talking about is the consistent denial that the Lord has provided a sacrifice in order for you to be made holy. [gentle music]

David: Okay, so we've finished this little, um, [laughs] it, what feels like an excursus, [laughs] like a quick little interruption, because we went from feasts, and then we took a break, and now we're, then we went back to feasts-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... and that's what we ended on last time, with the year of jubilee. So this is coming after all the feasts have been prescribed, after the year of jubilee has been, has, has been, uh, prescribed, and then now we get to, um, the blessings and curses, which come customarily at the end of law code.

Seth: Right. So when ancient nations-

David: Yep

Seth: ... made a covenant with one another, made a deal to be like, to reign in the same space, a stronger king would come to a weaker king and say, "I will provide you protection and all this-"

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: "... provided that you do this, this, this, and this. And if you break it-"

David: Yeah, here's the, here's the consequences

Seth: ... "Here's the consequences. But if you don't, here's what you're gonna expect from me."

David: That's right.

Seth: So at the end of this covenant-

David: Yep

Seth: ... God is saying, "If you obey the law, here's what you can expect from me."

David: Yep.

Seth: All these great things. This is what our, this'll, this is the, the Garden of Eden version of what-

David: Yes

Seth: ... what, what our relationship could look like.

David: Yep.

Seth: The most optimis-

David: Right

Seth: ... istic version. "But if you break my trust-"

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: "... here's what will happen."

David: Right. And one thing, since we're talking about other law codes of this time and their blessings and curses, the main difference, I did not know this until, like, this week, the main difference between them is that in the blessing and curses of all these other law codes, i- including Hammurabi and a bunch of others-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... when they curse the people and they say, "If you break this covenant, you'll be cursed," um, or when they say, "If you obey, you'll be blessed," they don't make vows from themselves to the people, saying, "I will do this, I will do this, I will do this."

Seth: Right.

David: They say, "Then I will pray to the gods that they might punish you," or, "I will pray to the gods that they might-"

Seth: Oh

David: ... "bless you." And so-

Seth: Interesting

David: ... it's this third priestly party going to these false gods and saying, "Bless them or curse them." The main difference here is this is God himself talking, and he's not saying, "This might happen," or, "I'll pray to someone else." God is saying, "I myself will do these things."

Seth: That's cool.

David: That is very cool.

Seth: That's very cool.

David: It's very different.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so, like, if you weren't-

Seth: And-

David: ... used to these kinds of law codes, you would be like, "Wait, what? The gods are doing it themselves?"

Seth: Right.

David: Like, this is the real deal. So.

Seth: Fascinating.

David: Yeah, it's very fascinating. I think it's cool. So, uh, right off the bat, we get the blessings, and it's if you walk, this is verse three of chapter 26. "If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their seasons, and your lands will increase, and the trees of your field will bear its fruit. You'll have all these grapes in your grape harvest. You'll live in the land securely. I'll give you peace to lie down. No one will, will come and take over your borders, even the beasts, the harmful beasts in your land won't hurt you. A sword won't come into your land." And then there is the ultimate coup de grâce-

Seth: Coup de grace

David: Which I actually don't know what that means. But the big mamma jamma-

Seth: Right

David: ... the head honcho, the, the climax of the thing.

Seth: Right, right, right, right, right.

David: Here it is. You ready for this? Uh, verse 11.

Seth: Verse 12? Oh, no.

David: I'll get there, yeah. "I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you, and I will walk among you and will be your God, and you will be my people." And what, what is this picture? The animals aren't hurting you whenever you're walking around, you know. The land is perfect. You're eating fruit. Um, and then, and God is walking around.

Seth: It's Eden.

David: This is Eden.

Seth: Right.

David: He's saying, "If you obey my commands, I'm gonna bring you back to the Garden of Eden."

Seth: Right.

David: Amazing.

Seth: Right.

David: This is what the whole Torah so far has been trying to get back to, and it's like God, God's temple presence was on the mountain just like Eden was.

Seth: Right.

David: And now it's come down to his people, and you have this tent that has all this garden imagery in it, and then he's saying, "Now if we just can cohabitate together-

Seth: Right

David: ... if we can live in harmony together, we're gonna make Eden again."

Seth: Yeah.

David: "It's gonna be beautiful."

Seth: "My presence will spread from just the temple-"

David: That's right

Seth: ... "to the whole land."

David: Uh-huh. "And then my glory will cover the whole Earth, and we'll make Eden together, and the whole world will be blessed. Abraham's covenant will finally come true. All nations of the world will be blessed through you. So let's partner in this. Let's take back the world-"

Seth: Right

David: "... and push back evil and all of sin's effects," 'cause this is all reversing the curse.

Seth: Right.

David: This isn't just like, you know, things will go well for you.

Seth: Right.

David: This is like, remember all those curses that were made in Genesis 3 when the, the, the land's gonna be hard to toil and all these things are gonna be, or bad things are gonna happen? We're gonna turn all those back, and we're gonna-

Seth: And this isn't-

David: ... reverse the, the, the curse's effects.

Seth: This isn't a third-party hope-

David: Right

Seth: ... based on the capricious demands of the gods.

David: Yeah.

Seth: It's like the, I don't know what the gods want, but I know that if I do some sort of thing, they'll respond favorably.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So let's, I'll, I'll pray that these things happen. No, God himself is saying, "I've told you exactly what I want."

David: Yes.

Seth: "And if you obey these things, the perfect world is coming."

David: Yeah. "I myself will do it, and I'm gonna come down and walk a- uh, walk around with you to make sure it happens."

Seth: Yes.

David: [laughs] Like, the omnipotent God is gonna come and do something that he's promised to do, so-

Seth: Good news

David: ... that's really good news.

Seth: Yeah.

David: It's so cool. Um, but-

Seth: But, uh-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... if you will not listen to me and not do all these commandments, I, uh... I just r- underlined the things that the Lord said he would do.

David: Oh, okay.

Seth: "I will visit you with panic. I will set my face against you. I will break your pride of its power. I will continue striking you sevenfold for your sins. I will strike you s- uh, sevenfold for your sins." He says that twice. "And I will bring a sword upon you. I will send pestilence. When I break your supply of bread, 10 women shall break your bread in a single oven and shall dole out your bread again by weight." It's like everyone will be rationed.

David: Right.

Seth: There won't be a, there won't be enough.

David: Not every... Yeah.

Seth: Everyone will-

David: Every family won't have an oven. 12 women are gonna have to use one oven, and then all the bread they make is gonna have to be rationed out based on weight.

Seth: "And I will walk contrary to you in fury."

David: So that's the exact opposite of, of the Garden of Eden, right?

Seth: Yes.

David: I will walk with you if, if you obey. I will walk contrary to you.

Seth: I will walk against you.

David: Oh.

Seth: Like, [laughs] can you imagine, like, okay, just, like, think about, like, a war scenario.

David: Mm.

Seth: I will walk with you as you take over, increasingly increase the Garden of Eden over the world.

David: Yep.

Seth: Versus I will, I will walk against you, and, like, the Lord himself-

David: Yep

Seth: ... is on the opposite end of the battle from you.

David: Right. Instead of him leading the charge and taking-

Seth: Right

David: ... taking you out in the front lines and you're behind him going, like, "We can't lose."

Seth: Right.

David: You see him coming toward you, and you're like, "We can't win."

Seth: We can't win, [laughs] yeah.

David: [laughs] It's the exact opposite. Um, and so yeah. Um, what we see here over and over again, actually, is this promise of sevenfold revisitation for sins, that God will punish us sevenfold for our sins. Or not for our sins, for Israel's sins.

Seth: Right.

David: Um, and, uh, and basically, what he says is, "You're going to be kicked out of the land, um, because you have a hard heart and you won't obey me. Uh, you're gonna be kind of like this half Egyptian guy."

Seth: And we should cl- we should clarify here. The land, we haven't got to yet.

David: We haven't, we're not there yet.

Seth: But this was written-

David: We don't get there until Joshua.

Seth: Right, but the land is the land of Canaan that they were promised.

David: The, yep, that's right.

Seth: And so presumably, this is written while they're on their way to Canaan.

David: Nope, before they've left.

Seth: Or before they've l-

David: Yeah.

Seth: Well, the law itself, yes.

David: Yeah.

Seth: But the-

David: Oh, when it was written down

Seth: ... the book.

David: Sure.

Seth: The, the book of Leviticus-

David: Right

Seth: ... was written on their way to, to the promised land.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And this was to help them remember, like, "The Lord will provide us this land, or he could walk against us once we get to the land."

David: Right.

Seth: Right.

David: Yes. And so, um, they're... But basically, as you read through this, you kind of pick up on the fact that it kind of feels inevitable, these curses. And by the time we get to the end of the Torah in Deuteronomy, we're told they're inevitable.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Like, we, you will not uphold the law because God has not given you a soft heart, so you will be kicked out of the land, and you will be exiled, and-

Seth: That's ex- that's, that's Deuteronomy

David: ... that's Deuteronomy.

Seth: Right.

David: Right, but, like, this, this is definitely foreshadowing that.

Seth: Right.

David: And so, um-

Seth: And I mean, even just the curses are so much longer than the blessings.

David: So much longer.

Seth: The blessings are gr- are very c- like, they're concrete, but they're also kind of vague.

David: Right.

Seth: And they're also, they're-

David: They're packed with meaning. They're rich with meaning

Seth: ... but the detailed conseque-

David: Uh-huh.

Seth: They're, they're so detailed.

David: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It seems like-

Seth: It's like, it's a little suspicious that you said, "I will leave the land and go dwell in another land for this many years-

David: Right

Seth: ... and then come back to this land." That feels strangely specific.

David: It's like, it's like, "Hey, Seth, uh, I've got a couple ideas for dinner. You wanna hear what, what we could have?"

Seth: Sure.

David: We could have fish, or we could have a mustard seed risotto-

Seth: [laughs]

David: ... topped with a dill, a dill weed salmon and cream sauce with a si-

Seth: It's like, we're s-

David: It's like, it's like, have you already made dinner? [laughs]

Seth: Right. [laughs] Yeah, yeah.

David: I think you've already made dinner, and you've decided what we're having. And so, um, I think, yeah-

Seth: Hey, do you have a truck?

David: Oh, uh, um, yes.

Seth: [laughs] Do you, that's the question.

David: Oh, no. Oh. [laughs]

Seth: Like-

David: I didn't know what to do. [laughs]

Seth: That's the question. It's like that, the, the fact that you've asked the question-

David: Oh

Seth: ... implies-

David: Implies the answer, yeah

Seth: ... that you're gonna ask to borrow their truck.

David: Yeah. Right.

David: Hey, hey, you have a truck, don't you? Yes. Can I borrow it?

Seth: Yeah.

David: Why was you bringing it up?

Seth: Cool.

David: 'Cause how else would that conversation go? You got a truck? Yeah. Cool. [laughs] Is that how it is?

Seth: And the point of this strange segue is that the detail-

David: Right

Seth:... of the curses for disobedience should tell you that this is probably going to happen.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And in fact, it will happen.

David: And then, and, and the other thing that, that helps us know that this is going to happen is God details the escape plan. Like, how will you get back from exile? Once you're kicked out of the land, how are you gonna get back? It's like, why is he giving them a re-entry strategy if they're not ever gonna get kicked out anyway? So verse 40, "But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers, in their treachery that they have committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me, um, then I will remember their covenant that I made with Jacob and Abraham and Isaac, um, and I'll bring you back into the land." Right?

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so it's like there's a re-entry strategy here.

Seth: Repent.

David: Repent. [laughs]

Seth: If you say sorry.

David: If you say sorry, and not only for your sins, but for the sins of all of Israel and your forefathers.

Seth: Right.

David: Big old sorry.

Seth: Right.

David: Yep.

Seth: I will return.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So Jeremiah picks up on this.

David: Jeremiah picks up on this.

Seth: And he'll say that this is, he's writing as Israel is exiled.

David: Yes.

Seth: So after all this comes true-

David: Yep

Seth: ... after Israel breaks all the laws of Leviticus-

David: God is walking against his people

Seth: ... right. He has exiled them to Babylon.

David: Yep.

Seth: And Jeremiah is writing and saying, "This is going to last for 70 weeks-"

David: Yep

Seth: ... or 70 years.

David: Yep.

Seth: 70, yeah, 70 years.

David: 70 years.

Seth: Not 70 weeks, 70 years.

David: Yeah, 70 years.

Seth: And he says, "But if you repent, I will restore your land."

David: Right. And so immediately when we hear 70, we need to be thinking of a couple things. One-

Seth: Seven. [laughs]

David: Seven.

Seth: Right.

David: I will, I will, I will avenge sevenfold for your sins.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Right? So it's not just s- a seven-year rest, right, or a one-year rest.

Seth: Yeah.

David: 70.

Seth: Right.

David: Sevenfold-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... is what's happening here. This is, what, what Jeremiah's doing here is not necessarily saying 70 calendar years.

Seth: Right.

David: He's saying that God i- this is the sevenfold punishment that Leviticus was talking about.

Seth: Right. This is the, the proportionate punishment-

David: Right

Seth: ... your sin deserves.

David: This is the eye for an eye punishment.

Seth: Right. Yeah, yeah.

David: Yeah, yeah. And it is the antithesis of all the feasts that we talked about last week.

Seth: Right.

David: That they were supposed to let the land wa- rest, and they were supposed to o- observe the Year of Jubilee and all these seven. Seven, seven, seven, seven, seven, it's everywhere. Um, but they didn't, and so God ends up kicking them out, um, so that the land can rest, and w- that's what verse 43 says. "But the land shall be abandoned by them, and finally then-

Seth: Right

David: ... it will enjoy its Sabbaths whenever it lies desolate without you."

Seth: So what that means is Israel, part of the, the laws that Israel broke was they didn't actually obey the Law of Jubilee-

David: Nope

Seth: ... the Sabbath laws-

David: Right

Seth: ... the Sabbath year laws. They didn't do the feasts.

David: Nope.

Seth: They didn't take breaks.

David: They didn't take breaks.

Seth: They didn't, [laughs] they didn't-

David: They didn't rest in the Lord

Seth: ... they didn't rest in the Lord, and because of that, the Lord says, "Okay, if you won't rest from the Lord, I will send you away-"

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... "so the land can actually rest."

David: Right.

Seth: "And it will rejuvenate-"

David: Yes

Seth: ... "while you're gone."

David: While you're gone.

Seth: "And then once you repent, you can return to the rejuvenated Eden land."

David: Right.

Seth: Right.

David: And so as we continue to trace this story throughout the rest of the Bible, w- right, we have it here promised in Leviticus.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Jeremiah says it's happening.

Seth: Right.

David: And then Daniel is in exile-

Seth: Right

David: ... in Babylon, and he picks up the Book of Jeremiah.

Seth: And he starts reading it.

David: And he starts reading it. [laughs]

Seth: And as he's reading it, he realized, "Oh, I've been in Babylon for 70 years."

David: Uh-huh.

Seth: And so he starts repenting, not just-

David: This, yeah

Seth: ... for himself-

David: Yep

Seth: ... but for the sins of all of Israel.

David: And their fathers.

Seth: And then an angel shows up-

David: Yep

Seth: ... at the end of his fasting and his prayer, and he says, "The proportionate response to Israel's sin is not 70 years."

David: Yep.

Seth: It's 70 times 7.

David: 70 times 7, 490 years.

Seth: 490 years.

David: Which is adding a zero to the Year of Jubilee.

Seth: Right.

David: 49 years, add a zero to it, that's 490.

Seth: 490 years.

David: So he's saying, like, this is the proportionate response to you not keeping the Year of Jubilee for all these decades.

Seth: Right.

David: For all these centuries.

Seth: Is, is-

David: Is now 490 years of punishment. And again, he's not saying, "Get your calendar out. Flip ahead 490 years-"

Seth: Right

David: ... "and mark it."

Seth: It's like the proport-

David: [laughs]

Seth: Like, the-

David: Right

Seth: ... the, what Jeremiah said was the proportionate response to our sin is 70-fold.

David: Right.

Seth: And 70 is this number of proportional, like complete-

David: Complete, perfect, proportional

Seth: ... proportionality.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: And then the, uh, J- uh, Daniel thinks the complete perfect proportionality has happened, so he's praying that it would happen.

David: Right.

Seth: Then the angel says, "It hasn't happened yet."

David: It's not done.

Seth: "Your sin was so great-"

David: Yep

Seth: ... "that there's a time coming when perfect justice will be done."

David: Right.

Seth: "But it's not yet."

David: And we know, and, and J- and, like, people like Jeremiah and Daniel, uh, the people in the Intertestamental period, the Maccabeans, like, they could, they could have w- they, they, they had hope. They could have hope-

Seth: Right

David: ... because of this verse. Listen to verse 44 in Leviticus 26. "Yet for all of that, when they are in the land of their enemies," so Daniel in Babylon.

Seth: Right.

David: Read Leviticus, man, and I bet he was. "I will not spurn them, neither will I abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them, for I am the Lord their God, but I will for their sake remember the covenant of their forefathers," right? "I am the Lord." And so he's saying, like, "I'm, yes, it's gonna seem like a long time. It's gonna seem like a huge punishment, but I will not break my covenant. I will not reject you forever. I will come back and bring you to myself." The, the eye for an eye punishment will come to an end, and when does it come to an end?

Seth: In Jesus.

David: In Jesus. The 490 years, I mean, it's, it's actually not far off even mathematically from the time of Daniel-

Seth: Right

David: ... to the time of Jesus, which is crazy cool.

Seth: Which is crazy. [laughs] I don't think that's what it's meant to be.

David: I don't either. I don't either.

Seth: But it is funny.

David: But it is just a little additional cool thing.

Seth: Yeah.

David: That this 490 years is almost up, or it's just ended, or whatever.

Seth: Right.

David: The math doesn't matter.

Seth: Right.

David: What matters is that there is a, um, a proportionate punishment for sin, right, and, and it is unpayable.

Seth: Right.

David: Like, Daniel's like, "Is it over yet?" No. "Is, are we there yet?" No. "Are we there yet?" No.

Seth: Right.

David: When will we be there? Whenever the punishment is finally dealt with fully.

Seth: You will not be forgiven-

David: Right

Seth: ... until the punishment is completed.

David: Yes.

Seth: And what's funny is I thought, I don't know how true this is, but it is funny that the only other time 70 times seven is mentioned-

David: Oh, right, is by Jesus

Seth: ... is, is by Jesus, when Peter-

Seth: ... is talking about, like, "Man, you keep talking about forgiving people. Like, how many times am I supposed to forgive my brother? Seven times?"

David: Like, perfectly?

Seth: Perfectly? Like, like, is that what it takes, seven times to do it perfectly? And then Jesus says, "No, what it takes to forgive somebody is to forgive them 70 times seven times."

David: Right. And what Jesus is saying there is he's, he's pointing to His forgiveness-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... that He will achieve on the cross.

Seth: There is a complete forgiveness for the people of Israel in the complete proportionate punishment of Himself.

David: That's right. So when will the punishment of Israel end? When will they be allowed back into the land? And not only them, but what about us half Egyptians, right?

Seth: Right.

David: What, what about the people outside of the covenant of Israel? When will we be brought in? Israel was supposed to be the hope for the nations. They were supposed to bring God's presence. They, like, what, what happened to Eden? What happened to the blessings in the beginning of Leviticus 26? Like-

Seth: Right

David: ... I wanna walk with God. I don't want-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... Him to walk against me forever. I don't want just the curses, I want the blessing. When will all of this get reversed, and not only will I escape the 490 curse, when will I get the perfect blessing?

Seth: The 490 blessings. [laughs]

David: The 490, the 490 blessings, the perfect blessings. And it's in Jesus. Jesus fully takes the eye-for-an-eye punishment that we deserve, bringing an end to this promised curse in Leviticus 26, and then He turns around and gives us all the blessings in the first part of Leviticus 26.

Seth: Right.

David: He makes us his new Eden ambassadors.

Seth: Right.

David: We go around now with His Holy Spirit in us, like the tabernacle-

Seth: Extending the boundaries

David: ... extending the boundaries of Eden to the world. We are ministers of reconciliation now-

Seth: Right

David: ... covering the world with presence of God. And eventually, Jesus will come back and do it perfectly Himself.

Seth: Right.

David: And He'll make the whole world His Eden.

Seth: He'll actually, what we only see in part.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: You know, like, we see little glimpses of this part of Levit- the Levitical blessings-

David: Yep

Seth: ... right here, but one day it'll be perfect.

David: Yeah. You can read, like, I would, I would encourage all of you to pick up your Bibles and read Leviticus 26:1-13, and-

Seth: And then Revelation 22

David: ... and, yeah, and then read Revelation 21 and 22, and go, "This is coming." Like, this blessing is actually coming. God's gonna walk with us. I'm gonna get to chill out with some lions, and they're not gonna attack me.

Seth: [laughs]

David: Like, Eden is coming.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And we get to be a part of making it now as well.

Seth: Right.

David: We get to live in Eden now, but ultimately perfectly in the future. [gentle music]

Seth: So we end with kind of a strange little transition.

David: Yeah.

Seth: After hearing, like, "Do this, and y- here's what will happen. Don't do this, and here's what will happen," that kind of feels like an ending of sorts.

David: Definitely.

Seth: Right? And even, even you were saying, "These are the statutes and rules and the laws the Lord has made between Himself and the people of Israel through Moses on Mount Sinai. The end."

David: Right. That's how verse, or chapter 26 ends.

Seth: Right.

David: It feels like the end.

Seth: It does. Very final. But then we say, here are a whole nother list of laws about vows.

David: Right.

Seth: So what's a vow?

David: Well, it's something we're very familiar with today, Seth.

Seth: No. [laughs] Oh, really?

David: No, it is not. I mean, actually, we might be more familiar with it than, than we think. Um, so a vow is something that people make to God where they, they are asking a request of Him, basically. It, it could be two things. One is it's if they're making a-

Seth: Asking a request

David: ... asking a request.

Seth: This, this, this is the same thing.

David: Making a request of God.

Seth: [laughs]

David: Um, and vowing to give Him something in return. So like-

Seth: So like, "Lord, please give me a child, because if you do, I will do this, this, and this, and this."

David: Right. And we have a biblical example of that one.

Seth: Yeah, Hannah.

David: Hannah.

Seth: Is barren.

David: That's right.

Seth: And so she prays to the Lord that, "If you give me a child, I will dedicate him to the temple-

David: Right

Seth: ... and he'll work in the temple for the rest of his life."

David: That's right. Yeah, and we even have even more, more modern-day examples of this, uh, I mean, modern-ish compared to the Old Testament.

Seth: Right.

David: But Martin Luther.

Seth: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

David: Uh, he was stuck in a crazy lightning storm. Like-

Seth: Martin Luther King?

David: Martin... [laughs] No, the reformer.

Seth: Oh, the refor- the-

David: The reformer

Seth: ... okay

David: ... the one, like, 500 years ago.

Seth: Okay, okay.

David: That Martin Luther.

Seth: That, like that-

David: He-

Seth: ... that modern

David: ... that one, that modern.

Seth: [laughs]

David: Super modern. Uh, I'm a very mo- I'm very mu- metropolitan. Uh, I make references to modern people like Martin Luther. Um-

Seth: Cool

David: ... anyway, 500 years ago, Martin Luther, the great reformer, he was, uh, in this, in this lightning storm, and, uh, and he wasn't really a devout Christian at this point or anything, and, uh, he has this famous prayer that has been passed down, and it's, "St. Anne, deliver me. I will become a monk." [laughs]

Seth: [laughs]

David: And so he makes this barter with God, or St. Anne at that point.

Seth: Right.

David: He's very Catholic right now. He hasn't quite reformed yet. And, um, he prays. He's like, "If you save me from this lightning storm, I'll become a monk. I'll devote myself to the monastery."

Seth: Okay.

David: And so that's a vow.

Seth: Right.

David: Right? And so he ends up being saved. He doesn't die, and he-

Seth: Becomes a monk

David: ... becomes a monk.

Seth: Okay.

David: And then the course of, the, the course of church history gets changed. [laughs]

Seth: Man, I don't know if I've ever ma- necessarily... I've, I see people in movies-

David: Right

Seth: ... doing this.

David: Oh, I've definitely done it.

Seth: Like, like, I think [laughs] I was watching 30 Rock, and, like, Tracy Morgan does this. [laughs]

David: What?

Seth: Like, one point he's like, he's, like, praying. Like, "Lord-

David: "Oh, oh, yeah. If you save me from this, I swear every Sunday for the rest of my life, I'll go to..." And then, like, he's freed from what he was praying for.

Seth: Right.

David: And he's like, "Pizza Hut."

Seth: Yeah. [laughs]

David: "Pizza Hut."

Seth: Yeah. [laughs]

David: [laughs]

Seth: Yeah. So I feel like I, I see, like, kind of like taken jokingly in movies.

David: Yes.

Seth: Like, "Lord, if you do this, I'll ne- I'll always brush my teeth," you know?

David: Right.

Seth: Like-

David: Oh, it's like they, it's like what they say, "There's no atheists in foxholes."

Seth: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

David: Right? Like, "God, if you bring me out of this, I'll, I'll, I'll become a Christian."

Seth: Right.

David: Right? Like there's no-

Seth: Right

David: ... atheists in foxholes. Everyone, everyone, like, has m- And I remember as a, as, like, an adolescent, I remember doing some of these things. Like, um, like, I remember even, like, when my parents got divorced, like, I remember-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... praying, like, "God, if you bring my parents back together, I'll X, Y, Z."

Seth: Right.

David: You know?

Seth: Right, right, right.

David: And it didn't happen. [laughs]

Seth: Yeah.

David: So I didn't have to uphold my end of the deal. [laughs]

Seth: Right.

David: But, uh, anyway, we, we're, we're somewhat familiar with this side-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... of vows. The other side of vows can be just a re- an act of religious piety, devotion.

Seth: Okay.

David: Where you're saying, um, "God, I love you so much that I just wanna give you this thing."

Seth: Right.

David: Like, um, "Here, take my X," right?

Seth: Take my life. Take my-

David: Take my goat.

Seth: Right.

David: Take my child. Whatever.

Seth: I did a version of that growing up.

David: Oh, you did?

Seth: I did.

David: What did you vow to the Lord?

Seth: I vowed to the Lord that every s- time I burped or farted, I would say, "Excuse me." [laughs]

David: You built your own Levitical system-

Seth: I did

David: ... for your gastrointestinal system. [laughs]

Seth: I did, and it was actually impossible to uphold because, like, what counts as a burp? Does a hiccup count as a burp?

David: No, of course not.

Seth: So, like I had all these-

David: [laughs]

Seth: I had a lot of anxiety built up around my bodily functions-

David: [laughs]

Seth: ... for about three years-

David: Oh, my goodness

Seth: ... until I realized I can never do this perfectly.

David: No.

Seth: And so I-

David: I need Jesus. [laughs]

Seth: I need Jesus. I literally, like, went outside, asked for forgiveness. Like, "I can't keep the command. Please forgive me."

David: That is so-

Seth: And then I tried to stop. [laughs]

David: That is hilarious.

Seth: So there you go.

David: That's really funny.

Seth: [laughs]

David: I forget how legalistic you were as a child.

Seth: Yeah, and neurotic.

David: Yes.

Seth: Like, super neurotic.

David: Yeah, I've heard some stories.

Seth: Yeah.

David: Okay, anyway, before we get into more of those stories, um, so yes, so people would make vows to the Lord, and we basically have three categories described. There are, um, making a vow of the Lord of a person, of an animal, and of property.

Seth: Okay.

David: So if you were to make a vow of a person, what this would look like is, um, you would, you would say, like, basically, "I wanna be a slave to God in the tabernacle. I wish I could work in the tabernacle and be a slave to God."

Seth: The problem with that is only Levites could do that.

David: Right.

Seth: So there's 11 tribes-

David: Yep

Seth: ... that could never do that thing.

David: Right, that they either, either they loved God so much that they wished they could be in His full-time service, or the thing that they're asking for is so grand and huge that it would require a life for life kinda thing, where they're like-

Seth: Right

David: ... "I will be your slave if y- if this happens."

Seth: Right. I could imagine, like, like, like if your wife is barren-

David: Right

Seth: ... or, like, you, you-

David: Or deathly ill.

Seth: Right. It's like, "Lord, please, if you save her-"

David: I will-

Seth: "... I'll..." Right

David: ... I will dedicate myself to the tabernacle.

Seth: Right.

David: And so what you would do there, since you couldn't actually go and, and become an indentured slave in the tabernacle, 'cause only Levites were allowed in-

Seth: Right

David: ... um, what you would do is you would basically see what's the going rate for a person of my age and gender.

Seth: Right.

David: So if I'm a strong 20-year-old male who can lift heavy things-

Seth: Right

David: ... I'm worth 50 shekels.

Seth: Right.

David: Right? And you would go, and you would pay 50 shekels to the s- the, the, the tabernacle.

Seth: Right.

David: And that would be the same thing-ish [laughs] of you actually going and doing the work because you-

Seth: Right

David: ... instead, you're paying what your work is worth instead of actually the work itself.

Seth: Yeah. And normally that would, I guess that'd be paid on the back end of God doing what you've asked.

David: I don't know. I, we actually... That's not told here.

Seth: It's like-

David: So I, I don't, I don't know. I mean, I guess y- the, the, the situation with, um, Samuel and, and Hannah-

Seth: Right

David: ... is impossible to, to say-

Seth: Right

David: ... because she couldn't have dedicated her son to the, to the tabernacle-

Seth: Until he was born

David: ... before he was born. [laughs]

Seth: Right, right.

David: So... [laughs]

Seth: So that's a, that's a really safe vow. [laughs]

David: That's a safe vow. If you do it, I'll give it to him, uh, give you to him, give him to you. There we go. Uh, so I don't know. Um, but, uh, so that, that, that's one thing that happens, is you can dedicate yourself or a child-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... to the Lord, and, uh, you know, like, Hannah could have just paid the price-

Seth: Right

David: ... for Samuel, right? She-

Seth: Which was five sh- five shekels.

David: Five shekels. She goes-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... "Here's five shekels. My, my, my side of the deal is done. Um, there we go." And f- and five shekels is no small amount. Um, they say that a shekel was about the working wage of a whole month's of work.

Seth: Okay.

David: So f- almost half a year of work w- with that.

Seth: Right.

David: But for, to redeem, or, like, uh, if you were to, if you were a male, like a 20, 30-year-old male, it'd be four and a half years of wages.

Seth: Right.

David: So, like, these are hardcore vows.

Seth: Yeah, so the, like, the m- median income in the States is $40,000.

David: Yep.

Seth: So if you wanna to dedicate your son, it's 20,000. [laughs] If you want to-

David: Right

Seth: ... dedicate yourself, you're talking almost $200,000.

David: Right.

Seth: That's crazy.

David: It's crazy. It's a huge amount of money, and, um, commentators talk about the fact that the reason why it's so high-

Seth: Right

David: ... is to prevent people from doing it, is it's saying, like-

Seth: Oh, yeah

David: ... "Don't make a rash vow." And even Ecclesiastes will talk about, "Don't make rash vows. Just do what you say you'll do."

Seth: Do y- would they have to be-

David: Like, just pray. [laughs]

Seth: ... ha- held accountable? Like, like, was it made publicly, and there was, like, priests who would hold them accountable to doing that particular thing?

David: I think it could be either. You could do it publicly, and that was probably seen as more legit maybe, but-

Seth: Right, well, Jesus talks about it 'cause there's these pri-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... these Pharisees who would make vows only to be seen as impressive.

David: Right.

Seth: Right.

David: And so, but you could also make them privately. We see, um, Jacob doing this before he meets his brother Esau in Genesis.

Seth: Right, he's alone at the rock.

David: That's right.

Seth: Sleeping alone.

David: And, and he's like, he's like, "Esau's coming. Uh, God, if you deliver me from Esau, I will tithe all of the stuff that I got from Laban."

Seth: Jonah does it in the belly of the fish.

David: In the belly of the fish. "If you save me," blah, blah, blah. And so we see these vows taking place privately, too. And s-

Seth: Right.

David: Yeah. And so-

Seth: And that makes sense 'cause the Lord hears.

David: He hears. [laughs]

Seth: He's everywhere. [laughs]

David: That's right, which is why I think, um, we see Jesus picking up on a lot of this. He's like, "Just let your yes be yes and your no be no." Like, if you, you know, if you're gonna pray something, y- you don't have to attach any worth to it, you know? And then you also need to know, who are you praying to? Y- not a god that you have to barter with.

Seth: Right.

David: Right? If you ask God in faith, He's a good father, and He'll give it to you.

Seth: Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

David: You don't have to promise Him things.

Seth: Right.

David: So it's like I think this is actually, like, vows aren't commanded in Leviticus, right?

Seth: Right, they're not.

David: They're protected against.

Seth: Oh.

David: So I think these are a cultural thing that's taking place, that people are just used to bartering with the gods.

Seth: Right.

David: And He's saying, like, "Look, that's not what needs to happen here, so I'm just gonna make it so exorbitantly rich-

Seth: Right

David: ... that you're, you'll think twice before doing it."

Seth: Hmm.

David: And, like-

Seth: But it doesn't seem like He's condemning it either.

David: No, I don't think so.

Seth: It's like there is... I mean, Samuel.

David: Yes.

Seth: Like, s- Hannah cannot have a child.

David: Right.

Seth: So she promises that if the Lord gives her a child, she de- He, dedicates him. And e- even the New Testament picks up on that story-

David: Oh, right

Seth: ... because it, 'cause when Samuel's dedicated, it says he grew in wisdom and stature among men-

David: Yeah, and before the Lord

Seth: ... and before the Lord.

David: Right.

Seth: And then Jesus is dedicated at the temple.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: And the same language is used. He grew in wisdom and maturity before men and before the Lord.

David: Men and before the Lord, yeah.

Seth: So, like, it's a good thing-

David: Right

Seth: ... to make a vow-

David: Yep

Seth: ... to dedicate somebody to the temple.

David: To dedicate someone, yeah, to the temple, yeah.

Seth: And-

David: Yeah, we kinda do that today, don't we?

Seth: We baby-

David: With baby dedications. [laughs]

Seth: With baby dedications. [laughs]

David: Yes, yeah.

Seth: Although I don't know if we, like, consider, like-

David: Yeah. That'll, that'll be, uh, that'll be $20,000, please. [laughs]

Seth: The church would be thriving. [laughs]

David: [laughs]

Seth: Especially Bridgeport. We got so much-

David: Yeah, so many

Seth: ... so many children

David: ... so many children here.

Seth: [laughs]

David: Uh, anyway, and so, um, oh, one thing to talk about real quick is I think one thing that does make sense of the placement of this vow-... is, is if you, if you just finished reading these curses, right? And it was like y- y- you know, "Don't mess up or you're gonna be cursed. I'm gonna send you away," you could imagine people hearing that and being like, "No, God, we won't. I'll se- like, I make a vow. I vow that we will never-"

Seth: Right

David: ... fall away from you. And he's like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Don't make rash vows."

Seth: Right.

David: "It's very expensive." Like-

Seth: Peter says that.

David: And Pe- yeah.

Seth: "Lord, I will never-"

David: "I will never leave you."

Seth: "... leave you."

David: "I'll never leave you."

Seth: And then what does he say? "Don't make that promise hastily."

David: Right. [laughs]

Seth: Yeah. [laughs]

David: And so, um, I think, I think that's probably one of the reasons why it's here, is like you could easily see, after reading the curses, all these people come and w- make a, make a religious show of their piety and commitment by making all these vows, and they're just gonna waste all this money, [laughs] you know?

Seth: Right.

David: And so, um, so you have the people selling themselves, making a vow of themselves, um, and then you have, um, animal vows. So if you're like, "God, if you do this thing for me, I'll give you a spotless lamb."

Seth: Right.

David: Um, and the only thing we're told here is, um, don't go back on your vow. So if you-

Seth: Right

David: ... say, "spotless lamb" at night, and you're like, "God, I've got the worst case of allergies, and I'm sneezing all night."

Seth: Right.

David: "If you make these go away, I... in the morning, I'll get up, and I will, I will-"

Seth: Give you s-

David: "... sacrifice my f- my prize spotless lamb."

Seth: Right.

David: Your, your allergies go away, you wake up the next morning and you're like, "Oh, that was... I really did that in the heat of the moment."

Seth: "I shouldn't have done that."

David: "I shouldn't have. I'll do a goat."

Seth: Right.

David: "I'll just give him my crappy goat."

Seth: Right.

David: And, um, and what it, what it says here is that if you try to do that, it's actually you need to go and sacrifice the lamb and the goat now.

Seth: Which is funny-

David: Both are forfeited

Seth: ... because it assumes the Lord's privy to your internal monologue.

David: Yes.

Seth: And he's saying like, "If you are gonna make a vow, and then decide that you made it rashly and would rather trade the vow-

David: Yep

Seth: ... the fact that you've made that mental calculation in your head means you have to give me both."

David: Yep. [laughs]

Seth: [laughs]

David: So that's pretty funny. Uh, and then, um, uh, pe-

Seth: So I think the more-

David: Yep, go ahead

Seth: ... I listen to all this, the more it makes sense, like the Lord is discouraging vow making.

David: Right.

Seth: And I think that makes sense from the rest of Leviticus. Like, God is not capricious.

David: No.

Seth: He's told you precisely the terms on which he'll bless you.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And you don't need to act w- with him like you would-

David: Mm

Seth: ... with all the other gods.

David: That's really... Yeah, we als- not only did we just finish the curse section, we also finished the blessing section. It wasn't, "If you give me enough animals," or if you-

Seth: Right

David: ... if you sway my opinions toward you. None of that.

Seth: Right.

David: It's just, "Obey me. Love me."

Seth: Right.

David: "Grow with me."

Seth: And that was true of the other gods.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: You would always have to give more, and more, and more-

David: More, and more, and more

Seth: ... in order to hopefully make the gods like you enough.

David: Mm-hmm. Which this should cut across what we think of when we think about sacrifice in the Old Testament. A lot of people think that God is, like, bloodlusty and, you know, needs all this sacrifice. We know by multiple ver- uh, other verses in the Old Testament that he doesn't. You know, he abhors the bloodthirsty. Uh, Ps- Psalm 5 talks about.

Seth: Right.

David: Isaiah 1 talks about how he's sick of sacrifice. So like, anyway, we know-

Seth: Right

David: ... that's not our God.

Seth: Yeah.

David: But i- it cuts across here, 'cause it's like, um, "Look, the, my relation to you is not based on how much sacrifice you make to me."

Seth: Right.

David: Like, "I'm not... I don't need to be satiated like the other gods-"

Seth: Yeah

David: ... "you're used to serving. Like, I'm just... I've made a vow to you."

Seth: Right.

David: "I've made a covenant to you. Let's, let's, let's live on those terms. I don't have to be persuaded."

Seth: Right.

David: Yeah. It's really interesting.

Seth: Yeah. And then the final one is land.

David: Land, yeah, or property, or h- a house, too.

Seth: Right.

David: Like, if you've got, like, a townhouse or something like that. [laughs]

Seth: My lake house. [laughs]

David: My lake house. I give my lake house to the tabernacle.

Seth: In the middle of the desert.

David: Y- you know, I think as, like, people in ministry, I could, I could go for some of that. If someone out there has a lake house [laughs]

Seth: Wants to donate their lake house to-

David: We will take it and, uh-

Seth: ... to a non-profit Spoken Gospel.

David: That's right. [laughs]

Seth: We will use it for-

David: It's tax deductible. [laughs]

Seth: We will use it for so many good things. [laughs]

David: And so anyway, um, they can, they can make, um, they can make the, the value of the house basically a donation. So it's like, "I want to... God, like, God, if you do this for me, I will give you my house." Okay, what's your house worth? Donate that to the tabernacle. What's your land worth? Donate that to the tabernacle. So kind of the same thing. Um, what, what are we supposed to do when we read this with a gospel-centered view of the text?

Seth: Well, I think we, I think we did part of it already. It's like the reason the penalty for vow breaking is so high, and even the parameters for making a vow at all is so steep, is to make you realize you don't need to do this.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Like, "My presence, there's a way to enter into my presence."

David: Right.

Seth: "There's a way to enter in my blessing that you don't have to guess."

David: Right.

Seth: "You don't have to make extra promises. You don't have to promise to say excuse me after every time you burp and fart. Like, you can trust that the laws I've given are enough for your flourishing and your good... like, and for your good."

David: Yeah.

Seth: "There is, however, nothing wrong with wanting to give me more than I've commanded."

David: Right.

Seth: Right?

David: Yeah.

Seth: So if that's true, and that's really your heart, here's some ways to think about it.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Make sure that you're not gonna go back and forth on it.

David: Right.

Seth: Don't make it rashly.

David: Yep.

Seth: Because if you go back and forth on it, you're gon- like, you should-

David: You're betraying your heart

Seth: ... you're betraying your heart-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... in that situation, and so you should sacrifice appropriately-

David: Mm

Seth: ... by giving me both the things. You should weigh your life appropriately.

David: Right.

Seth: You are a valuable person.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: And if you want to give up your entire life, you should count the cost of that.

David: Right.

Seth: And even your property as well. That's the most valuable piece of land that you, like, thing that you probably own in your life.

David: Yeah.

Seth: So make sure that you know that you're not getting it back. [laughs] Like, you know, like all these things-

David: Right

Seth: ... like, if you do wanna do this, that's good in a sense of, like, showing gratitude.

David: Yep.

Seth: But not-

David: It's very expensive

Seth: ... in the sense-

David: Yep

Seth: ... of earning your place in my presence.

David: Right.

Seth: So-

David: Those two things are not linked.

Seth: Right.

David: Right.

Seth: So I think that's helpful, too.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: Like, there's a way that we can do s- like, think we're doing things to give gratitude to God-

David: Mm

Seth: ... but are really doing things rashly just to s- like, calm an anxious heart-

David: Right

Seth: ... or calm, like, an anxiety we have about the Lord's provision.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: So, like, and Jesus talks about, like, "Don't worry about eating and drinking-

David: Right

Seth: ... or putting on clothes. The Lord does all this."

David: He's gonna give it to you.

Seth: We, and we actually have promises. Pray, the Lord will give you your daily bread, right?

David: Right.

Seth: So you don't need to make these crazy vows.

David: Yes.

Seth: The purpose of vows isn't providing salvation, providing comfort, but it's-Gratitude.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Like gratitude.

David: Yes. And I think what, also what the New Testament picks up on, which I think we talked about this off the air a little bit, was that, um, we have this idea of, like, don't swear by, like, the tabernacle or, or the temple.

Seth: Right.

David: Don't swear by God's, God's... Don't swear by God, don't swear by the tabernacle, don't swear by the golden tabernacle.

Seth: Right.

David: All these things.

Seth: Bless you, SPS, and you know the count.

David: Bless you. Yeah. And it's like, why... And then in He- it's Hebrews what? Hebrews 4 or 5 that talks about going boldly before the throne.

Seth: Right. Yes, yes, yeah, 4, 4, 4:16.

David: Yeah. And it's like, do you have that-

Seth: Yeah, yeah.

David: Yeah, read it.

Seth: It says, uh, "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in a time of need."

David: Yeah. And so it's like, why can we draw near to God and ask for help in our time of need?

Seth: Right.

David: In these desperate situations where we, our, our wife is sick, or our wombs are barren, or we have an allergy attack in the middle of the night [laughs]

Seth: Yeah.

David: In our time of need, where you might find yourself wanting to make a rash vow.

Seth: Like-

David: Why can't you just come straight to the throne of grace and just ask for help and grace in time of need? Why? Because Jesus has already paid the vow offering. He's been the perfect vow.

Seth: Mm-hmm. Yeah.

David: He offered himself.

Seth: Right.

David: Like, there's no other-

Seth: He's obeyed all the other commands of-

David: That's right

Seth: ... like, we get Eden when the commands of Leviticus are obeyed.

David: Right.

Seth: Jesus obeyed the commands of Leviticus. Eden is possible now. Your kingdom come.

David: Come. Yeah.

Seth: So you don't need to p- you don't need to offer your finest plot of land-

David: Right [laughs]

Seth: ... or even your life.

David: Right.

Seth: You can say, "Lord, hallowed be your name."

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: "Your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven," and the Lord will provide-

David: Right

Seth: ... every need you have.

David: Because he's paid every possible price, obeyed every possible law. He's done it.

Seth: Yeah.

David: And so y- Eden can come.

Seth: Right.

David: Yeah.

Seth: It's-

David: The blessings of Leviticus 26 can come upon us without the need for the vows of Leviticus 27.

Seth: Right. And there's, like, there's some tension there because we don't always get the things that we ask for.

David: That's right.

Seth: But, and I think sometimes the prosperity gospel movement wants to short-circuit this.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: And they take these vows.

David: Mm.

Seth: This, this vow-taking thing-

David: Yep

Seth: ... and, like, embed it in the normal practice of prayer and asking of the Lord.

David: Right.

Seth: If I had enough faith, or if I said it with enough certainty-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... then the Lord is obligated to respond in a certain way.

David: Right.

Seth: But I think that's breaking the intention of parts of the book of Leviticus. The reason we can be confident that the Lord hears our prayer and gives us what our need is not because we've made such a great effort to have perfect faith-

David: Mm-hmm

Seth: ... or sacrificed so greatly in order to pray for the last four hours-

David: Right

Seth: ... or been able to pray ourselves into a tongue frenzy.

David: Right. Mm-hmm.

Seth: You know? Like, it's because Jesus has obeyed the law, and because of his perfect righteousness, Eden is coming-

David: Mm

Seth: ... now, in part, and perfectly in the future.

David: Yeah. Well, that closes Leviticus. There it is.

Seth: Congratulations, you guys.

David: [laughs] You made it.

Seth: You made it. [laughs]

David: You made it to the end. Thank you, guys, for listening. Um, it's so cool to take a peek at the, like, the activity on the podcast on, uh, like where we upload it.

Seth: Oh, yeah.

David: And just see, like, there is a huge group of you that listen to every episode.

Seth: We really... It's really humbling.

David: It's really humbling. Um, like, there, it's, it's a group bigger than our church-

Seth: Right. Yeah. [laughs]

David: ... listening to our podcast every week. And, um, that blows our mind-

Seth: Yeah

David: ... that you would allow us to try to pastor you and teach and be there for you and open the Bible together. It's just really cool.

Seth: Mm-hmm.

David: We love doing this, guys.

Seth: Right.

David: And so just thank you for listening.

Seth: And we als- yeah, we thank you.

David: Yeah.

Seth: Thank you. And we also believe in what we're doing.

David: Yep.

Seth: That more people need to see Jesus on every page of scripture.

David: Yeah.

Seth: And so I know that you guys know that there are other people like that exist.

David: Mm-hmm.

Seth: So if you've been be- be- benefited from this podcast, please, like, share it with your friends.

David: Yeah, talk about it, post about it.

Seth: Write it, or, like, write us a review on iTunes.

David: Yep.

Seth: Please give us a couple stars, m- maybe more than two.

David: Maybe, maybe two, maybe five.

Seth: Maybe five. [laughs]

David: Maybe just five, actually.

Seth: Just five. [laughs]

David: [laughs]

Seth: You can, you can do four with a critical comment.

David: With a caveat. With a critical comment. Yeah.

Seth: But you have to leave a comment-

David: That's right

Seth: ... explaining why it's not a five.

David: [laughs]

Seth: Not just a, an unexplained four, which is the worst.

David: Yeah.

Seth: We would love for you to help us-

David: Yeah

Seth: ... see, let more people see Jesus in all scripture.

David: Yeah. Well, thank you, guys. Um, we're excited. We're gonna... We might do a little excursus. We might hop back into a Psalm before jumping into-

Seth: We thought about Psalm 119.

David: Yeah, maybe we'll do a Psalm. So, uh, and then we'll do Numbers after that, and go through the rest of the Torah. So man, thank you guys so much. It's been a blast doing Leviticus with you guys. We'll see you in Numbers.

Outro: [upbeat music] Thank you for listening to the Spoken Gospel podcast. Spoken Gospel is a nonprofit dedicated to creating free gospel-centered media that speaks the gospel out of every corner of scripture. So to join us in our mission and view our resources, we invite you to visit spokengospel.com. [upbeat music]

Related Resources

Listen to the Leviticus 24 and 26-27: The Death Penalty, Curses, and Vows podcast

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The Death Penalty, Curses, and Vows: How Leviticus 24 and 26–27 Point to Jesus

Show Notes

The Lamp, the Bread, and God's Unbroken Presence

Blasphemy, the Unpardonable Sin, and the Hard Heart

Eye for Eye: Proportionate Justice and the Cross

Eden Promised and Lost: The Blessings and Curses of Leviticus 26

Vows, Bartering with God, and the Freedom of the Gospel

Related Resources

Introduction to Leviticus

View our devotional on Leviticus 1-3

Ready to study a different book?

Listen to the Leviticus Introduction podcast

Listen to the Should We Obey The Law Today? podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 1-5: Offerings podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 6-10: Priests podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 11-15: Unclean Foods, Diseases, and Emissions podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 16: Day of Atonement podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 17-20: Blood, Sex, and Loving Your Neighbor podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 21-22: A Different Standard For Priests podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 23 and 25: Sabbath, Festivals, and Jubilee podcast

Listen to the Leviticus 24 and 26-27: The Death Penalty, Curses, and Vows podcast