OT Study: Leviticus Pt. 3

VI. Priestly Regulations ()

VI. Priestly Regulations () Main Point The main point of this section is to show that the priests who serve the Lord must be holy

Main Point 

The main point of this section is to show that the priests who serve the Lord must be holy 

Exposition

Exposition

10 “The priest who is chief among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil is poured and who has been consecrated to wear the garments, shall not let the hair of his head hang loose nor tear his clothes.

22:1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to Aaron and his sons so that they abstain from the holy things of the people of Israel, which they dedicate to me, so that they do not profane my holy name: I am the Lord. 3 Say to them, ‘If any one of all your offspring throughout your generations approaches the holy things that the people of Israel dedicate to the Lord, while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence: I am the Lord.

18 “Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of the house of Israel or of the sojourners in Israel presents a burnt offering as his offering, for any of their vows or freewill offerings that they offer to the Lord, 19 if it is to be accepted for you it shall be a male without blemish, of the bulls or the sheep or the goats. 20 You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you. 21 And when anyone offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it.

The priest was held to a higher standard of general conduct, cleanliness and holiness than for the standard Israelite. He was to avoid any contact with the dead, except to bury his closest relatives. He was only allowed to marry the most pure women of the congregation. He was to avoid ever taking on the appearance of one who mourns by cutting his hair, cutting his skin or tearing his clothes. His body must be without blemish or defect just as the animals that he was to sacrifice. If the priest was unholy and blemished and the sacrificial animals were blemished then the system would be unholy and blemished too. Therefore the priests and the sacrifice were to be holy. 

1 And the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the

Review 

In the previous chapters we saw that YHWH required his people to be holy before Him and before all the nations. They were to be holy in their personal lives by abstaining from taking on the appearance and practices of the pagan nations around them. This meant abstaining from the sexual immorality and the pagan rituals that were so normal in Egypt and in Canaan. They were also to be holy in how they worshipped, making sure to only sacrifice to YHWH and only sacrifice to Him at His Tabernacle. Lastly, we saw that Israel was to demonstrate their holiness to God and obedience to His commands in how they loved each other. In Leviticus 19:18 we find this command, “you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” and it was later in that chapter the command to treat the immigrant and the sojourner with the same type of love. The message is clear, Israel was to be holy in every aspect of their lives. As God says in Leviticus 19:2, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy”

VII. Ceremonial Regulations () 

Main Point

The main point of this section is that Israel must see their time as holy. God set the agenda for their yearly and weekly calendar for He is the owner of their time for He is their Master. 

Overview

Sabbath ()

Religious Festivals ()

Special Tabernacle Treatment ()

Exposition

1. Sabbath ()

2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts. 3 “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.

Notice that these days are appointed feasts that are holy unto God. They are, in a way, national holidays. So then, just as Independence Day celebrates and instructs Americans about their heritage and their freedom, so to did these holidays celebrate and instruct Israel about their God.

 As previously mentioned, celebrating the Sabbath was an act that pointed back to Creation. God didn’t just take a break on the 7th day. The Sabbath was a moment of perfect enjoyment between God and all His creation. It was a moment in which God’s creation was declared, “very good”, meaning that all that  God had made was perfectly existing for the purpose that He made it. It was a moment where God blessed all creation and where curse had not yet existed. So then, by remembering the Sabbath, Israel was pointing back to this moment of rest that existed in Eden. This was the most important holiday for it was celebrate every 7 days. That is how important the message of returning to Edenic rest was to God’s people. 

This connection back to creation finds its way to us in the Church through the Resurrection of Christ. Christ the Messiah is returning His people and all of creation back to paradise. When He was raised He defeated the curse of death and guaranteed the redemption of His people and the Creation. He was raised on Sunday which was the first day of the original creation, signifying that He is the beginning of a New Creation. By meeting on Sunday to worship Christ the King of the New Creation, each one of us is point forward to when He will return and bring us to paradise. 

2. Religious Festivals ()

A. Passover (23:4-8) 

5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the Lord's Passover. 6 And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.

The first yearly feast to be celebrated was Passover. This feast caused the Israelites to remember back to their slavery in Egypt and all God’s miraculous wonders He performed in order to bring them out of Egypt. Specifically, this commemorated the final defeat of Pharaoh with the 10th plague in which God killed all the first born Egyptians but spared all who had the blood of a lamb over their doorpost. This feast also looked forward to Him whom the passover lamb symbolized, Jesus Christ. Jesus was slain on the Friday of Passover Week as the ultimate Passover Lamb. 

Similar to the Sabbath, Passover finds a continuation in the New Covenant age. We celebrate the Ultimate Passover Lamb everytime we celebrate communion. There was a reason Christ inaugurated communion during the Passover. Just as Israel was to remember God’s redemption of their lives from slavery to Egypt, so too must we think back to God’s redemption of our lives from slavery to sin through Christ’s sacrifice every time that we celebrate Passover. 

B. Feast of Weeks (23:9-22)

9 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 10 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, 11 and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.

15 “You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. 16 You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord.

The next feast of the calender year was the Feast of Weeks. This festival included two celebrations. On the first day after the Sabbath of the Unleavened Bread week, which celebrated in connection with Passover, Israel was to bring their first fruits of the barley harvest. This was to be done once the Exodus ended and Israel began to farm in the Promised Land. The idea of first fruits is that Israelites would take the very first sheaves of barley that they were able to harvest and sacrifice that to God. This was done to celebrate God’s provision of this first fruit and then demonstrate their trust that He would continue to provide the rest of the crop. The Feast of Weeks was then celebrated 50 days later when Israel would bring the first fruits of the wheat harvest. 

When Greek influence on the world reached its height, this feast became known as Pentecost (Greek for 50). It was on the day of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit filled the saints and the church was inaugurated. This is why both James and Paul call the saints the firstfruits of God. The church then is the initial guarantee of God’s salvation of His people. 

C. Feasts of Trumpets (23:23-25)

24 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation.

The feast of Trumpets was performed on the first day of the seventh month in order to announce the beginning of the Sabbatical month. It was in this month that two of the three major Jewish holy days are celebrated: the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Booths 

D. Day of Atonement (23:26-32)

27 “Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present a food offering to the Lord. 28 And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God.

As we learned in , the Day of Atonement was the one day in the year that intentional sins were forgiven along with unintentional sins. On this day the sins of the priest and the sins of the entire nation were placed on the sacrificial goat that was slain in the Tabernacle and the guilt of these sins were placed on the scapegoat that was sent off into the wilderness. It was also a day in which the priest purified the entire Tabernacle, thus resetting the entire sacrificial system for that year. Ultimately this pointed forward to Christ, the perfect sacrificial Lamb and High Priest, who entered into the Heavenly Temple of God and presented Himself as the sacrifice for all His people’s sins. 

E. Feast of Tabernacles/Booths (23:33-44)

33 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 34 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the Lord.

39 “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest.40 And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. 41 You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. 42 You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, 43 that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

The last of the yearly feasts was the Feast of Booths. Similar to the Feast of Weeks, this Feast was to be celebrated once Israel entered the Promised Land. Also the Feast of Weeks celebrated the beginning of Harvest and the Feast of Booths was celebrated at the end of the harvest. Both these feasts inherently were times of worshipping God for bringing Israel to the Promised Land and providing for them there.  It was also a celebration of the end of the Exodus, which is why they were to make booths, or tents, and live in them for seven days just as the Israelites lived in booths in the wilderness. God was faithful to provide for them in the Exodus and He was faithful to end the Exodus and establish His people in the promised land. 

As we will see later in this section and then again in Deuteronomy, Israel will be exiled out of the Promised Land due to the disobedience. There are multiple prophecies in the Old Testament telling of a coming Messiah who will be like Moses and lead Israel in a second Exodus back to the Promised Land and rule over them as their King. When the Messiah does this, the prophet Zechariah prophesies that, “16 Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths.” As this has not yet happened, we look forward to when Christ returns, fulfills this prophecies and ends Israel’s exile. Then we, along with redeemed Israel will celebrate the Feast of Booths. 

3. Special Tabernacle Treatment ()

1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil from beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning regularly. 3 Outside the veil of the testimony, in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall arrange it from evening to morning before the Lord regularly. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. 4 He shall arrange the lamps on the lampstand of pure gold before the Lord regularly.5 “You shall take fine flour and bake twelve loaves from it; two tenths of an ephah shall be in each loaf. 6 And you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile, on the table of pure gold before the Lord. 7 And you shall put pure frankincense on each pile, that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion as a food offering to the Lord. 8 Every Sabbath day Aaron shall arrange it before the Lord regularly; it is from the people of Israel as a covenant forever. 9 And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, since it is for him a most holy portion out of the Lord's food offerings, a perpetual due.”

This section ends with specific instructions regarding the Lamps and the Bread of Presence inside the Tabernacle. Remember in Exodus that these elements of the Tabernacle had a theological purpose. The light from the gold lampstands were a representation of the light emanating from the presence of God as He lived amongst the nation in the Tabernacle. The Bread of Presence was a memorial to how God provided manna to the Israelites in the wilderness and it’s perpetual representation in the Tabernacle was a symbol celebrating that God would always provide for His covenant people. The High Priest then was to maintain these two memorial every Sabbath. 

VIII. Societal Regulations ()

Main Point 

The main point of this section is that the community of God as a whole must uphold holiness. 

Overview 

Blaspheming God’s Name ()

Eye for an Eye ()

Sabbatic Year and Year of Jubilee Regulations ()

Exposition

1. Blaspheming God’s Name ()

10 Now an Israelite woman's son, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the people of Israel. And the Israelite woman's son and a man of Israel fought in the camp, 11 and the Israelite woman's son blasphemed the Name, and cursed. Then they brought him to Moses. His mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of And they put him in custody, till the will of the Lord should be clear to them. 13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 14 “Bring out of the camp the one who cursed, and let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. 15 And speak to the people of Israel, saying, Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. 16 Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.

Here Leviticus switches from instruction and law to a historical account of a woman’s son who blasphemed the Name of God. This was a direct violation of the 3rd Command. It is unclear what exactly was said and the account is intentionally vague in order to indicate to all the nation and future readers who serious of a sin blasphemy was. It require that the entire community put the blasphemer to death by stoning. Not only was this established to keep the people from blaspheming, it was also established to establish that the entire community was responsible for keeping each individual responsible for keeping God’s Law. 

2. Eye for an Eye ()

17 “Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death. 18 Whoever takes an animal's life shall make it good, life for life. 19 If anyone injures his neighbor, as he has done it shall be done to him, 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him. 21 Whoever kills an animal shall make it good, and whoever kills a person shall be put to death.22 You shall have the same rule for the sojourner and for the native, for I am the Lord your God.”

This was not a prohibition for revenge. It was a command for the community of Israel to carry out just punishment that was not too severe, or too lenient, but fit the crime. 

3. Sabbatic Year and Year of Jubilee Regulations ()

1 The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. 3 For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, 4 but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. 5 You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. 6 The Sabbath of the land shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves and for your hired worker and the sojourner who lives with you, 7 and for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land: all its yield shall be for food. 8 “You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land. 10 And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines. 12 For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You may eat the produce of the field. 13 “In this year of jubilee each of you shall return to his property. 14 And if you make a sale to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another. 15 You shall pay your neighbor according to the number of years after the jubilee, and he shall sell to you according to the number of years for crops. 16 If the years are many, you shall increase the price, and if the years are few, you shall reduce the price, for it is the number of the crops that he is selling to you. 17 You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God, for I am the Lord your God. 18 “Therefore you shall do my statutes and keep my rules and perform them, and then you will dwell in the land securely. 19 The land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and dwell in it securely. 20 And if you say, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow or gather in our crop?’ 21 I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years. 22 When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating some of the old crop; you shall eat the old until the ninth year, when its crop arrives.

Every seventh year was to be considered a Sabbatic Year. This was to provide the land with a period of rest as well. This practice would revitalize the soil of the land. During this time no work was to be performed and there was to be no harvest of the usual crops. The people were to instead feed themselves off of the natural produce of the land. Would be considered a Year of Jubilee. There will be further instruction on the Year of Jubilee in Deuteronomy. However what we see here is that this a year in which property in the land was to be returned to the original land owner. As we shall see later in Joshua, the Promised Land will be divided according to each tribe, and each tribe will divide their allotment amongst the families of that tribe. The Year of Jubilee was instituted in order to preserve each families’ portion of the Promised Land. If someone sold part of their land, they were to buy it back at a fair price during this time. If someone bought another families land, they were to return it to them in exchange for a fair payment. 

IX. Blessings and Curses ()

Main Point 

In this section we see the covenantal section of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. The main point of this section is that God blesses those who are holy unto Him. With this section and with the similar section in Deuteronomy it is important to remember that these physical blessings were given to the Israelite people. In we see that for us who are in Christ we have received every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Because our righteousness does not come from keeping God’s Laws but from Christ’s righteousness we receive blessings from God on Christ’s behalf. The physical blessings that we might experience on earth surely come from the providential hand of God, but we are not promised health and wealth on this earth for obeying New Testament commands. 

Overview

Blessings for Obedience (26:1-13)

Chastisement for Disobedience (26:14-39)

Restoration for Repentance (26:40-46)

Exposition

1. Blessings for Obedience (26:1-13)

1 You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God. 2 You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord. 3 “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, 4 then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5 Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely. 6 I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land.

9 I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you. 10 You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new. 11 I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.

Again notice the importance in this covenant relationship of following the first two commandments. They were to worship God alone and never to worship idols. They were to keep His Sabbath and obey His commandments. This is how they were to serve their Master and demonstrate their love and devotion to Him. In return for their obedience and their love, God promised to reward them with blessings. These included an abundance in fruitfulness, victory over enemies and peace from the surrounding nations, and an abundance in childbearing and family fruitfulness. The final promise of God was that He would dwell among them. The phrase walk among you used to describe this relationship in verse 12 is the same phrase that is used to describe Enoch’s relationship with God and Adam and Eve’s relationship that they had with God in the Garden. See here how the message that Israel was to show to the world is founded in this promise. Israel, by being holy, would be able to experience the relationship with God that man had in Eden. 

2. Chastisement for Disobedience (26:14-39) 

14 “But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, 15 if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17 I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you. 18 And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins,

21 “Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins. 22 And I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that your roads shall be deserted. 23 “And if by this discipline you are not turned to me but walk contrary to me, 24 then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins.

. 27 “But if in spite of this you will not listen to me, but walk contrary to me, 28 then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I myself will discipline you sevenfold for your sins.

32 And I myself will devastate the land, so that your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled at it. 33 And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.

38 And you shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. 39 And those of you who are left shall rot away in your enemies' lands because of their iniquity, and also because of the iniquities of their fathers they shall rot away like them.

The problem that we saw in Genesis and again in Exodus is that man naturally tends to rebel against God instead of following Him and His commandments. Such rebellion carried out by the people of Israel was considered a violation of the covenant of God and therefore worthy of discipline. Notice that this discipline, these curses for disobedience, are progressive in nature. God’s curses begin as famine, panic and lack of peace from enemies. If Israel was to continue in their rebellion these curses would progress to God sending pestilence and attacks from wild beasts. If Israel did not respond to God’s discipline with repentance these curses would find their end in Israel’s cities being under siege and eventually conquered and the people being exiled to foreign lands. What we see from this is that God intended for the curses to cause Israel to repent. They were forms of discipline to guide the people back to holiness and devotion to God. This principle holds true in the New Covenant era of today,  “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” ()

3. Restoration for Repentance (26:40-46)

40 “But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their fathers in their treachery that they committed against me, and also in walking contrary to me,41 so that I walked contrary to them and brought them into the land of their enemies—if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, 42 then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.

. 45 But I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the Lord.” 46 These are the statutes and rules and laws that the Lord made between himself and the people of Israel through Moses on Mount Sinai.

When God’s people do repent of their iniquity, God will restore them to the covenant relationship and covenant promises. Even though Israel was, and in large part still is exiled from the promised land and the covenant relationship with God, God does not and will not abandon them. He will remember His covenant and He will be their God. These blessings and curses, as well as God’s plan for redemption will be further developed at the end of Deuteronomy. 

X. Redeeming what has been Set Aside ()

Main Point

The main point of this section is to show that God’s people must be holy in honoring the vows they make to Him and His holy Tabernacle.  

Exposition

1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, If anyone makes a special vow to the Lord involving the valuation of persons, 3 then the valuation of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary.

9 “If the vow is an animal that may be offered as an offering to the Lord, all of it that he gives to the Lord is holy.

14 “When a man dedicates his house as a holy gift to the Lord, the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall stand. 15 And if the donor wishes to redeem his house, he shall add a fifth to the valuation price, and it shall be his. 16 “If a man dedicates to the Lord part of the land that is his possession, then the valuation shall be in proportion to its seed. A homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver.

26 “But a firstborn of animals, which as a firstborn belongs to the Lord, no man may dedicate; whether ox or sheep, it is the Lord's. 27 And if it is an unclean animal, then he shall buy it back at the valuation, and add a fifth to it; or, if it is not redeemed, it shall be sold at the valuation. 28 “But no devoted thing that a man devotes to the Lord, of anything that he has, whether man or beast, or of his inherited field, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord. 29 No one devoted, who is to be devoted for destruction from mankind, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death. 30 “Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord.

Because only the Levites were allowed to work in the Tabernacle, people of the other tribe could contribute by vowing persons, animals, houses or land. There was a monetary value affixed to each of these vows. When one made vowed to give something to the Lord and His Tabernacle they were commanded to redeem that vow. These vows could not include the firstborn animal, the tithe or any other devoted thing that already belonged to God in the first place. If an Israelite dedicated something to God, he was to honor this vow and either give what he promised or pay the proper price for what he promised in order to buy it back. 

What theological truths from the commandments to uphold the feasts can we apply to how we celebrate Sundays or the partaking of Communion

What do we learn about the nature of God’s discipline from the section on curses for disobedience? 

Which lessons from the Book of Leviticus have impacted your view of God and/or your Christian life? 

Questions for Application

What principles from the laws against engaging in pagan worship practice and loving the sojourner can we apply today?

sons of Aaron, and say to them, No one shall make

What changes when the command to love your neighbor as yourself is seen in light of serving God as your Master and representing Him rightly? 

What theological truths from the commandments to uphold the feasts can we apply to how we celebrate Sundays or the partaking of Communion

What theological truths from the commandments to uphold the feasts can we apply to how we celebrate Sundays or the partaking of Communion

What principles from the laws against engaging in pagan worship practice and loving the sojourner can we apply today?

What do we learn about the nature of God’s discipline from the section on curses for disobedience? 

What do we learn about the nature of God’s discipline from the section on curses for disobedience? 

himself unclean for the dead among his people,2 except

Which lessons from the Book of Leviticus have impacted your view of God and/or your Christian life? 

Which lessons from the Book of Leviticus have impacted your view of God and/or your Christian life? 

for his closest relatives, his mother, his father, his son, his

daughter, his brother, 3 or his virgin sister (who is near

to him because she has had no husband; for her he may

make himself unclean). 4 He shall not make himself

unclean as a husband among his people and so profane

himself. 5 They shall not make bald patches on their

heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor

make any cuts on their body. 6 They shall be holy to

their God and not profane the name of their God. For

they offer the Lord's food offerings, the bread of their

God; therefore they shall be holy. 7 They shall not marry

a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled, neither

shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband,

for the priest is holy to his God. 8 You shall sanctify him,

for he offers the bread of your God. He shall be holy to

you, for I, the Lord, who sanctify you, am holy. 9 And the

daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by

whoring, profanes her father; she shall be burned with

fire. 10 ​“The priest who is chief among his brothers, on

whose head the anointing oil is poured and who has

been consecrated to wear the garments, shall not let

the hair of his head hang loose nor tear his clothes. 1​ 1

He shall not go in to any dead bodies nor make himself

unclean, even for his father or for his mother. 12 He shall

not go out of the sanctuary, lest he profane the

sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of the

anointing oil of his God is on him: I am the Lord. 13 And

he shall take a wife in her virginity. 14 A widow, or a

divorced woman, or a woman who has been defiled, or

a prostitute, these he shall not marry. But he shall take

as his wife a virgin of his own people, 15 that he may not

profane his offspring among his people, for I am the

Lord who sanctifies him.” 16 And the Lord spoke to

Moses, saying, 17 “Speak to Aaron, saying, None of your

offspring throughout their generations who has a

blemish may approach to offer the bread of his God. 18

For no one who has a blemish shall draw near, a man

blind or lame, or one who has a mutilated face or a limb

too long, 19 or a man who has an injured foot or an

injured hand, 20 or a hunchback or a dwarf or a man

with a defect in his sight or an itching disease or scabs

or crushed testicles. 21 No man of the offspring of Aaron

the priest who has a blemish shall come near to offer

the Lord's food offerings; since he has a blemish, he

shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. 22 He

may eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy and

of the holy things, 23 but he shall not go through the veil

or approach the altar, because he has a blemish, that he

may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am the Lord who

sanctifies them.” 24 So Moses spoke to Aaron and to his

sons and to all the people of Israel. 2​ 2:1 And the Lord

spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to Aaron and his

sons so that they abstain from the holy things of the

people of Israel, which they dedicate to me, so that

they do not profane my holy name: I am the Lord. 3

Say to them, ‘If any one of all your offspring

throughout your generations approaches the holy

things that the people of Israel dedicate to the Lord,

while he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut

off from my presence: I am the Lord.​ 4​ ​None of the

offspring of Aaron who has a leprous disease or a

discharge may eat of the holy things until he is clean.

Whoever touches anything that is unclean through

contact with the dead or a man who has had an

emission of semen, 5​ ​and whoever touches a swarming

thing by which he may be made unclean or a person

from whom he may take uncleanness, whatever his

uncleanness may be— 6​ ​the person who touches such a

thing shall be unclean until the evening and shall not eat

of the holy things unless he has bathed his body in

water. ​7 W​ hen the sun goes down he shall be clean, and

afterward he may eat of the holy things, because they

are his food. 8​ ​He shall not eat what dies of itself or is

torn by beasts, and so make himself unclean by it: I am

the Lord.’ 9​ ​They shall therefore keep my charge, lest

they bear sin for it and die thereby when they profane it:

I am the Lord who sanctifies them. ​10 “​ A lay person shall

not eat of a holy thing; no foreign guest of the priest or

hired worker shall eat of a holy thing, 1​ 1 ​but if a priest

buys a slave as his property for money, the slave may

eat of it, and anyone born in his house may eat of his

food.​12 I​ f a priest's daughter marries a layman, she shall

noteatofthecontributionoftheholythings.​13B​ utifa

priest's daughter is widowed or divorced and has no

child and returns to her father's house, as in her youth,

she may eat of her father's food; yet no lay person shall

eat of it. 1​ 4 ​And if anyone eats of a holy thing

unintentionally, he shall add the fifth of its value to it

and give the holy thing to the priest. ​15 ​They shall not

profane the holy things of the people of Israel, which

they contribute to the Lord, 1​ 6 a​ nd so cause them to

bear iniquity and guilt, by eating their holy things: for I

am the Lord who sanctifies them. 17 And the Lord spoke

to Moses, saying, 1​ 8 “Speak to Aaron and his sons and

all the people of Israel and say to them, When any

one of the house of Israel or of the sojourners in

Israel presents a burnt offering as his offering, for

any of their vows or freewill offerings that they offer

to the Lord, 19 if it is to be accepted for you it shall be

a male without blemish, of the bulls or the sheep or

the goats. 20 You shall not offer anything that has a

blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you. 21 And

when anyone offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to

the Lord to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from

the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be

perfect; there shall be no blemish in it.​ 22 Animals

blind or disabled or mutilated or having a discharge or

an itch or scabs you shall not offer to the Lord or give

them to the Lord as a food offering on the altar. 23 You

may present a bull or a lamb that has a part too long or

too short for a freewill offering, but for a vow offering it

cannot be accepted. 24 Any animal that has its testicles

bruised or crushed or torn or cut you shall not offer to

the Lord; you shall not do it within your land, 25 neither

shall you offer as the bread of your God any such

animals gotten from a foreigner. Since there is a

blemish in them, because of their mutilation, they will

not be accepted for you.” 26 And the Lord spoke to

Moses, saying, 27 “When an ox or sheep or goat is born,

it shall remain seven days with its mother, and from the

eighth day on it shall be acceptable as a food offering

to the Lord. 28 But you shall not kill an ox or a sheep

and her young in one day. 29 And when you sacrifice a

sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, you shall sacrifice

it so that you may be accepted. 30 It shall be eaten on

the same day; you shall leave none of it until morning: I

am the Lord. 31 “So you shall keep my commandments

and do them: I am the Lord. 32 And you shall not

profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among

the people of Israel. I am the Lord who sanctifies you, 33

who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your

God: I am the Lord.”

The priest was held to a higher standard of general conduct, cleanliness and holiness than for the standard Israelite. He was to avoid any contact with the dead, except to bury his closest relatives. He was only allowed to marry the most pure women of the congregation. He was to avoid ever taking on the appearance of one who mourns by cutting his hair, cutting his skin or tearing his clothes. His body must be without blemish or defect just as the animals that he was to sacrifice. If the priest was

unholy and blemished and the sacrificial animals were blemished then the system would be unholy and blemished too. Therefore the priests and the sacrifice were to be holy.

Questions for Application

● How should the sexual ethic introduced in Leviticus impact how we think and teach about sexual purity today?

● What changes when the command to love your neighbor as yourself is seen in light of serving God as your Master and representing Him rightly?

● What principles from the laws against engaging in pagan worship practice and loving the sojourner can we apply today?