Nonconformists

Nonconformists

Hebrew Women

Read: Exodus 20:1-17; Deuteronomy 14:2

As I saw heads around me turning, I wished that I could have shielded the woman from the curious stares. Her serene face revealed no signs of embarrassment, however. Is she used to this? I wondered. Her plain blue dress was closed with straight pins instead of buttons, and her hair, pulled into a bun under a white cap, shouted that she belonged to the nearby Amish community. As she walked into the clinic, she couldn’t help drawing attention.

Hebrews who observed God’s laws didn’t blend in with the crowd, either. Their worship practices, circumcision of males, special diet, and observance of a day of rest on the Sabbath all set them apart from the nations around them. How did the women feel about being different from other groups of people? A few probably wished that they could just forget God’s laws and live like those around them. Others surely must have felt humbled and privileged to belong to a race that God had chosen for a unique role in history.

God didn’t choose the Hebrew nation as his special people in order to exclude others; he set the Israelites apart to reveal his holiness to the world and draw everyone to him. Today, Christians have the privilege and responsibility of making God known to the world. The way we live and how we treat others should set us apart, demonstrating that we have a different set of values and goals from the rest of the world. We may wish that we could blend in with the crowd, but following God means being different. When the Hebrews started living like the nations around them, they suffered personally and lost their opportunity to witness for God. We don’t want to repeat those mistakes.

You must be holy because I, the LORD, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own.

Leviticus 20:26