In this lively Friday edition of the Daily Bible Podcast, the hosts celebrate reaching near the end of Leviticus and prepare for upcoming studies in Numbers. They share personal anecdotes about raising teenagers and the financial concerns of adding them to car insurance. Discussions veer into lighter banter about NFL aspirations before turning to profound reflections on blasphemy, justice, and the year of Jubilee outlined in Leviticus 24-25. The hosts explore the biblical principles behind capital punishment and the complexities it brings to contemporary society. The episode concludes with a prayer for wisdom and discernment, especially in navigating modern challenges like artificial intelligence.
00:00 Welcome to Friday's Edition
00:29 Weekend Plans and Teenagers
02:09 Upcoming Church Events
02:49 Leviticus 24: Tabernacle Regulations
04:35 Blasphemy and Justice in Leviticus
06:07 Sabbath and Jubilee Years
09:37 The Death Penalty Debate
12:39 Christians and Just War
13:49 AI and Moral Complexities
15:42 Closing Prayer and Reflections
16:46 Final Remarks and Farewell
Find out more about Compass Bible Church.
Learn more about our Bible Reading Plan.
Questions or Comments? Email us podcast@compassntx.org
Hey everybody, welcome back to friday's
edition of the daily bible podcast.
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:Hey.
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:Hey, we are back and We are almost
at the end of leviticus not quite
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:there yet, but we are approaching the
conclusion of What will be genesis
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:exodus leviticus actually our fourth
book because remember we got job in
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:there as well So good job everybody.
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:Oh, yeah good for you.
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:Congratulations.
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:Yeah Yeah, and then we get to turn the
page to numbers in the not too distant
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:future which You If you're wondering what
numbers is about, it's about numbers,
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:especially right at, off the, the outset.
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:It is,
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:yep.
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:Yeah, Friday weekends coming up and we
were just talking about this because
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:both of us have young men in our family
who are getting ready to turn 16 Josh is
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:going to be just a little bit in front
of Jacob there, but man, we're we're
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:already dreading insurance and having to
add them to our insurance and just the
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:expense of, of all of that stuff going on.
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:I'm just going to get him a skateboard.
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:In a, in a stick, in a stick,
push himself along, no stick
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:even because that's that's, you
know, that's for the prissy kids.
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:He's just gonna have to deal
with it himself and use his leg.
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:There you go.
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:Yeah, man, it's, it's crazy.
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:It's, it's just an expensive time.
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:It seems like everything is
costing more money these days.
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:And, yeah.
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:Somebody brought that up to Trump.
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:They were like, Hey, what
are you doing about eggs?
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:And he was like, I didn't do it.
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:It was Biden.
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:I just got into office three weeks ago,
four weeks ago, whatever it's been.
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:But yeah, it's a, it's crazy.
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:It's crazy right now.
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:It is.
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:I think one of the things I was
brainstorming with Kristen about is that
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:I might go into the NFL for a few seasons
and make several million dollars and
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:then just come back to the pastorate so
that I have something to fall back on.
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:Yeah.
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:What position are you
going to play on that?
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:Oh, quarterback, quarterback.
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:Of course.
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:Of course.
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:Naturally.
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:Yeah.
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:Okay.
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:I mean, was there another position
you thought I was better suited for?
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:No, I mean, offensive
lineman comes to mind.
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:Well, you know.
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:But, you know, aside from that.
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:I'm trying to avoid putting
my body through too much.
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:Okay.
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:So.
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:That's fair.
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:I feel like a quarterback.
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:Since I'm quick on my feet,
I probably won't get tackled.
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:Many times, if at all, that's fair.
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:You know, you could also just go into
coaching because the coaches make
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:a decent amount of money as well.
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:Not as much as the players, but then
they still make a decent amount.
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:I want to get in there and out
of there as quickly as possible.
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:So I need a really fat contract
for the first two or three years
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:and then I'll just be done.
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:And then you'll be done.
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:Then you'll walk away.
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:Right.
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:Okay.
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:Fair.
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:Yeah.
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:Well if that works out great, more
power to you and more power to
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:the church, I guess, as a result.
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:Yeah.
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:Yeah.
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:I'm gonna give off of that.
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:All right.
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:That's my plan.
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:Hey, it is a Friday and we're
coming into the last weekend here.
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:Well, I guess not.
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:We've got one more weekend in
February, but don't forget about being
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:intentional about what's coming up.
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:We've got women's Bible study coming
up their first weekend in March.
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:I think we got men's Bible study
the second weekend there in March.
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:So start planning, making sure
that you're aware of things that
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:are going on, plan to be a part
of these things that they're good.
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:We want you there.
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:They're, they're not really.
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:Yeah.
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:Offerings to say hey, we think this
would be swell if you could show up.
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:We think these are good and beneficial
for you So ladies plan on on that first
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:weekend in March being there for women's
Bible study I'm pretty sure men's
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:Bible study is the next weekend second.
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:That's right.
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:Yeah, I'm not a hundred percent.
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:Sure.
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:I just work here So you just work here?
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:That's fair Let's, let's
talk about the Bible.
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:Let's talk about Leviticus
24 and 25 Leviticus 24.
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:We get into more of the
regulations for the tabernacle.
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:The, the first one being the lamps and
how the lamps sort of be cared for.
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:And then we get into the bread of the
presence, the bread for the tabernacle.
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:This is an interesting one because in the
old Testament, Era, the ancient deities
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:would often have their worshipers now.
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:I'm saying that as though they
were the ones commanding this.
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:Their worshipers, I should say, would
often bring Bread and present it before
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:their deities before these idols and
they would leave them there in the
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:temples And it was an expression of
the worshiper caring for the deity.
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:The worshiper was feeding the deity
And so in this case we have israel
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:doing something that from the surface
looks Similar from the surface.
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:It looks like, man, we're just
borrowing from the regulations of these
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:pagan deities that were in the area.
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:And here's Israel now bringing their
own bread and putting it before God.
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:But a key difference here is that
Israel was not doing this to feed
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:God as though God had need of them
bringing this bread before him.
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:But this was an expression of Israel
saying, God, you are the one feeding us.
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:And so the loaves were reminder to
the people, not a reminder to God.
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:It was not.
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:them saying, Hey God, here, take this.
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:You need to eat this.
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:It was them saying, God, we recognize
these loaves as an expression of
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:what you've already provided for us.
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:And so they bring that bread and
offer it before the Lord in a way
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:to say, Hey, we see this as a, as a
good thing that you've given to us.
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:And there's a parallel there
with our, our contemporary
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:practice of giving in the church.
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:We give in the church, not because
God is sitting there saying,
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:Hey, I need your, your money.
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:I need your funds to do anything because
he, he doesn't, he doesn't have any need
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:but we bring our money, we bring our
gifts, we bring our offerings to church
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:as an expression of a, of a reminder
to us and an act of worship saying,
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:God, you have provided this to us.
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:And so we're recognizing
that we're thankful for that.
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:And so here we were giving this back
to you in, in an act of worship to you.
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:From there we get into an interesting
case study of a situation with blasphemy.
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:And this is the first one I think
that we see brought up here.
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:And it's a situation where an
Israelite woman's son ends up
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:using the Lord's name in a curse.
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:And there was around him who
heard this, bring the charge.
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:And those that heard it are the ones
that need to participate in the execution
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:because this one was to die for, for
taking the Lord's name in vain for
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:cursing, for using the Lord's name in
a blasphemous way, which by the way,
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:the word blasphemy means to bring low.
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:And so it's taking something that is to
be exalted and treating it as commonplace.
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:And so those that heard this were
the ones that were to participate
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:in the execution in order that they
may be even cleared and purged of
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:their participation in hearing it.
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:That's what, what Paul when him suggests
there, he says, man, They were not
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:complicit in the act, but complicit
in hearing the name of Yahweh cursed.
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:And so in order to, to vindicate even
their own ears, they were to participate
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:in the execution of the one who committed
the blasphemous act to begin with.
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:That's pretty serious.
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:Yeah.
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:Yeah.
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:We don't do that today.
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:No.
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:We don't have those kinds of
laws on the books anymore.
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:Nope.
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:There'd be maybe a lot less
cursing and profanity if we did.
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:There was a lot more on the line.
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:Yeah.
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:I suppose so.
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:Yeah.
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:Yeah.
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:For sure.
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:Verses 17 through 23.
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:Then we get into more
laws of justice here.
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:This is the old saying an eye
for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
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:Where does that come from?
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:That comes from the Bible.
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:Actually, that comes here in
this latter part of the law.
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:Yeah.
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:Yeah.
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:As as it's being given here that
there's an, an equitable justice that,
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:that if something happened, if you
broke somebody's arm, then your arm
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:was going to be broken in exchange.
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:And that was how justice was
going to be satisfied there.
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:Chapter 25, then we get into some of
the laws and rules and regulations
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:for the Sabbath and the Jubilee years.
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:And this is significant beyond what
it may appear because the Sabbath year
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:and the year of Jubilee, these were to
be kept by Israel and yet Israel would
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:fail to keep these charges and that
ends up being one of the main reasons
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:for the amount of time that they're
going to spend in captivity in Babylon.
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:So second Chronicles chapter 36 verse 21.
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:It says of their captivity that it was to
fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth
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:of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed its
Sabbaths all the days that lay desolate,
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:it kept Sabbath to fulfill 70 years.
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:And so that's what we're
talking about here.
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:This was a command of God that that
for six years they were to cultivate
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:the land, but the seventh year they
were to let the land lay fallow.
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:And there was going to be enough
provision from God to last, not just
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:through the seventh year, but also
through the eighth so that the next.
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:Years plantings would have
time to grow and mature.
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:God was going to provide for them.
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:It was a, an act of dependence upon
him and Israel failed to do this.
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:And so as a result, part of the reasons
they were in captivity for 70 years
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:was to allow for 70 years worth of
Sabbaths to take place in the land there
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:in Egypt that they were exiled from.
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:Would that include the year of Jubilee,
because I can't recall any place in
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:scripture where you see them celebrating
the year of Jubilee, which is the special,
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:it's the Sabbath of Sabbaths, right?
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:The 50th one or the 49th one, which
is, is kind of a cool idea here.
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:The 50th year, although again, you
never see this practice by Israel.
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:So it's a shame because
this is a really cool idea.
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:This is a really cool picture of God's
giving freedom and giving back land.
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:I mean, it's, it's just a
really precious picture.
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:Yeah.
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:And it's integral to so much of the
rest of Israelite society at the time.
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:In fact, the rest of chapter 25
turns on this idea of the year of
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:Jubilee, because the idea of redeeming
a slave or redeeming a person or
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:redeeming an animal or a plot of land.
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:Was all based on how long it was between
the, the time that you were wanting to
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:redeem that person and when the next year
of Jubilee was supposed to take place.
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:And so the fact that they did
not observe that was going to
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:throw a wrench into everything
as far as God's law is concerned.
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:By the way, the year of Jubilee, if
you're sitting there saying, what,
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:what was the significance about that?
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:You'll read about it in the DBR, but
it's that time when, when all of the, the
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:indentured servants, all those that had
sold themselves into servitude to others.
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:Were released, but then beyond that
to any of the land that they had,
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:had sold to somebody else in order
to pay off a debt that was returned
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:to them during that, that time.
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:So if somebody was to try to redeem
somebody who had been sold into
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:slavery from the, the owner, the
owner would basically say, Hey, let's
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:calculate the number of years between
today and the next year of Jubilee.
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:And that's going to tell me how
much I'm, I'm going to lose out
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:by you redeeming this person.
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:And that's going to be
the price of the person.
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:So obviously the closer.
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:You were to that year of Jubilee,
the less you would pay to redeem
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:someone, the further away you were
from it, the more you would have to
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:pay to redeem someone or to redeem an
animal or a plot of land or whatever.
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:And because Israel said, Hey,
we're not going to do this, or
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:they just neglected to do it.
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:There was no clear structure for
how to do this in a way that, that
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:God had Giving clear instructions
for in Leviticus 25 here.
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:It's interesting to wonder what it,
what it might've looked like for
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:them to practice something like this.
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:Cause again, I don't even know that they
did it once, much less every 50 years.
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:I think it sounds to me as I read through
the text, it doesn't look like they've
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:ever practiced it, which would have been
something to behold and at least read
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:about what would have, it would have been
like for them to experience this kind of.
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:Widespread freedom and redistribution
of wealth for lack of a better term
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:real quick, though, before we move on.
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:I forgot.
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:I didn't forget to mention this.
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:I didn't get a chance to throw
myself in there, but chapter 24
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:here, I for an eye tooth for tooth,
the the, the law of reciprocity.
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:I just want to point out one thing
here that's really important.
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:We are pro death penalty people.
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:Would you say the same for yourself?
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:Yes.
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:Okay.
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:We're, we're pro death penalty people.
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:Can you help us then identify why?
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:It seems like God has
a double standard here.
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:You say, God says, whoever takes a
life shall surely be put to death.
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:Well, God says you can't take
a life, but if you take a
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:life, I'm gonna take your life.
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:Respond to the critic who says
Christianity is inconsistent.
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:Yeah.
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:I mean, it's the idea of.
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:There are consequences for our
actions, and the consequences for
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:our actions are scalable to what
is considered a just repayment.
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:And that's, I think, what we're
seeing here in Leviticus 24 is when
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:a life is taken, God is against that.
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:And yet the justice for that is
that that life that took the other
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:life is then going to be forfeit.
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:It's going to be given up
because that's the right path.
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:Penalty for what you've done there
in taking the life of another person.
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:So I don't think God is
condoning Murder in that sense.
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:I don't think he's condoning the, the
things that are, are just willfully
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:going out and taking somebody's
life just because you want to.
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:But I do think that there is God
saying justice needs to be done.
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:This is what justice looks like.
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:Right.
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:And I think that's a big point here.
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:Killing is not murder.
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:Murder is the.
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:Unjust unlawful taking of an innocent life
where killing when it's practiced, rightly
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:is the lawful taking of a guilty life
that has earned that kind of response.
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:So it's important for you to
distinguish because you're going to
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:see this also in the new testament.
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:We're in Romans chapter 12.
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:13.
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:Paul says the, the government
doesn't bear the sword in vain.
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:He's acknowledging the reality
that governments possess the
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:ability to take away human life.
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:And that's not an accident.
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:God enables them to possess that right.
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:And ideally they practice
it in a right way.
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:They use it when they're
supposed to use it.
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:And an appropriate time to use it is
when you take away an innocent life.
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:So we are still very pro life, but that
doesn't mean we're not pro death penalty.
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:The death penalty should be
applied in cases where there is.
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:Evidence egregious syn at place.
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:So even now, we distinguish first degree,
second degree, third degree murder.
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:Not every, not everybody's equally
culpable, but there is culpability
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:that must be dealt with even in 2025.
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:I read about a, a story recently in
our area where there was a pastor
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:who was brutally taken out, let's
put it nicely by a bad guy, a robber.
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:And his congregation was pushing
for the death penalty for this guy.
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:And people were shocked by that and
scandalized like, isn't this a church?
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:What about, what about turn the other
cheek and, you know, forgiveness
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:of sin and all those things.
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:And they appealed to the scriptures
to say, look, the, the, the government
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:doesn't bear the sword in vain.
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:When you brutally kill somebody
who's innocent, who didn't deserve to
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:die, you deserve to lose your life.
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:And so they fought for that.
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:I think they successfully got this
guy all the way through death penalty.
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:Through death row to
successfully be taken out.
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:And I would say that's a good thing.
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:That is justice applied.
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:And in fact, if we apply
that more valiantly, I think
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:there'd be a lot less crimes.
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:As we were talking about blasphemy
a few minutes ago, where people
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:would think twice before they kill
somebody because they don't want to
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:lose their own lives, but that would
be the appropriate and just response.
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:So we're still pro life.
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:We're still about protecting babies.
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:Innocent life should be
protected and guilty life.
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:If it's been forfeited because
of their unlawful taking of human
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:life, they deserve to lose it.
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:That's Genesis chapter nine, all the way
at the beginning, when when God was giving
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:Moses, Noah, rather commandments about how
to live after the flood had taken place.
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:So just a couple of comments about that
in numbers, excuse me, Leviticus 24.
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:Yeah.
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:I think.
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:And this is probably a subject for another
podcast, but It gets even trickier when
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:we talk about christians in war and combat
Oh, yeah, and just war and when is it okay
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:to to use deadly force in that context?
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:and how do we know for sure that this
is just war when it's You know We don't
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:have god telling america go to war and
fight this war over here the way that
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:ancient israel had god saying Hey, you're
gonna go take out these people over here.
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:So Man that that gets tricky too.
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:I'm not a I'm not a pacifist personally
And so i'm not against christians
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:being involved in the armed forces,
but I do think there's a weightiness
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:to that And there's a lot that plays
into that as far as conscience goes.
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:Oh, yeah And even more so now where so
much of of war is carried out by You
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:know, you're sitting behind a computer
thousands and thousands of miles away
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:flying something that's firing a missile
that's ending life I mean that that's
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:a weighty weighty responsibility for
any Christian to bear Yeah to make sure
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:that that is done in a way that that
again to your point It's not innocent
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:life being taken out, but it's you
can really truly sign off and say yes
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:This person was guilty and deserved
to die and I feel good about being the
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:instrument of that execution, right?
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:That's tough.
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:It has a lot of complexities and in
our world, I don't think that the
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:speed of change is going to allow
for any less degree of complexity.
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:If anything, we're going to have
bigger and greater challenges
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:because of the interplay between
our thinking and artificial
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:intelligence, so called thinking.
352
:There's logic there, but we don't
even fully understand how LLMs
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:work, which ought to scare you.
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:Because they get great answers,
but how they arrive at their
355
:answers, they don't computers.
356
:Can't tell you.
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:I've been reading a lot about AI lately.
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:And the interplay between us and the
machines is an exciting prospects,
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:certainly, but it introduces so
many questions about morality.
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:And then at the end of the day,
someone's morality is going to win.
361
:Just a matter of who's, who's programming
the morality that the machine uses.
362
:And to what degree do we have
control over those things?
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:Artificial intelligence running a drone.
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:What if a drone is able to positively
identify in a terrorist, you know,
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:because of certain, I don't know
physical features and what have you.
366
:And then it does the job for us.
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:What if it gets it wrong, you know,
and then, and then at what point are we
368
:responsible or who's responsible if it's
the drone that did it, according to AI,
369
:it's really complicated really quickly.
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:But I think part of the problem for
us is as Christians, we need to be
371
:really well versed in our Bibles.
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:Otherwise we're not gonna be
able to reason biblically.
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:Yep.
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:Yeah, man.
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:Yeah.
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:A hundred percent.
377
:Yeah.
378
:That AI powered drone may identify the
terrorist, but if the terrorist is holding
379
:an innocent victim, innocent, loosely used
in front of it as a human shield, right.
380
:Is that drone going to identify
the innocence there and say, I'm
381
:not going to fire because I don't
want to take out that, that person.
382
:Or is the drone going
to say terrorist dead?
383
:Boom.
384
:Yeah.
385
:What's the calculation.
386
:I mean, even think about the
Tesla self driving thing.
387
:It's that whole classic, you know,
the classic, Question that you get in
388
:school, like, okay, on the railroad
track on the right hand is your mom.
389
:And on the left hand is, you know, five
innocent people that you don't know.
390
:Who do you take out?
391
:Right.
392
:Okay.
393
:It's fun for humans to do that.
394
:But when a machine has to make the
decision, what's the machine going to do?
395
:Right.
396
:That's fascinating.
397
:Yep.
398
:And terrifying and terrifying.
399
:Yeah, I would agree.
400
:I would agree.
401
:So there you go, everybody have a great
weekend with those thoughts in mind.
402
:Thanks for joining us
today for another edition.
403
:Let me let me pray and we will be done.
404
:Yeah.
405
:We are mindful of all of these parameters
that are out there in questions and in.
406
:Deep issues that we have to navigate
as Christians and we have to make
407
:wise decisions and be discerning and
so we pray that you Would help us to
408
:be discerning God, we we trust you.
409
:We trust your sovereignty.
410
:We trust that that we are not sitting here
at the the At the the will of of AI and
411
:artificial intelligence But ultimately
you are sovereign over those things and
412
:we trust that and we know that we pray
that you would Enable this world to
413
:use these things in a way that is not
damaging and not overly harmful You we
414
:want to help the church to be outspoken
and on the front lines of helping us
415
:to think through how to navigate this
brave new world in so many regards, but
416
:God, we ultimately want to trust in you.
417
:And so help us to trust in you and not
machines, not technological advancements
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:or anything else and help us to navigate
waters that are quite honestly, just
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:deep and difficult for us to understand.
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:And we need your help.
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:Your wisdom, your spirit
to help us do that.
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:And so we ask that you
to enable that with us.
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:And as pastor Rob was saying, enable us to
be in the word, help us to be in the word
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:on a regular basis so that we will be well
equipped to handle whatever comes our way.
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:So we pray this in Christ's name.
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:Amen.
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:Amen.
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:All right, y'all, we'll keep her
in your Bibles and tune in again
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:tomorrow for another edition
of the daily Bible podcast.
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:See it.
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:Bye.
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:Speaker: Hey, thanks for
joining us for another episode
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:of the daily Bible podcast.
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:We hope and pray this has been a blessing
to you and your time in the word.
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:If it has, if you would subscribe to this
podcast, leave a like, leave a comment
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:and share it with some friends and family.
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:That would be awesome.
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:If you need more information about
Compass Bible Church here in North
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:Texas, you can go to compassntx.
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:org.
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:Again, that's compassntx.
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:org.
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:And we'll be back with you
tomorrow for another episode
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:of the daily Bible podcast.