Subscribe to Ailbe Newsletters
Sign up to receive our email newsletters and read columns about revival, renewal, and awakening built upon prayer, sharing, and mutual edification.
26 “‘You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor shall you practice divination or soothsaying. 27 You shall not shave around the sides of your head, nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard. 28 You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord.’”
The practices mentioned in these verses were standard pagan fare. How would Israel stand out as a people holy unto the Lord if they simply adopted the ways of their unbelieving neighbors? How would they ever draw people to the knowledge of the holy God and His holy and righteous and good Law if they simply mimicked the ways of their unbelieving neighbors?
Of course, they would not, so God warned them over and over again to keep from all such pagan practices and ways and to cling to Him and His Law.
God solemnly forbids His people from bringing the practices of pagan peoples into their walk with, worship of, and work for Him. We are to be holy, set apart from the ways of the world to learn and follow the ways of our Lord Jesus Christ.
T. M. Moore
The Law of God is the soil which, fertilized by the rest of God’s Word and watered by His Spirit, brings forth the fruit of Christian life. If you’d like to understand this process better, and how to make best use of the Law in your walk with and work for the Lord, order the book, The Ground for Christian Ethics, from our online store.
Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.