Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

We've only got one day left in Leviticus, so let's make the most of it.

Today, God is still giving Moses instructions on how the people should live in society together,

since this is not only the first time they've had a chance to be free people,

but also the first time they've really interacted with God.

They've only known him for about a year at this point, and they're still learning to trust him.

Maybe you can relate. God's instructions today covered a lot of territory,

the perpetual maintenance of the tabernacle, caring for the poor, Jubilee. We also see a specific

instance where God tells Israel how to handle blasphemers.

A man curses the name of God and God orders him to be stoned.

The purpose of this illustration, since it involved a man who is half Egyptian, was likely to point out that the same rules

applied to those who are foreigners.

And as far as the decision got established to stone him to death, remember, the Israelites

are in a unique situation given that they're a nation state set apart as God's people.

And it's always important to remember that we all deserve death.

This man got what he deserved. The rest of us are just living on mercy.

The blasphemy story is immediately followed with a verse that says,

whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death.

This is an illustration of what we talked about with the Ten Commandments

in Exodus 20, about how killing is different than murder. Otherwise, the person who puts a murderer

to death would be a murderer and someone would have to murder him and then the chain reaction would continue

until all God's people were dead.

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