This is one of the richest chapters in the Bible, showcasing a wide array of moral treasures. We can’t cover it in one lesson, so we’ll be here a while.
A fundamental expression of reverence for God is to revere one’s elders. Don’t get confused by this; the Hebrew people knew one’s elders could be wrong about some things. It wasn’t the intent to make anyone a slave of their elders, but to make one respectful even when it was impossible to do everything the elders demanded. Mind your manners, but obey the Lord. Along with that was the Sabbath observance — seven days without worship makes one week, and makes one weak, as well. These two items were easily the most prominent markers of devotion to Jehovah.
The concept of holiness in this context is devotion to the Lord, an undivided loyalty. Israel never had to worry about offending any other deities; Jehovah was the only God who could touch them. For that reason, they had no excuse at all to play the harlot with idols. Jehovah was a possessive God.
The whole point of a Peace Offering was to share a meal with God and His family. You took the animal to the Tabernacle/Temple, had it slaughtered by the priest, and the guts were offered on the altar to God. The rest was a shared meal with God’s family. You were supposed to make a concerted effort to give away as much as you couldn’t eat by yourself. Feed your own household, and then invite everyone you can find to come and get a serving, as well. In particular you should invite those who are poor. There shouldn’t be any left after a couple of days eating and sharing.
This brings up the next point. Don’t be hyper-efficient in your harvesting of crops. Make sure you or your servants are working hard enough to drop a little now and then. Don’t cut all the way up into the corners, but leave some standing. Leave enough unharvested for your poor fellow Israelis to go help themselves. You don’t have to invite them for supper, but you can leave enough that they can work for it themselves. Treat it like an offering to God.
It should be obvious that you will be honest with your covenant brothers and sisters. Don’t take their stuff for any reason. Don’t hide pertinent facts when dealing with them and don’t try to cheat them by deception. God is watching and knows what’s in your heart.
And what kind of asshole amuses himself by taking advantage of deaf and blind folks? The terminology refers to saying something nasty about a deaf person so everyone hearing can laugh, or tripping up the blind for the sake of comedy. There is no excuse for cruelty. If you can’t bring yourself to help them, just let them be. Again, God is watching.
When it’s your place to judge something, don’t show favoritism to either the underdog or the powerful. What is just is in everyone’s best interest. This is how we build shalom with God. Don’t be a scandal-monger, slandering people behind their backs. Don’t even tell funny stories without first finding out how the main character feels about the whole thing.
You must not hold a grudge against your own people. If they have offended you, clear the air with them. Get it off your chest, but don’t let hatred fester in your heart if you can’t just let it go. Give them a chance to repent. This is your family we are talking about here; if you love yourself, you can’t hate them.
Keep your society stable.
I’d rather take these rules than the mishmash we have today in America, and also with the slight variations we have because of multiculturalism dominated by a central government and centralized vision.