“Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive one another.”
To cause someone to believe something that is not true, or to give a mistaken impression of something is a sin. I feel that society has lessened the wrongness and impact of the word deceive. This verse was a good reminder to me that deception, and the fact that it received it’s own sentence, is sinful and wrong.
“Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves, I am the Lord.”
Tattoos…..need I say more (lol). It was custom at this time for people to mark their body for various reasons. It could have been a slave having branded their owners initials on them, or it was also quite common to mark, in honour, an idol of some sort. Either way, it is probable that by adopting such markings, they were a sign of abandonment (from God), and once made, this would have made it very difficult for return. Just as a slave would have been marked showing a belonging to their master, so would other markings tie them to their “god”, and what they deem honourable.
Today’s reading speaks about some ceremonial precepts, but most of these precepts are binding on us. It was required of the Israelites, as it is for us Christians today, to be a holy people, because God is holy. We are to bring every thought within us into obedience!
Lock Your Wings 
““You must obey all my decrees. “Do not mate two different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two different kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven from two different kinds of thread.”
Leviticus 19:19 NLT
Often the verse about wearing clothing from two different threads is used to discount the bible and say that it’s message is outdated. After all there are few of us who don’t wear mixed clothing! But I thought this was interesting:
The law, it is to be observed, did not prohibit the Israelites wearing many different kinds of cloths together, but only the two specified; and the observations and researches of modern science have proved that “wool, when combined with linen, increases its power of passing off the electricity from the body. In hot climates, it brings on malignant fevers and exhausts the strength; and when passing off from the body, it meets with the heated air, inflames and excoriates like a blister”
From:
https://biblehub.com/commentaries/leviticus/19-19.htm
Maybe God’s commands do have a reason behind them 😏
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