🙅🏼‍♂️ Leviticus 19:18 | "You shall not take vengeance"

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While the book sometimes has a reputation for being boring, filled with laws and instructions, there is more going on in Leviticus than meets the eye.

Excited to journey together this week and memorize a verse in Leviticus for the first time as a community!

In today’s email…

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You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Leviticus 19:18

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Leviticus can feel intimidating to modern readers because it contains many laws and ritual instructions that seem foreign to us. And for good reason…they are foreign to us.

But when we understand why these instructions were given and where the book fits in Israel’s story, it becomes much more meaningful.

Author: Moses is traditionally understood to be the author, writing the laws and instructions God gave him during Israel’s wilderness period. The book repeatedly emphasizes that “the LORD spoke to Moses.”

Date: The events occur during Israel’s wilderness journey after the Exodus from Egypt. The book is set during the same time period as the end of Exodus and the beginning of Numbers.

Audience: It was originally written to the Israelites who had just been delivered from slavery in Egypt and were learning how to live as God’s covenant people. In particular, the instructions often focus on the priests (the descendants of Aaron, who was Moses’ spokesman) who served in the Tabernacle, but the book also addresses the entire community of Israel.

Cultural Context: The sacrificial system, purity laws, and priestly rituals may seem strange today, but in their original setting, they provided structure for worship, justice, and communal holiness. These practices taught Israel that God is both holy and gracious, and that approaching the Creator of the Universe required reverence and cleansing.

Purpose: At the end of Exodus, God’s glory fills the Tabernacle, and Leviticus begins with God speaking from that sacred space (Leviticus 1:1). The book of Leviticus then explains how a holy God can dwell among humankind and how those people are to live in response. The book develops several major themes:

Israel had just left Egypt and was surrounded by cultures whose religious practices often involved idolatry, ritual prostitution, and child sacrifice.

In Leviticus, God forms Israel into a very different, distinct, covenant community that didn’t take on the characteristics of the surrounding nations.

They were to look, instead, like God’s chosen ones.

As God told them,

As Christians, we approach the Father with Jesus Christ as our mediator, but we can learn a lot about what God cares about (and in turn, what we should care about) by reading Leviticus.

Leviticus reminds us that holiness is not about arbitrary rules; it is about reflecting what God values. Things like justice, purity, reverence, and love for neighbor.

Though our world is much different, followers of Christ are also called to let God’s character define what we value rather than simply absorbing the priorities of the world.

Because the world does not value the same things God does, holiness will not always feel comfortable or popular.

Just as ancient Israel stood apart from the practices of the nations around them, Christians are often called to live differently from the cultural norms around them.

When we choose integrity, compassion, faithfulness, and reverence for God even when those values are unpopular, we participate in the same calling that Leviticus originally set before Israel: to be a people whose lives point others to the holiness of God.

📖 Read: Read Leviticus 19 in preparation for tomorrow’s email. Trust me, it’s going to be an interesting read!

🙏 Pray

Holy God, you call us to be holy because you are holy. Give us courage to value what you value and to live faithfully even when it goes against the priorities of the world. Shape our hearts and lives so that our character reflects your goodness and draws others toward you. Amen.

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You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Leviticus 19:18