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Dr. Manny Arango
Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the journey. To all my fellow pastors, I've got a question for you. Does your city know that your church exists? Listen, I get it. You're preaching, you're leading, you're discipling, you're doing ministry. We are in the same boat. And let's be honest, social media and marketing, not your strong suit. Not mine either. And that's probably the last thing on your mind. And that's why we chose to partner with Church Candy Marketing for our church Plant the garden. We out here, y'all. They help churches get more actual guests walking through the doors on Sunday without your eye having to stress over ads or algorithms or trying to crack the social media code. Right now, Church Candy is helping nearly 400 churches reach their communities with simple invite ads. And it works. It's super effective. I can tell you from firsthand experience. So if you're tired of being your city's best kept secret, how about you do this? Go to churchcandy.com Manny and book a free consultation book a discovery call. Their team will break it all down and show you how to start seeing new faces at your church this Sunday. I'm in the trenches with you trying to grow the church. And how about we just start a whole campaign? No more empty churches. So let's partner with Church Candy and get our churches full for the glory of Jesus. Let's go. We got a lot of laws, but honestly, I think that these laws are quite fascinating. And there's a lot, there's a lot to unpack in these laws. And if there are any laws in the Bible that are controversial, these would probably fit into some controversial laws. The Bible is going to mention homosexuality six times in the entire canon of Scripture. And we're going to get one of those times right here. Back when we were looking at Romans, we saw another one of those six times. And so anytime it comes up, I'm not gonna avoid it. I'll just kind of tell you what I think a historical orthodox Christian interpretation of these passages is. Anywho, all right, Leviticus 18 and 20, if you've done the reading, let's break it down. If you haven't done the reading, then you, you wanna make sure that you go do the reading. Read these three chapters of the biblical text. Um, we didn't dive too deep into Leviticus 17 yesterday, so I'll kind of pick up some loose strands from Leviticus 17, but we'll really focus on Leviticus 18, 19 and 20. This. These three chapters are a literary block, okay? And so what I want you to see is that Leviticus, chapter 18 has 14 laws, which is two times seven. And seven is a number of completion. It's also just the number of creation, and it's a number that signifies Sabbath because God rested on the seventh day. Okay? And then chapter 19 has 21 laws. That's three times seven. And then chapter 20 has 14 laws again, so that's two times seven. So these three chapters, 18, 19 and 20, we're gonna get two times seven. Three times seven, two times seven. Okay? So we're making like a, you know, we're like building and coming down. So chapter 19 is the center. Tons of laws about various things. But I don't want you to see them as various or random. All of life is holy, okay? Now in the west, we have this compartmentalization of life, okay? So there's my work life and there's my spiritual life, and there's my, you know, there's my. There's my mental health life and there's my relational life and my financial life. Like, we have all these areas of. Of life, but for an Eastern person, and I think for God, life is integrated, okay? Shalom or wholeness is really expressed when life is integrated. And so these aren't like random laws about random areas of life that don't really go together. No, life is integrated. All of life is integrated. All of life is connected and all of life is spiritual. So let's kind of get in. Let's say a couple of things about Leviticus 17. I want to point out Leviticus 17, verse 7. So remember, in Leviticus chapter 16, there's a sacrifice or there's a goat that goes out to Azazel. Okay, well, we're actually going to get another reference to Azazel. I'm reading the nrsv and the NRSV is going to translate this. A little interesting. It says, hey, whenever people kill animals, they gotta come to the tabernacle, make a sacrifice. And why, okay, why, why is that? So that they may no longer. Okay, so this is something that's actually happening. This is sin that's happening in Israel. So they may no longer offer their sacrifices for goat demons, okay, to whom they prostitute themselves. This shall be a statute forever to them throughout their generation. So the goat that was sent to Azazel is actually what the picture that Leviticus 17 is actually showing us is that the people of Israel, they realize the wilderness is a chaotic place, that the wilderness is a place that is rife with demons and demonic activity. And so the people of Israel are essentially covering their bases. They're sacrificing to Yahweh, but they're scared of the wilderness. And so they're actually sacrificing animals to goat demons out in the wilderness. Okay. And a lot of scholars would say, well, they're actually sacrificing Azazel. That's actually what's happening. So they are very, very aware of who and what Azazel is. Now, for whatever reason, NRSV chose to translate this as go demons. Which doesn't make the connection between the goat offered to Azazel and the goat demon here. Like, clear. But that's a translation that would. It would be very, very clear in Hebrew. Actually, I'm just curious as to how the NIV translates 17, verse 7. They must no longer to the goat idols. Okay, so NRSV says goat demons. NIV says goat idols. I wanna just check one more. I'll check the ESV 17, 7. To goat demons, after whom they whore. So that's. Thank you. Thank you, esv, for using the word whore. That's great. Thank you. Thank you so much. Okay, one last thing in chapter 17 is that they can't eat blood. Okay. Eating blood is gonna be forbidden. So why that kind of seems like a random thing. This is what it says in verse 10. If anyone of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut off from among his people. All right, why? Well, the Bible's going to say that the life of an animal is in its blood, which is why sacrifices have to include blood. Because for us, blood equals death. Like in the Western world, you see blood, you walk into someplace and you see blood, you're like, oh, somebody died. Okay, Blood kind of equals death. But for an ancient person, blood doesn't equal death. Blood equals life. The life of an animal is found where? In its blood. And so who gets the blood? God gets the blood of an animal to atone for sins. Okay, so blood represents life. If I'm covered in blood, it's not because I'm dead, it's because I'm alive. Okay? So when we talk about Being covered in the blood of Jesus, all of that. These ideas are rooted in the book of Leviticus. Okay? So no one's to eat what belongs to God. So God alone deserves the lifeblood of the animal. No one else is to eat that. Okay. Eating blood would be the equivalent of taking the fat portions of an animal, like it's taking that which belongs to God. And that's, that's. That's a no. No. Okay, These are just two ideas from chapter 17 before we move into chapter 18. All right, clues for chapter 18. When Jesus said sexual immorality. Anytime Jesus says sexual immorality, anytime Paul says sexual immorality. In the New Testament, what they are referring to when they say sexual immorality is Leviticus, chapter 18, the entire chapter, this entire 14 laws, this entire set of laws, Leviticus 18. So I'm actually going to switch back to NIV. So no one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I'm the Lord. Do not dishonor your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother. Do not have sexual relations with her. No sexual relationship with your father's wife. Do not have such relations with your son's daughter. So it's a lot of incest. Okay, so again, actually, let me, let me just go back up to verse three of chapter 18, because there's a big why here. You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live. And you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you. Okay? So God is calling Israel to be a contrast community. Don't act like Egyptians. Don't act like Canaanites. And in both of these cultures, there's tons of things that are normal. Incest, normal. Now again, God loves people. He's pro life. God cares about life. He cares about life flourishing. He cares about life thriving. He cares about life. We know from science today, right, that you just apply the book of Leviticus in a third world country. Diseases go away. Well, incest is the same. We know today from science that incest creates genetic mutations that incest anybody is familiar with, like the Habsburg dynasty. It's the. If you are, then there's a Habsburg jaw. And that after a certain they, they kept inbreeding. And because they kept inbreeding, you are going to get genetic problems. Okay, so incest is not good. It's not like it doesn't lead to human flourishing. So there's a spiritual reason that God is saying, don't do this. But then there's Just a practical pro life health reason why God says, don't do this. I just wanted to give the why. So then God says, hey, no incest, okay? Don't have sex with a woman while she's on a period. Um, and do not sacrifice any of your children to molech. And then verse 22 of Leviticus 18, do not have sexual relationships with a man as one does with a woman. That is detestable. So why is it detestable? Why that word detestable means. It's. It's not like God, okay? I want you to be holy as opposed to being detestable. Don't be detestable, be holy. So do you not have sexual relationships with a man as one does with a woman? Don't act in ways sexually with someone of the same gender as you would with someone of an opposite gender. Now people will try to say, well, that is in the book of Leviticus. And we don't obey anything from the book of Leviticus. So you know, the book of Leviticus also says don't eat shrimp. The book of Leviticus also says don't wear polyester. And I. My comeback to those people are, no, no, no, we're just looking at the 14 laws in Leviticus 18. And all 14 laws are about sexual immorality. And Jesus and Paul when they said the word sexual immorality, Leviticus 18 is what they're talking about. So let's think. Are we saying incest is now okay? Are we saying. Because guess what is also in here in Leviticus 18 it says, do not have such relations, sexual relations with an animal or defile yourselves with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relationships with it. That is perversion. So are we saying that, oh, since it's in Leviticus, in Leviticus isn't applicable anymore. Let's go out and have sex with animals. No, no. We know that incest is still an issue. Bestiality is still an issue. I don't know if having sex with a woman on a period is a sin, but I wouldn't, I wouldn't suggest it. I don't think it's a good idea. It's also not. It's. It. There's lots of other health complications that come along with having, having sex with a woman who's on her period. So I would say. Are we saying that sacrificing children is, is okay now just because it was Leviticus? No, we can't just ignorantly say just because it was Leviticus. We could just throw it out. That's not that. That's actually ridiculous. All of Leviticus 18 is eternally binding. Like all of it. Like all of Leviticus 18 is what Jesus and Paul would have understood as sexual ethics. Okay. The foundation for sexual ethics for the Judeo Christian worldview is Leviticus chapter 18. So there being prohibitions against shrimp and polyester and tattoos in the same book as there are prohibitions against men having sexual relations with other men as if they were women. And does not mean that this prohibition against sex, homosexuality, is somehow obsolete just because it's in the same book as prohibitions against shrimp and polyester. That's just not. I have to Judge Leviticus 18, these 14 prohibitions by themselves. Bible Department family, it's Dr. Manny Arango. And first thing I want to say is that I'm proud of you for completing the New Testament. You did it. And now that we're in the Old Testament, I hope that looking at Genesis and Exodus from an ancient perspective and worldview has kind of like opened your eyes. Well, I got news for you. If you've enjoyed some of the interpretations that I've brought to the table from Genesis, then that's just the tip of the iceberg. This entire book, Crushing Chaos, was written from an ancient hermeneutic. I'm looking at stories like the Flood, Adam and Eve from the perspective of an ancient person. And we've got an event coming up on April 26th where I'll take a lot of the content from this book and I'll turn that content into live lectures. You don't want to miss it. You can actually register for that event right now. The link is in the description. And more than content, I think what you'll find as we gather together in Nashville are like minded believers and friends in a community of people that you don't just watch content with online that you can get to know in person. I'd love to see you in Nashville. I'd love to hug you. High five you. And I'd love to nerd out together for one day as we come together in Nashville to learn about how to crush chaos. I'll see you in Nashville. Peace. Let's get into our nerdy nugget. So that's. That's context. Okay. So when people say Jesus never talked about homosexuality, that's not. No, that's not true. Okay. Because Jesus says talks about sexual immorality. Okay. And if Jesus is going to talk about sexual immorality, we have to then ask the question when Jesus said sexual immorality. His audience clearly knew what he was talking about, because Jesus doesn't say fornication. Jesus. Jesus doesn't parse it out. Jesus doesn't say incest. So when Jesus says sexual immorality, what did he mean? And any rabbi, any Jew in the first century, when they said sexual immorality, they Met Leviticus, chapter 18. Okay, let's get into some dirty nuggets. Molech is a God that required child sacrifice. So the people of Israel are supposed to have a radically different worldview as it pertains to children, that children are not a means to appease the gods, but children are a gift from God. Okay? So I would never sacrifice unwanted children to the gods. That's a completely different worldview. And God challenges this worldview with Abraham. God asked him for Isaac to test him, to what, reveal to him, hey, man, I'm not like these other gods. I'm not like the God that would require you to give me your children. All right? Massive nerdy nugget. Okay? Is that Leviticus, chapter 19, verse 17 to 18. Leviticus, chapter 19 says this. Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly, so you will not share in their guilt. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Jesus loved this verse. This right here, if you want to know, like, how is Jesus constructing the greatest commandment, which is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. He's getting that straight out of Leviticus. So that's just a nerdy nugget. That's helpful that these laws are designed to help people to live in right relationship with other people. Another law that I think is amazing. This is social welfare. Okay? Leviticus, chapter 19, verse 9 and 10. This falls into the section about how they are to live with other people. Okay. Sexuality is not just about me, myself and I, but it falls into the context of the community. So I can't have sex with my siblings and people that I shouldn't be having sex with because it impacts the community. What we learned from earlier in the book is that leprosy spreads. Okay? What is it a symbol for? It's a symbol for sin. Sin spreads. So sexual immorality, it spreads. It's communal. It's not just individual, it's communal. So chapter 19. And to be honest, it's like people with a more progressive or liberal perspective, they Love Leviticus, chapter 19. Verse 9 and 10. Because it says, when you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the Lord your God. So the thing that is unfortunate is that we have a polarized understanding of. Of justice in the world right now. Okay? So conservatives would see justice as righteousness, live rightly before God, follow his commandments, obey God. Liberals or people that have a more progressive stance would see justice as social justice. And God actually sees both. God says, in order to really express justice, you need to love the poor, but also don't do things. Don't do homosexual things. You see how these are both in the same book. Hey, love the poor, avoid homosexual practice. All right here in the same book. And we have a lot of people that want to pick and choose. They want to pick God's commandments based on what aligns with their political beliefs or what aligns with their secular worldview. And God just goes, yeah, I don't fit in your box. I don't fit in your little box. I have standards for life and righteousness and justice that far supersede any of the boxes that you would want me to fit into. The goal of holiness is that all the Israelites would be like Moses. What happened with Moses, as he spent time with God, his face glowed. Okay, so Moses looked holy. Holiness has a way of being contagious. So what does God want for the people of Israel? He wants them to be holy. That is the command over and over and over again, be holy. For I, the Lord your God, I am holy. He wants the people of Israel to spend time dwelling with him so that when they. When the other nations see them, they are light in the world, their faces are glowing. Which leads us into our timeless truth. Is that atonement. We talked about the day of atonement yesterday, which is atoning with God. But the rest of the book of Leviticus is about all the other areas of atonement. Because when Adam sinned, there were four levels of atonement that were broken, okay? Atonement is the opposite of brokenness, okay? So atonement is at one cohesive whole, okay? The opposite of whole is broken, fractured, severed. So Adam is broken. His relationship with God is broken. His relationship with self is broken, his relationship with others are broken, and his relationship with the ground is broken, or with the land is broken and atonement. Is not just relegated to the day of atonement, where we get right with God, but now the rest of Leviticus is gonna deal with atonement. How we get right with people, how we get right with ourselves, and how we get right with the creation. So Christians, unfortunately are famous for stressing atonement between us and God, but conveniently forsake communal atonement. How we get right with other people, how we get whole within ourselves, and then how we get back whole with the created order. And that's our timeless truth, that we should take the book of Leviticus and apply it in an integrated way for every area of our of our life that needs atonement, because all of life is spiritual and all of life is integrated. All right, I gave you a context clue. I gave you a bunch of dirty nuggets. And we got a timeless truth, guys. Day 113, day 113 has come to a close. I'll see you right here for day 114. If you're on a streak, don't break it. If you're not on a streak, today's a great day to start. I bet you didn't know you could like Leviticus this much. I'll see you right here tomorrow as we go through Leviticus chapter 21 and 22. We only got two chapters. Tomorrow I'll see you right here. Love you guys. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show at thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram hebible department. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.