Leviticus Begins
Leviticus 1:1-3:17
1:1 The Lord called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock.
3 “If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord. 4 He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. 5 Then he shall kill the bull before the Lord, and Aaron's sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 6 Then he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces, 7 and the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. 8 And Aaron's sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, the head, and the fat, on the wood that is on the fire on the altar; 9 but its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar, as a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
10 “If his gift for a burnt offering is from the flock, from the sheep or goats, he shall bring a male without blemish, 11 and he shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the Lord, and Aaron's sons the priests shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar. 12 And he shall cut it into pieces, with its head and its fat, and the priest shall arrange them on the wood that is on the fire on the altar, 13 but the entrails and the legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall offer all of it and burn it on the altar; it is a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
14 “If his offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves or pigeons. 15 And the priest shall bring it to the altar and wring off its head and burn it on the altar. Its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar. 16 He shall remove its crop with its contents and cast it beside the altar on the east side, in the place for ashes.17 He shall tear it open by its wings, but shall not sever it completely. And the priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
2:1 “When anyone brings a grain offering as an offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour. He shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it 2 and bring it to Aaron's sons the priests. And he shall take from it a handful of the fine flour and oil, with all of its frankincense, and the priest shall burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 3 But the rest of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the Lord's food offerings.
4 “When you bring a grain offering baked in the oven as an offering, it shall be unleavened loaves of fine flour mixed with oil or unleavened wafers smeared with oil. 5 And if your offering is a grain offering baked on a griddle, it shall be of fine flour unleavened, mixed with oil. 6 You shall break it in pieces and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering. 7 And if your offering is a grain offering cooked in a pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil. 8 And you shall bring the grain offering that is made of these things to the Lord, and when it is presented to the priest, he shall bring it to the altar. 9 And the priest shall take from the grain offering its memorial portion and burn this on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 10 But the rest of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the Lord's food offerings.
11 “No grain offering that you bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey as a food offering to the Lord. 12 As an offering of firstfruits you may bring them to the Lord, but they shall not be offered on the altar for a pleasing aroma. 13 You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.
14 “If you offer a grain offering of firstfruits to the Lord, you shall offer for the grain offering of your firstfruits fresh ears, roasted with fire, crushed new grain. 15 And you shall put oil on it and lay frankincense on it; it is a grain offering. 16 And the priest shall burn as its memorial portion some of the crushed grain and some of the oil with all of its frankincense; it is a food offering to the Lord.
3:1 “If his offering is a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offers an animal from the herd, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the Lord. 2 And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and kill it at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and Aaron's sons the priests shall throw the blood against the sides of the altar. 3 And from the sacrifice of the peace offering, as a food offering to the Lord, he shall offer the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, 4 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys. 5 Then Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar on top of the burnt offering, which is on the wood on the fire; it is a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
6 “If his offering for a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord is an animal from the flock, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish. 7 If he offers a lamb for his offering, then he shall offer it before the Lord, 8 lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it in front of the tent of meeting; and Aaron's sons shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar.9 Then from the sacrifice of the peace offering he shall offer as a food offering to the Lord its fat; he shall remove the whole fat tail, cut off close to the backbone, and the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails 10 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys. 11 And the priest shall burn it on the altar as a food offering to the Lord.
12“If his offering is a goat, then he shall offer it before theLord 13and lay his hand on its head and kill it in front of the tent of meeting, and the sons of Aaron shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar. 14Then he shall offer from it, as his offering for a food offering to theLord, the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails 15and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys. 16And the priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering with a pleasing aroma. All fat is theLord's. 17It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood.”
Leviticus Begins Today
Today we begin Leviticus in our Year Through the Bible. (And all the people CHEERED.) We will conclude Leviticus and begin Numbers on Tuesday, March 3, and each day through then I’m going to be posting a brief reflection on that day’s reading to help us get the most out of this strange book. Each day’s post will be published at 3:30 AM central time, and for those of you on my email list, it will be emailed to you at 4:00 AM. (Sign up here.)
NOTE: I am not offering here a complete commentary on every verse! Rather, I am just trying to offer something that I hope brings understanding. If you find this helpful, please spread the word.
Here is why you should care about Leviticus: the entire point of the book is to teach people what it takes to receive God’s eternal life.
Exodus concludes with Moses unable to enter the tent of meeting:
34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. [Exodus 40:34-35]
The reason Moses is unable to enter the tent is because of Israel’s sin with the golden calf. That incident (Ex. 31) was like Israel’s fall story. Sinful, rebellious humanity cannot draw near to God, cannot dwell in Eden, cannot participate in God’s eternal life. It’s the same pattern that is played out over and over throughout the Old Testament. At the end of Exodus, Moses is Israel’s representative, and so, once the tabernacle is complete and the presence of God comes in the midst of the camp, even Moses himself is unable to draw near.
But, just one book later, Numbers begins with Moses speaking with the Lord, but this time Moses does so from within the tent, near to the Lord:
The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt…. [Numbers 1:1]
What changed?
Leviticus!
Leviticus offers a way for sinful humans to draw near to God.
From the first chapter of the Bible, we have seen that God’s plan is to share his life with his human creatures. Leviticus is yet one more sign that even sin and death will not thwart God’s plan.
The entire book explains the various ways that people sin or participate in death, and for each and every instance of sin, the book lays out a way for people to be forgiven and reconciled back to God. Leviticus is about how to be made right with God so you can receive his eternal life.
Leviticus begins with instruction about a sacrifice: an Israelite is to put his hands on the head of a bull from his herd, and then that animal is to be sacrificed. The blameless animal represents the human, and its blood symbolically represents the complete surrender and offering up of one’s life before the Lord. What the Israelites learn in Leviticus is that sin kills and must be dealt with, but that the way back into God’s presence is complete surrender. You might say it’s the ultimate form of repentance—“Lord, I am a sinner and deserve death, and I completely admit that. I have no excuse.” This is what the sacrifice means. In Leviticus, the life of a blameless animal—its blood is its life—is offered in place of the sinful human, and through its innocent blood as it were, the sinful human is able to draw near to the Lord. The way to life is through death.
This is what Jesus means when he says to his disciples:
24 “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” [Matthew 16:24-25]
Now, the animal sacrifice is just a symbol of the larger reality—the only way for sinful humanity to come back to God’s presence is through the sacrifice of a blameless life. So, what the Bible tells is that the Father eventually sends the Son to be a willing sacrifice to make atonement for humanity once and for all. Those who trust in the Son are joined to him, raised from the dead, and live in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
So, the gospel starts with Leviticus! You might not be interested in the particular regulations for this or that sacrifice. But you should be very interested in the larger lesson that Leviticus teaches: that the only way to live in the presence and life of God is if a blameless sacrifice surrenders his life in place of undeserving sinners.
Here’s the Good News—the sacrifice has been made, and TODAY you can, through faith in Jesus, live in God’s eternal life.
With that in mind, I mean, how could you NOT have a great day?!
