If you desire an email of this session for ‘Thinking through the Bible’, send your request by email to carlsonpj@gmail.com. You may also request a full set of notes on the Pentateuch if you want to read more than this summary of the session presented on Sunday morning. Those who attend the sessions on Sunday mornings benefit the most by reading the Book of the Bible as if they were living at the time of the Book we are covering in the session.
Sharing:
“Mention Leviticus to most people and what comes to mind is that arcane tome of Torah devoted primarily to the proper (and gruesome) management of sin through animal sacrifice. Rarely studied and even more rarely preached, Leviticus often becomes that graveyard where read-through-the-Bible-in-a-year plans go to die. To slog through it can be unbelievably tedious. Which is why most of us don’t… we take God’s grace for granted. Because holiness can be difficult, we default to simply admitting we’re miserable sinners, get our grace, and then get on with living our lives the way we were going to live them anyway. As one put it, ‘I never before realized just how good I am at detaching God from my day-to-day life.’”
Yet, we need to appreciate the significance of Leviticus:
- It is one of the first books observant Jewish children learn to read.
- It has more direct quotations from God than any other book of the Bible.
- You can’t fully comprehend the rest of God’s Story and its vocabulary (sacrifice, atonement, holy, unclean, blood) without first understanding Leviticus.
- The second greatest commandment, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” comes from Leviticus (19:18).
- It was addressed to an entire community, not disconnected individuals. So much of what it commands can only be experienced in community.
- It’s in the Bible to show you what grace is for. The ancient Israelites were already chosen people before God gave them the Law. The Law’s purpose was never to save anybody. Rather, its purpose was to show redeemed people how to live a holy life.
- It shows God’s people that they were created and chosen for a higher calling.
What would it look like to take Leviticus as seriously as we take the rest of the Bible? It is part of God’s Story, so we are going to do just that. Why do we so easily segregate life into different sections?
Sharing:
- We always bring life back to what ‘we’ can do!
- We are self-reliant and so easily forget that everything comes from the Lord.
- When we make worship as a lifestyle we have to change!
- We take sole responsibility for what we have, forgetting where it really came from.
Why do you think God’s second commandment was to love our neighbor as ourselves, before a commandment to love God?
Sharing:
- I think of it as God saying that we already love ourselves, so we need to learn to love others. The command is to love others like we already love ourselves.
God already told Moses in Exodus 29:45: “I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God.” He repeats it this way in Leviticus 26:11-12: “I will put my dwelling place among you… I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.” God was moving into the neighborhood, and He knew that could be very dangerous for sinful people. So he provided a ‘safe’ way for the people to approach Him.
We have already been told in Exodus 39:32 that the tent of meeting was completed: ‘Thus all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting was finished.’ Moffatt’s translation renders the tent of meeting as the “Trysting Tent”, thus helping us understand that this is ‘a place of meeting, especially between lovers.’
God’s holy dwelling in the midst of His sinful people served a double function:
On the one hand, it protected the people from the dangers of unauthorized intrusion by having curtains of the Most Holy Place and also the courtyard to stand between the people and the threat of God’s consuming holy presence.
On the other hand, the tabernacle provided a safe way of approach to Yahweh. Worshipers entered the outer court to pray and offer sacrifices; the priests carried the people’s petitions into the holy place, and once a year on the Day of Atonement the high priest entered the Most Holy Place, the very throne-room of the Almighty, with a blood atonement to meet the Lord at the mercy seat. After Aaron’s two sons did not approach Yahweh properly, and were devoured by fire, Leviticus 10:3 describes God’s requirements this way:
“By those who come near Me
I must be regarded as holy;
And before all the people
I must be glorified.”
Exodus closes with God forbidding Moses in Exodus 40:35 from entering the tabernacle of meeting because the glory of the Lord filled the place. But He had already assured Moses in Exodus 29:42 that a time was coming when He would meet him “at the door of the tabernacle of meeting… where I will… speak with you.” That time has now come, so Leviticus 1:1 opens with the Lord calling Moses ‘from the tabernacle of meeting.’
It was time for Yahweh to instruct His people, so at the base of Mt. Sinai for the next thirty days, very little happens by way of history while Israel is instructed in the ways of holiness. Yahweh has drawn near to His people; now it is time for His people to draw near to Him.
God’s Story related in Leviticus easily falls into two main sections: God’s Requirements for Worship (chs. 1-16); God’s Way of Worship (chs. 17-26). The overall theme of Leviticus is ‘holiness’, described in how God is present with His people; how a holy God requires His people to be holy; and how sin is atoned for through the offering of sacrifice before there is contact between the sinner and divine holiness. ‘Atonement’ means ‘cover’. The sins of Israel were covered by sprinkled blood once a year. This covering of sin by imperfect animal sacrifices was a shadow of the real thing.
The very first use of the word ‘worship’ is found in Genesis 22:5 in reference to Abraham taking his son to worship, which is closely related to the burnt offering on an altar. This connects altars and offerings to worship. There is little description of any structure for worship in Genesis.
- A physical structure (tabernacle) – it was a symbol for Israel.
- A special priesthood of men – this earthly priesthood was a preparation for Israel.
- Special clothing for priests, lamp stand, burning incense.
- Instruments of music.
- Feast days.
Why is the first description of worship so tied to the senses?
Sharing:
- It is how we experience the world.
- Our senses provide the best memory.
- It appeals to the way we want to see and feel, like Israel wanted to see the presence of God, even though it was in the symbol of a golden calf.
- Leviticus 11:44: “For I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy.”
- Leviticus 11:45: “For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”
- Leviticus 19:2: "Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: 'You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”
- Leviticus 20:7: “So set yourselves apart to be holy, for I am the Lord your God.”
- Leviticus 20:26: “And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.”
Sharing:
- This is a good time to pause and remember what God has done for us.
- God’s holiness contrasts to our sinfulness, and it causes us to come to him before we can do anything about our condition.
- Holiness is greater than our sinfulness.
- God talks more about His holiness than our sinfulness. We need to turn to Him, and not ourselves.
- Israel needed structure to worship. Without it they went back to what they knew in the past. However, structure is not what it’s all about.
- God’s ritual shows us what He wants us to do; otherwise it would just be like ‘clanging cymbals’.
- God designed the rituals for His people for that time in history.
- We don’t need to create a god; we already have a God who has created everything!
Ravi Zacharias reminds us that “we human beings are incurably religious. We long to worship and will even create our own objects of worship… it is imperative that we know whether the object we worship truly deserves our worship and actually has the characteristics we ascribe to it.” Because of this we have the potential of easily worshiping something or someone that does not deserve our worship.
This may very well be why Leviticus uses the word ‘holy’ 152 times! But another word that is a close second in use is ‘unclean’, which appears 132 times. And then the word ‘clean’ appears 74 times. Worship has a purpose, which is to shape our lives to be holy and clean. This is why Richard Foster says: “If worship does not change us, it has not been worship. To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change. Worship begins in holy expectancy; it ends in holy obedience.”
Holiness is what God is, and holiness also comprises His plan for His people. The English word ‘holy’ comes from the word ‘well’ or ‘whole’. Tozer wrote: “Holy is the way God is. To be holy He does not conform to a standard. He is that standard… whatever we think of as belonging to God must be thought of as holy.”
Our expression of holiness comes through true worship. ‘Worship’ means:
- Telling someone (or something) their worth-ship.
- For Israel it is proclaiming the wonderful acts of Yahweh.
- The essence of the Hebrew word worship was to ‘bow down’ (see Genesis 22:5; Exodus 34:14).
- Exodus 3:13 gives the meaning as ‘to worship by serving’.
- Worship has to do with lifestyle!
In Exodus the Lord previously called to Moses ‘from’ Mt. Sinai. In Leviticus He calls to him ‘from the tabernacle of meeting.’ Previously, Moses had not been able to approach this tent because the cloud had covered it, signifying the presence of God.
Things changed. God moved into the neighborhood. His people needed to reorganize their way of approaching the God who was now in their presence. So the Lord summoned Moses to give him instructions. He starts with directives regarding offerings: “Speak to the children of Israel… ‘When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord’…” (Leviticus 1:2). This was a radical change for people! In those days in Mesopotamia or Egypt an ordinary person was not allowed to view the text of any ritual. Now all of a sudden, the priest’s manual was an open book, a textbook for all Israel.
Moses’ role was to be a mediator between God and Israel. He was to communicate to the people that anyone was free to bring offerings to God. The nature of the offerings is underlined by the use of the word “when”. This indicates the conditional and optional nature of the sacrificial laws to follow. There were no fixed periods when people had to offer these sacrifices. The emphasis was on individual needs, and the instructions about offerings were meant to answer individual needs.
The instructions given in Leviticus about worship answer the question: How should sinful Israel arrange its entire existence around the wondrous Holy One who moved into their neighborhood?
The Presence of God was experienced:
- Through worship at the Tent of Meeting. Sacrificial ceremonies were done ‘before the Lord’ (Leviticus 1:5, 11), and produced ‘a sweet aroma to the Lord’ (Leviticus 1:9, 13, 17).
- Through the everyday duties of life. The phrase “I am the Lord your God” is found repeatedly, starting in Leviticus 11:44. It reminded the Israelites that every area of their lives were of concern to the Lord to such an extent that their worship of Yahweh was their lifestyle.
Moses deals with the central theme of all his writings in the middle of the Pentateuch. Worship is such an essential part of Israel that it was to be ‘right in the middle’ of their lives.
During the Exodus, Leviticus was written. ‘Leviticus’ means ‘about Levites’. The priests were drawn from this tribe of Israel, and they were responsible for maintaining Israel’s worship facilities and practices. Leviticus is also known as the Book of ‘Atonement’, which is clearly described in Leviticus 16:30-34. Israel’s sins were covered so that they could see life God’s way.
Without Leviticus life would be filled with meaningless rituals and rules. God took time through Moses to give reminders to Israel that as the sacrifices were performed day after day, and year after year, they would be reminded of the sin that cut them off from God’s presence. They had broken covenant with God by disobeying His laws. This kept them under the sentence of death. But God in His mercy showed them that He would accept a substitute, which would be the death of an animal, instead of the offender. This is a perfect demonstration of mercy: God’s love directed toward those in misery, as He withholds what a person rightfully deserves.
Describe the demonstration of God’s mercy in your life recently.
Sharing:
- We didn’t freeze to death in the recent winter storm that cut electricity supplies.
- We had hot food to eat, no accidents or deaths to report, and Christian brothers and sisters dropped in to check on one another.
- God’s mercy reminds us of what He is doing.
- It causes us to ‘evaluate’ our experiences.
Highly structured national worship was essential to the wellbeing of the nation. God’s laws worked in harmony with His own natural laws for the good of His people. Exodus 23:25 states that Israel’s obedience actually fulfilled God’s promise to take away their illness: “…you shall serve the Lord your God… And I will take sickness away from the midst of you.” God used His creation in natural ways to deal with their ailments.
God’s laws should be considered in light of:
Cultic practices: Some animals were considered unclean because of their association with the pagan cults around the Israelites. God intended His chosen people to stand out as holy people, serving one God, in contrast to the idolatrous nations around them who served multitudes of gods. All identification with pagan sacrifices had to be removed from their propensity (tendency) to return to bondage. It is too easy to find security in slavery. - Hygienic practices: By using his natural laws, God was dealing with infection, pollution and diet, giving purpose to quarantine, isolation, and preventive medicine for good hygiene. It was not that the animals and practices were ‘unclean’ in and of themselves, but their ‘use’ in the context of Israel’s conditions and lifestyle made them ‘unclean’ for that period and for specific purposes in that time in history. ‘Clean’ and ‘Unclean’ animals were clearly identified:
CLEAN AND UNCLEAN ANIMALS | ||
CLASSES | CLEAN | UNCLEAN |
Mammals | Two qualifications: Cloven hoofs Chewing of the cud Leviticus 11:3-7 | Carnivores and those not meeting both ‘clean’ qualifications |
Birds | Those not specifically listed as forbidden | Birds of prey or scavengers Leviticus 11:13-19 |
Reptiles | None | All Leviticus 11:29-30 |
Water Animals | Two qualifications: Fins Scales Leviticus 11:9-12 | Those not meeting both “clean” qualifications |
Insects | Those in the grasshopper family Leviticus 11:20-23 | Winged quadrupeds |
Basic Reasons: 1. Hygiene – Many of the forbidden animals were carriers of disease. 2. Cultic – Some animals were considered ‘unclean’ because of their association with pagan cults. | ||
Sharing:
- God’s laws are for our good, using them to protect us with natural laws. Birth death rates have been cut down by physicians washing their hands. This is the type of cleansing taught in Leviticus.
- God was not punishing the people with rules; He was setting boundaries to protect them.
- Blood was forbidden from the diet because life was found in the blood. Life of the flesh is in the blood. Blood, by reason of life, makes atonement, as Leviticus 17:11 explains.
- In tests and ways we would never ask for, God shows Himself and His plan.
- Every day we can have an awareness of what God is doing in our lives.
- Prayer is being ‘God-conscious’; being aware of God at work in and around us.
- We can think we have spiritual insight, but do we? We have constant reminders of God’s love when we remember Him daily.
