Tripping Blind People
A lot of times people skip what are perceived as the more boring bits of Scripture - Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. That stuff is old! There’s nothing to learn there! Man, a bunch of it doesn’t even apply to Christians! Who wants to learn about old censuses anyways?
Well, I agree, to a small extent. If you’re new to reading the Bible, start in the Gospels. Read the history books of Scripture (Judges through Esther as well as Acts), go through the letters that the first Christians wrote to us, and read Genesis and Revelation to learn how the world began and will end.
But as you mature, it’s really important to read the whole Bible. If your girlfriend or boyfriend wrote you a long letter, you’d read it. This Bible that God gave us - it is His letter to us! It is more than just a message of love. It’s a message of salvation, of hope, of peace, of grace, and more. But above that, it’s a revelation. Without this book, we would know so much less about God and what God wants from us.
So, let’s look into a little gem that’s buried deep in the book of Leviticus.
Leviticus 19:14
You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your God: I am the LORD.
This verse is found in a list of dos and don’ts concerning one’s treatment of other people. God had Moses speak these words to the “whole congregation,” which means that these words are applicable for all of God’s people. Some, such as “you shall not strip your vineyard bare” (v. 10) are a bit specific, but some, like “you shall not steal” (v. 11) are quite broad. Verse 14 is certainly broad, and it jumped right out at me.
We can make a lot of parallels to the physically blind and the spiritual blind here, but since we’re in a passage that has a lot of literal commands, let’s be intellectually honest and examine the literal first.
The first phrase says, “You shall not curse the deaf.” If you look at the Hebrew for the word ‘curse,’ it’s a word that can translate ‘revile.’ See, we’re not just talking about the witchcraft sort of cursing here, or cursing as in curse words, though those could be included. Revile means to “criticize in an abusive or angrily insulting manner” (OAD). So that’s one part of it. This passage makes sense, right? If I’m screaming abusive things at someone who can’t hear me, not only am I going to look silly, but the person can’t defend himself.
Why would God emphasize the blind and the deaf here? After all, who would do such things anyways? John Wesley makes a very good point about this verse (emphasis mine):
Under these two particulars are manifestly forbidden all injuries done to such as are unable to right or defend themselves; of whom God here takes the more care, because they are not able to secure themselves.
To revile anyone is bad, but to revile someone who has no way to defend himself? That’s just mean. To try to make anyone trip and fall is bad, but to do it to a blind person? Come on, that’s awful! God gave a provision here to take special care to do good to the helpless.
But let’s go deeper here. Strong’s Dictionary implies that deaf here can be a literal or spiritual deafness. So then, this verse can now mean “don’t curse those who are deaf to God.” What’s that going to do? I suppose we shouldn’t curse ANYONE, but if my interpretation of this part of the verse holds, then I think that it highlights the importance of conducting ourselves appropriately to people who don’t know God. Deaf people are defenseless to verbal abuse. If you mess up in front of a brother, they can at least rebuke you and give you the truth.
Same thing with putting a stumbling block before the blind. Take it literally, and you say “what kind of no good person would put a big box in front of a blind dude so that he’ll trip and fall?” Now let’s take it to the spiritual realm. “What kind of no good Christian goes out and puts a hit of cocaine under a non-believer’s nose so that he’ll get high?” An extreme example, but can’t we take it to other places? Do we wear a tempting piece of clothing in front of a non-believing world? Do we ever encourage a non-believing friend in his stories of his drunken escapades? Do we act even more subtly by withholding the truth about God to a person who needs it?
Your life is the greatest witness, and to openly sin in front of your friends, if left unchecked, becomes a stumbling block for the so many people who were blind in the world. If you get drunk in front of non-Christians, they’ll think it’s morally okay to do what they do (unless you confess your sin to those people). Don’t belittle someone on the outside for not being a Christian, and don’t do anything that would make them stumble. We are representatives of Jesus, someone who lived a perfect life! Certainly a lofty standard, but that is our task.
Leviticus isn’t all that irrelevant, huh? What’s cool is that if you mine the Scripture (or if you have good Bible notes), you can find some great parallels to the New Testament. Can you find a few? The Old Testament is never more relevant when its words are confirmed in the New Testament.
Be in the Word, and live a life that non-Christians can see God in! And trust me, that’s just as much something I need to heed as you do.
Grace and peace,
Brendan
