And so it is - if you read with your spiritual antenna dismantled.
But look what I found in Chapter 25. The Law of Redemption.
There are several aspects to this law, but verses 47 - 55 really caught my attention.
Let's start with verses 47 - 48.
If a foreigner residing among you becomes rich and any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to the foreigner or to a member of the foreigner's clan, they retain the right of redemption after they have sold themselves.
One of their relatives may redeem them.
[ Lev 25 : 47 - 48 NIV ]
Does this look very exciting to you?
Just hang in there - I think this might sneak into Chapter 4 in the book eventually.
Notice that a wealthy friend or some other well-to-do citizen can't redeem the sold person, only a close relative can.
That's the law - God's law.
Now what does that have to do with us?
Have you ever wondered why God came to this planet as flesh and blood to redeem us, rather than as an angel or in some other spiritual form?
Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might ....... free those who all their lives were held in slavery .....
For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way .....
[ Hebrews 2 : 14 - 17 NIV ]
He came as the fully human Jesus so that he would qualify as a close relative of those he came to rescue.
God lives by his own law.
He could not rescue us any other way.
Only a close relative could demand the release of those sold in debt or poverty or slavery.
Hallelujah! Isn't that something?
Blessings, Barry
(I'll post some more on the remaining verses soon.)
Now that we have a little bit of Leviticus behind us, let's read Jesus' Parable of the Unmerciful Servant in Matthew 18 : 23 - 35 again.
ReplyDeleteDo we understand this a little better now, especially knowing Jesus was talking to his Jewish disciples who were conversant with the law?
I do.
As an aside, I could never understand how a person would ever get the means to repay his debt if he and his family had to work as a slave for their creditor.
But the law says they had to have the wages of a hired hand credited to their account [ Lev 25 : 50 ], and they could be redeemed by a close relative.
Isn't God's law just perfect? [ Psalm 19 : 7 ]
And it gets better .... will share some more in a few days.
Blessings, Barry