How Does the Old Testament Mesh with the New 23
Leviticus
Introduction:
The book of Leviticus is not a very popular read. There isn’t a lot of forward-moving dialogue. It all takes place while the Israelites are still camped near Mount Sinai.
Leviticus is a book of rules that are germane for the priests (all from the tribe of Levi, thus the name of the book), and for the Israelites to be able to live alongside the presence of God.
It is a guide for how to live as a holy people, especially within the realm of how to worship Jehovah in a holy manner. These guidelines allow one to connect with God during worship.
As with the books of Genesis and Exodus, God directly inspired Moses to write it. It teaches that sin offends God and removes you from His presence and blocks your ability to rightly discern the word of God. Yet the sinner is given the opportunity to approach the priesthood and engage in holy rituals in the tabernacle, to redeem their holiness.
And that mostly involved the sacrifice of unblemished animals. The sin price was paid by the blood of the sacrifice – a life for the life that was tainted by sin. A substitution if you will. This was augmented with sacrifices of prayer, giving, praise, and worship.
Becoming familiar with this complex system also gives the modern-day Christian an appreciation of the grace of God, for the final sacrifice of His Son, and why it was necessary.
It also gives the Christian a greater thankfulness for having a direct connection to God and redemption, through Christ, without having to resort to rituals.
Nevertheless, these ancient sacrifices drove home to the Israelites what was necessary for them to be in right standing with God, i.e., to show the worshiper their need for His restoration, to be able to approach Him in an ongoing relationship.
There were five types of sacrifices:
- Burnt: utilizing cattle, sheep, goats, or birds. To be completely burned to affect a complete consecration / atonement. (See Lv. Ch. 1). (See also Heb. 9:22, 10:5-7, 12:24; Eph. 5:2 & 27, 7:25 – 27, regarding the final sacrifice of Christ).
- Grain: using flour, cakes, roasted grain – to be combined with olive oil and frankincense. It was given to acknowledge that God was the source of the giver’s sustenance. There was a ‘memorial’ portion that was burned, and that which was not, was for the priest’s consumption. It was the only bloodless sacrifice. (See Lv. Ch. 2 & 6:19 – 23.)
- Peace / Fellowship /Freewill / Thanksgiving offering: Any unblemished herd animal was acceptable. It was burned and consumed as a communal meal to celebrate the giver’s peace and communion with God. The fatty portions (the choice parts) were totally burned on the altar, as to convey giving the giver’s best, to Jehovah. (See Lv. Ch. 3 & 7:11 – 34.)
- Sin offering: a blood sacrifice designed to cleanse one from unintentional sin. The sinners’ offerings are divided into 3 groups:
- For the High Priest: required the blood of a sacrificial bull which was then discarded except for the fatty parts which were burnt.
- For the congregation: required the blood of a young bull.
- For the leaders and commoners: required the blood of a male goat. (See Lv. Ch. 4 & 6:24 – 30.) In addition, this offering was also performed during Passover, Feast of Weeks, Feast of Trumpets, Feast of Booths, the Day of Atonement, and when consecrating priests.
- Reparation / Guilt offering: a blood sacrifice of a ram, to atone for defrauding God or another human being, or, for abusing His or their property and included a reparative fine. (See Lv. Ch. 5 & 7:1 – 10.)
A permanent fire was kept in the tabernacle courtyard to provide for continual sacrificial access.
At this juncture, Aaron and his sons were consecrated into their priestly offices (See Lv. Ch.8 & Ex. 35 – 40.) Moses addresses Aaron:
“This is the thing which the Lord has commanded you to do, so that the glory of the Lord may appear to you.” Moses said to Aaron, “Approach the altar and present your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself and for the people; and present the offering of the people and make atonement for them, just as the Lord has commanded.” Lv. 9:6, 7. AMP
Then Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them, and came down [from the altar of burnt offering] after presenting the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings. Moses and Aaron went into the Tent of Meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and the glory and brilliance of the Lord [the Shekinah cloud] appeared to all the people [as promised]. Then fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the portions of fat on the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell face downward [in awe and worship]. Lv. 9:22 – 24. AMP
I’ll bet that sealed the deal for the congregants!
A most unfortunate event:
Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective [ceremonial] censers, put fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange (unauthorized, unacceptable) fire before the Lord, [an act] which He had not commanded them to do.And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord said:
‘I will be treated as holy by those who approach Me, and before all the people I will be honored.’”
So Aaron, therefore, said nothing. Lv. 10:1 – 3. AMP
God give all His instructions to Moses for how the people must behave, especially those who represent Him in His own house (tabernacle). He had laid out in great detail how the priesthood should function. We don’t know if they got the fire from a forbidden source, or were intoxicated (God Himself immediately warns Aaron and his younger sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, to refrain from drinking liquor before entering the tabernacle):
Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, neither you nor your sons with you, when you come into the Tent of Meeting, so that you will not die—it is a permanent statute throughout your generations—and to make a distinction and recognize a difference between the holy (sacred) and the common (profane), and between the [ceremonially] unclean and the clean; and you are to teach the Israelites all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them through Moses.” Lv. 10:8 – 11. AMP
Clean v. Unclean:
Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel.
“Of all the land animals, these are the ones you may use for food. You may eat any animal that has completely split hooves and chews the cud. You may not, however, eat the following animals that have split hooves or that chew the cud, but not both. The camel chews the cud but does not have split hooves, so it is ceremonially unclean for you. The hyrax (small herbivorous mouse / shrew) chews the cud but does not have split hooves, so it is unclean. The hare chews the cud but does not have split hooves, so it is unclean. The pig has evenly split hooves but does not chew the cud, so it is unclean. You may not eat the meat of these animals or even touch their carcasses. They are ceremonially unclean for you.” Lv. 11:1 – 8. NLT
We must also consider the nature of animal husbandry during the nomadic lifestyle of the Israelites at that time. Many of these animals ate nasty stuff and were undoubtedly prone to disease. After all, it was approximately 1400 B.C., and there were over 600,000 Israelites marching through the wilderness with no sanitation, refrigeration, insect repellent, or clean environments for raising animals.
Consider the pig. It will eat just about anything. However, the modern-day pig is raised in pens where they don’t get the opportunity to ingest anything at will. And today’s butchery is advanced and clean.
God goes on to limit the ingestion of marine life to that which only sport fins and scales. Again, with poor sanitation, clams, oysters, lobsters (bottom feeders) would be prone to disease. He also forbade eating carrion birds because they ate dead meat and blood-filled corpses.
However, you get a green light for eating locusts, crickets, and grasshoppers. O boy! (See Lv. 11:9 – 23.) But no rodents or reptiles. (See Lv. 11:29, 30.)
All carcasses were considered unclean except for those that were ritually sacrificed.
All these instructions were given to create a holy people in a holy relationship with their holy God.
For I, the Lord, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. Therefore, you must be holy because I am holy. Lv. 11:45 NLT
To better facilitate that, Jehovah also addresses the caretaking of one’s health, especially with regards to minimizing the spread of disease. (See Lv. Ch. 12 – 15.)
Not to have a repetition of deaths like Aaron’s older sons, God gives Moses highly detailed instructions regarding how to properly conduct the ceremony of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, (the only atonement for intentional sin). It was to occur only once a year for cleansing the entire nation of Israel from sin, to foster a holy environment for keeping the presence of a holy God.
It required a strict obedience to the ritual which commanded that the High Priest alone (Aaron) enter the most holy place of the tabernacle (the only day in an entire year to have access). Then there were the sacrifices:
He shall take from the congregation of the Israelites [at their expense] two male goats as a sin offering and one ram as a burnt offering. Then Aaron shall present the bull as the sin offering for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting. Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats—one lot for the Lord, the other lot for the scapegoat. Then Aaron shall bring the goat on which the Lord’s lot fell and offer it as a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot fell for the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement on it; it shall be sent into the wilderness as the scapegoat. Lv. 16:5 – 8. AMP
One of the goats was sacrificed in a ritual of purification (sin offering), the second (the scapegoat) was to have Aaron transfer by hand, the sins of the people, and then it was set free in the wilderness to witness the taking away of the last year’s sin of the people. (See Lv. 16:20 – 22).
This Day of Atonement was also referred to as a ‘Sabbath of solemn rest’. (See Lv. 16:29 – 31.)
Next, God prohibits the ingestion of blood:
‘Any man from the house of Israel, or any stranger living temporarily among you, who eats any blood, against that person I shall set My face and I will cut him off from his people [excluding him from the atonement made for them]. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement, by reason of the life [which it represents].’ Lv. 17:10, 11. AMP
All sacrificial animals were to have the blood drained and placed on the altar. Non-sacrificial animals’ blood was to be drained and poured into the earth before eating the flesh. (See Lv. 17:13)
The blood was a substitutional life for the dead life of the sinner – analogous to the final blood sacrifice of Christ.
Jehovah then turns His focus to sexual immorality. First, He commands Moses to tell the people what He expects from them:
“Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. I am the Lord your God. So do not act like the people in Egypt, where you used to live, or like the people of Canaan, where I am taking you. You must not imitate their way of life. You must obey all my regulations and be careful to obey my decrees, for I am the Lord your God. If you obey my decrees and my regulations, you will find life through them. I am the Lord.” Lv. 18:2 – 5. NLT
This is God’s universal message. If you obey Him, you will have eternal life, (for the Christian, through Christ).[1]
God begins with a prohibition of sex within the family, (incest), that is outside of the marital bed. (See Lv. 18:6 – 17.)
Rightly so. First, it is a genetics lesson. Interbreeding within a close familial gene pool often produces offspring with mental or physical deformations. Second, there is often psychological trauma associated with these types of liaisons.
He forbids homosexuality (See Lv. 18:22) and bestiality (See Lv. 18:23).
Finally, Jehovah gives His children the BIG picture with regards to the vital necessity to adhering to His commands:
“Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for the people I am driving out before you have defiled themselves in all these ways. Because the entire land has become defiled, I am punishing the people who live there. I will cause the land to vomit them out. You must obey all my decrees and regulations. You must not commit any of these detestable sins. This applies both to native-born Israelites and to the foreigners living among you.
All these detestable activities are practiced by the people of the land where I am taking you, and this is how the land has become defiled. So do not defile the land and give it a reason to vomit you out, as it will vomit out the people who live there now. Whoever commits any of these detestable sins will be cut off from the community of Israel. So obey my instructions, and do not defile yourselves by committing any of these detestable practices that were committed by the people who lived in the land before you. I am the Lord your God.” Lv. 18:24 – 30. NLT
God then basically takes the Ten Commandments and concentrates upon the application of them in a communal setting, e.g., leaving food behind when harvesting to be gleaned by the poor, paying people fairly and timely for their work, to not hinder those who have special needs, show no special favor, to come to a person’s aid if their life is threatened, to refrain from witchcraft, etc. (See Lv. Ch. 19)
Chapter 20 of Leviticus mandates the punishments that must be administered to the people who have been found in violation of those sins described in Chapter 18.
The 21st chapter concerns itself with what may desecrate a priest, making them unfit for service. The 22nd shows the priest how to prevent that. Chapter 23 gives further clarification of the five feasts the Israelites were to celebrate each year. Chapter 24 returns to how to properly handle the holy objects in the tabernacle.
God then presents the practice of the Sabbath Year and the Year of Jubilee. The Sabbath took place every seven years, for which the land was to remain fallow, to impress upon the Israelites’ their dependence upon Him for their sustenance.
The Year of the Jubilee was celebrated every 50 years. All property sold due to impoverishment was to be returned to the original owner, slaves had the option of being freed, and again the land was to remain fallow. God guaranteed that the harvest in the previous year would be abundant enough to carry them over. (See Lv. Ch. 25)
Chapter 26 revisits His discipline towards His children who do not comply with the statutes laid down in the book. And God, in His final chapter, discusses ‘vows’, and the rules surrounding them.
In its essence then, the book of Leviticus reveals God’s grace in offering atonement / redemption through the proper application of holy worship with our holy Creator. It demonstrates the vital application of worship and its holy largesse, so as not to become just a rote habit…
Stay tuned for the book of Numbers!
Goodnight and God bless.
[1] Mt. 5:19; Jn. 3:36
Building Better Americans 139
How Does the Old Testament Mesh with the New 22
Close Encounters with God
Last time, during the 40-day absence of Moses up on Mount Sinai, the people slid into the sin of idolatry and orgiastic immorality. They would have been annihilated, but they were saved by Moses’ intercession and his destruction of the golden calf. (See part 21 of this series).
Moses returns to Jehovah on the mountain:
The Lord said to Moses, “Get going, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt. Go up to the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I told them, ‘I will give this land to your descendants.’ And I will send an angel before you to drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. Go up to this land that flows with milk and honey. But I will not travel among you, for you are a stubborn and rebellious people. If I did, I would surely destroy you along the way.” Ex. 33:1 – 3. NLT
Again, God is saying to Moses, ‘the people you brought up from the land of Egypt’, indicating that His anger over the golden calf incident is still simmering – emphasized again by His refusal to accompany the Israelites to constrain that anger.
However, He will keep His promise He made to the patriarchs, to settle these people, their descendants, in Canaan.
Jehovah then tells Moses to speak to the people, saying:
“’You are a stiff-necked (stubborn, rebellious) people! If I should come among you for one moment, I would destroy you. Now therefore, [penitently] take off your ornaments, so that I may know what to do with you.’” So the Israelites left off all their ornaments [in repentance], from Mount Horeb (Sinai) onward. Ex. 33:5, 6. AMP
This would strip them of the leftover jewelry after having used a portion of them to create the golden calf.
To facilitate Moses’ conversations with God, he sets up his own tent outside of the camp, (a temporary tent of meeting):
Everyone who wanted to make a request of the Lord would go to the Tent of Meeting outside the camp.
Whenever Moses went out to the Tent of Meeting, all the people would get up and stand in the entrances of their own tents. They would all watch Moses until he disappeared inside. As he went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and hover at its entrance while the Lord spoke with Moses. When the people saw the cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, they would stand and bow down in front of their own tents. Inside the Tent of Meeting, the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Ex. 33:7 – 11. NLT
Obviously, God was not showing His face, He is an invisible Spirit. This was an anthropomorphic use of language to make Him more relatable to humans.
Moses then asks Jehovah to clarify who the angel was that He had previously said would guide the Israelites to Canaan. In addition, Moses pleads to his Maker:
“If it is true that you look favorably on me, let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favor. And remember that this nation is your very own people.” Ex. 33:13. NLT
What he is doing is interceding for the Israelites. And graciously, God grants him a boon:
The Lord replied, “I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest—everything will be fine for you.” Ex. 33:14 NLT
Moses leans into God’s grace and pleads for a closer relationship with Him:
“Please, show me Your glory!” Ex. 33:18 AMP
And Jehovah acquiesces!
“I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the Name of the Lord before you; for I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion (lovingkindness) on whom I will show compassion.” But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man shall see Me and live!” Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place beside Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; and while My glory is passing by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and protectively cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away My hand and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.” Ex. 33:19 – 23. AMP
Again, an anthropomorphic representation. In our best understanding, God has no face, nor front or back. Moses was privy to an intimate relationship that no other human has ever had. And what was granted to him was surely beyond human description.
Jehovah converses with Moses again, displaying His immeasurable grace, by beginning a restorative process to mend His relationship with His children:
The Lord said to Moses, “Cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Be prepared by morning. Come up Mount Sinai in the morning and stand before me on the mountaintop.” Ex. 34:1, 2. CSB
Moses did so, and God Himself wrote the Ten Commandments upon them. While on the mountain, Jehovah kept His promise to reveal Himself to Moses:
Then the Lord came down in a cloud and stood there with him; and he called out his own name, Yahweh.The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out, “Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness. I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children and grandchildren; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations.” Ex. 34:5 – 7. NLT
God is not punishing four generations. He refers to how many are affected by the sin of the initial parents. Children often repeat those same sins they were exposed to. Thus, they may likewise fall into His justice.
Jehovah’s restoration continues as He re-establishes His covenant with His children:
“Behold, I am going to make a covenant. Before all your people I will do wondrous works (miracles) such as have not been created or produced in all the earth nor among any of the nations; and all the people among whom you live shall see the working of the Lord, for it is a fearful and awesome thing that I am going to do with you.” Ex. 34:10 AMP
God tells Moses about how He will drive out the Israelites’ enemies from Canaan, gives a warning for His people to refrain from fraternizing with those enemies, lest they take on pagan gods and worship them (i.e., what He says is ‘playing the prostitute’), and / or their idols.
He continues by re-emphasizing the laws in the book of the Covenant, including the importance of observing the Sabbath and the other festivals. Moses records them to read to the people:
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hand, he did not know that the skin of his face was shining [with a unique radiance] because he had been speaking with God. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to approach him. But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him; and he spoke to them. Ex. 34:29 – 31. AMP
Whenever Moses spoke with God, his face shined with His glory. The people freaked out, so Moses would wear a veil after those encounters.
We have previously seen God give Moses the plans for building the Tabernacle. At this point, he calls all those appointed (and divinely equipped) for this endeavor, to begin the actual construction of it, and to make the vestments of the priesthood. (See Ex. Chapters 35 – 40).
The construction was finished within one year after the people first came to Mount Sinai:
Then the cloud [the Shekinah, God’s visible, dwelling presence] covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory and brilliance of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud remained on it, and the glory and brilliance of the Lord filled the tabernacle. In all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey on until the day when it was taken up. For throughout all their journeys, the cloud of the Lord was on the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel. Ex. 40:34 – 38. AMP