Today's Reading:

Leviticus 23
Leviticus 24
Leviticus 25

 
In Leviticus 24:19-20 the law was “an eye for an eye” but Jesus turned this around in the New Testament. Prior, if anyone injured a neighbor, then whatever they had done was to happen back to them- broken bone for broken bone. God kept this as a law to prevent worse damage from happening to the accused. If there was a broken bone, then that did not deem all of your bones to be broken or worse, your family being killed. It was a way that God set up mercy for His chosen people. (It came down to proportional justice not literal vengeance). In Jesus’ speech at Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:38-39) He limited the penalty and revenge. Jesus stated that if someone had been personally hurt then do not demand the payment of eye for an eye, instead to respond with grace and not retaliate, but to show love. Jesus took the evil on Himself at the cross, which is the Ultimate “turn the other cheek” moment so that He paid the price for the other. A person no longer must gouge out their own eye for a mistake of hurting another's eye- grace lets us forgive and mercy wins.  

 

 

The Israelites were given more festivals to observe for the Jewish holidays. We had already heard of the Day of Atonement, Passover (Festival of Unleavened Bread), and the Saturday Sabbath. These were reiterated here as a part of each festival and the time of the year they were to be celebrated. All of the national holidays were for the Israelites to regularly stop and remember God during the major events of the time, harvests and give them a chance to repent.

1. Weekly Sabbath: (each Saturday from Friday sundown until Saturday sundown, no working it was for family and church time. Like the original weekend. 
2. Passover/ Unleavened Bread: (spring) Remember the Israelites first celebrated this when escaping Egypt after the plagues- they had no time to let yeast in the bread activate therefore they were to cook it fast as unleavened (Matzah bread is similar to a giant cracker). This was to be a large family dinner with a week of eating crackers and retelling of the Exodus story. 
3. First Fruits: Bring the very first ripe sheaf of barley (large bundle) to God to thank Him for the harvest as He is the reason the crops grow. Do not forget to leave some for the poor and sojourners- no gleaning (gathering of grain or grapes, etc. that were harvested and left behind).  
4. Feast of Weeks/ Pentecost/Shavuot: (late spring) 50 days after the 7th Sabbath- first fruits, was a harvest party with loaves of bread made from the first fruits harvest, and a wave offering. This is later tied to the Holy Spirit coming in the New Testament.  
5. Feast of Trumpets/ Rosh HaShana: Blow trumpets, no working and have a relaxed day. Similar to a New Year's Day celebration- it is the start of their new year- but on the first day of the seventh month.  
6. Day of Atonement/ Yom Kippur: The holiest day of the year. A deep cleansing day, everyone stopped, repented, the high priest gave sacrifices and had an intense ritual to cleanse the nation of sins for the year. 
7. Feast of Tabernacles/Feast of Booths/ Sukkot: (fall) Live in temporary tents/booths with no roof for a week. They celebrated and waved branches as a reminder that they were in the desert for 40 years, so do not get too attached to your lovely homes. 
8. Sabbath Year/ Shemitah: Every 7th year let the land rest and no planting or harvesting crops, but you could eat what grew naturally. God would provide a triple amount of crops to grow the year before to store up, and everyone, including the animals, had the year off from farming. 
9. Year of Jubilee: (every 50 years=the year after 7x7=49) after 7 complete cycles of 7 sabbath years. A complete restoration and reset. Reset for the land, reset for debts, restored families- everything would get a fresh start. Houses and property were returned, and the slaves were set free. Everyone was to return to their homelands and ancestors, like the ultimate Control/Alt/Delete button.  

Chapter 24 gave a few side rules to remind Aaron, the high priest, to keep the olive oil lamp burning forever and to put out fresh bread on the table every Sabbath. The chapter continued with a random story of an Israelite and an Egyptian who argued over the cursing of God’s name. The Israelite blasphemed (cursed) God’s name, and so God set up a new rule that this would result in stoning to death. Just one more rule for the good of the community and to keep His name and His community holy. The famous “eye for an eye” punishment came from these verses, not as revenge, but in equal proportional punishment. Now Jesus took this rule away and stated to resist the one who was evil. These holidays and rules gave fair justice and rest that kept everything proportional through time. Leviticus set boundaries and prevented chaos in a society that was learning to trust and lean on God and not their own strength or understanding. Structure and rules gave way to celebrations and resets.  

Today's Discussion question: 

If “an eye for an eye” was originally meant to limit harm and protect mercy, what does it reveal about our hearts when we still justify revenge as “fair,” even after Jesus calls us to respond with grace instead of retaliation?

 
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