Leviticus 24-25, Psalms 48-49

We are reading Leviticus 24-25 and Psalms 48 and 49, here on Commuter Bible Oatsy.

Our reading begins with instructions for the bread and the oil in the tabernacle,

but soon thereafter these instructions are somewhat interrupted by a fight.

The young man has blaspheme the name of God and instructions are given about what must be done.

Followed by further instruction for a punishment of violent crimes.

Later the Lord explains the institutions of Sabbath years and the year of Jubilee.

In short, Israel is to work the ground for six years, then on the seventh year they are to rest.

After 49 years, which is seven times seven, they are to celebrate a year of Jubilee

where deaths are canceled and Hebrew servants are relieved of their indentured service.

Leviticus 24-25

The Lord spoke to Moses.

Command the Israelites to bring you pure oil from crushed olives for the light

in order to keep the lamp burning regularly.

Aaron is to tend it continually from evening until morning before the Lord

outside the curtain of the testimony in the tent of meeting.

This is a permanent statute throughout your generations.

You must continually tend the lamps on the pure gold lamp stand in the Lord's presence.

Take the fine flower and bake it into 12 loaves.

Each loaf is to be made with four quarts.

Arrange them in two rows, six to a row, on the pure gold table before the Lord.

Place pure frankincense near each row, so that it may serve as a memorial portion for the bread

and a food offering to the Lord.

The bread is to be set out before the Lord every Sabbath day as a permanent covenant obligation

on the part of the Israelites.

It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a holy place,

for it is the holiest portion for him from the food offerings to the Lord.

This is a permanent rule.

Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father was among the Israelites.

A fight broke out in the camp between the Israelite woman's son and an Israelite man.

Her son cursed and blasphemed the name and they brought him to Moses.

His mother's name was Shalomath, a daughter of Dibri of the tribe of Dan.

They put him in custody until the Lord's decision could be made clear to them.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses.

Bring the one who has cursed to the outside of the camp and have all who heard him lay their hands on his head.

Then have the whole community stone him.

And tell the Israelites, if anyone curses his God, he will bear the consequences of his sin.

Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord must be put to death.

The whole community is to stone him.

If he blasphemes the name, he is to be put to death, whether the resident alien or the native.

If a man kills anyone, he must be put to death.

Whoever kills an animal is to make restitution for it, life for life.

If any man inflicts a permanent injury on his neighbor, whatever he has done is to be done to him.

Fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.

Whatever injury he inflicted on the person, the same is to be inflicted on him.

Whoever kills an animal is to make restitution for it.

But whoever kills a person is to be put to death.

You are to have the same law for the resident alien and the native.

Because I am the Lord your God.

After Moses spoke to the Israelites, they brought the one who had cursed to the outside of the camp and stoned him.

So the Israelites did, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai.

Speak to the Israelites and tell them,

When you enter the land I am giving you, the land will observe a Sabbath to the Lord.

You may sow your field for six years and you may prune your vineyard and gather its produce for six years.

But there will be a Sabbath of complete rest for the land in the seventh year,

a Sabbath to the Lord.

You are not to sow your field or prune your vineyard.

You are not to reap what grows by itself from your crop or harvest the grapes of your untended vines.

It is to be a year of complete rest for the land.

Whatever the land produces during the Sabbath year can be food for you.

For yourself, your male or female slave, and the hired worker or alien who resides with you.

All of its growth may serve as food for your livestock and the wild animals in your land.

You are to count seven sabbatical years, seven times seven years,

so that the time period of the seven sabbatical years amounts to 49.

Then you are to sound a ram's horn loudly in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month.

You will sound it throughout your land on the day of atonement.

You are to consecrate the 50th year and proclaim freedom in the land for all its inhabitants.

It will be your Jubilee when each of you is to return to his property and each of you to his clan.

The 50th year will be your Jubilee. You are not to sow, reap what grows by itself or harvest its

unintended vines. It is to be holy to you because it is the Jubilee. You may only eat its fruit

directly from the field. In this year of Jubilee, each of you will return to his property.

If you make a sale to your neighbor or purchase from him, do not cheat one another.

You are to make the purchase from your neighbor based on the number of years since the last Jubilee.

He is to sell to you based on the number of remaining harvest years.

You are to increase its price in proportion to a greater amount of years and decrease its price

in proportion to a lesser amount of years because what he is selling to you is a number of harvests.

You are not to cheat one another but fear your God for I am the Lord your God.

You are to keep my statutes and ordinances and carefully observe them so that you may live securely

in the land. Then the land will yield its fruit so that you can eat, be satisfied and live securely

in the land. If you wonder, what will we eat in the 7th year if we don't sow or gather our produce?

I will appoint my blessing for you in the 6th year so that it will produce a crop sufficient for

three years. When you sow in the 8th year, you will be eating from the previous harvest.

You will be eating this until the 9th year when its harvest comes in.

The land is not to be permanently sold because it is mine and you are only aliens and temporary

residents on my land. You are to allow the redemption of any land you occupy.

If your brother becomes destitute and sells part of his property, his nearest relative may come

and redeem what his brother has sold. If a man has no family redeemer but he prosperous and

obtained enough to redeem his land, he may calculate the years since its sale, repay the balance to

the man he sold it to and return to his property. But if he cannot obtain enough to repay him,

what he sold will remain in the possession of its purchaser until the year of Jubilee.

It is to be released at the Jubilee so that he may return to his property.

If a man sells a residence in a walled city, his ride of redemption will last until a year has

passed after its sale. His ride of redemption will last a year. If it is not redeemed by the end

of a full year, then the house in the walled city is permanently transferred to its purchaser

throughout his generations. It is not to be released on the Jubilee.

But houses and settlements that have no walls around them are to be classified as open fields.

The right to redeem such houses stays in effect and they are to be released at the Jubilee.

Concerning the Levitical cities, the Levites always have the right to redeem houses in the cities

they possess. Whatever property one of the Levites can redeem, a house sold in a city they possess

is to be released at the Jubilee because the houses in the Levitical cities are their possession

among the Israelites. The open pasture land around their cities may not be sold for it is their

permanent possession. If your brother becomes destitute and cannot sustain himself among you,

you are to support him as an alien or temporary resident so that he can continue to live among you.

Do not profit or take interest from him, but fear your God and let your brother live among you.

You are not to lend him your silver with interest or sell him your food for profit.

I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

If your brother among you becomes destitute and sells himself to you, you must not force him to

do slave labor. Let him stay with you as a hired worker or a temporary resident. He may work for you

until the year of Jubilee. Then he and his children are to be released from you and he may return

into his clan and his ancestral property. They are not to be sold as slaves because they are my

servants that I brought out of the land of Egypt. You are not to rule over them harshly but fear your God.

Your male and female slaves are to be from the nations around you. You may purchase male and female

slaves. You may also purchase them from the aliens residing with you or from their families living

among you, those born in your land. These may become your property. You may leave them to your sons

after you to inherit as property. You can make them slaves for life but concerning your brothers

the Israelites. You must not rule over one another harshly.

If an alien or temporary resident living among you, prosperous, but your brother living near him

becomes destitute and sells himself to the alien living among you or to a member of the resident

aliens clan, he has the right of redemption after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him.

His uncle or cousin may redeem him or any of his close relatives from his clan may redeem him.

If he prospers, he may redeem himself. The one who purchased him is to calculate the time from

the year he sold himself to him until the year of Jubilee. The price of his sale will be determined

by the number of years. It will be set for him like the daily wages of a hired worker.

If many years are still left, he must pay his redemption price in proportion to them based on his

purchase price. If only a few years remain until the year of Jubilee, he will calculate and pay

the price of his redemption in proportion to his remaining years. He will stay with him like a man

hired year by year. A resident alien is not to rule over him harshly in your sight.

If he is not redeemed in any of these ways, he and his children are to be released at the year

of Jubilee. For the Israelites are my servants. They are my servants that I brought out of the land of

Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

Psalm 48

The Lord is great and highly praised in the city of our God. His holy mountain,

rising splendidly, is the joy of the whole earth. Mount Zion, the summit of Zaffen,

is the city of the great king. God is known as a stronghold in its citadels.

Look, the kings assembled. They advanced together. They looked and froze with fear. They fled in terror.

Trambling seized them there. Agony, like that of a woman in labor, as you wrecked the ships of

Tarshish with the East Wind. Just as we heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord of armies

in the city of our God. God will establish it forever. God, within your temple, we contemplate your

faithful love, like your name, God. So your praise reaches to the ends of the earth. Your right hand

is filled with justice. Mount Zion is glad. Judah's villages rejoice because of your judgments.

Go around Zion, encircle it, count its towers, note its ramparts, tour its citadels,

so that you can tell a future generation. This God, our God, forever and ever,

he will always lead us.

Psalm 49

Hear this, all you peoples. Listen, all who inhabit the world both low and high,

rich and poor together. My mouth speaks wisdom. My heart's meditation brings understanding.

I turn my ear to a proverb. I explain my riddle with a liar.

Why should I fear in times of trouble? The iniquity of my foes surrounds me. They trust in their

wealth and boast of their abundant riches. Yet these cannot redeem a person or pay his

ransom to God. Since the price of redeeming him is too costly, one should forever stop trying

so that he may live forever and not see the pit.

For one can see that the wise die. The foolish and stupid also pass away.

Then they leave their wealth to others. Their graves are their permanent homes.

Their dwellings from generation to generation, though they have named estates after themselves.

But despite his assets, mankind will not last. He is like the animals that perish.

This is the way of those who are arrogant and of their followers who approve of their words.

Like sheep, they are headed for shield. Death will shepherd them. The upright will rule over

them in the morning and their form will waste away in shield, far from their lofty abode.

But God will redeem me from the power of shield for He will take me.

Do not be afraid when a person gets rich when the wealth of his house increases.

For when he dies, he will take nothing at all. His wealth will not follow him down.

Though he blesses himself during his lifetime and you are acclaimed when you do well for yourself,

he will go down to the generation of his ancestors. They will never see the light.

Mankind with his assets, but without understanding, is like the animals that perish.

Today's episode was narrated and orchestrated by me, John Ross, and co-produced by the Christian

Standard Bible. If you've been listening since the first episode, you've completed 20% of the

Old Testament so far. Keep it up. Thanks for listening and remember to trust in the Lord with all your

heart and do not rely on your own understanding and all your ways know Him. He will make your paths