Holy People
A Holy People
Image by Linda Braine from Creation Swap
The Firstborn
“The firstborn of your sons you must give to me. Do the same with your herds and flocks. The animal will stay with its mother for seven days, but on the eighth day, you must give it to me. You must be my holy people.”
Yahweh expected his people not only to avoid immorality but also to actively pursue holiness. The last set of laws focuses on how they could live as a people set apart to serve him, culminating in the celebration of the three annual pilgrimage festivals. The first of these laws reminded them to devote the firstborn son of every woman and female animal to God.
This law repeats the command given when God saved the firstborn of the Israelites and their livestock in Egypt.1 By codifying it in the covenant stipulations, God made it a permanent part of his relationship with Israel, lasting as long as the covenant at Sinai would. He also added the clarification that the animals should be sacrificed on the eighth day after their birth. This corresponded with the day Israelite boys were circumcised.2
The devotion of the firstborn marked the Israelites as a holy people dedicated to Yahweh.
Torn Meat
“Don’t eat the meat of any animal torn by wild beasts. Throw it to the dogs!”
Image by Eelco Böhtlingk from Unsplash
Another way Yahweh set the Israelites apart as holy was through their dietary laws. The laws concerning clean and unclean animals would come soon. But God considered one dietary law important enough to include in the covenantal stipulations. He forbade eating the meat of any animal torn by a wild predator. It had to be thrown out. The Israelites didn’t own dogs, so anything thrown to them was considered worthless rubbish.
While this law protected the Israelites from diseases transmitted by predators, the covenant focused on holiness rather than health. Two factors defiled such meat, rendering it unfit for a holy people. All predators were unclean, so contact with the prey’s carcass made it unclean as well. In addition, the blood could not be drained from an animal that had been torn apart. Eating meat with blood in it violated not only God’s covenant with Israel but also his covenant with all humanity after the flood.3
Honest Testimony
“Don’t give a false report. Don’t conspire with a wicked person to serve as a malicious witness.
“Don’t follow the crowd in wicked deeds and don’t answer in court to please the crowd and cause injustice.
“Don’t show partiality to the weak in court.”
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Many of the holiness laws focus on ensuring justice in the courts, where both judges and witnesses hold tremendous power. A corrupt judge can ignore the facts and give a dishonest judgment. And lying witnesses can persuade even a just judge by presenting false testimony. But Yahweh demanded honesty and justice for everyone living in his land.
To protect the accused, Yahweh didn’t just forbid false testimony. He also required two or three witnesses to verify any claim of wrongdoing.4 So a single wicked person could not convict the innocent. It would require finding others willing to serve as malicious witnesses, as Queen Jezebel did when she wanted to put innocent Naboth to death.5 Yahweh forbade his people from participating in such wicked conspiracies.
Yahweh also forbade distorting the truth to fit popular opinion. The crowd does not define right and wrong. Yahweh expects his people to do what is right and say what is true, regardless of what others think. They also had to ignore the social status of those involved in the court case, showing no partiality to the weaker party. Pity is not an excuse for injustice.
- See The Firstborn Devoted.
- See Circumcision.
- See A New Reality; Leviticus 7:26–27.
- Deuteronomy 19:15.
- 1 Kings 21:5–13.