Leviticus Outline

The ESV Study Bible Key Themes

Key Themes

1. The holy Lord is present in the midst of his people (Ex. 40:34; Lev. 1:1). The people of Israel must therefore properly address their sin and impurity and must strive for personal holiness.

2. In order to approach God, worshipers must be wholehearted in their devotion (1:1–6:7; 22:17–30).

3. Those who are called to be spiritual leaders, such as priests, bear a heavier responsibility than do the laypeople (chs. 4; 21). In addition to the outward holiness that the priests are granted when ordained, they are constantly commanded to maintain inner holiness (chs. 8; 9; 10; 21).

4. As seen in the Day of Atonement ritual (ch. 16), the total cleansing of sins and uncleanness is done when the innermost part of the tent of meeting is purified. Ultimate purification of uncleanness is impossible from the human side.

5. Atonement is a gracious act of the Lord by which sins and impurities can be dealt with (17:11).

LEVITICUS IS A BOOK ABOUT GRACE.

It doesn’t feel that way for us because, we know it, as this book about weird “laws/requirements.” That means that we have to obey those rules in order to be right with God. That’s actually not true. Here’s why.

Let’s imagine you started on a journey to the greatest place on Earth. Disney. Someone has promised you an all expense paid for trip for 7 days! Your flight, room & board, food, and travel to and from Disney is covered. Truly the trip of a lifetime! Time for the trip is getting near and during your travel to the greatest place on Earth, you get lost. You know how important it is that you do not miss your flight and/or your cab because once lost, you’ll then have to cover the cost and the whole schedule gets outta whack and quite potentially CANCELLED. (NOT THE WORDS YOU WANT TO THINK ABOUT DURING THE JOURNEY TO THE GREATEST PLACE ON EARTH ONCE PROMISED) However, it happens and you get lost. Not only do you get lost, but you somehow misplaced your PHONE AND YOUR WALLET WITH CASH IN IT!

A simple careless mistake of being in a hurry to get to your promised destination has turned your trip into a momentary panic/nightmare.

That is exactly what happened with the Israelites. They had totally misplaced their worship and loyalty by being careless with it. God had given them basic commands to follow and they grew careless in their obedience and found themselves wandering in a desert for 40 years!

However, the journey doesn’t stop there. Something pretty miraculous happens. Just a few short moments pass and the cab driver you were last using shows up in the airport being escorted right to you. We’re talking TSA, security, and airport management leading this guy right to you and what’s he holding....? Your wallet AND your phone! He gets right to you, you open up the wallet or purse, and not a single dollar has been taken, but everything was left as is!

How crazy would that be? How crazy would it be to have TSA, security, and airport management cater to your most precious items during travel? If anybody has EVER flown, you KNOW just how crazy that is. Security and airport management is kind of known for being difficult, non-refundable, and items do get lost.

But....just like the crazy story you just heard....the Israelites experienced something very similar, to what we just identified as crazy. Just like the wallet and phone was graciously brought back, so did the Israelites have their worship and relationship with God restored beyond their greatest desire!

God gave them everything they needed during this journey and SO MUCH MORE!

The book of Leviticus starts on the heels of Exodus. Some scholars believe this book to be a continuation of Exodus because the Exodus doesn’t end where Leviticus starts.

What I’d like to accomplish by teaching this book

No book in the Old Testament presents a greater challenge to the modern reader than Leviticus, and imagination is required to picture the ceremonies and rites that form the bulk of the book. However, it is important to try to understand the rituals in Leviticus for two reasons. First, rituals enshrine, express, and teach those values and ideas that a society holds most dear. By analyzing the ceremonies described in Leviticus, we can learn about what was most important to the Old Testament Israelites. Second, these same ideas are foundational for the New Testament writers. The concepts of holiness, cleanness and uncleanness found in Leviticus shed important light on how New Testament writers interpret the death of Christ (see Christ in Leviticus below).

While the rituals of Leviticus are often obscure to us, they were so central to Old Testament thinking that they required no explanation to the first readers of Leviticus. Every Israelite knew why a particular sacrifice was offered on a specific occasion and what a certain gesture meant. For readers today, every hint in the text must be grasped to understand these things, and a judicious reading between the lines is sometimes required.

R. C. Sproul, ed., The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version (2015 Edition) (Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust, 2015), 156.

FOR YOU....

LAWS LOOK OUT....NOT LOCK OUT

Meaning, they identify what is not safe, and what you should avoid so you do not get hurt or mislead. Laws are not meant to keep people away by obedience and holiness, they are meant to help people to become obedient and grow in holiness.

THEY HELP YOU UP, NOT HOLD YOU DOWN

They identify what will GIVE YOU life....not HOLD you down and RESTRICT LIFE. These laws identify what actually adds to your meaning, purpose, and satisfaction. They are not identifying what may “seem” like fun but actually robs you of your satisfaction.

Here’s the thing....people are passionate about laws. They make careers and devote lifelong practice to understanding the laws and how to sometimes navigate around them. Laws are created to restrict misguidance, not necessarily enforce obedience. Laws are created to help us understand what’s safe and how things operate. They are greater than instructions, stronger than navigation, and heavily consequential.

Laws are important because they give us structure and hold us accountable. We are not able to just do as we please and get away with it. That kind of world would easily self-destruct and that’s not the kind of world our God has created and gifted us with.

God knows our journey and has promised us the trip of a lifetime. This book is about grace and God modeled that by just a few examples. Let’s kick this series off with this first Scripture and I’ll break it down for us.

Leviticus 1:1 ESV

1 The Lord called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying,