The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 224

moved by every honourable impulse, we should seek to be mninly moved by the highest. and best of all. Here we have three of the highest possible motives for the best possible estate three· high reasons for holiness. ' I. Goo, IN HIS SOVEREIGNTY, COllllllANDS IT, AND IT IS oun HIGHEST DUTY TO OBEY nrn. "I am ••. your God: ye shall." Duty is one of the hio-hest of all considera- tions, if not positively the very highest. Our duty to obey God when he says "yrt- i;hall." is clearly the highest of all duties. II. Goo HIMSELF IS THE HOLY ONE, AND IT IS OUR HIGHEST HONOUR TO BE LIKE Hllll. "Ye shall be holy; for I am holy." He is the "Holy One of Israel,'' the "holy holy holy Lord God of hosts." "He is light, and in him is no darkness at all." 'l'he;e is n; conceivable ambition man can cherish that is so high as the aspiration to be like God, the righteous Father of souls (see Matt. v. 48). Ill. Goo, OUR REDKEMER, DESIRES IT, AND IT IS OUR HIGHEST SATISFACTION TO PLEA.BE. HIM. " I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt." If there were anything we desired to withhold from him who is " our God," the God from whom we- came, to whom we belong, and before whom we stand, still there can be nothing we -will keep back from him who is our Redeemer, who has "brought us out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." "'l'o Jesus, our Atoning Priest," we brina- (1) our promptest and devoutest attention, (2) our unquestioning faith, (3) our most cheerful obedience. We run to keep hia commandments.-C. Ver. 45.-Holiness and its requirements. When a man h11S purified himself and taken upon himself vows of devotedness to God, then is he pr.erarcd to be the recipient of Divine communications. After Aaron's consecration, he is instmcted both separately. and conjointly with Moses (eh. x. 8; xi. 1). The legislator and the priest act in harmony under a theocracy; the laws of God are the statutes of the nation. L THE SANCTIFICATION REQUIRED OF THE PEOPLE OF Goo. 1. It is a necessary con- sequence of his character and of the relati<mshi'p they sustain to him. What the Master loves, the servant must love; what the King is, that his subjects become. Sanctity is the glory of God. To be untarnished, free from taint, this is his prerogative and separates him from all idol gods. Holiness is not so much one special attribute as the all-embracing purity, the bright cloud that invests his excellences with spotless splendour. Evil files from his presence. Unless, therefore, his people manifest this separation from impurity, how can be take delight in them and bless them? Unless they reflect something of his image, how can he acknowledge them as his children? He says, "Be ye holy; for I am holy." 2. The intention of God has been signified in delivering his people from bondage. He declares himself Jehovah, the bringer-up of the Israelites from the land of Egypt, in order to be to them for a God (Elohim). 'l'his a;ame design is expressed in eh. xx. 26, "I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine." To what purpose was the yoke of idolatrous ~inful Egypt broken, if Israel remained impure and unholy? The intent of Jehovah would be frustrated. A similar line of argument is pursued in 1 Pet. i. 15-19, whcro the precept of the text is enforced by reference to the cost of redemption-not corruptible things, but the precious blood of Christ being the price of our ransom. We make tho grace of God and the gift of his Son of none effect if we continua in the former sins. 3. This same deliverance is appealed to a, a claim upon his people's gratitude and obedience. The very kindness of Jehovah in emancipating the nation and guiding them through the wilderness constituted a valid reason for abstaining from all that God for- bade. Unworthy are they of being the recipients of mercy who do not feel themselves bound thereby to please this merciful Lord, Shall not the love of Christ constrain us to live unto him, acknowledging that we are henceforth not our own? Conduct actuated by such motives is not servitude. It accords with the dictates of reason, conscience, and emotion. Compared with the bondage from which Christ releases ua his yoke is easy, and his burden light indeed. II. WHAT THIB BANOTIFl0J.TION INVOLVES. 1. .Adherence to distinctioos unknown to the world in general. Some animals were to be regarded as totally unfit for food, others unclean under ce-tain conditions. It was not the business of these teachers to make the distinctions, but to explain &nd enforce them. 'l'he popular classification was CU, XL 1-47.] THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. 187