Do Not Do לֹ֣א תַעֲשׂ֑וּ

We are rolling into chapter eighteen of Leviticus with our word for today which is a phrase. לֹ֣א תַעֲשׂ֑וּ you shall not do, you shall not make, you shall not worship. It is used 38 times in the Old Testament, twice in our chapter. Our phrase is used the first time in the Bible when God is giving the ten commandments to Moses for the people. Exodus 20:23 לֹ֥א תַעֲשׂ֖וּן You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, לֹ֥א תַעֲשׂ֖וּ nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. We also see our phrase used in the prohibition to use the anointing perfume in any other way except for the priests as part of the temple worship. Exodus 30:26, 30-33 And you shall make of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil … You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. And you shall say to the people of Israel, ‘This shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. It shall not be poured on the body of an ordinary person, and לֹ֥א תַעֲשׂ֖וּ you shall make no other like it in composition. It is holy, and it shall be holy to you. Whoever compounds any like it or whoever puts any of it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people.’ Our phrase is used in setting up the laws against perverting justice. Leviticus 19:15, 35-37 לֹא־תַעֲשׂ֥וּYou shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor … לֹא־תַעֲשׂ֥וּ You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity. You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. And you shall observe all my statutes and all my rules, and do them: I am the Lord.” Our phrase is also used in the sense of observing the Sabbath day of rest. Leviticus 23:8 On the seventh day is a holy convocation; לֹ֥א תַעֲשֽׂוּ you shall not do any ordinary work. We find our phrase used to describe a very corrupt immoral culture. Judges 19:23-24 And the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, “No, my brothers, do not act so wickedly; since this man has come into my house, do not do this vile thing. Behold, here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out now. Violate them and do with them what seems good to you, but against this man לֹ֣א תַעֲשׂ֔וּ do not do this outrageous thing.” This is how our phrase is used twice in our chapter today. Leviticus 18:1-5 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God.לֹ֣א תַעֲשׂ֑וּYou shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and לֹ֣א תַעֲשׂ֔וּyou shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the Lord. Did you see the contrast and the warning God is giving his people. His laws and statutes are very different than those of both Egypt where they came from and Canaan where they were going. Both of these influences would corrupt the people if they were not careful to reject them and embrace God’s instructions. In the next couple of days as we look at some of the words in the rest of our chapter we will see the clearest teaching from God’s word about what sexual immorality is and how damaging it can be. I’ll close with a couple of passages that remind us of the power of sinful influences around us. Jesus is warning about those who looked good on the outside but instead were leading others away from God. Matthew 16:11-12 Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Matthew 23:13-15 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.