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Leviticus
Chapter Twenty
Leviticus 20
Chapter Contents
Law against sacrificing children to Moloch, Of children
that curse their parents. (1-9) Laws repeated, Holiness enjoined. (10-27)
Commentary on Leviticus 20:1-9
Are we shocked at the unnatural cruelty of the ancient
idolaters in sacrificing their children? We may justly be so. But are there not
very many parents, who, by bad teaching and wicked examples, and by the
mysteries of iniquity which they show their children, devote them to the
service of Satan, and forward their everlasting ruin, in a manner even more to
be lamented? What an account must such parents render to God, and what a
meeting will they have with their children at the day of judgment! On the other
hand, let children remember that he who cursed father or mother was surely put
to death. This law Christ confirmed. Laws which were made before are repeated,
and penalties annexed to them. If men will not avoid evil practices, because
the law has made these practices sin, and it is right that we go on that
principle, surely they should avoid them when the law has made them death, from
a principle of self-preservation. In the midst of these laws comes in a general
charge, Sanctify yourselves, and be ye holy. It is the Lord that sanctifies,
and his work will be done, though it be difficult. Yet his grace is so far from
doing away our endeavours, that it strongly encourages them. Work out your salvation,
for it is God that worketh in you.
Commentary on Leviticus 20:10-27
These verses repeat what had been said before, but it was
needful there should be line upon line. What praises we owe to God that he has
taught the evil of sin, and the sure way of deliverance from it! May we have
grace to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things; may we have no
fellowship with unfruitful works of darkness, but reprove them.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Leviticus》
Leviticus 20
Verse 2
[2]
Again, thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Whosoever he be of the
children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, that giveth any
of his seed unto Molech; he shall surely be put to death: the people of the
land shall stone him with stones.
The people —
Here follow the punishments of the crimes forbidden in the former chapters.
Verse 3
[3] And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among
his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my
sanctuary, and to profane my holy name.
I will set my face against that man — Deal with him as an enemy, and make him a monument of my justice.
To defile my sanctuary — Because the sanctuary was defiled by gross abominations committed in
that city or land where God's sanctuary was: or because by these actions they
declared to all men that they esteemed the sanctuary and service of God
abominable and vile, by preferring such odious idolatry before it.
And to profane my name — Partly by despising it themselves, partly by disgracing it to others,
and giving them occasion to blaspheme it, and to abhor the true religion.
Verse 4
[4] And
if the people of the land do any ways hide their eyes from the man, when he
giveth of his seed unto Molech, and kill him not:
Hide their eyes —
Wink at his fault, and forbear to accuse and punish him.
Verse 6
[6] And
the soul that turneth after such as have familiar spirits, and after wizards,
to go a whoring after them, I will even set my face against that soul, and will
cut him off from among his people.
To go a whoring — To
seek counsel or help from them.
Verse 8
[8] And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am the LORD which sanctify
you.
Who sanctify you —
Who separate you from all nations, and from their impurities and idolatries, to
be a peculiar people to myself; and who give you my grace to keep my statutes.
Verse 9
[9] For
every one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death:
he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.
Curseth —
This is not here meant of every perverse expression, but of bitter reproaches
or imprecations.
His blood shall be upon him — He is guilty of his own death: he deserves to die for so unnatural a
crime.
Verse 12
[12] And
if a man lie with his daughter in law, both of them shall surely be put to
death: they have wrought confusion; their blood shall be upon them.
Confusion — By
perverting the order which God hath appointed, and making the same off-spring
both his own child and his grandchild.
Verse 13
[13] If a
man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have
committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall
be upon them.
Put to death —
Except the one party was forced by the other. See Deuteronomy 22:25.
Verse 14
[14] And
if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with
fire, both he and they; that there be no wickedness among you.
They —
All who consented to it.
Verse 15
[15] And
if a man lie with a beast, he shall surely be put to death: and ye shall slay
the beast.
Slay the beast —
Partly for the prevention of monstrous births, partly to blot out the memory of
so loathsome a crime.
Verse 17
[17] And
if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's
daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a wicked
thing; and they shall be cut off in the sight of their people: he hath
uncovered his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity.
See her nakedness|-In this and several of the
following verses, uncovering nakedness plainly appears to mean not marriage,
but fornication or adultery.
Verse 20
[20] And
if a man shall lie with his uncle's wife, he hath uncovered his uncle's
nakedness: they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless.
They shall die childless — Either shall be speedily cut off ere they can have a child by that
incestuous conjunction; if this seem a less crime than most of the former
incestuous mixtures, and therefore the magistrate forbear to punish it with
death; yet they shall either have no children from such an unlawful bed, or
their children shall die before them.
Verse 21
[21] And
if a man shall take his brother's wife, it is an unclean thing: he hath
uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless.
His brother's wife —
Except in the case allowed by God, Deuteronomy 25:5.
Verse 27
[27] A
man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall
surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be
upon them.
A man or a woman that hath a familiar spirit,
shall surely be put to death — They that are in league with the devil,
have in effect made a covenant with death: and so shall their doom be.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on
Leviticus》
20 Chapter 20
Verses 2-27
He shall surely be put to death.
Penal sanctions
This chapter, directly or indirectly, casts no little light on
some most fundamental and practical questions regarding the administration of
justice in dealing with criminals. We may learn here what, in the mind of the
King of kings, is the primary object of the punishment of criminals against
society. First and foremost is the satisfaction of outraged justice, and of the
regal majesty of the supreme and holy God; the vindication of the holiness of
the Most High against that wickedness of men which would set at nought the Holy
One and overturn that moral order which He has established. Again and again the
crime itself is given as the reason for the penalty, inasmuch as by such
iniquity in the midst of Israel the holy sanctuary of God among them was
profaned. But if this is set forth as the fundamental reason for the infliction
of the punishment, it is not represented as the only object. If, as regards the
criminal himself, the punishment is a satisfaction and expiation to justice for
his crime, on the other hand, as regards the people, the punishment is intended
for their moral good and purification (see Leviticus 20:14). Both of these
principles are of such a nature that they must be of perpetual validity. The
government or legislative power that loses sight of either of them is certain
to go wrong, and the people will be sure, sooner or later, to suffer in morals
by the error. In the light we have now, it is easy to see what are the
principles according to which, in various cases, the punishments were measured
out. Evidently, in the first place, the penalty was determined, even as equity
demands, by the intrinsic heinousness of the crime. A second consideration,
which evidently had place, was the danger involved in each crime to the moral
and spiritual well-being of the community; and, we may add, in the third place,
the degree to which the people were likely to be exposed to the contagion of
certain crimes prevalent in the nations immediately about them. As regards the
crimes specified, the criminal law of modern Christendom does not inflict the penalty
of death in a single possible case here mentioned; and, to the mind of many,
the contrasted severity of the Mosaic code presents a grave difficulty. And
yet, if one believes, on the authority of the teaching of Christ, that the
theocratic government of Israel is not a fable, but a historic fact, although
he may still have much difficulty in recognising the righteousness of this
code, he will be slow on this account either to renounce his faith in the
Divine authority of this chapter or to impugn the justice of the holy King of
Israel in charging Him with undue severity, and will rather patiently await
some other solution of the problem than the denial of the essential equity of
these laws. But there are several considerations which, for many, will greatly
lessen, if they do not wholly remove, the difficulty which the case presents.
In the first place, as regards the punishment of idolatry with death, we have
to remember that, from a theocratic point of view, idolatry was essentially
high treason, the most formal repudiation possible of the supreme authority of
Israel’s King. If, even in our modern states, the gravity of the issues
involved in high treason has led men to believe that death is not too severe a
penalty for an offence aimed directly at the subversion of governmental order,
how much more must this be admitted when the government is not of fallible man,
but of the most holy and infallible God? And when, besides this, we recall the atrocious
cruelties and revolting impurities which were inseparably associated with that
idolatry, we shall have still less difficulty in seeing that it was just that
the worshipper of Molech should die. And as decreeing the penalty of death for
sorcery and similar practices, it is probable that the reason for this is to be
found in the close connection of these with the prevailing idolatry. But it is
in regard to crimes against the integrity and purity of the family that we find
the most
impressive contrast between this penal code and those of modern times.
Although, unhappily, adultery and, less commonly, incest, and even, rarely, the
unnatural crimes mentioned in this chapter, are not unknown in modern
Christendom, yet, while the law of Moses punished all these with death, modern
law treats them with comparative leniency, or even refuses to regard some forms
of these offences as crimes. What then? Shall we hasten to the conclusion that
we have advanced on Moses? that this law was certainly unjust in its severity?
or is it possible that modern law is at fault in that it has fallen below those
standards of righteousness which rule in the kingdom of God? One would think
that by any man who believes in the Divine origin of the theocracy only one
answer could be given. Assuredly, one cannot suppose that God judged of a crime
with undue severity; and if not, is not then Christendom, as it were, summoned
by this penal code of the theocracy--after making all due allowance for
different conditions of society into revise its estimate of the moral gravity
of these and other offences? We do well to heed this fact, that not merely
unnatural crimes, such as sodomy, bestiality, and the grosser forms of incest,
but adultery, is by God ranked in the same category as murder. Is it strange?
For what are crimes of this kind but assaults on the very being of the family?
Where there is incest or adultery we may truly say the family is murdered; what
murder is to the individual, that, precisely, are crimes of this class to the
family. In the theocratic code these were, therefore, made punishable with
death; and, we venture to believe, with abundant reason. Is it likely that God was too severe? or
must we not rather fear that man, ever lenient to prevailing sins, in our day
has become falsely and unmercifully merciful, kind with a most perilous and
unholy kindness? Still harder will it be for most of us to understand why the
death-penalty should have been also affixed to cursing or smiting a father or a
mother, an extreme form of rebellion against parental authority. We must, no
doubt, bear in mind, as in all these cases, that a rough people, like those
just emancipated slaves, required a severity of dealing which with finer
natures would not be
needed; and also, that the fact of Israel’s call to be a priestly nation
bearing salvation to mankind, made every disobedience among them the graver
crime, as tending to so disastrous issues, not for Israel alone, but for the
whole race of man which Israel was appointed to bless. On an analogous
principle we justify military authority in shooting the sentry found asleep at
his post. Still, while allowing for all this, one can hardly escape the
inference that in the sight of God rebellion against parents must be a more
serious offence than many in our time have been wont to imagine. And the more
that we consider how truly basal to the order of government and of society is
both sexual purity and the maintenance of a spirit of reverence and
subordination to parents, the easier we shall find it to recognise the fact
that if in this penal code there is doubtless great severity, it is yet the
severity of governmental wisdom and true paternal kindness on the part of the
high King of Israel, who governed that nation with intent, above all, that they
might become, in the highest sense, “a holy nation” in the midst of an ungodly
world, and so become the vehicle of blessing to others. And God thus judged
that it was better that sinning individuals should die without mercy than that
family government and family purity should perish, and Israel, instead of being
a blessing to the nations, should sink with them into the mire of universal
moral corruption. And it is well to observe that this law, if severe, was most
equitable and impartial in its application. We have here, in no instance,
torture; the scourging which in one case is enjoined is limited elsewhere to
the forty stripes save one. Neither have we discrimination against any class or
either sex; nothing like that detestable injustice of modern society which
turns the fallen woman into the street with pious scorn, while it often
receives the betrayer and even the adulterer--in most cases the more guilty of
the two--into “the best society.” Nothing have we here, again, which could
justify by example the insistence of many, through a perverted humanity, when a
murderess is sentenced for her crime to the scaffold, her sex should purchase a
partial immunity from the penalty of crime. The Levitical law is as impartial
as its Author;
even if death be the penalty the guilty one must die, whether man or woman. (S.
H. Kellogg, D. D.)
Stone him with stones.
Lapidation
Lapidation, as is well known, was frequently resorted to by
excited mobs for the exercise of summary justice or revenge. But as a legal
punishment it was not usual in the ancient world; it is only mentioned as a
Macedonian and a Spanish custom, and as having been occasionally employed by
the Romans. Among the Hebrews, however, it was very common; it was counted as
the first and severest of the four modes of inflicting capital punishment--the
three others being burning, beheading, and strangling--and it was in the
Pentateuch ordained for a variety of offences, especially those associated with
idolatry and incest; in certain cases it was even inflicted upon animals; and
its application was by the Rabbins considerably extended. As regards the
proceedings observed, the Bible contains no hints except the statements that it
took place without the precincts of the town, and that the men by whose
testimony the criminal had been convicted were obliged to throw the first
stones. But the Mishnah gives the following account, some features of which are
possibly of remoter antiquity: When the offender is being led away to the place
of execution, an official remains at the door of the law-court, while a man on
horseback is stationed at some distance, but so that the former can see him
wave a handkerchief, which he does when any one comes declaring that he has
something to say in favour of the condemned; in this case the horseman at once
hastens to stop the procession; if the convicted himself maintains that he can
offer proofs of his innocence or extenuating circumstances, he is taken back
before the tribunals; and this may be repeated four or five times, if there
appears to be the least foundation for his assertions. A herald precedes him all
the while, exclaiming, “So-and-so is being led out to be stoned to death for
this and this offence, and so-and-so are the witnesses; whosoever has to say
anything that might save him let him come forward and say it.” Having arrived
about ten yards from the appointed spot, he is publicly called upon to confess
his sins; for “whosoever confesses his sins has a share in the future life”; if
he is too illiterate to confess, he is ordered to say, “Let my death be the
expiation for all my sins.” At four yards from the place he is partially
stripped of his garments. When the procession has at last reached its
destination, he is conducted upon a scaffolding, the height of which is that of
two men, and after drinking “wine mingled with myrrh,” to render him less sensible
to pain, he is by one of the witnesses pushed down, so that he falls upon his
back; if he is not killed by the fall the other witness throws a stone upon his
breast; and if he is still alive all the people present cover him with stones.
When the corpse, which is usually nailed to the cross, is in a state of
decomposition, the bones are collected and burnt in a separate place; then his
relatives pay visits to the judges and the witnesses, in order to prove that
they bear them no hatred, and that they acknowledge the justice of the
sentence; and they must show their grief by no external mark of mourning. (M.
M. Kalisch, Ph. D.)
Verse 26
Ye shall be holy unto Me: for I the Lord am holy.
Holiness enforced
I. Let us
endeavour to explain the meaning, and the force of that reason for which
holiness is so universally enjoined. “Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God
am holy.” And so God’s holiness is made the motive for ours. And why? The Lord
our God is holy; therefore should we labour to become so likewise, in order
that we may become like Him in the most lovely and glorious of His attributes.
We should labour to become like Him in the most lovely and glorious of His
attributes in order that by so doing we may become well-pleasing in His sight; and, by
becoming well-pleasing in His sight, to attain to that eternal happiness which
God hath prepared for all those who, because they are like Him, He will
condescend to love.
II. Having seen why
the holiness of God is proposed to us as the motive to become holy, let us
proceed to examine into the nature of that holiness which we are commanded to
imitate, that we may have a model of that which we are to pursue.
1. First of all, then, we are taught that God is a Spirit. As the
heavens, therefore, are higher than the earth, so also must we place our
conceptions of what constitutes the essential holiness of the High and Lofty
One that inhabiteth eternity, above the pollution of every earthly passion.
Therefore in knowing, in the first place, what is the model of that holiness of
God which you are to pursue, you must first of all remember that no earthly
pleasure, no carnal imagination must have a place within the sanctuary of the
heart. The utter banishment of all these lusts, then, both from our minds (lest
they be defiled), and from our actions (lest they become unholy), must be the
first of our labours, must be our perpetual care.
2. But God is not holy in Himself alone, He is holy also in His acts
towards every creature in His power. And herein we have another point on which
we are to labour after the similitude to God’s holiness; we must throw aside
every regard towards the persons of men, which courts the lofty, which rejects
and despises the lowly man; we must account the welfare of all an object of our
care; we must consider none too mean to be helped by our hand--none too high to
mete out to them things which are expedient and their due. We must think of
all, we must feel for all, we must be just to all; and so to show forth the
similitude of God’s holiness to all.
3. Thus holy in Himself, and holy in His acts, God is holy, in the
third place, in the manner in which He regards both sin and the sinner. The
face of the Lord is against them that do evil; and the wicked, though he be
exalted, shall not stand in His sight, for He is of purer eyes than to behold
iniquity. To turn, then, away our eyes, lest we look upon vanity, and to
separate ourselves from all commerce with ungodly men--to give no encouragement
to transgression, nor to the transgressor--to have no fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness, but rather to reprove them, both in word and
deed--these are the duties to which in imitation of God’s holiness this third
particular would more particularly direct us.
III. But who is
sufficient for these things? Imperfectly as we have delineated the holiness of
the Lord, few as are the features which we have had time to detail, yet who can
consider his own failings in life without confessing how feebly he has attained
to the conformity of the Almighty’s holiness? When the text is taken in itself,
as the measure of the duty required of all, and when we compare it with our
weak and wavering performances, there is nothing left for man but destruction
and despair. But the same God, who hates every unholy person and thing, has
made a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it. Christ has fulfilled the
law of holiness for man;
and He who knew no sin, has been made sin for us, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. This is at once the apparently great mystery, and
this the consolation of our religion. (C. Benson.)
Ye shall be holy
There are three ways in which we may take these words. First, as
simply the statement of a fact; the Lord, speaking in prophecy, says you shall
be holy; you cannot help being holy, for you belong to God. He has chosen you.
Thus every saved one becomes dedicated; and whatever is dedicated is “holy”;
and, therefore, you being dedicated, you must be “holy.” Another interpretation
might be (still prophetically), “You shall be holy.” The Lord God Omnipotent
shall see to that. But then the promise bears upon that word “your.” “Your
God.” If He is really your God, the God you have chosen, the God you have
loved, the God you have served, the Cod really in your heart, your God, then He
will take care and make you holy. But though both these interpretations of the
verse are admissible, and true, and comforting, I think it is evident that they
are not the meaning which is chiefly intended. “Shall” is not meant to be a
future tense, but the imperative mood, It is very frequent in the Bible; a
strong imperative, a positive law to be holy. “Ye shall be holy,” and for this
reason above all others, “because the Lord your God is holy.” The creature must
be like his Creator; the child must be like his Father; the scholar must be
like his Master; the sinner must be like his Saviour. “Ye shall be holy.” It is
your first duty to be “holy.” The reasons why we should be “holy” are very
many. We are made capable of holiness. That is a great fact. Our former
convictions and feelings point us to holiness. We have to do with “holy”
things. Everything that we see, and everything we touch is “holy.” God has
provided a way by which we may be “holy.” Holiness, even in this world, is the highest happiness, and
we are made fit for and trained for a holy world beyond--a holy eternity. But
besides and above all this our best and highest reason for anything is always
what we find in God Himself. “Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am
holy.” It was God’s primary principle at man’s creation. “Let Us make man in
Our image, after Our likeness.” Therefore God made man “holy.” And when man
lost his holiness, God, being very jealous about it, immediately proceeded to
provide a way by which we could recover it. But what is holiness? The Greek
word for “holiness” is compounded of two words which mean “without earth,” free
from earthliness. Or we may take holiness to be that which has God for its
Author, and God for its end; or that which matches with God, and is fitted for
His service and His glory. Or sanctified purity. Or, as we have seen, that
which resembles God, and is dedicated to His service and His glory. A
reflection of Himself, or one or other of His attributes. A reflection of His
holiness. Now the great and all-important question is, How is “holiness” to be
attained? How do we, who are so very far off from holiness, become holy? In its great outline, I should say the answer
is this: First, you must be, and realise that you are, a member of Christ; a
Christian. Made so by your baptism, and your membership ratified and confirmed
by the solemn words and vows which you yourself have made, and the many inward
feelings in your own heart, and the many communications which you have had with
God from time to time. Being, then, a member of Christ, and Christ your Head,
the Holy Spirit, which was poured upon you at baptism, must hold His true place
in your heart. The great work lies all within the Trinity. The Father gives you
to the Son, the Son gives you to the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost gives you back
to the Son changed and sanctified. Sanctified, but still a poor sinner. And the
Son cleanses you with His blood, and clothes you with His own righteousness,
and gives you back to the Father, through Him and in Him holy, holy enough for
heaven, holy enough to stand in God’s holy presence. (Jas. Vaughan, M. A.)
Holiness; -
I. The holiness of
saints depends upon no outward condition, requires no special gift of nature or
of providence, of understanding or wisdom, nay, i may say, of grace. It need
not be shown in any one form; it does not require the largeness of any one
grace; still less does it consist in austere sadness, or stern constraint, or
rigid severity as to ourselves or others, except as to our sins. The blessed
company of the redeemed saints have and have not found one road to heaven. One
road they found, in that they were saved through one Redeemer, looking on to
Him and believing in Him before He came or looking to Him when He had come. But
all else in their outward lot was different. They were “redeemed to God out of
every kindred, and tongue, and people and nation.”
II. Holiness was
made for all. It is the end for which we were made, for which we were redeemed,
for which God the Holy
Ghost is sent down and shed abroad in the hearts that will receive Him. God did
not will to create us as perfect. He willed that we, through His grace, should
become perfect. But what He willed that we Should be, that, if our will fail
not, we must become. His almighty will vouchsafes to depend on ours. What God
commands; what God wills; what God so willed that He made us for this alone,
that we should be holy, and being holy, should share His holiness and
bliss--that must be within our reach if we will.
III. The mistake of
mistakes is to think that holiness consists in great or extraordinary things,
beyond the reach of ordinary men. It has been well said, “Holiness does not
consist in doing uncommon things, but in doing common things uncommonly well.”
Few can ever do great things, and the few who can do them can each do but few.
But every one can study the will of God, and can give great diligence to know
it and to do what he knows. Your daily round of duty is your daily path to come
nearer unto God. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)
Godly distinctiveness
I. A unique code
of moral and sacred laws. “Ye shall keep all My statutes and all My judgments,
and do them” (Leviticus 20:22). No other people had a
standard of morals, or a directory of religious regulations comparable to
these.
II. A studious
avoidance of the customs of ungodliness. “Ye shall not walk in the manners of
the nations,” &c. (Leviticus 20:23). Conformity to the world
was prohibited. However sanctioned, or desirable, or seemingly harmless, the
customs of the ungodly were to be shunned.
III. A cautious
selection of social enjoyments and indulgences. “Ye shall put difference
between clean and unclean,” &c. (Leviticus 20:25). Palate not to be
gratified, tables not to be
spread with promiscuous viands. God’s wish and word were to rule them in every enjoyment, and
self-restraint was to mark them in every gratification.
IV. A heritage of
special privileges as God’s people. “Ye shall inherit their land, a land that
floweth with milk and honey,” &c. (Leviticus 20:24). Sinners lose earthly
felicities, as the penalty of their impiety: “therefore I abhorred them” (Leviticus 20:23). The godly possess rich
heritage of good as the mark of God’s favour: “I will give it unto you to
possess” (Leviticus 20:24).
V. A seal of
divine sanctity resting upon them: They show themselves to be--
1. Divinely “separated” (Leviticus 20:24), from other people.
Their history and career attest God’s dealing with them as with no other people.
2. Divinely sanctified. “Ye shall be holy unto Me: for I the Lord am
holy, and have severed you from other people” (Leviticus 20:26). For the very “beauty of
the Lord” rests upon the character and conduct of those He redeems. Note:
A holy God requires a holy people
The various laws which the Jews received from God through
the medium of Moses were all meant to promote social, personal, political,
national morality; to keep the people distinct from infecting elements around
them, separated and hedged off from the possibility of contagion; so that
whatever defiled them might be seen not to come from others, but to rise from
the depths of their own fallen and depraved hearts. “Therefore I have separated
you from all people, that ye might be unto Me,” He says, “a peculiar people”;
and the great end that He contemplated constantly was their holiness--that they
might be a holy people. The word “holy,” in fact, means properly, separated--set
apart to some purpose or object or end. But in order to make their holiness
still more likely He presented ever before them a grand model. “Be ye holy,” is
His constant phrase, “for I the Lord am holy.” “Ye shall be holy unto Me: for I
the Lord am holy.” It is well known that a people become, to a great extent,
what their god or their gods are. The gods of the heathen were most of them
monsters of lust. Jupiter was depraved; Mercury was a thief; others of their
gods were infected with the greatest crimes; as if their villainy upon earth
gave them a title to a niche in the Pantheon of heathenism. You must expect,
from such gods in the theology of a people, bad lives in the history of that
people. If the model be so bad, how low must the imitator and the worshipper
be! But before the Jews there was placed the magnificent ideal of all that was
holy, pure, just, perfect. The nearer they approached God, the nobler they
became; the farther they receded from Him, the more degenerate they became.
They had the standard infinitely remote, but infinitely perfect, ceaseless
approximation to which was their nation’s strength, its glory, and its
happiness. Thus the Jews were selected that they might be holy. They had a
model constantly before them they were to imitate, that they might be holy. And
they were chosen for this grand destiny not because of their own virtues--for,
strange enough, their very mercies the corruption of their hearts turned into
their own merits, and the more God favoured them, with a perverse ingenuity the
most remarkable, when we know it was so often rebuked, the more credit they
took to themselves; and He tells them that He chose them, not because they were
greater or more excellent than any other nation, but because, in His own
sovereignty, He set His love upon them. Thus they were hedged round with
ceremonial laws; they had presented before them a perfect, infinitely perfect,
Model; they were selected by distinguishing grace in order to reach and strive
after this great destiny; they had ringing in their ears every day the law,
“Thou shalt love,” which is translated into practical language, “Thou shalt be
holy,” in order that they might obtain the end for which they were chosen and
blessed and favoured--to be a separated people and a holy people to the Lord.
Now, what the Jews were meant to be nationally we Christians are meant to be
personally. We, too, are selected and favoured for this purpose; and we shall
find all the economy of the New Testament constantly contemplates the holiness
of God’s people as the great end and object and aim of our Christian privileges
and blessings and mercies upon earth.
I. But, first of
all, let us define what holiness is. The word means simply separation. So the
Latin word sacer, from which comes our word “sacred,” is employed to
denote profane as well as sacred--means wicked as well as holy. Hence the
expression “Auri sacra fames,” literally translated, “The sacred thirst
of gold,” but strictly and properly, “The accursed thirst of gold.” The
meaning, therefore, of a holy person is one severed or separated to something;
and when applied to that which is pure and just and true it means separated to
God. And we can only form an idea of what holiness is by seeing it defined by
God, as embodied in His character and explained at length in His Word. Holiness
in a Christian is just separation, sanctification, severance from the excessive
love of things lawful, from the forbidden love of things sinful, to the growing
love of what God has commanded in His holy Word, and of the grand image that
God has depicted in every page of His revelation.
II. Now having seen
what this holiness is, let me state, in the next place, how Christians in the
new testament are constantly associated with it.
1. They are elected to it. He has chosen us in Christ from the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy.
2. Now, this holiness, in the next place, is true and lasting beauty;
it is real and original beauty. The King’s daughter has all her beauty within,
that needs a spiritual eye to discriminate and discern. The mass of mankind can
only see glare, pretension, gaudiness, but the true Christian sees a city where
the world sees none, for Christ, when He came to His own, His own recieved Him
not; there was no beauty in Him that the world should desire Him.
3. And this holiness, too, of character is the highest possible
honour. It is the livery of Heaven; it is the very robes of the King of glory;
it is the dress which He prepares for His own; it is the Apocalyptic garments
“white and clean, which are the righteousness of saints”; it is the raiment
white and clean which no moth can gnaw, which no rust can decay, which no thief
can break through and steal.
4. Arid, in the next place, this holiness is fitness for heaven. A
man without an ear cannot enjoy music. In the same manner, a person without a
sanctified heart, without holiness, is not fit for heaven.
5. In the next place, it is the distinguishing mark of the true
Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is this that makes a Christian; and without
this he cannot see God or put forth any valid claim to be a Christian at all.
6. In the next place, the Holy Spirit is the Author of this holiness.
III. Thus we have
seen what this holiness is and who is the Author of it; let me notice now that
all the institutions of the gospel are meant to promote it. Preaching is meant
to promote it; sacraments are meant to promote it; the reading of the Bible is
meant to promote it; the teaching of teachers is meant to promote it; all our
schools and institutions, our preaching and hearing, our praying and
communicating, are all helps that, by the blessing of the Spirit of God, bring
us nearer to Him who is the Fountain of all holiness, of all light, and of all
life.
IV. And in the next
place, all the chastisements of God’s providence are meant to promote this. (J. Gumming, D. D.)
Holiness
Holiness! There is sweet music in the very name. It tells of sin
subdued, of boisterous passions lulled, of fiery lusts becalmed, of miry paths
made clean. It sets before us a pure walk, where peace and joy go hand in hand,
and scatter heaven-born fragrance round. Holiness! To cause this lovely plant
to thrive, its roots to deepen, and its branches to bear fruit, is one grand
purport of the scheme of grace. The Lord’s own voice proclaims, “Ye shall be
holy: for I am holy.” Holiness falls short when it falls short of God. But
perhaps you say such glorious lustre is too bright for sight. The heavenly
sunshine dims the dazzled eye. But still draw near. God’s Holiness, in human
form, has visited and trod our earth. Jesus takes flesh and tabernacles here.
His walk in our soiled paths is clean as on celestial pavement. Mark every act.
Hear every word. They have one feature, holiness. Mark next the soil in which
this flower has roots, the seed from which it springs. Man’s pride must here
lie low. It never thrives in Nature’s field. Neither can hand of Nature plant
it. When sin came in each gracious fibre died. The curse fell blightingly on
earth, bat most so on the human heart. The thorns and briars of the outward
world are dismal emblems of the wilderness within. God’s likeness was effaced
at once, and hideous enmity established its one rule. How, then, can holiness
revive? Until the waste becomes a garden the plant cannot be set; until Heaven
gives the seed it can nowhere be found. God must prepare the soil. God must
infuse the seed. The work is wholly God’s. Next mark the renovating means. The
wondrous engine is the gospel truth. The Spirit wins by charming notes. He
opens ears to hear new melody. He gives the eye to see new scenes. He reveals
Christ, the beauty of all beauty. He shows the cleansing blood, the
sympathising heart, the perfect refuge, the all-sufficient aid. These sights
wave a transforming wand. A new affection subjugates the man. Jesus and purer
hopes now occupy the mind. Darkness is passed. The true light shines. The grace
of faith springs up. This is the chain which binds the soul to Christ and makes
the Saviour and the sinner one. A channel is now formed by which Christ’s
fulness plenteously flows down. The barren branch becomes a portion of the
fruitful stem. Christ’s vital juices permeate the whole. The limbs receive
close union with the head, and one life reigns throughout the total frame. (Dean
Law.)
Example of holiness
Christ is the Pattern, the Sample, the exemplary Cause of our
sanctification. Holiness in us is the copy or transcript of the holiness that
is in the Lord Jesus. As the wax hath line for line from the seal, the child
limb for limb, feature for feature, from the father, so is holiness in us from
Christ. (M. Henry.)
Influence of holiness
There is an energy of moral suasion in a good man’s life passing
the highest efforts of the orator’s genius. The seen but silent beauty of
holiness speaks more eloquently of God and duty than the tongues of men and
angels. Let parents remember this. The best inheritance a parent can bequeath
to a child is a virtuous example, a legacy of hallowed remembrances and
associations. The beauty of holiness beaming through the life of a loved relative
or friend is more effectual to strengthen such as do stand in Virtue’s ways and
raise up those who are bowed down than precept, command, entreaty, or warning.
Christianity itself, I believe, owes by far the greater part of its moral
power, not to the precepts or parables of Christ, but to His own character. The
beauty of that holiness which is enshrined in the four brief biographies of the
Man of Nazareth has done more, and will do more, to regenerate the world and
bring on everlasting righteousness than all the other agencies put together. It
has done more to spread His religion in the world than all that has ever been
preached or written on the evidences of Christianity. (T. Chalmers, D. D.)
Sanctification, what it is
The saintly and learned Archbishop Ussher was frequently urged by
a friend to write his thoughts on sanctification, which at length he engaged to
do; but a considerable time elapsing, the performance of his promise was
importunately claimed. The Archbishop replied, “I have not written, and yet I
cannot charge myself with a breach of promise, for I began to write; but when I
came to treat of the new creature which God formeth by His own Spirit in every
regenerate soul I found so little of it wrought in myself that I could speak of
it only as parrots, or by rote, but without the knowledge of what I might have
expressed, and therefore I durst not presume to proceed any further upon it.”
Upon this his friend stood amazed to hear such a confession from so grave,
holy, and eminent a person. The Archbishop then added: “I must tell you we do
not well understand what sanctification and the new creature are. It is no less
than for a man to be brought to an entire resignation of his own will to the
will of God, and to live in the offering up of his soul continually in the
flames of love, as a whole burnt-offering to Christ; and oh l how many who
profess Christianity are unacquainted experimentally with this work upon their
souls!”
Holiness defined
At one of the ragged schools in Ireland a clergyman asked the
question, “What is holiness?” A poor Irish convert in tattered rags jumped up
and said, “Please, your Reverence, it’s being clean inside.”
True holiness
True holiness is a plain and an even thing, without falsehood,
guile, perverseness of spirit, deceitfulness of heart, or starting aside. It
hath one end, one rule, one way, one heart; whereas hypocrites are, in the
Scripture, called “double-minded men,” because they pretend to God and follow
the world; and “crooked men,” like the swelling of a wall whose parts are not
perpendicular nor level to their foundation. Now rectitude, sincerity, and
singleness of heart are ever, both in the eyes of God and man, beautiful
things. (H. G. Salter.)
The ideal Holy One
And have you never cried in your hearts with longing, almost with
impatience, “Surely, surely there is an ideal Holy One somewhere, or else how
could have arisen in my mind the conception, however faint, of an ideal
holiness? But where? oh, where? Not in the world around, strewn with
unholiness. Not in myself, unholy, too, without and within, and calling myself
sometimes the very worst of all the bad company I meet, because that company is
the only company from which I cannot escape. Oh! is there a Holy One whom I may
contemplate with utter delight? and if so, where is He? Oh I that I might
behold, if but for a moment, His perfect beauty, even though, as in the fable
of Semele of old, the lightning of his glances were death.” (Charles
Kingsley.)
The Mount of Holiness
In elocution there is what rhetoricians term a “second voice.” It
comes after an orator has been speaking sufficiently long for his lungs to
become thoroughly warmed. The diversified ligaments and muscles and membranes
which compose or influence his vocal organs then take on a more perfectly
adjusted action, and the voice grows flexible and full and rich, able to
express “thoughts that breathe and words that burn.” There is a vision known to
opticians as “second sight.” In their later years many people come into
possession of this. They can lay aside their spectacles, worn perhaps for a
quarter of a century, and with the naked eye read the finest print. I have seen
octogenarians whose eyesight was apparently as good as in the palmiest days of their youth.
There is a mental perception enjoyed by multitudes of thinkers which seems to
them like a “second intellectuality.” It is broader, clearer, and more
satisfying than was the first. It is reached after a night-time of doubt and
darkness, during which one’s theories seem like chaos and one’s beliefs like
desperate guesses. It comes after a transition period, when, like Noah’s ark,
the mind can find no Ararat on which to anchor. Then breaks in a new light; the
shadows flee, the heterogeneous mass of speculations begin to crystallise; a
form appears, and he who had well-nigh become Diogenes the Cynic begins to
develop into Socrates the Philosopher. So there is a “second religious
experience,” deeper than the first. It lies beyond the surf of unbelief and
partial consecration, and is reached by launching out into the deep of an
unreserved dedication to God. Many have attained unto it and enjoy “the rest of
faith.” Others are hungering after this more perfect righteousness, and will
not hunger long in vain. Multitudes more are wishing for but making no
determined efforts to secure it. They are like travellers ascending the valley
of Chamounix, who catch glimpses of Mont Blanc, and though longing to stand on
its glittering summit, have no expectation of ever doing so. I recall a
memorable Sunday afternoon when, from an hotel window in Geneva, seventy miles
distant, I caught my first view of that celebrated landmark. The setting sun
was transmuting, as no other alchemist ever could, its whole immense top into
one gorgeous mass of burnished gold, and the desire to visit it came upon me
like a spell. But the city of Geneva, with its bright stores and historic
church and marvellous watch factories, its bridges across the crystal river,
and its romantic lake, lay at my feet, and I fingered; and when at last I
sought the shining mount, like most tourists I was satisfied to reach its base
and gaze upon it from below. So it is with thousands of Christians. Before
their raptured vision rises, in their best moments, the Mount of Holiness. They
sigh for its lofty experiences, but still view it from afar, or journey no
farther than its foot-hills. Would they but climb its rising footways and scale
its magnificent peaks, a second and deeper experience would be theirs. (Sunday School
Record.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》