also known as
The Third Book of Moses
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Introduction
Leviticus may be the most difficult to read of all the books of the Bible. First, it consists mainly of rules and regulations; therefore, there’s not much history, meaning there’s not much action. (Practically all of it can be found in Lev 8-10 and 24:10-16 – mainly, Lev 10.) Second, most of those rules and regulations have to do with animal sacrifice which was rendered obsolete by Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself on the cross. Plus the very name of the book – Leviticus – comes from the name Levi, which alludes to its specialized use. Priests were mentioned briefly in Genesis, but the detailed instructions we find regarding them in this book go way beyond anything Genesis had to say. (Roots in Genesis) That said, Jesus taught us that the second most important commandment can be found in the middle of one of its verses – that commandment being “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18). Therefore, skim when you have to, but be aware that you never can be sure that God won’t open your eyes to something worth pondering.
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The book of Leviticus begins with detailed descriptions of how various offerings were to be presented to the Lord in the tabernacle.
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Leviticus 1
The Law of Burnt Offerings…
Lev 1:1-2 – It was men who would present an offering. Of course, the man wasn’t just presenting offerings on behalf of himself, but on behalf of the members of his household as well.
…if from the herd
Lev 1:3-9 – The animal must be a male without defect. The “offering by fire” would be “a soothing aroma to the Lord.”
…if from the flock
Lev 1:10-13 – The animal must be a male without defect. The “offering by fire” would be “a soothing aroma to the Lord.”
…if of birds
Lev 1:14-17 – It must be turtledoves or pigeons. The “offering by fire” would be “a soothing aroma to the Lord.”
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Leviticus 2
The Law of Grain Offerings
Lev 2:1-16
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Leviticus 3
The Law of Peace Offerings
Lev 3:1-17
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Leviticus 4
The Law of Sin Offerings
Lev 4:1-35
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Leviticus 5
The Law of Guilt Offerings
Lev 5:1-19
Lev 5:11 – Luke makes reference to this verse and Lev 12:6-8 in his account of how Joseph and Mary presented Jesus as an infant to the Lord at the temple in Jerusalem (see BSN notes on Lk 2:22-24 as well as the verses themselves).
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Leviticus 6
Guilt Offering
Lev 6:1-7
The Priest’s Part in the Offerings
Lev 6:8-30
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Leviticus 7
The Priest’s Part in the Offerings
Lev 7:1-38
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Leviticus 8
Aaron and His Four Sons Are Consecrated
to the Service of the Tabernacle
Lev 8:1-36
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Leviticus 9
Aaron and His Four Sons Offer
the First Sacrifices of the Tabernacle
Lev 9:1-24
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Leviticus 10
Aaron’s First Two Sons, Nadab and Abihu, Sin and Die
Lev 10:1 – Nadab and Abihu were the first two of Aaron’s sons.
Ex 6:23 Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.
It may say something about the fallen nature of humans that after a long series of chapters in Leviticus filled with nothing but very specific instructions about how sacrifices were to be offered, two of the five priests would then just “do their own thing.” Per verse 10, their error may have been a consequence of drunkenness. In any case, the Lord shows, as He so often does, that He is not one to show partiality.
Lev 10:2 – As Nadab and Abihu had played with fire, so by fire they died.
Lev 10:3 – Moses explains to his older brother that to whom much is given, much is required. Moses himself would experience this principle when he was denied entrance into the promised land for merely losing his temper when mediating the Lord’s miraculous power to the people (Num 20:9-13). Aaron realizes there’s nothing he can do or say that will make any difference, so he stays silent. Contrast this with the incident in Lev 10:16-20 below. Aaron is a grieving man in this chapter, but he is displaying the wisdom of Solomon in the midst of that grief.
Eccl 3:7 A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
Lev 10:4-5 – Moses calls more distant relatives to remove the dead bodies since the brothers Eleazar and Ithamar have to carry on the priestly work with their father Aaron. Their crew is now down from five to just three. ***** The expression “outside the camp” indicates the place of least honor. As Paul writes in the New Testament:
Heb 13:11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp.
Heb 13:12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.
Heb 13:13 So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
Lev 10:6-7 – Eleazar and Ithamar have to stay on the job. When the Lord is doing a new thing we must not treat it lightly. A similar fate came to another pair who gave insufficient serious regard to the new thing God was doing in their day: Ananias, with his wife Sapphira in Acts 5. The new thing at this time was the introduction of the tabernacle, in the time of Ananias and Sapphira it was the introduction of the New Testament church.;
Lev 10:8-11 – The Lord speaks directly to Aaron, spelling out for him, as if they weren’t already clear, the duties which had been assigned to him and his sons: 1) making distinctions between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean, and 2) teaching the Israelites the Law of Moses. About a thousand years after this, Ezra – one of Aaron’s many descendants – would dedicate himself to this very purpose in an admirable and memorable way.
Ezra 7:10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.
As father of your household, you have now inherited this role of priest…for the nuclear family is the building block of the kingdom of God.
Lev 10:12-15 – The priests were given a portion of some of the sacrifices as just compensation for their work. Some was just for their own consumption and other portions they could take home to feed their families.
Lev 10:16-20 – In the case of Nadab and Abihu above (Lev 10:1-3), Aaron had nothing to say. In this case, however, he did. Moses, like the Lord, would listen to an explanation that had merit and respond fairly. We should not be afraid to make a case to the Lord if it’s a good one.
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Leviticus 11
In the previous chapter, the Lord was speaking directly to Aaron about the duties of the priesthood and stated the purpose of priests was: “…to make a distinction between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean, and so as to teach the sons of Israel all the statutes which the LORD has spoken to them through Moses.” In this chapter, the rules for making those distinctions are laid down.
The Lord speaks these rules to Moses and Aaron, but in doing so, the Lord begins with “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying…” Therefore, it is not as if the priests alone know these rules; it’s just that the priests are expected to teach these rules and be responsible for ensuring that they are followed by the people.
The stated purpose of the rules is so that the people will be holy as the Lord is holy. To be holy, it is required to be clean. Something can be clean without being holy but it cannot be holy without being clean. To be holy is to set apart for God’s use. Israel was brought out of Egypt to be a nation for God’s use.
The distinction between clean and unclean animals was known as far back as Noah’s time, for we read these three references in Genesis:
Gen 7:1 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time.
Gen 7:2 “You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female;
Gen 7:3 also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth.
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Gen 7:8 Of clean animals and animals that are not clean and birds and everything that creeps on the ground,
Gen 7:9 there went into the ark to Noah by twos, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.
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Gen 8:20 Then Noah built an altar to the LORD, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
These three references to clean and unclean are, however, the only such references we find in Genesis. We can only say, therefore, that the clean-unclean distinctions we find in the Law of Moses are probably more exacting definitions of distinctions that previously existed. (Roots in Genesis)
Laws about Animals for Food
Lev 11:1-8 – Rules for distinguishing clean from unclean land animals, the clean being acceptable for human beings to eat.
Lev 11:9-12 – Rules for distinguishing edible from inedible marine life.
Avoid the Unclean
Lev 11:13-19 – Rules for distinguishing edible from inedible birds.
Lev 11:20-23 – Rules for distinguishing edible from inedible winged insects.
Lev 11:24-28 – Rules about what makes a human being clean or unclean as a result of contact with unclean animal life.
Lev 11:29-38 – Rules about how certain swarming animals can make human beings or even physical objects unclean – and how unclean human beings and physical objects can be cleansed.
Lev 11:39-40 – Rules for human beings when they become unclean due to contact with a dead animal.
Lev 11:41-43 – Rules about unclean swarming things.
Lev 11:44-45 – Rationale for all these rules: “you shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Lev 11:46-47 – Summary statement about the purpose of the rules in this chapter: “to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean, and between the edible creature and the creature which is not to be eaten.”
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Leviticus 12
Laws of Motherhood
This short chapter defines the rules regarding a birth so that the mother and child are kept holy (as all Israel should be) by cleansing any uncleanness associated with the process of birth.
Lev 12:1-2a – As is usually the case, the Lord speaks to Moses and then Moses speaks to the people. That is, the Lord speaks face to face to Moses, but speaks to the people through Moses.
Lev 12:2b-4 – The rules that apply if the child is male. ***** This rule of circumcising an infant on the eighth day was rooted in an instruction God gave Abraham (Gen 17:12) and that Abraham followed (Gen 21:4). (Roots in Genesis)
Lev 12:5 – The rules that apply if the child is female.
Lev 12:6-8 – The rules that apply for both male and female children. ***** Luke makes reference to this passage and to Lev 5:11 in his account of how Joseph and Mary presented Jesus as an infant to the Lord at the temple in Jerusalem (see BSN notes on Lk 2:22-24 as well as the verses themselves).
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Leviticus 13
The Test for Leprosy
Recall from Lev 10:8-11 that the priests were “to make a distinction between…the unclean and the clean.” That duty involves skin diseases that affected the people and that’s where this chapter focuses. In the context of the Law of Moses, the word “leprosy” should not be understood in a technical medical sense, but rather as a generic term applying to a variety of skin diseases that were found in the climate of the time and age in which ancient Israel existed.
Elisha the prophet cleansed Naaman the Syrian of leprosy (2 Kgs 5:1-14), a miracle to which Jesus made explicit reference (Lk 4:27). And, of course, Jesus and His apostles routinely cleansed lepers Mt 10:8; 11:5). These miracles bypassed the need to follow these regulations, although Jesus did instruct healed individuals to report themselves to the priests for examination and approval (Lk 5:12-14; 17:1-14).
The purpose of identifying and examining afflicted persons was, of course, to contain, and remove when possible, any infectious skin disease from the people of God. They were to be holy, which required that they be clean. It was the priests’ job to police this issue, but it did require the people to come to the priests about it.
Leprosy is a useful metaphor for our sin condition. We need cleansing.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Lev 13:45-46 – This is the proverbial requirement for the diseased person to identify himself lest his neighbor draw too close to him and the infection spread.
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Leviticus 14
The Law of Cleansing a Leper
Lev 14:1-32 – These regulations specify the respective duties of both the priest and the leper.
The Law of Cleansing a Leprous House
Lev 14:33-53 – These regulations specify the respective duties of both the priest and the owner of the house.
Summary
Lev 14:54-57 – This statement applies to leprosy whether present in a person or a house or a garment. The distinction between clean and the unclean, and the cleansing, where possible, of what is unclean, remain paramount.
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Leviticus 15
Cleansing Unhealthiness
This chapter continues the focus on clean versus unclean, and the cleansing of what is unclean. The specific concern is with bodily discharges. Distinctions are made between those applying to men and those applying to women.
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Leviticus 16
Law of Atonement
Lev 16:1 – Moses recorded the death of Aaron’s two sons – Nadab and Abihu – in Lev 10.
Lev 16:2-28 – The key word in this long passage is “atonement.” It occurs eight times, and a ninth as “atoning.” To atone means to make amends, give reparations, make up for. When I read this chapter, I am prompted to think of how much trouble our sinfulness has caused God. This makes me appreciate even more all that Jesus has done for us. The new covenant is so much easier for us than the old covenant was for the Israelites! See how Peter and Jesus respectively portrayed the old covenant and the new covenant. The first yoke (covenant) was burdensome, the second was not.
Acts 15:10 “Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?
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Matt 11:28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Matt 11:29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.
Matt 11:30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
The Day of Atonement
Lev 16:29-34 – The Jewish name for this day is Yom Kippur. See more at Feasts. ***** Below from the New Testament book of Hebrews, see how Paul contrasts the high priestly work of Jesus (our Melchizedek) with the high priestly work of Aaron and his descendants with the high priestly work of Jesus – especially regarding the day of atonement.
Heb 9:6 Now when these things have been so prepared, the priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle performing the divine worship,
Heb 9:7 but into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance.
Heb 9:8 The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed while the outer tabernacle is still standing,
Heb 9:9 which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly both gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make the worshiper perfect in conscience,
Heb 9:10 since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until a time of reformation.
Heb 9:11 But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation;
Heb 9:12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
With Aaron, the atonement was “once a year,” but with Jesus it was “once for all.” How blessed are we who live in the time of the new covenant! Because it was a heavier yoke for the Lord, it is a lighter yoke for us.
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Leviticus 17
Blood for Atonement
Lev 17:1-7 – God brings order to the chaos of sacrificing by centralizing it at the tabernacle. In this way, the worshipers would be sacrificing to the one true God – the God of Israel. Also, God’s representative – the priest – would be present to administer the process and insure that the sacrifice was being made properly. This is symbolic of the fact that one day all men would be called to worship the one true God through Jesus Christ and Him alone.
Lev 17:8-9 – Ostracism is one of the most powerful tools a social group has to enforce its mores.
Lev 17:10-13 – The reference to atonement ties this chapter to the previous one in which atonement was the main topic. Here, the point is being made that since the life is in the blood, and since it is the life that makes atonement, then the blood should not be consumed or used for any other purpose. Otherwise, a sacrilege is being committed.
The prohibition against consuming blood has precedent in Gen 9:4 when God was instructing Noah and his family for life after the flood. (Roots in Genesis) Since all the nations descended from Noah, the apostles and elders in Jerusalem invoked this rule when they advised believing Jews about their exemption from having to keep the Law of Moses (Acts 15:19-21; 28-29). The thinking was that while Leviticus was part of the Law of Moses, the commandment to Noah should stand for all the Gentiles.
Lev 17:14-16 – Given the sensitivities around blood, especially for sacrifice, it’s not completely surprising that many Jews – even disciples of Jesus – would take offense at statements like these. (In fact, even a Gentile would gag at the thought of taking statement like this literally.)
John 6:53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves.
John 6:54 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
John 6:55 “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.
John 6:56 “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
Jesus was not trolling these people. Rather, He was trying to shake them out of their fleshly thinking. There’s no way anyone in their right mind would take these statements from Jesus literally. But some of Jesus’ disciples just walked away from Him rather than adopt the spiritual mindset Jesus was imploring them to adopt. Throughout His ministry, Jesus wanted to speak about spiritual (unseen) realities, but people were very reluctant to let go of their fleshly (tactile) way of looking at things.
John 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”
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Mark 14:38 “Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
We should understand the problem Jesus was facing because we, too, cling to fleshly ways of viewing things. It is critical that we make the transition to a spiritual mindset.
Rom 8:6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
Rom 8:7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,
Rom 8:8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
The Law of Moses – which includes the book of Leviticus which we are reading, was followed over 15 centuries according to the flesh. But with the coming of Jesus in the 1st century AD, those fleshly requirements were done away by the new covenant.
2 Cor 3:5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,
2 Cor 3:6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
Therefore, we seek spiritual understanding of the Law of Moses, and if that sort of understanding is slow in coming for some passages, we are not troubled. Perhaps in due time we will understand more than we do now. In any case, we know that we no longer have to sacrifice animals! As Paul writes in the New Testament:
Heb 9:24 For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
Heb 9:25 nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own.
Heb 9:26 Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.
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Leviticus 18
Laws on Immoral Relations
The regulations in this chapter were for the sake achieving and maintaining Israel’s sexual purity in the promised land. God had brought the Israelites out of Egypt so that they could be an independent society, free to follow the ways of God unencumbered by the opinions, practices, and mores of Egyptian society. If the Israelites were to then enter the land of Canaan and intermarry and intermingle with the various Canaanite cultures (the Hittites, Amorites, Jebusites, etc.), they would just be trading one encumbrance for others. These regulations therefore get down to specific sexual practices that the Israelites should avoid.
Lev 18:1-5 – This paragraph is a general order that Israel should not get their values from the Egyptians or the Canaanites.
Lev 18:6-18 – This paragraph lists all the blood relatives with whom an Israelite should not have sex. The new covenant way is so much simpler: one man with one woman for one lifetime. “Thou shalt nots” make for an infinitely longer list than “Thou shalts” for the same reason that the number of wrong answers to 1 + 1 is infinite but there’s only one answer that is correct.
Matt 19:4 And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE,
Matt 19:5 and said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’?
Matt 19:6 “So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.”
And thus did Jesus say, comparing His yoke to the yoke of the Law of Moses:
Matt 11:28 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Matt 11:29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.
Matt 11:30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
And thus did the apostle say that the Law of Moses was a “tutor” to lead the Jews to Messiah.
Gal 3:24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
Gal 3:26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
Lev 18:19-23 – This paragraph lists some miscellaneous sexual prohibitions, such as adultery, homosexuality, bestiality, and child sacrifice.
Lev 18:24-30 – This paragraph makes the point that it is because the Canaanites have practiced all these sexual perversions that they are losing their land to the Israelites. In fact, a recurring theme in Moses’ writings is God making sure that the Israelites understand they are not being given the Canaanites’ land because of the Israelites’ righteousness but rather because of the Canaanites unrighteousness (Deut 9:4-5). Therefore, if Israel were ever to adopt these same behaviors they would suffer the same fate as the Canaanites. And, indeed, the Israelites themselves were eventually dispossessed from the land for this very reason. God gives nations time to repent, but if there is no repentance, God eventually judges the nation and give their land to others.
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Leviticus 19
Sundry Laws
This chapter consists of one regulation after another, but not in any apparent order. For example, there’s a prohibition against making your daughter a harlot, immediately followed by a command to keep the sabbath, immediately followed by a prohibition against using mediums and spiritists, immediately followed by an exhortation to respect older people (Lev 19:29-32). This is a representative sample of the entire 37 verses.
You could even say that this chapter is a microcosm of the entire book of Leviticus – 27 chapters of details that are hard to keep straight in a reader’s mind. It makes perfect sense that this book would be considered primarily for consumption by the priests, and so named, because laymen would struggle with its content even more.
It is all the more interesting, therefore, that when asked to name the most important commandment in the Law of Moses, Jesus found a way to pluck a portion of a sentence from the middle of this to include in His answer (Lev 19:18).
Matt 22:34 But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together.
Matt 22:35 One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him,
Matt 22:36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
Matt 22:37 And He said to him, “‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’
Matt 22:38 “This is the great and foremost commandment.
Matt 22:39 “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’
Matt 22:40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
Jesus found “the great commandment” in a prominent place – not long after Moses had recited the Ten Commandments for the second time in Deuteronomy 5. (Moses had recorded them the first time in Exodus 20.)
Deut 6:5 “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Here then, on His own initiative, is where Jesus went next:
Lev 19:18 ‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.
That Jesus then chose to supplement His answer with the designation of a second greatest commandment plucked from the middle of a verse in the middle of this laborious book, and interweave it with the greatest commandment in a way that it could never be unwoven, is proof to me that I should never try to interpret the Old Testament except by the guidance that Jesus gives. This is something beyond genius.
Lev 19:18 – See reference to this verse in the chapter introduction above. #FJOT
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Leviticus 20
On Human Sacrifice and Immoralities
Lev 20:1-2a – The regulations of this chapter are directed to “the sons of Israel” – that is, the general population of Israelites. (The next chapter will be addressed only to “the sons of Aaron” – that is, the priests.)
Lev 20:2b-5 – These regulations warn men not to give their children to Molech, a prominent god of the Canaanites.
Lev 20:6-8 – This is a warning against turning to mediums and spiritists.
Lev 20:9 – This regulation is a paraphrase of the commandment to “honor your father and mother.”
Lev 20:10-16 – These are warnings against adultery, incest, homosexuality, and bestiality.
Lev 20:17-21 – These are additional warnings against sexual deviance.
Lev 20:22-26 – This is a summary statement about the regulations in this chapter. The practices being prohibited in this chapter are those that the Canaanites have been practicing and the reason that God is allowing the Israelites to take their land. If Israel adopts these practices then God will be required to give the land to some other nation down the road just as He’s giving it to Israel now. Therefore, to retain the land, the Israelites must be holy – separated to God and obeying His laws, not engaging in the evils of the nation that preceded it in this territory. The distinction between clean and unclean animals was part of how Israel was to keep itself separated to God and from other peoples.
Lev 20:27 – Mediums and spiritists were to be put to death.
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Leviticus 21
Regulations Concerning Priests
Lev 21:1a – The regulations of this chapter are directed to “the sons of Aaron” – that is, the the priests. (The previous chapter was addressed to “the sons of Israel” – that is, the general population of Israel.)
Lev 21:1b-9 – Because of his role as intercessor or intermediary between God and His people, the priest had to take extra pains to keep himself clean – that is, undefiled.
Lev 21:10-15 – A priest with authority over other priests had to take even greater pains to keep himself undefiled.
Lev 21:16-24 – Because there would be more than enough of Aaron’s descendants to fulfill the various priestly duties, only those descendants without defects – such as birth defects – would be allowed to serve. Everything about the priesthood and its service was symbolic, so it was what uncleanness and defects symbolized that mattered most. The symbols would be fulfilled in Messiah when His time came. Messiah was, of course, without any defilement or defect – physical or spiritual.
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Leviticus 22
Sundry Rules for Priests
Lev 22:1-2 – This preface to rules explains that priests are to protect the holiness of gifts given by the sons of Israel to the Lord by keeping themselves and those around them clean. Otherwise, the name of the Lord would be profaned. The Lord’s name must be kept holy.
Lev 22:3-9 – These rules are for the priest himself about how he should and could keep himself clean with respect to gifts the Israelites are offering to the Lord through him.
Lev 22:10-16 – These rules are about cleanness for those people who interact with the priest – including the regulating of who are and who are not eligible to partake of the food allotted to the priests from the sacrifices.
These rules remind us that just because man is called to be priest of his household this does not mean he can act any way he wants to act. He must keep himself holy – that is, separated to the Lord and clean. This means keeping service to the Lord and not service to self as his motive in every thought, word, and deed. This can require frequent cleansing. Otherwise, the Lord’s name is being profaned when the man tries to exercise his God-given role.
Flawless Animals for Sacrifice
Lev 22:17-25 – These rules specify that animals with defects are not acceptable for giving to the Lord. It would be natural for an Israelite to want to offer to God the animal with a defect – the rationale being, “Why should God care?” But He does. He does not want to receive a defective gift anymore than a human being would want to receive a defective gift.
Lev 22:26-31 – These rules do not have to do with defects in animals per se, but rather with how the animals are to managed prior to sacrifice, and how their remains are to be consumed. ***** The “seven-day waiting period” between birth and sacrifice matches the waiting period for circumcising an Israelite male (Lev 12:1-3; Gen 17:12).
Lev 22:32-33 – This is a summarizing statement to the same effect as the preface to this chapter (Lev 22:1-2): which is that all these rules are for the purpose of protecting the sanctity of the Lord’s name. Specifically, the Lord who had brought the Israelites out of Egypt. Like an obstetrician receives a baby from the womb and washes it, so the Lord received the Israelites from Egypt and washed them. These regulations were about how Israel’s would keep themselves, and the rest of the Israelites, clean and therefore fit for the Lord’s service.
The rules in this chapter remind us that the Lord wants us to give to Him from the best of what we have. That’s why, for example, we dedicate to him the first part of the day for devotional time – Bible reading and prayer – before we devote ourselves to anyone or anything else. It’s also why we give Him from the first of everything we have – knowing that He will multiply whatever we have left so that we always have an abundance to meet every need of our household and even to help others.
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Leviticus 23
Feasts
For more on this subject, see Feasts.
“The Lord’s Appointed Times”
Lev 23:1-2
The Sabbath
Lev 23:3
The Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread
Lev 23:4-8
The Feast of First Fruits
Lev 23:9-14
The Feast of Pentecost
Lev 23:15-21
Gleanings
Lev 23:22
The Feast of Trumpets
Lev 23:23-25
The Day of Atonement
Lev 23:26-32
The Feast of Booths
Lev 23:33-35
Holy Convocation
Lev 23:36
Summary
Lev 23:37-38
(The Feast of Booths Continued)
Lev 23:39-43
Conclusion
Lev 23:44
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Leviticus 24
This chapter consists of miscellaneous material sandwiched in between Lev 23 and Lev 25, both of which describe the various feasts Israel were to keep as a nation under God.
The Lamp of the Tabernacle
Lev 24:1-4 – The lampstand of the tabernacle was originally described in Ex 25:31-40.
The Bread of the Tabernacle
Lev 24:5-9 – The table of showbread was originally described in Ex 25:23-30.
An Israelite Blasphemes the Name
Lev 24:10-16 – The book of Leviticus consists mostly of regulations – not action. What little narrative the book has is found here and in Lev 8-10 – and even there, the only real drama is in Lev 10. The point of a severe penalty like this was 1) to communicate the seriousness of the offense, and 2) to discourage others from doing the same thing.
The Standard of Justice
Lev 24:17-22 – The common theme of these statements could be stated as “Let the punishment fit the crime.” Moses is reciting them as part of administering justice in the blasphemy incident.
Lev 24:22 – This last statement off this paragraph settles what had been in question regarding this incident. That is, even though the man was not a full-blooded Israelite, by living in their midst, he was agreeing to live by their laws (the Law of Moses).
Conclusion of the Blasphemy Incident
Lev 24:23 – The preceding “standard of justice discussion” was part of the narrative about this incident.
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Leviticus 25
In Lev 23, Moses was listing out various feasts Israel was to celebrate as a nation. That listing was interrupted by coverage of some miscellaneous issues in Lev 24. But here, in the beginning of Lev 25, Moses completes the list of feasts he was giving.
The Sabbatical Year
Lev 25:1-7 – Once in the promised land, Israel was to refrain from planting every seventh year so that the land could have a year of rest. God promised that the harvest in the sixth year would be robust enough to feed the people in both the sixth and seventh years. This “appointed time” (Lev 23:2, 4, 37, 44) was called the “sabbatical year” (Lev 25:5).
The Year of Jubilee
Lev 25:8-22 – Immediately after the seventh sabbatical year, which would be the 50th year, another sabbath year is taken. This is called the jubilee. Not only would the 48th year’s harvest be abundant enough to provide sustenance for the 49th and 50th years as well as for the 48th year, the year of jubilee would also be a time of letting sold land revert to original owner or his family. In this way, the original allocation of land in the generation of Joshua would be restored every 50th year. Because of this land sales were, from a practical standpoint, only leases. Therefore, the length of the lease would be factored into the sale price. For example, a house that was purchased 20 years before the next year of jubilee would only be worth half as much as a house purchased 40 years before the next year of jubilee.
The Law of Redemption
Lev 25:23-34 – In this passage, Moses goes into detail about redemption of the land in varying circumstances besides the year of jubilee. These include cases in which the property is sold under duress…or when it lies within a walled city as opposed to open land…or when it is owned by a Levite.
Of Poor Countrymen
Lev 25:35-46 – The previous discussion leads Moses to now talk about ways with which the poor should be dealt. Thus the Law of Moses recognizes the reality that there will always be rich and poor in the land and directs ways to reduce the number of poor and to lighten the burden of their poverty.
Both Moses (OT) and Jesus (NT) acknowledge that the distinction between rich and poor is not going to be erased on earth.
Deut 15:11 “For the poor will never cease to be in the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall freely open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’
***
Matt 26:11 “For you always have the poor with you; but you do not always have Me.
Therefore, the goal is not to eliminate poverty but rather soften some of its rougher edges while leaving in place its motivational force.
2 Thess 3:10 For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.
Of Redeeming a Poor Man
Lev 25:47-55 – The year of jubilee provides not only for the restoration of land to its original owner, it also provides liberty to the Israelite who had to sell himself into slavery in order to survive.
***
Leviticus 26
Commandment Reminders
Lev 26:1 – A reminder of the second of the Ten Commandments.
Lev 26:2 – A reminder of the fourth of the Ten Commandments.
Blessings and Curses
The Lord now lays out the blessings and curses associated with this covenant He is making with Israel through Moses. The blessings will be God’s response to Israel if they keep His commandments; conversely, the curses will be His response if they do not keep His commandments. Deuteronomy 28 is a chapter very similar to this one – that is, a list of blessings and curses associated with the covenant. (Deuteronomy literally means “second law,” indicating that it is a recapitulation of much that is in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers.)
In both Lev 26 and Deut 28, the list of curses is much longer than the list of blessings. Of course, it is observably true that this is a reflection of the way life is. One of the most famous sentences in all of literature, the very first one of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, is “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Similarly, there is only one correct answer to 2 + 2, but an infinite number of wrong ones.
Lev 26:3-13 – These blessings are signs of peace and abundance. They echo God’s original intention for mankind:
Gen 1:27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Gen 1:28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Gen 1:29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;
Gen 1:30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.
Adam’s and Eve’s sin had brought a curse to the earth, but compliance with the Law of Moses would allow Israel to live above it.
The capstone of all these blessings is listed at the end: “I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people” (verse 12).
The Curses
Lev 26:14-15 – These verses identify the trip wire that launches the curses. The curses come in phases – the implicit idea being that God is seeking to provoke repentance, and therefore scales up the punishments in intensity just as parents give “warning” punishments in hopes of avoiding the harsher punishments.
Lev 26:16-17 – The first phase of curses
Lev 26:18-20 – The second phase of curses
Lev 26:21-22 – The third phase of curses
Lev 26:23-26 – The fourth phase of curses
Lev 26:27-39 – The fifth phase of curses
The Safety Net of the Covenant
Lev 26:40-45 – Of course, the intention of all the curses (punishments) was to provoke repentance, and so, throughout it all, God is being faithful to His people, “not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Pet 3:9).
Summary
Lev 26:46 – This statement can be applied to the entire book of Leviticus and even to the entire Law of Moses.
***
Leviticus 27
Rules about Valuations
Lev 27:1-33 – With the exception of its last verse (Lev 27:34), this chapter reads more like an appendix to the book rather than like its last chapter. This material is essentially a list of “exchange rates” to be applied where tabernacle sacrifices are concerned. For example, if a person could choose to donate money rather than an animal sacrifice, then this “chart”would enable a price to be determined and specify the terms to be allowed. Another example of this “chart’s” use was the reconciling the substitution of the tribe of Levi for the Lord’s claim on the firstborn of Israel which can be observed in Num 3:40-51 (see accompanying BSN notes as well).
As with all the other regulations of the tabernacle, and the sacrifices made there, the priests (the sons of Aaron the Levite) and the rest of the Levites (the sons of Levi) administered them.
Lev 27:34 – This verse is a fitting conclusion to the book, testifying to both Mosaic authorship and divine inspiration. That said, the book was preliminarily concluded with the end of Lev 26 – which contributes all the more to making Lev 27 appear as an addendum to the book.
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