The Service of Abstention
W. Clarkson Leviticus 22:3 Say to them, Whoever he be of all your seed among your generations, that goes to the holy things… There were certain bodily conditions which, under the Levitical institutions, were suggestive of spiritual impurity, and those who suffered from them were accounted ceremonially unclean. Priests thus affected were disqualified for the ministry of the tabernacle, and were deprived, for a time, of sacerdotal privileges: they might not "go unto the holy things." Any priest who was disobedient to this precept would be "cut off from the presence of the Lord." To those who were thus unfortunate there was one service left, - the service of obedient abstention. They would be disappointed; they might feel somewhat humiliated; but there was left to them the opportunity of fulfilling the acceptable service of offering not or eating not "unto the Lord" (see Romans 14:6). It often happens to us that by some misfortune - perhaps, as here, some bodily affliction we are disabled and detained from active service: it may be from (1) Christian work, or (2) public worship, or (3) daily duty (business or household activities). That which is unavoidable and for which we are not responsible may shut us out from many valued privileges. In this case we must render the service of abstention. We can - I. SUBMIT IN PATIENCE. II. BELIEVE WITH CHEERFUL CONFIDENCE: have faith to accept the truth that "they also serve who only stand and wait;" that God is as well pleased with the passive service of those whom he desires to "be still," as with those who - "... at his bidding speed, And post o'er land and ocean without rest." III. WAIT IN HOPE. The hour will come, here or hereafter, sooner or later, when all bodily disabilities will have disappeared, and fullest access be given to the presence of the Lord. - C. Parallel Verses KJV: Say unto them, Whosoever he be of all your seed among your generations, that goeth unto the holy things, which the children of Israel hallow unto the LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from my presence: I am the LORD. WEB: "Tell them, 'If anyone of all your seed throughout your generations approaches the holy things, which the children of Israel make holy to Yahweh, having his uncleanness on him, that soul shall be cut off from before me. I am Yahweh.