Leviticus 19:31-37: a reflection

31“‘Don’t turn to those who are mediums, nor to the wizards. Don’t seek them out, to be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God. 32“‘You shall rise up before the gray head and honor the face of the elderly; and you shall fear your God. I am the LORD. 33“‘If a stranger lives as a foreigner with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 34The stranger who lives as a foreigner with you shall be to you as the native-born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you lived as foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God. 35“‘You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in measures of length, of weight, or of quantity. 36You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. 37“‘You shall observe all my statutes and all my ordinances, and do them. I am the LORD.’”

These verses gather up several commands that show holiness in the ordinary dealings of daily life. Honor the gray-headed and the elderly. Do not wrong the foreigner living among you, but love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. Do no injustice in measures of length, weight, or quantity; use honest balances and honest weights. Holiness, these commands show, is not only a matter of worship, but of how we treat the vulnerable and how honestly we deal in our daily business.

Notice where these commands locate holiness: in the honoring of the elderly, the love of the foreigner, and honesty in business. God's people were to show their holiness not merely in religious acts, but in respect for the aged, in love and fair treatment of the outsider, and in honest weights and measures in their daily dealings. And the ground given for loving the foreigner is memory: you were foreigners in Egypt. Their own experience of being outsiders was to make them kind to outsiders.

That is a searching reminder that holiness shows in the ordinary and the practical. It is easy to think of devotion to God as a matter of worship and religious observance, while our treatment of the vulnerable and our honesty in business go unexamined. But God ties holiness to exactly these: how you honor the aged, how you treat the outsider, how honestly you deal in your daily affairs. Show your devotion to God, then, not only in worship but in these ordinary dealings: honor the elderly, love the foreigner as yourself, remembering times you were the outsider, and deal with scrupulous honesty in your business. Holiness is not confined to the sanctuary; let it show in how you treat the vulnerable and how honestly you deal, for God ties your holiness to these ordinary, practical things.

Lord, these verses show holiness in the ordinary dealings of daily life: honor the elderly, do not wrong the foreigner but love him as yourself since you were foreigners in Egypt, and use honest weights and measures in your business. Search me by that reminder that holiness shows in the ordinary and the practical. It is easy to think of devotion to you as a matter of worship and religious observance, while my treatment of the vulnerable and my honesty in business go unexamined. But you tie holiness to exactly these: how I honor the aged, how I treat the outsider, how honestly I deal in my daily affairs. Help me show my devotion to you not only in worship but in these ordinary dealings: to honor the elderly, to love the foreigner as myself, remembering times I was the outsider, and to deal with scrupulous honesty in my business. Holiness is not confined to the sanctuary; let it show in how I treat the vulnerable and how honestly I deal. Make me holy in the ordinary things, Lord, not only in worship.