The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 222

less useful, less excellent and admirable in hea.rt and life, because of the unguarded and intemperate way in which they eat and drink. We may be neither gluttons nor drunkards; yet we may lower our character and lessen our influence by ill-re"ulated appetite in eating and drinking. Profoundly true and urgently demanded :S were the words of our Lord (Matt. xv. 11), "not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man," we may be sure that Jesus Christ would have us exercise such self- n>straint, and, if need be, such self-denial as will keep us from all "l'OSsness of thought and habit, from all degeneracy of spirit (Matt. xvi. 24; see 1 Co~. x. 31). 2. Right thought, for the mind. That which the mind is appropriating, day by day is determ!ni~g its nature.. I~ makes all the difference whet~er, mentally, we are eating and dnnkmg that which 1s pure, wholesome, clean, refinmg, or that which is gross noxious, unclean, deteriorating. How immeasurably important the companions w~ choose, the books we read, the conversations in which we indulge I 3. Right resolution, for the soul. The soul is entertaining desires and coming to conclusions, on larger and lesser things, every day. If these be unworthy, it is growing in evil; if these be honourable and excellent, it is growing in rectitude, in spiritual beauty, in usefulness, as the days and months go by.-C. Vers. 46, 4 7.-Clean a11d unclean-the abolition of ths law. "This is the law" (ver. 46). But "it is the law" no longer; consider- !. THE FACT THAT TIDS LEVITICAL LAW HAB BEEN BET ABIDE. 1. Perhaps by the word of our Lord in Mark vii. 15, especially taking the translation of ver. 19, "This he said. making all meats pure" (Farrar, 'Life of Paul,' vol. i. p. 276). 2. Certainly by the heavenly voice and the apostolic conduct (Acts x. 14, 48). 3. By united apostolic agreement (Acts xv. 22-29). 4. By inspired Epistles (1 Cor. viii. 8; Rom. xiv. 4; 1 Tim. iv. 3, 4). Clearly we are not under any obligation to observe these statutes. We learn from this our immunity- IL THAT SUCH PICTORIAL TEACHING IS NOT NOW NEEDED. Wbat moral and spiritual lessons were to be conveyed by these injunctions and by the habits of thought and deed they created, have been learnt; the rudimentary lesson is no longer needed. We are supposed to understand or to be able to learn in other ways what God means by holiness, how hateful sin is in his sight, how prevalent it is, how manifold in its shapes and colours, how sedulously it is to be avoided. III. THAT Goo TRUSTS us TO ACT ARIGHT IN THIS HATTER OF BODILY N0UBISH- Mfil."T. The Law treated the race as if it were in ita religious childhood; the gospel as if it had attained to manhood (Gal. iv. 1, 23). Christ our Lord trusts us to act wisely and faithfully. We must honour his Divine confidence in us, We shall do so by: 1. Intdligent study of what is really wholesome and health-giving. 2. Modera- tion in the use of that which is "good for food." 3, Endeavour to make the body the active servant of the eoul.-C. Vers. 24-28, 39, 40.-The significa11ce of death. "Whosoever toucheth the carcase shall be unclean." What is the meaning of these minute and stringent regulations touching the dead bodies of animals, both clean (vers. 39, 40) and unclean (vers. 24- 28)? 'l'he answer to this question is in the fourfold consideration- I. How HUCH Goo MAKES OF DEATH. Death is the key-note of very much of sacred Scripture. "Thou sbalt die " is a constantly recurring refrain. "And he died" is a continually repeated statement. It was the death of the slain victim ~t the alta~ that made expiation for the sinner. It is the death upon the cross which constitutes the sacrifice for the world's sin. The death of the soul is the awful punishment of guilt hereafter as it is on earth. It was the death of these animals that made their carcases unclean. In the Old Testament and New, God makes much of death. II. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF DEATH. Death is odious and intolerable in God's sight: it must be made to seem so in man's; for: 1. It is the con~equence of sin in man. 2. It is the picture of sin in man. 3. It is a reminder of the painful and hateful presenc. of sin in man. IIL THE AVOIDAJlLENEBB OF sm. The fact that the dead carcase could be and must be avoided, and that contraction of ceremonial defilement could be prevented, indicated to the Jew and now intimates to ue that sin may be and mWlt be shUillled. TwC} ,OH, XI. 1-47.] THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. 185