The Earth is the Lords   

 

Leviticus

Updated: June 7, 2008

.....and He called........


[C]2000-08 by Richard L Zorek

The Hebrew title for the book of Leviticus is translated "and He called." The subject matter of Leviticus is dedicated to worship. Leviticus begins where Exodus ends--with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai. The latter chapters of Exodus record the completion of the tabernacle (Ex 40:33). Leviticus deals with God instructions concerning worship in that tabernacle. Thus He instructed His people regarding how to approach a holy God. Levitius also provides details regarding various sacrifices and offerings the Israelities presented to God. This book has been traditionaly attributed to Moses.

  • Leviticus 1:1: "And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him, out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying," Elsewhere in the Pentateuch we are also told that the Lord called to Moses. God had a specific purpose and plan in making that call.

  • Leviticus 1:2: "Speak unto the children of israel, and say unto them, if any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring you offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock."

  • Leviticus 1:3: "If his offering be a burnt sacrfice 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"...."male" because the son of God was male...to make it clear.

  • Leviticus 1:4: Atonement for persons is a prominent part of the law. The sinner is restored into fellowship with God and his calling by the act of atonement.

  • Leviticus 1:5: "And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord: and the priests, Aaaron's sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

  • Leviticus 1:6: "And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces."

  • Leviticus 1:7: "And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire:"

  • Leviticus 1:8: "And the priests, Aaron's sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is open on the altar.

  • Leviticus 1:9: "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"

  • Lev 1:10: "And if this offering be of the flocks, namely, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice; he shall bring it a male without blemish."

  • Lev 1:11: "And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward befre the Lord: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar."

  • Lev 2:1: Fine flour referred to flour ground from the inner wheat kernels, the best part of the grain. Such flour was regarded as a luxury item and might be made into bread for a distinguished guest. Oil served a variety of purposes in these times including its uses in food preparation, as fuel, in religious ceremonies, and as medicine. Frankincense is a resinous substance derived from certain trees. It was used in making the incense, or perfume, used in the tabernacle's most holy place.

  • Lev 3:1: If a man's 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." The man should not find one that is blemished and possibly undesireable to sacrifice. It should be one of the best.

  • Lev 4:33: "And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering." The sin offering required a worshiper to lay a hand on the head of the sacrificial animal. This act indicated the worshippers close indentification with the sacrifice. Laying one's hand on the animals head was a way of transferring one's sin to the animal.

  • Lev 10:1-8, especially verses 1 and 2. Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them, added incense, and offered unauthorized, strange, "outside" or foreign fire before Jehovah, who then turned them into strange fire. See also Ex 30:9.
  • Lev 10:9: Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the taberbacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations No drunkeness or strong drink in the church--ever.

  • Leviticus 11:1: And the Lord spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying unto them.......about 86% of the book is a direct quote from the Lord.

  • Leviticus 16:12: "And he shall take a censor full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail"

  • Leviticus 16:13: "And he shall put upon the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not"

  • The old Testament sacrificial system is meaningless apart from an understanding of atonement. For, "it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul" Lev 17:11). In the Old Testament, the animals sacrificed were a temporary means of restitution, an atonement that God accepted for man's sin until his Son, Jesus Christ, died on the cross as the final, enduring, definitive atonement for man's sins.

  • Leviticus 18:5: "Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgements: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord"

  • Lev 18:21: "And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord". While this scripture refers to physical child sacrifice, it applies to any act of irresponsibility or negilgence by which Christian fathers would sacrifrice their children covenantally to pagan gods. (i.e., the state?)
    While relatively little is known of the concept of divine kingship, the king as god, and the god as king, as the divine-human link between heaven and earth. It was the belief that all being was one being, and the god therefore was an ascended man on that scale of being. The power manifested in political order was thus a manifestation or apprehension and siezure of divine power. It represented the triumph of a man and his people. Molech worship was thus a politcal religion. Molech worship was thus state worship. The state was the true and ultimate order, and religion was a department of the state. The state claimed total jurisdiction over man; it was therefore entitled to total sacrifice.

  • Lev 18:25: ..."the land is defiled; therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants." The law declares that our life's safety is hedged in and walled about by the fact of capital punishment. The godly exercise of capital punishment cleanses the land of evil and protects the righteous.

  • Lev 19:2: "You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy" The Lord has called us all to holy living.

  • Lev 19:3: "Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God." Both mother and father are spoken of with a togetherness that indicates the need to respect or honor both. It also indicates they are together in a constant relationship with each other as well as with the children who are being told that they should continue that respect. The child is not meant to make a choice between the two, but to carry out that respect and honor in some form that is within the realm of possibility at various times of life's history. The word "honor" was carefully chosen instead of the word "obey," which is how many people interpret the commandment. Sometimes a parent may be evil, or demand evil things. Obedience, then is not required. The honorable thing then, for example, in the case of an abusive parent is to have the parent locked up to get help. That is not dishonoring them if the charge against them is legitemate.

  • Respect of persons is looking with favor upon persons with respect to their external priveleges without any real concern about their internal state. Jude had this in mind when he said, "...having men's persons in admiration because of advantage" (Jude 16). It is not good to have respect of persons in judgement. There is a tendency in all ranks--the wealhy, socially influential, and politically advanced wicked men--to overlook one's wickedness for the sake of personal advantage.This respect of persons is condemned (James 2:1-9). It was forbidden in the Mosaic law, particularly in judicial decisions (Deut. 1:17; Lev. 19:15). All respect of persons is not sinful. If it were there would be no place for authority in the local church or in civil government.

  • Lev 19:9-10: "When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the Lord your God" You may say, "I dont have a field," and feel that there is no way to apply this application of gleaning in your life. But it can be. Leaving something in the "corner of your field" could apply to anything you are reaping the fruit or produce of, like through your job or monetarily. It may be leaving something for people we will never see again, or never see at all. It is giving away an uncounted portion of the harvest in our lives, instead of scraping up every last bit of it.

  • In Leviticus 19:13 it was declared fraud and robbery to hold back the pay of day laborers so much as overnight.

  • Lev 19:26: "Ye shall not eat anything with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times." Since life is given by God and is to be lived on His terms alone, no life of man or beast can be taken except on God's terms, whether by the state, by man to eat, or by man in his self defense. To attempt to govern or to take life apart from God's permission, and apart from His service, is like attempting to govern the world and the future apart from God. For this reason, this verse puts the eating of blood, divination, and soothsaying all on the same level as the same sin in essence.

  • Lev 19:28: "Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord." The prohibiton is said to include every area of the body, whether exposed or covered by clothing, and to be in effect everywhere, at every time, for both man and woman.

  • Lev 19:36: "Just balances, just weights, a just epaph. and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt." The monetary system should be metal-based.

  • Different societies permit certain forms of subversion of its basic structure. This is why blasphemy of the Triune God is forbidden in a Biblically ordered society (Lev 24:16) but permitted in a humanistic society, while suppression of homosexuality is permitted in a Biblically ordered society (Lev 20:13) but forbidden in a humanistic society. The issue is never unfettered free speech, but that no society permits certain selected forms of speech immediately subversive of that society.

  • Lev 20:18: "And if a man shall lie with a woman having her sickness, and shall uncover her nakedness; he hath discovered her fountain, and she hath uncovered the fountain of her blood: and both of them shall be cut off from among their people." The attitude of a man approaching a menstruous woman is stated as that of one who uncovers her fountains; in other words, he strips her bare. She is his; she has no higher meaning apart from him. This God considers a heinous sin. I think is is best explained in the caricature which says that a woman when her husband says "Jump," should reply with, "How high?" But what this scripture says is that neither the man nor the woman can permit a relationship of this kind. If she permits it, she is equally guilty.

  • Lev 22:20-23 But whatsoever hath a blemish, that ye will not offer..." God was telling them that the offering they offered was really a picture of the Lord jesus Christ who is the perfect Lamb of God. Any imperfect offering was an insult to God.
  • Lev 25:10: "....proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.." This is inscribed on the Liberty Bell.

  • Lev 25:17-19: "Ye shall not therefore oppress one another; but thou shalt fear they God: for I am the Lord your God. Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgements, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land of safety. And the land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety." God's law is full of promsises of blessings to His people. Man's law is essentially punitive, not given ever to promsiing anything good.

  • Lev 25:35: Almost every commandment in Scripture concerning the poor is in the context of the Covenant community.

  • "And if a sojourner or stranger wax rich by thee, and thy brother that dwelleth by him wax poor, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner by thee, or to the stock of the strangers family; After that he is sold he may be redeemed again, one of his brethren may redeem him. (Lev 25:47-48)

  • Lev 26:23-24: "And if ye will not be reformed by me by these for obedience, but will walk contrary unto me; Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you seven times for your sins." Obedience is thus not a matter of taste: it is a question of life or death.

    This page was first created on March 15, 2001.

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