What NOT to Do. NOT, Why Not to Do It.
Part 5 of Epic Mini-Series: God is Good. Mullets are Bad.
When GOD shifts gears from Loving thy Neighbor to Hating thouest Culture in the middle of Leviticus 19, I can’t help but feel that He seems to be targeting something specific, when He generally:
Prohibits the crossbreeding of divergent species of livestock;
Relegates sections of land to individual crops, only;
Decrees that clothing material must be uniform. Gotta pick one.
But, what exactly?
Well, what do we know already?
We know culture IS an issue.
And, we know that the GOD of the Universe is NOT an HR Generalist with trust issues.
How, then, are these first three commands against supposedly bad behaviors, which are – and the irony is not lost on me – preceded with,
“You shall keep my statutes…”
Leviticus 19:19
NOT the Everlasting People Officer creating uber-specific policies that are nearly impossible to keep, let alone micromanage the fun out of animal husbandry for the Jewish people AND cause them to miss out on the future joy and practicality of polyblends?
Because THIS is where the true Genius of the One BOSS of the Universe is revealed: between the lines.
He was really saying:
Don’t mix animals.
Don’t mix crops.
Don’t mix fabrics.
Of course, GOD really isn’t all that concerned about an assorted fruit basket at harvest time or the premature inception of golden doodles.
Instead, He’s specifically telling them to avoid any superstitious cultural practices that point credit at something, instead of Someone AND warning them in general about mixing it up with the culture of the time.
Between the lines, GOD is giving a Holy ‘NO’ to mixture.
As in, the blending of two or more things to the point where the individual ingredients become indistinguishable from each other.
While I’m pretty sure you can discern sufficiently between the lines of that GLORIOUS summation of how mixing it up with culture actually binds, and blinds us, spiritually – I’ll go ahead and ask the extremely rhetorical question anyway:
Does that mean all mixture is bad?
No.
Obviously, humans synthesize useful things from individual things all the time – whether it’s the combining of flour and yeast to make dough, or peanut butter and chocolate to make Heaven on Earth. Let alone, the infinite number of combos and alloys that actually come out better than the individual ingredients that initially went into the mix: Steel is stronger than pure iron. Bronze is incredibly durable and harder than either copper or tin, alone. And I’ll just say what we’re all thinking: who’s Joey Fatone without N’Sync?
But throughout Scripture GOD doesn’t use steel or other structural metals as a metaphor for His people or His Heart’s greatest desire for their Holiness. Instead, He employs precious metals like, silver and primarily, gold.
Pure gold was the mandated overlay for crowns, thrones, the Ark of the Covenant, and Temple furnishings. And pure gold can’t have anything else in it. No mixture. No dross.
Finally, I’m starting to catch up.
The reason why GOD focuses so heavily on external behaviors in Leviticus 19 is because He’s actually concerned about their overriding effect on internal conditions.
What GOD is doing is keeping culture OFF them, so culture can’t get IN them.
Leviticus 19 is: outward begets inward.
And yet, I’m stuck.
Again, lists that outlaw things are doomed to fail.
So, why does He dictate Law through a giant list of specific anti-dross-like procedures if a simple, general, ‘No Dross’ Policy is all it takes?
God is Good. Mullets are Bad. “What NOT to Do. NOT, Why Not to Do It” Behold(en), still. Copyright © 2023-25 Behold(en), still.