Leviticus 1-7

Introduction (min 40-35)

plan for Leviticus is 4 weeks:

Introduction and Laws of Sacrifice (Chapters 1-7) this morning

Priestly Ministry and Purity Laws (Chapters 8-15) next week

The Day of Atonement (Chapter 16) the third week

Holiness Code and Festivals (Chapters 17-27) the fourth week

Written by Moses (even if it was someone else’s hand, it was His words):

Matthew 5:48 “48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.”

Leviticus 19:2 “2 Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.”

Matthew 8:4 “4 And Jesus saith unto him, See thou tell no man; but go thy way, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony unto them.” (Quoting Lev 13 and 14)

Matthew 22:37–39 “37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”

Leviticus 19:18 “18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.”

Leviticus in the Pentateuch

What’s the Pentateuch; first 5 books of the Bible; Greek: penta = 5, teuchos = scrolls; Jews separate the OT into 3 sections: The Law, The Prophets, and The Writings.

Genesis: Creation of the world, early human history, and the stories of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.

Exodus: Israelites' enslavement in Egypt, their liberation led by Moses, the Ten Commandments, and the establishment of the covenant with God.

Leviticus: Laws and regulations for priests and Israelites, covering rituals, sacrifices, and moral conduct.

Numbers: Census of the Israelites, their wanderings in the wilderness for 40 years, and various laws and historical events.

Deuteronomy: Moses' farewell speeches, recounting Israel's history and restating the law before entering the Promised Land.

Center of the Pentateuch

To really start to understand all the book of Hebrews says, the writer assumes we have a really good understanding and foundation of all God tells us is required to be brought back into fellowship he gave in the Pentateuch.

Main themes of Leviticus

holiness: to be set apart;

Oxford Dictionary’s definition of holiness is “the state of being holy,” and the definition of holy is “dedicated or consecrated to God or a religious purpose; sacred” or “morally and spiritually excellent.”

unclean -> clean -> holy = sin -> righteous -> holy

separated by sin -> morally right or justifiable -> set apart and dedicated wholly to God

no good analogy for sin! Righteousness and holiness: a baseball player for the Atlanta Braves, he has been declared good enough to be a part of that team. From a young age, he set himself apart to that purpose, perfected his game, and he continues to practice and improve as he plays.

In this analogy, righteousness is the players position on the team. He has been given a position, his talents have been approved, and he belongs to the organization.

Holiness is the ball players dedication and devotion to his game. Everything in his life—what he eats, whom he knows, how he spends his time and money—bows to this purpose

sacrifice: The Law of Moses required animal sacrifices to atone for sin in Israel, and there were a lot of sacrifices made: “the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year”

Hebrews 10:1 “1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.”

About one sixth of the laws under the Mosaic system pertained to sacrifices and offerings.

ritual purity: Ceremonial cleansing was a removal of defilement that resulted in someone or something being declared “pure” in a formal, religious sense.

To be ceremonially unclean was to be defiled in some way or causing defilement in something else.

The priest had to be cleansed and made holy to be able to perform the sacrifices commanded by God for His people

Chapter 16 and The Atonement (At-one-ment) is the central theme of Leviticus

The term is derived from Anglo-Saxon words meaning “making at one,” hence “at-one-ment.”

The act by which God and man are brought together in personal relationship.

To be brought together means there was separation or alienation that needs to be overcome if human beings are to know God and have fellowship with him.

Tied closely to such terms as reconciliation and forgiveness.

Context and Structure (min 35-25)

Historical and cultural context

Overall structure of the book

Chapters 1–7 outline the offerings required of both the laity and the priesthood.

Chapters 8–10 describe the consecration of Aaron and his sons to the priesthood.

Chapters 11–16 are the prescriptions for various types of uncleanness.

The final 10 chapters are God’s guidelines to His people for practical holiness.

Various feasts were instituted in the people’s worship of God, convened and practiced according to God’s laws.

Blessings or curses would accompany either the keeping or neglect of God’s commandments (chapter 26).

Vows to the Lord are covered in chapter 27.

The Burnt Offering (Chapter 1) (min 25-22)

Leviticus 1:3–4 “3 If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD. 4 And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.”

The Hebrew word for “burnt offering” actually means to “ascend,“ literally to “go up in smoke.” The smoke from the sacrifice ascended to God, “a soothing aroma to the LORD” (Leviticus 1:9 “9 But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.” )

One of, if not the earliest and most frequent sacrifices. Genesis 8:20 “20 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.”

A choice animal is offered and was completely consumed by fire made for general atonement - an acknowledgement of the sin nature and a request for renewed relationship with God

The Israelites brought a bull, sheep, or goat, a male with no defect, and killed it at the entrance to the tabernacle.

The animal’s blood was drained, and the priest sprinkled blood around the altar.

The animal was skinned and cut it into pieces, the intestines and legs washed, and the priest burned the pieces over the altar all night.

The priest received the skin as a fee for his help. A turtledove or pigeon could also be sacrificed, although they weren’t skinned.

The ultimate fulfilment is Christ’s death on the Cross.

His physical life was completely consumed,

He ascended to God,

and His covering (that is, His garment) was distributed to those who officiated over His sacrifice (Matthew 27:35 “35 And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots.” )

But most importantly, His sacrifice, once for all time, atoned for our sins and restored our relationship with God.

The Meat or Grain Offering (Chapter 2) (min 22-19)

Grain offerings would often be presented after a burnt offering.

Blood had to be shed for the remission of sins to take place, so a grain offering would not serve the same purpose as a burnt offering. Instead, the purpose of a grain offering was to worship God and acknowledge His provision.

most likely been one of wheat or barley, depending on what was available (other sacrifices are very specific but the meat offering has more flexibility)

it had to be finely ground and have oil and salt in it (Leviticus 2:1, 4, 13).

It could not have any yeast (also called leaven) or honey in it (Leviticus 2:11).

When a person brought a grain offering to the priests, a small portion of it was offered to God, with some frankincense, on the altar.

The rest of the grain offering went to the priests (Leviticus 2:10).

No specific amount of grain was required for an offering; people were free to give what they had.

The burnt offering, which had strict regulations and could have nothing added to it, aptly represents the fact that we take no part in our atonement for sin. The grain offering was to be given out of a person’s free will, just as our worship is our free will offering to God today.

During the Israelites’ forty years of wilderness wandering grain would have been quite scarce.

This made grain offerings more costly and precious for the people to offer to God. Giving a grain offering in those circumstances represented the Israelites’ complete dependence on God to provide for their needs each day.

Jesus fulfilled the Law (Matthew 5:17), and we no longer have to do sacrifices as they did in the Old Testament. But, if the grain offering is similar to our offering of worship, it’s interesting to consider: how much does our worship today cost us?

The Peace or Fellowship Offering (Chapter 3) (min 19-16)

The modern idea of a peace offering, also known as a fellowship offering, is that of “a propitiatory or conciliatory gift.”

A man who offends his wife will often visit a florist with the thought that bringing home flowers will help smooth things over—the bouquet will be a “peace offering” of sorts.

Propitiate means “to make someone pleased or less angry by giving or saying something desired,” and conciliatory means “intended to placate or pacify.”

The phrase peace offering has come to mean something completely different—almost the exact opposite—of what it originally meant in the Bible.

Was a voluntary sacrifice given to God in three specific instances.

First, a peace offering could be given as a freewill offering, meaning that the worshiper was giving the peace offering as a way to say thank you for God’s unsought generosity. It was basically just a way to praise God for His goodness.

The second way a peace offering could be given was alongside a fulfilled vow. A good example of this was when Hannah fulfilled her vow to God by bringing Samuel to the temple; on that occasion she also brought a peace offering to express the peace in her heart toward God concerning her sacrifice—it was a way to say, “I have no resentment; I am holding nothing back in the payment of my vow.”

The third purpose of a peace offering was to give thanksgiving for God’s deliverance in an hour of dire need. None of these three reasons to sacrifice had anything to do with propitiation, with appeasing God, or with pacifying Him.

the peace offering was meant to be eaten—only a portion of the animal or grain brought to the altar was burned; the rest was given back to the worshiper and to the poor and hungry.

The beautiful picture here is of God’s provision for His people, both physically and spiritually. His grace and goodness are present throughout the offerings.

In the peace offering, God was providing what we need: a way to thank Him for His goodness and physical sustenance.

The Sin Offering (Chapter 4 through 5:13) (min 16-11)

A sin offering was a sacrifice, made according to the Mosaic Law, which provided atonement for sin.

The Hebrew phrase for “sin offering” literally means “fault offering.”

The sin offering was made for sins committed in ignorance, or unintentionally sinned by breaking one of the Lord’s commandments and later realized his guilt (Leviticus 4:27)

The ritualistic method of the sin offering and the animal to be offered varied depending on the status of the sinner.

a high priest who sinned unintentionally would offer a young bull.

A king or a prince would offer a young male goat.

People in the congregation would sacrifice a young female goat or lamb, unless they were too poor, in which case they were only required to offer two turtledoves or pigeons.

Sin offerings were also part of the ceremonies on the Day of Atonement

In some cases, some of the blood was also sprinkled inside the tabernacle (verses 6 and 17). Then all the rest of the blood was poured at the base of the altar (verse 34).

The fat of the sin offering was removed and burned on the altar.

In some cases, the body of the animal was burned outside the camp (verse 12); in other cases, the meat of the sin offering could be eaten by the priests.

The sin offering was a poignant picture of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the sins of the world.

He was a “lamb without blemish” (1 Peter 1:19; cf. Leviticus 4:32) whose precious blood was spilled after being publicly slain.

Crucified outside the city of Jerusalem, just as the sin offering was to be burnt outside the camp (Hebrews 13:12; cf. Leviticus 4:12).

Just as the sacrificial lamb makes atonement for unintentional sins, Jesus’ blood made atonement for the sin of any person who realizes his guilt before God and asks for that atonement to be applied to him (John 3:16; Ephesians 1:7).

The Trespass or Guilt Offering (Chapter 5:14 through 6:7) (min 11-6)

The trespass/guilt offering was required when a person unintentionally violated some of the Lord’s holy things. “Holy things” would normally refer to things that had been dedicated to the Lord—anything from the sanctuary itself to the portion of the offerings that were normally reserved for the priests (The priests and Levites were the recipients of many of the offerings that were offered to the Lord—this was the provision that the Lord made for their support as they had no land of their own).

“Unintentionally”: A person forgot to fulfill a vow, made some mistake in the fulfilling of it, accidently ate food that was reserved for the priests, or mistakenly ate a firstborn animal from his own flock.

In these cases the offender had to bring a sacrificial animal (an unblemished ram or male lamb) to offer and also compensate the priests an extra 20 percent for what they had been deprived.

The offender could also bring, instead of an animal, the price of the animal in silver.

When a person with a very sensitive (perhaps oversensitive) conscience thought that he might have sinned against holy property, he could bring the trespass/guilt offering “just in case,” but in that situation no restitution was made to the priests.

The trespass offering was also brought when a person had committed a violation against another person. In this case the offender had to repay damages plus 20 percent in addition to making the animal sacrifice.

In a trespass offering, the ram or male lamb was slaughtered; the blood was splashed on the altar, and some of the blood was applied to the right ear lobe, right thumb, and right big toe of the one making the offering.

Then oil was applied to the same places, and the head of the one making the offering was anointed.

Most of the sacrificial animal was burned; however, the priests were able to eat some portions while they were in the sanctuary.

Significance of the Sacrificial System (min 6-5)

God is not interested in taking from us.

The lie we so often believe is that our good actions bring about His goodness, and our sinful actions must be paid for in personal sacrifice.

Worshipers in the Old Testament were not any more responsible for their salvation than worshipers in the New Testament.

Throughout the ages, people have been tempted to think that sacrifices create God’s favor.

This belief is evident in our modern understanding of a peace offering as a propitiation for wrongdoing.

Or our understanding of worship today as an act that if we do, we can please God or make Him less angry at what we’ve done (meat offering)

But only Christ’s sacrifice creates favor with God and covers wrongdoing, and the Old Testament sacrifices were a picture of that future provision.

Conclusion (min 5-0)

Think about how painful it was for sinners under the Mosaic Law to slaughter an innocent animal when they knew they were the ones who had done wrong.

In the same way, it is painful for us to admit our guilt and to know that the innocent and holy Son of God took the punishment for our sin. But this salvation God has provided, and it is the only way.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Praise the Lord that sin offerings are no longer required, because we have been redeemed “with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” 1 Peter 1:19