The Berean Pursuit
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.
Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must keep My Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God.
Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods. I am the LORD your God.
When you sacrifice a peace offering to the LORD, you shall offer it for your acceptance. It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it, or on the next day; but what remains on the third day must be burned up. If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is tainted and will not be accepted. Whoever eats it will bear his iniquity, for he has profaned what is holy to the LORD. That person must be cut off from his people.
When you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You must not strip your vineyard bare or gather its fallen grapes. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.
You must not steal. You must not lie or deceive one another.
You must not swear falsely by My name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.
You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him.
You must not withhold until morning the wages due a hired hand.
You must not curse the deaf or place a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the LORD.
You must not pervert justice; you must not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the rich; you are to judge your neighbor fairly.
You must not go about spreading slander among your people.
You must not endanger the life of your neighbor. I am the LORD.
You must not harbor hatred against your brother in your heart. Directly rebuke your neighbor, so that you will not incur guilt on account of him. Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
You are to keep My statutes. You shall not crossbreed two different kinds of livestock; you shall not sow your fields with two kinds of seed; and you shall not wear clothing made of two kinds of material.
If a man lies carnally with a slave girl promised to another man but who has not been redeemed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment. But they are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed. The man, however, must bring a ram to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting as his guilt offering to the LORD. The priest shall make atonement on his behalf before the LORD with the ram of the guilt offering for the sin he has committed, and he will be forgiven the sin he has committed.
When you enter the land and plant any kind of tree for food, you shall regard the fruit as forbidden. For three years it will be forbidden to you and must not be eaten. In the fourth year all its fruit must be consecrated as a praise offering to the LORD. But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit; thus your harvest will be increased. I am the LORD your God.
You must not eat anything with blood still in it.
You must not practice divination or sorcery.
You must not cut off the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard.
You must not make any cuts in your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.
You must not defile your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will be prostituted and filled with depravity.
You must keep My Sabbaths and have reverence for My sanctuary. I am the LORD.
You must not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out, or you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God.
You are to rise in the presence of the elderly, honor the aged, and fear your God. I am the LORD.
When a foreigner resides with you in your land, you must not oppress him. You must treat the foreigner living among you as native-born and love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
You must not use dishonest measures of length, weight, or volume. You shall maintain honest scales and weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
You must keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and follow them. I am the LORD."
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites, 'Any Israelite or foreigner living in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech must be put to death. The people of the land are to stone him. And I will set My face against that man and cut him off from his people, because by giving his offspring to Molech, he has defiled My sanctuary and profaned My holy name.
And if the people of the land ever hide their eyes and fail to put to death the man who gives one of his children to Molech, then I will set My face against that man and his family and cut off from among their people both him and all who follow him in prostituting themselves with Molech.
Whoever turns to mediums or spiritists to prostitute himself with them, I will also set My face against that person and cut him off from his people.
Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am the LORD your God. And you shall keep My statutes and practice them. I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother; his blood shall be upon him.
If a man commits adultery with another man's wife-with the wife of his neighbor-both the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death.
If a man lies with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness. Both must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both must surely be put to death. They have acted perversely; their blood is upon them.
If a man lies with a man as with a woman, they have both committed an abomination. They must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is depraved. Both he and they must be burned in the fire, so that there will be no depravity among you.
If a man lies carnally with an animal, he must be put to death. And you are also to kill the animal.
If a woman approaches any animal to mate with it, you must kill both the woman and the animal. They must surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.
If a man marries his sister, whether the daughter of his father or of his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They must be cut off in the sight of their people. He has uncovered the nakedness of his sister; he shall bear his iniquity.
If a man lies with a menstruating woman and has sexual relations with her, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has uncovered the source of her blood. Both of them must be cut off from among their people.
You must not have sexual relations with the sister of your mother or your father, for it is exposing one's own kin; both shall bear their iniquity.
If a man lies with his uncle's wife, he has uncovered the nakedness of his uncle. They will bear their sin; they shall die childless.
If a man marries his brother's wife, it is an act of impurity. He has uncovered the nakedness of his brother; they shall be childless.
You are therefore to keep all My statutes and ordinances, so that the land where I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out. You must not follow the statutes of the nations I am driving out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.
But I have told you that you will inherit their land, since I will give it to you as an inheritance-a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the peoples.
You are therefore to distinguish between clean and unclean animals and birds. Do not become contaminated by any animal or bird, or by anything that crawls on the ground; I have set these apart as unclean for you. You are to be holy to Me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be My own.
A man or a woman who is a medium or spiritist must surely be put to death. They shall be stoned; their blood is upon them.'?"
This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham apportioned to him a tenth of everything. First, his name means "king of righteousness." Then also, "king of Salem" means "king of peace." Without father or mother or genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, like the Son of God, he remains a priest for all time.
Consider how great Melchizedek was: Even the patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the plunder. Now the law commands the sons of Levi who become priests to collect a tenth from the people-that is, from their brothers-though they too are descended from Abraham. But Melchizedek, who did not trace his descent from Levi, collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. And indisputably, the lesser is blessed by the greater.
In the case of the Levites, mortal men collect the tenth; but in the case of Melchizedek, it is affirmed that he lives on. And so to speak, Levi, who collects the tenth, paid the tenth through Abraham. For when Melchizedek met Abraham, Levi was still in the loin of his ancestor.
Now if perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood (for on this basis the people received the law), why was there still need for another priest to appear-one in the order of Melchizedek and not in the order of Aaron? For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed as well.
He of whom these things are said belonged to a different tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah, a tribe as to which Moses said nothing about priests.
And this point is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not by a law of succession, but by the power of an indestructible life. For it is testified:
"You are a priest forever
in the order of Melchizedek."
So the former commandment is set aside because it was weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.
And none of this happened without an oath. For others became priests without an oath, but Jesus became a priest with an oath by the One who said to Him:
"The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind:
'You are a priest forever.'?"
Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.
Now there have been many other priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office. But because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.
Such a high priest truly befits us-One who is holy, innocent, undefiled, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer daily sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people; He sacrificed for sin once for all when He offered up Himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.