WHAT IS LEVITICUS ALL ABOUT?

The Law:  Burden or Blessing?

Leviticus is one book of what we call “The Law,” or the Pentateuch.  This consists of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.  These books can be incredibly confusing!  Why does the Bible contain lists and lists of boring laws and regulations?  Do they apply to me today?

I would argue that LEVITICUS DOES APPLY TO US TODAY!!  However, probably not in the way you’re thinking.  The books of the Law were used in their day for many specific purposes, including to:

1.       Set Israel apart

2.       Bring Shalom

3.       Demonstrate severity of sin and need for Jesus

In today’s world, we see that Jesus has already come and has fulfilled the Law in all three of these purposes.  The Law and the Prophets (the Old Testament) were always pointing to Jesus with hope of a future redemption.  So, let’s look at these points one by one, and I will discuss what was happening in the book of the Law and what it means through Jesus.

1.  Leviticus sets Israel apart.

The Greek term for “set apart” is actually the word “holy.”  God wanted to set Israel apart as a people group since the days of Abraham (the very first Hebrew).  In Genesis 15, God created a covenant with Abram, promising that he would become the father of many nations.  God also promises him the land of Canaan.  To show this covenant being made by God and not by Abram’s abilities or will, he has Abram cut animals in half and make a path in between their halves (a common pact practice in the time).  However, instead of the two of them walking through together, as tradition would have them, God makes Abram fall asleep and then he walks through the corpses alone, showing that he will bring the covenant to pass.  This is called an “unconditional” covenant because it does not matter what the other party does… God will make it happen.  In Genesis 17, God changes Abram’s name to Abraham and gives him the sign of circumcision to represent their covenant together.

Circumcision became a sign of every male Jewish child at the age of 8 days (Leviticus 12:3).  This was simply a symbol that Jesus would be coming from this specific descendent line.  God had chosen one people group to bless all people groups.  He had chosen one nation that would become the father of many nations.  In the Old Testament, the Jews were supposed to love and be open to any foreigner who wanted to convert and serve their God.  When Jesus came, he came to open the doors to all nations even more, teaching to all groups, unbiased.  The New Testament shows us that we non-Jews have been spiritually adopted into this family, we have been grafted into the Jewish promises.  Now, we are all the promised and set apart people of God when we trust in Christ (Romans 11:11-24).

In the book of the Law, Leviticus 20:7 reads, “Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God.”  Many of these rules and regulations were like circumcision in that they were to set apart the people of God.  They seem really obnoxious and over the top, but they actually acted to set apart Israel from bad practices of those around them.  For example, Leviticus 19:28 tells us “Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.”  This was to separate the Israelites from other cultures, like the Amorites, who would cut themselves when their loved ones died in order to honor the gods  of death or tattooing which was a common practice of placing images of idols on their skin permanently to show their devotion.  In other words, a lot of the regulations in Leviticus seem really arbitrary to us today, but they had specific meaning then to separate Israel from bad practices.  Another example is Exodus 23:19, “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.”  This seems like a super random verse, but in that time, this was a magical practice which some would partake in.  After boiling the goat in the milk, farmers would take the broth and sprinkle it on their fields so that they would grow better.  Obviously in both these verses, God wants his people to follow him and not other gods or magical practices.  He wants to set them apart as his own and through which his promises would be fulfilled.

Again, this nation was set apart so that we would have a history of where Jesus came from.  More importantly, God used the Israelites to become a symbol throughout their history of why we need the Messiah and who he would need to be.  It’s like the Bible is one big object lesson.  The history of Israel has parallels to Jesus’ life and the prophets of Israel prophesied about the coming Messiah.  Concerning the history of Israel and Jesus, both escaped from murder of children (Egypt, Herod), both fleed from out of Egypt (Exodus, child Jesus), both crossed through water before struggling in the desert, (Red Sea and 400 years/baptism and 40 days), etc.  Even the history was pointing to Jesus!  Concerning the prophecies in the Old Testament, Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 are two big examples of passages that point to Jesus’ life and death.  This website covers many more:  http://www.biblestudy.org/prophecy/old-testament-prophecies-jesus-fulfilled.html

2.  Leviticus brings shalom.

However, Israel isn’t just set apart through the law.  God wanted his people to experience true peace, or (in Hebrew) shalom.  According to Strong's Concordance Shalom means “completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of agitation or discord. Shalom comes from the root verb shalom meaning to be complete, perfect and full. In modern Hebrew the obviously related word Shelem means to pay for, and Shulam means to be fully paid.”  Therefore, many of the rules in the Law were to bring peace and protection.

For example, Leviticus 13-14 is about infectious skin diseases and has specific rules about getting the spots “checked” by the priest to ensure that he is “clean.” If he is “unclean,” this means he probably has leprosy of some kind, and because there was no cure, he would have to live outside of the camp.  This passage also addresses mildew and has rules to protect the people from this harmful substance.  In this way, concerning skin diseases and mildew (contagious things that could not be stopped in that time period), Leviticus was protecting the Israelites as a whole.

Leviticus also addresses bodily functions like discharge, emission of semen, periods, and childbirth.  All of these things make a person “unclean” for the day.  Essentially, they are told to bathe and not make other things unclean by touching them.  In their culture, who knows how hygienic they were but their understanding was probably not top notch, so this was actually a good list of “uncleanliness” to encourage regular bathing.

In addition to health and hygiene, Leviticus addresses many justice issues.  Leviticus also includes various laws on sexuality, stopping incest (like all of Leviticus 18) and abuse of women (Leviticus 18:17-18, 19:20, 19:29), as well as spiritual sexual practices by other cultures in the time.  Other laws in Leviticus 19 focus on justice (15, 18), taking care of those with disabilities (14), respecting the elderly (32), accepting foreigners (33-34), and being honest in business and all things (11-13, 35-36).  
 

Another justice issue is concerning the Israelite spirituality.  Leviticus 20 addresses being separate from other nations and their spiritualistic practices, sexual immorality, and idolatry.  One of the highlighted idols mentioned in chapter 18 and 20 is the god Molech.  Leviticus 20:1-2 says, “The Lord said to Moses, ² “Say to the Israelites: ‘Any Israelite or any foreigner residing in Israel who sacrifices any of his children to Molek is to be put to death. The members of the community are to stone him.”  This is seemingly very harsh.  However, the punishment is severe because the sin is severe.  Molek was a Canaanite god that was usually a large metal statue with a human body and a bull’s head.  The idol would have outstretched arms and the couple would sacrifice their newborn child in order to obtain financial gain in the future.  These child sacrifices would be burned alive for the sake of money!

Leviticus 23 and 25 are probably more for their mental health as a community.  The whole chapter is dedicated to days off and holidays.  God gives them the Sabbath, for example, in order to provide rest every seven days.  The Sabbath year (every seven years) is to keep their land healthy.  The Year of Jubilee is every fiftieth year, when everyone returns to their own land and bondservants are set free from their labor.  The festivals are also for rest and celebration.

Therefore, we see Leviticus attempting to bring protection and peace to the Israelite community by providing rules on physical health, hygiene, justice, evil practices, and mental health.  This summary is not exhaustive, but it does shed some light, I hope, on the intentions of the book concerning the maintenance of shalom peace.

What’s lovely yet again is that Jesus, of course, comes to fulfill all things.  Jesus explains that he is fulfilling the year of Jubilee in the book of Luke, chapter 4:16-21:

He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read,  and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
    and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
     to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

3.  Leviticus demonstrates the severity of our sin and our need for Jesus.

We need to recognize that God is holy; we should fear him, in awe of him.  We should recognize how our sin hurts him.  I believe that Leviticus demands sacrifices to show the severity of sin.  Most importantly, though, the demands for our sin are why we need Christ!  Our holy God came to earth (Philippians 2:5-11), emptying himself and becoming obedient to death as the “Lamb of God” (John 1:29).  He became the ultimate sacrifice so that the Leviticus practices are no longer required.

The sacrificial system shows us that Christ was the greatest sacrifice of all the five kinds of sacrifices.  In this case, Leviticus chapters 1-7 are about the main five types of sacrifices. 

1.)    Burnt offerings were given for general unintentional sin or as an act of devotion and all the blood was spilled out from the animal with fat and organs burnt; however, the fire of the burnt offerings were to never go out.  The priests had to change their clothes to remove the ashes and then get back into their holy clothing, but the flames should never die.  Jesus was our burnt offering, because his blood was spilled out completely.  He sacrificed every part of his body on the cross and he became the last sacrifice, so that there is no more need for a perpetual fire before him.  Hebrews 10:4-14 says:

It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
    but a body you prepared for me;
with burnt offerings and sin offerings
    you were not pleased.
Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
    I have come to do your will, my God.’”

First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second.  And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

2.)    The grain offerings were voluntary to honor God and their relationship with him.  Some of this grain offering would be burned and some would be eaten equally by the priests; however, if the priests offered a grain offering for themselves, it would be burnt completely.  The first fruits grain offering was mixed with incense as an incredibly pleasing aroma to God.  Jesus was the first fruits of death and resurrection according to 1 Corinthians 15:20-23.  He first conquered death to allow for relationship between man and God and then became the first fruit of new life, as we will follow him into the next one day:

 But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him.

3.)    The sin offerings were for confession and cleaning from defilement.  Unless taken into the Most Holies for atonement, the priests who offered it would eat the meat of these offerings as payment for their work.  Jesus removed all condemnation from the law.  He removed our guilt and defilement completely.  Romans 8:1-4 says:

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,  because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

4.)    The guilt offerings were for unintentional sin’s atonement.  Again, the priests would eat as payment.  Jesus is our atonement from all our sin and defilement, even if they are unintentional.  In John’s letter to the church (1 John 2:1-2) he explains:

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

5.)    The peace offerings were voluntarily for thankfulness to the Lord.  For these fellowship offerings, the people themselves would carry their offering before the Lord and wave it before them.  Jesus voluntarily chose to die for us to honor God and his relationship with him.  Luke 22:41-44 says:

 He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.

Not only does Jesus fulfill all of the sacrificial needs we have concerning our sin, but he is also the good priest.  He is the Perfect High Priest who empathizes with us as he redeems us. 

Hebrews 2:17-18 teaches us that Jesus is the High Priest who has been tempted in every way:  For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Hebrews 4:14-16 reiterates this fact while demonstrating how deeply this fact draws us into a relationship of trust with our High Priest Jesus:  Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.  Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Leviticus teaches us the severity of our sin so that we can truly appreciate the wonder and majesty of God himself lowering himself to earth (Philippians 2) to take our sacrifice once and for all as the perfect Lamb of God.  He enacts his own sacrifice as the perfect High Priest who empathizes with us and loves us.  His work is beautiful and good.

Now, we have seen how Jesus come to fulfill the Law!  This means that the Old Testament rules have less application to our lives directly, but rather, they apply to us in the fulfillment of Christ.  Everything has pointed to Christ and our dependence on Him.  The best way to see this transition from Old Testament rules to New Testament freedom, though, is in Hebrews 12:18-24 when the Hebrews author describes the mountain on which Moses received the book of the Law and compares it to the new mountain that Jesus invites us to live one in the life to come:

You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”
But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

In the end, we see in the New Testament, according to this new covenant, that when Jesus was asked which of the Law was the greatest commandment, this was his response in Matthew 22:
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Also, here’s an interesting article that takes Leviticus chapter by chapter and explains how it points to Jesus:  https://searchforhim.wordpress.com/2010/05/03/leviticus-is-about-jesus/