[color=#0000FF]Keep my decrees. Do not mate different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.[/color] (NIV) Before we get into this, this will be lengthy. It may even be a lengthy series of lengthy posts. Ye have been warned. :) Keep the Law. God says so. See? Right here. "Keep my decrees." And yet people (Jews, Christians, nonbelievers, agnostics, etc.) find ways to argue that God didn't really mean "keep my decrees" when He said as much. Which decrees? We have a general statement followed by three particular statements. "When a general statement is followed by a particular statement [or statements] only what is specified applies." This is a rule of Biblical interpretation by Rabbi Ishmael, a 2d century rabbi who was martyred for teaching Torah during the Roman occupation of Israel. [i]Unless[/i], for the sake of internal consistency and common sense, it doesn't make sense to limit the general principle to the specifics. Were this the only instance in Torah were God said "keep my decrees" and it was followed by specifications, we might be able to argue that only the specifics were implied in "decrees." But throughout Torah, and even later in this very chapter, we see that God says to keep all His decrees (laws, statutes, commandments, ordinances). Exodus 15:26; 20:6. Lev 19:37. Deut 4:2, 20. "Keep my decrees" is a reminder that following God's commandments makes us holy. This chapter starts with "be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy." We then have a list of commandments instructing us precisely how to be holy. [i]Oh, but Leviticus was for the Levites, for the priests[/i]. Who does God enjoin Moses to give these commands to? Lev 19:2. "[color=#0000FF]Speak to the entire assembly of Israel[/color]." Who? The entire assembly of Israel. Or we could even turn to the very beginning of the book of Leviticus. Chapter 1, verses 1 and 2. [color=#0000FF]The Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting. He said, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them[/color]...." To whom? The Israelites. Is a distinction made between Priests, Levites and Israelites? Not at all. Also, notice the word "called" in verse 1. The Hebrew for "called" is k'ra, from which we get the Hebrew name for this book, Vayikra (And he [The Lord] called). Leviticus is our calling to be holy. It's a calling to holiness. [i]Leviticus is for the Israelites, for the Jews[/i]. Leviticus is for all who accept it as part of God's Holy Word. And those who claim sonship from Abraham and heirs to the Promise and being grafted onto the vine of Israel are they not Israel? Has the claim not been made and supported by references to Galatians, et al, that the True Israelites are those who believe in Jesus Christ? Has God's promises and covenants with Israel changed? I submit they have not. When God said "keep my decrees" and this applied to the Israelites at Sinai, would the same still not apply today? [color=#0000FF]I am making this covenant, with its oath, not only with you who are standing here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God but also with those who are not here today.[/color] Deut 29:14-15 Keep my decrees. Which ones? All of them. Including the three listed immediately following. [i]Why do you lay a burden on the people that neither you nor your fathers have been able to keep? We should make it easy, not hard for people to join.[/i] You are not called to complete the task, neither are you free to desist from it. (Rabbi Tarphon) The law calls us to a standard of perfection. While none of us ever make it, that is no reason not to try. "A man's reach should exceed his grasp, else what's a heaven for?" We do not discard the Law by reason of our inability to keep it perfectly. We uphold the Law. We hold it up as the standard by which we guide our lives. If people want to join us, well and good. We will not, however, lower the standard to make it easier for people to join. Else it becomes a very slippery slope. God doesn't change. What He requires doesn't change. [i]Why do you enjoin following all the Law when you yourself don't keep all of it? [/i] This is a red herring. It's an attempt to delegitamize an argument by attacking the character of the one asserting a position. If a person advocating a position doesn't live up to what he says, then he's a hypocrite. He's not credible. Therefore his argument is not valid. Were perfection the standard when it comes to arguing about keeping the law, there would be none who could say tattoos are against the law; homosexuality is an abomination; murder, theft, false witness, and coveting are illegal. For in the same law where you argue against tattoos, you yourself have gone about as a gossip. The same law that says do not murder also says leave your gleanings for the poor. If one who breaks one part is guilty of all, wherein can anyone say which laws are to be follwed? For there are none perfect, not even one.

[color=#0000FF]Keep my decrees.[/color] Why then do not people keep the laws? Various reasons are given. Some are legitimate, in my opinion. Some are not. All of them are excuses. I will attempt to provide a few legitimate reasons (IMO) for not keeping all the laws. [i]Laws pertaining specifically to women [/i]obviously cannot be followed by men. Leviticus 12:1-8 (laws concerning childbirth) is an example. Does it go both ways? The Orthodox will say that laws regarding [i]positive commandments that are time bound [/i](such as the three pilgrimage festivals wherein God said three times a year all your males shall appear before Me) [i]are not incumbent upon women[/i]. In fact not only are women excused from performing them, they are excluded. [i]Laws pertaining specifically to priests [/i](service in the tabernacle, work of offerings) apply only to those who are priests. Who are the priests? Only male descendants of the line of Aaron. This automatically excludes one half of the population by reason of gender. Furthermore, not just any Israelite could be a priest. Aaron was of the tribe of Levi. That cuts out 11 of the 12 tribes. And of the tribe of Levi, only Aaron's sons. So not even every Levite could be a priest. Unless you are a kohen, the son of a kohen, laws specifically for the priests do not apply to you. [i]Laws regarding korbanot [/i](offerings or sacrifices). Korbanot were to be done at a specific place (the Temple). As the Temple is no longer extant, it is impossible to perform the work of korbanot. Thus, they are no longer done. There may be a couple others, but that's what I have off the top of me head. One overriding principle should be given and a caveat that goes with it. The overriding principle is [i]pekuah nefesh [/i](preservation of life.) The man who does the commandments shall live by them. Leviticus 18. The commandments are a way of life, not death. By following the commandments we are assured long life. Life is a great gift of the Almighty. It is a terrible sin to destroy a life and a great mitzvah to save a life. In fact, life is held in such high regard, that the commandments may be broken in order to save life. Caveat: do not justify breaking the commandments with the excuse of saving a life. Only in real emergencies can this principle be invoked. Otherwise it beomces too easy to justify not keeping the commandments.

This verse comes in the midst of chapter 19, which begins the weekly portion known as kedoshim (holy). Holiness is, among other things, about making distinctions. Separating clean from unclean, good from bad, male and female. The three specific commands immediately following "keep my decrees" are more examples of making distinctions. Don't mate different kinds of animals together. Don't plant your field with two kinds of seed. Don't wear clothing woven of two kinds of material. Animals, plants and clothing. Three areas of life we are to maintain holiness in. Cross breeding of species is not to be done. God made each animal according to its kind, so saith Genesis. Mating different animals together would make a new kind of animal. A mule is the sterile offspring of a horse and a donkey. Does this command against mating different kinds of animals together extend to not using the offspring of such prohibited mating? Would it be seen as giving acceptance or approval to violation of this command? Even if the person using the mule didn't actually mate the donkey and horse together to produce the mule? Perhaps because the offspring is sterile and thus cannot be fruitful and multiply, as God said to the animals on the fifth day (Genesis 1:22), is why God issued this command. That is sheer speculation on my part though. Sowing your field with different kinds of seed. Also, not to be done. We are not specifically told why. I do not know if a hybrid of different kinds of seed would be unable to reproduce naturally or would be inedible or what. Other speculations are welcome. And lastly, no clothing woven of different kinds of material. This is a general principle. Don't wear clothing woven of different kinds of material. What material? What constitutes a forbidden mixture? A specific case is given in Deuteronomy 22:11 which prohibits a mixture of wool and linen. We have here a combining of the previous two commands against forbidden mixtures of animals and plants. Wool comes from animals (sheep, usually). Linen comes from flax, a plant. Just as we are not to mate different kinds of animals together nor plant a field with different kinds of plants, so we are not to put on our bodies a woven mixture of plants and animals.