The Chapters – Quick Access
Basics
The name of the book comes, in Hebrew, from its opening words, “The Lord called,” or “he called” but was subsequently referred to as “the book of the priests” or, as the later Greek version of the Old Testament put it, “the book of the Levites.” (for the priests were all Levites). Someone has suggested that it was a book purely for the Israelite priesthood and as its operation ceased when the Temple was destroyed in AD70 and has never been rebuilt, it is no longer relevant. But if we ignore it, we a) ignore part of the accepted canon Scripture and b) ignore many of the lessons about God and His people, which the book conveys.
BOOK: Leviticus
Description: 3rd book of the Pentateuch, the Law of Moses, rules for worship and holy living.
Author: probably Moses
Date written: somewhere about 1400 BC (Latter part of Moses’ life)
Chapters: 27
Brief Synopsis
- Gets its name from the Levites (from whom the priesthood came) who would be the main recipients of this book (to both apply and teach it).
- The first ‘half’ is about worshipping a holy God and the second is about living a holy life.
- ‘Holiness’ is the key issue if this book behind which must be the question, “How can a sinful people relate to a holy God?” (The answer for them was by following the Law and by the offerings indicating desire for fellowship or repentance)
Why Read Leviticus
When we came to the end of the book of Exodus, we had read about the establishing of the Tabernacle and the Priesthood. Purely to create an historical context, the reader might now want to know, what did the priests do at the Tabernacle? Moreover, why did they do these things, apart from the fact God said to do them? What reason was there to perform the various procedures, what effect did they have on the people and so, what was the meaning of these procedures?
The simple short answer to these questions is “to create a God-orientated environment,” a series of practices that would guide people in their worship and in the way they dealt with their corporate or individual guilt, as well as laying out many guidelines in respect of daily life and hygiene, for that particular people at that particular period of history.
In saying that we find ourselves facing two dramatic and highly remarkable differences from that which constitutes modern church ‘worship’. The first is an emphasis on a personal accountability and relationship with God whereby a believer was required to do something very specific in a very practical way to demonstrate their heart. The second is an even greater emphasis on the fact that God is holy and therefore sin and guilt are issues taught and faced by the individual and the community with ways laid down specifically how to deal with that sin and guilt. These ways were complex but would have both challenged and expressed the emotions in possibly a much fuller ways than many believers today experience. Yet Leviticus goes much further than worship, it includes health and hygiene and how to live as a holy people.
But no, this is not to suggest that we need to return to these practices because, as the writer to the Hebrews in the New Testament points out, all the Offerings are covered by the death of Jesus. Moreover, many of the ‘laws’ fitted this particular nation at this particular time – as they were getting ready to ender the Promised Land and live lives very distinct from the pagan occupants they would encounter.
In a day when most agree that Leviticus is probably one of the least read books of the Bible, for the reader of the Bible, that challenge to get to grips with this book – it’s structure, its procedures and its meaning – should be sufficient to get us into it. This will not be for everyone but the overall goal of these ‘Frameworks’ – to provide assisted bible reading – is as much true in this book as any other and our hope is that it will go to more than just intellectual understanding but will, like any other part of Scripture that is read with God’s help and an open heart, touch us and change us.
The story is told that one unbeliever decided to read the Bible through and by the time they reached the end of Leviticus they committed their life to Christ, having been convicted about their state before the holy God seen in this book. We present these breakdowns and notes, with varying styles and breakdown-approaches that we hope match the nature of the contents, with such an anticipation in the back of our mind.
CONTENTS
- Part 1: Offerings
- 1: The Burnt Offering
- 2: The Grain Offering
- 3: The Fellowship Offering
- 4: The Sin Offering
- 5: Offences & Sin Offering
- 6: Details & Practicalities
- 7: Guilt & Fellowship Offering Regulations
- Part 2: Establishing the Priesthood
- 8: The Ordination of Aaron and His Sons
- 9: The Priests Begin Their Ministry
- 10: Two Priests Get It Wrong
- Part 3: Clean & Unclean & Hygiene Issues
- 11: Clean and Unclean Food
- 12: Purification After Childbirth
- 13: Regulations About Defiling Skin Diseases
- 14: Cleansings
- 15: Discharges Causing Uncleanness
- Part 4: Day of Atonement
- 16: The Day of Atonement
- Part 5: Ritual Laws for Honoring God AND daily living
- 17: Eating Blood Forbidden
- 18: Avoiding Wrong Sexual Relations
- 19: Various Laws for Israel
- 20: Punishments for Sin
- 21: Maintaining Holiness in the Priesthood
- 22: Guidance for Priestly Sacrifices
- 23: The Appointed Festivals
- 24: On Blasphemy
- 25: Sabbath and Jubilee
- Part 6: Blessings & Punishments
- 26: Blessings & Warnings against Disobedience
- Part 7: Vows, Redemption & Offerings
- 27: Redeeming what Is the Lord’s
Concluding Comments
- Leviticus is considered by many to have little relevance to living today. For non-Christians is appears barbaric and for Christians it is considered superseded by the death of Jesus as The one-off sacrifice.
- However, if we can put ourselves into history three thousand years ago, in an age of superstition and barbaric practices such as priestess prostitution and child sacrifices, of worship of anything and everything that a superstitious mind can dream up, we may catch the difficulty of raising up a new people who were not barbaric and not superstitious and who could somehow relate to a God who had just dealt the most powerful blow to one of the most powerful nations on earth, a God who declared He was holy, and demanded His people be holy.
- Holy meant perfect, utterly different, pure, and the one thing we can be sure of (because we are the same) is that the Israelites did not feel perfect, utterly different and pure. Yes, they were given a series of very down to earth (mostly) laws to follow in terms of how they should live as individuals and as a society, but even then they, like us, would get it wrong and wander off the path that God had set them.
- How could they possibly make it right again, how could they possibly live as God’s chosen people? The answer is found in Leviticus. Here are rules for sacrifices, things laid down by God which they should do when they got it wrong, things they were capable of, things they would know they had done right when they followed the rules of sacrifice and of the priesthood God had given them. When they had performed the rituals, they were right with God, and they could relax.
- One of the struggles that modern cultures in the West in the twenty first century has, is the struggle to believe in right and wrong. Having lost our foundation (God) every person is left doing what they (or the national laws) think is right. But the courseness of so much modern life shows us that it doesn’t work.
- Now consider what the Israelite experienced. When they sinned in one of the ways prescribed in the early chapters of this book, they did what was prescribed. They took their best bull or oxen or goat or sheep to the Tabernacle and with the help of the priest they put it to death. To be more precise the priest gave them a long sharp knife and they, the sinner, held it by the head and cut its throat and watched as it bled to death with their hand on it. They were responsible for this life being taken. Suddenly they would have felt terrible, suddenly they realized the significance of Sin and suddenly they would almost certainly have decided, “I will never let this happen again!” and a lawful community was established.
- The Law gave straight forward guidance and directions for how to live and how to respond when you broke the laws.
- Leviticus helps us realize that God knows we are prone to getting it wrong and we need ways back. For the Christian today, we have the simple teaching, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness,” (1 Jn 1:9) which is only possible because Jesus Christ died: “he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.”(Heb 9:26).
- For the primitive Israelite they simply had to bring a sacrifice and that was it – and they would probably never be the same again. A changed and holy community!
- So often we tend to focus on sin and guilt, but the Law was much more than that. It also included feast times, times of great joy. It also included years of Jubilee, times of releasing people from their past debts and starting all over again. A number of the laws appear strange to us today but the more we study them the more we can see the practicality of them.
- Leviticus is not an easy book to read but it is worth reading sometime!
Because of the complexity of the first six chapters to the modern mind, we provide an additional explanatory page for those chapters (see below).