Daily Bible Reading pt 2
Today we are reading from Leviticus 19 and Matthew 13:24-58.
Leviticus:
In this chapter, God speaks to Moses and lays down various laws, such as respect your father and your mother, observe the Sabbaths, and do not make false idols. However, God does not say that these are the ten commandments. These are standards for the people. Leviticus 18 speaks of 'unlawful sexual relations', and simply put, you're not allowed to have sex with any one you're not married to, and you or your wife may not be having their period. No sex with your parents, your aunts and uncles, your children, your children's children, with someone of the same sex, (which, by the way, it only says it is 'detestable', it does not say you're going to hell), and no sex with animals.
Moving on, this is the part of the Bible that actually spells out the things that aren't in the ten commandments (unless you are a Jehovah's witness, because their 'bibles' are fabricated). It actually says, d not steal or lie. The ten commandments simply state that you aren't allowed to covet your neighbor's things, or bear false witness against your neighbor. It also says how you are not supposed to defraud others or rob them. you are not to hold back the wages of hired personnell, deceive one another, or curse the deaf or cause the blind to stumble.
Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not hate your brother (meaning fellow man, not just your relatives), do not pervert justice, do not mate different kinds of animals, do not plant more than two types of seed in your field.
There are many meanings that can be read into the things that are written here, but I believe that they are to be taken at face value--don't mate two different species of animals, and don't plant two different types of plant in your field.
This is, mind you, from the Old Testament, and when Jesus came, he reversed some of the teachings in this part of the Bible, even though the Jewish people keep this as sacred. For example, Leviticus 19:27 says "Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard."
Orthodox Jewish men do not cut their beards or their hair, although in some sects, that's something only the priests do. In Leviticus 21:5, it reads "Priests must not shave their heads or shave off the wedges of their beards or cut their bodies. They must be holy to their God and must not profane the name of their God. Because they present the offereings made to the Lord by fire, the food of their God, they are to be holy."
Our second reading comes from Matthew 13:24-58. This is an extremely long passage, so I'll try and break it down very simply.
Verses 24-30 speak of a parable told by Jesus. There was a man who sowed wheat in his fields, and that night, his enemy came and planted weeds. When his servants came and asked if they should pull the weeds, the master said no, that they should let them grow, and when harvest time came, to pull the weeds first and then burn them.
This could be looked at a couple different ways, since it is a parable. Jesus explains this parable in vs 36-40 by saying "The man who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the workd, and the good seed stnads for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are the angels."
The other parables are basically the same thing. As the life application study bible explains, "All the parables in this chapter teach us about God and his kingdom. They explain what the kingdom is really like as opposed to our expectations of it. The kingdom of heaven is not a geographic location, but a spiritual realm where God rules and where we share in his eternal life. We join that kingdom when we trust in Christ as Savior.
Leviticus:
In this chapter, God speaks to Moses and lays down various laws, such as respect your father and your mother, observe the Sabbaths, and do not make false idols. However, God does not say that these are the ten commandments. These are standards for the people. Leviticus 18 speaks of 'unlawful sexual relations', and simply put, you're not allowed to have sex with any one you're not married to, and you or your wife may not be having their period. No sex with your parents, your aunts and uncles, your children, your children's children, with someone of the same sex, (which, by the way, it only says it is 'detestable', it does not say you're going to hell), and no sex with animals.
Moving on, this is the part of the Bible that actually spells out the things that aren't in the ten commandments (unless you are a Jehovah's witness, because their 'bibles' are fabricated). It actually says, d not steal or lie. The ten commandments simply state that you aren't allowed to covet your neighbor's things, or bear false witness against your neighbor. It also says how you are not supposed to defraud others or rob them. you are not to hold back the wages of hired personnell, deceive one another, or curse the deaf or cause the blind to stumble.
Do not go about spreading slander among your people. Do not hate your brother (meaning fellow man, not just your relatives), do not pervert justice, do not mate different kinds of animals, do not plant more than two types of seed in your field.
There are many meanings that can be read into the things that are written here, but I believe that they are to be taken at face value--don't mate two different species of animals, and don't plant two different types of plant in your field.
This is, mind you, from the Old Testament, and when Jesus came, he reversed some of the teachings in this part of the Bible, even though the Jewish people keep this as sacred. For example, Leviticus 19:27 says "Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard."
Orthodox Jewish men do not cut their beards or their hair, although in some sects, that's something only the priests do. In Leviticus 21:5, it reads "Priests must not shave their heads or shave off the wedges of their beards or cut their bodies. They must be holy to their God and must not profane the name of their God. Because they present the offereings made to the Lord by fire, the food of their God, they are to be holy."
Our second reading comes from Matthew 13:24-58. This is an extremely long passage, so I'll try and break it down very simply.
Verses 24-30 speak of a parable told by Jesus. There was a man who sowed wheat in his fields, and that night, his enemy came and planted weeds. When his servants came and asked if they should pull the weeds, the master said no, that they should let them grow, and when harvest time came, to pull the weeds first and then burn them.
This could be looked at a couple different ways, since it is a parable. Jesus explains this parable in vs 36-40 by saying "The man who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the workd, and the good seed stnads for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are the angels."
The other parables are basically the same thing. As the life application study bible explains, "All the parables in this chapter teach us about God and his kingdom. They explain what the kingdom is really like as opposed to our expectations of it. The kingdom of heaven is not a geographic location, but a spiritual realm where God rules and where we share in his eternal life. We join that kingdom when we trust in Christ as Savior.