Vomit קִיא

We are in chapter eighteen of Leviticus with our word for today. קִיא spit, vomit, be sick. It is used 9 times in the Old Testament, twice in our chapter. Our word is used in the sense of to eject the contents of the stomach through the mouth. We find our word used in a literal sense 4 out of the 9 times. Jeremiah 25:27 Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, be drunk וּקְי֔וּ and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of the sword that I am sending among you.’ Proverbs 23:8 תְקִיאֶ֑נָּה You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten, and waste your pleasant words. Proverbs 25:16 If you have found honey, eat only enough for you, lest you have your fill of it וַהֲקֵֽאתֽוֹ and vomit it. Jonah 2:10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, וַיָּקֵ֥א and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. It is interesting that we have this use only use of not a person but the great fish that swallowed Jonah. We find our word used in a figurative sense 5 out of the 9 times. Job 20:15 He swallows down riches וַיְקִאֶ֑נּוּ and vomits them up again; God casts them out of his belly. This is how our word is used twice in our chapter today. Leviticus 18:24-30 Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land וַתָּקִ֥א vomited out its inhabitants. But you shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you (for the people of the land, who were before you, did all of these abominations, so that the land became unclean), lest the land קָאָ֛ה vomit you out when you make it unclean, as קָאָ֛ה it vomited out the nation that was before you. For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people. So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.” Did you notice that God repeats himself twice that the reason He was driving out the people who currently lived in the land was because of these specific sins they were immersed in. Did you also notice that the picture here is that these sins are so bad that the land itself spits or vomits the people out. This is also repeated in chapter 20. Leviticus 20:22 You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not תָקִ֤יא vomit you out. What God created to bless the people, provide for the people, and bring goodness to them is the very thing that just can’t take it any more. The pollution of the land is that bad it has to rid itself of this infection. That is one of the strongest consequence of sin stated in God’s word. When talking about sexual sin God emphasizes that there are consequences to them. At the same time God reminds us that the corrupted culture around us teaches that there are no consequences to sin. This is why God started our chapter with the warning of not being influenced by Egypt and Canaan. The picture here in our chapter isn’t a pretty one. Sexual perversions are like a pandemic of disease germs; they make a society and a nation sick. Then the land itself becomes sick and must vomit out its filthy people the way a human body vomits out poison. How tragic that people made in God’s image should end up as vomit! Please note that these were Gentile nations that were judged—peoples with whom God had not made any covenants, but He still held them accountable for their filthy deeds against nature because as Romans 1:18-20 says it best: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. If God so dealt with Gentile nations, to whom He’d never given His law, how much more will He hold accountable those who claim to know Him and possess His Word? There are dire consequences to sexual sins, and the judgment is greatest where the light has been the brightest. The nation of Israel disobeyed God, defiled their land, and were vomited out into captivity. Today, there are both secular and religious organizations that openly espouse an immoral lifestyle contrary to God’s Word; in God’s eyes, they’re making society sick. The good news is that even if we have or are still practicing these sins we can still be forgiven. We will talk more about this tomorrow. I’ll close with these great words of Jesus who is talking to the woman caught in adultery. John 8:10-11 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”