Bible brief: Leviticus

The word ‘Torah’ (which is what the Jews call the first five books of the Bible) means ‘instruction, regulation or law’. It occurs throughout key passages in Leviticus (e.g. Lev 6:14, 25; 7:1, 7, 11, 37). Leviticus follows Exodus 40, where Moses sets up the tabernacle according to God's instructions (Exod 24:15-25:9ff). The book is set when the Israelites are camped at Mount Sinai on their way to the Promised Land.

Leviticus is often viewed by some theologians as a book about Old Testament cultic worship, and therefore is irrelevant today. But Leviticus is really about human relationship with the holy God, and there is much we can learn. Some instructions are specifically for the priests, but others are for the whole of Israel. We will be looking at sample chapters that reflect the major themes, but summaries for the rest of the book are provided.

Prayer for the month

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Holy God,

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I praise you because you are holy. Please forgive me for my sin and unclean state. Thank you for providing Jesus as my high priest and sacrifice of atonement. Please sanctify and cleanse me, and help me to be holy as you are holy. Help me to praise you continually, be obedient to your word and generous to others.

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Amen.

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Reading 1 Leviticus 1

Leviticus 1-7 is all about sacrifices and offerings, and outlines how the people and priests were to present these. We will look at the burnt offering in readings 1-3.

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1. Who gives the instructions? Who are they for? When and where were they given? (Cf. 7:37-38.)
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2. What animals could be offered as burnt offerings? How were they to be presented and offered?
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3. Why did the animals have to be without defect?
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PONDER How could a perfect animal take away sins? Read Hebrews 9:11-14, 10:1-10. What does it mean that Jesus is the perfect offering?

PRAYER IDEAS Confess your sins to God and praise him for his holiness. Thank God for sending Jesus, the perfect sacrifice that makes us perfect.

Reading 2 Leviticus 1:3-9, 2:1-3, 3:1-5, 5:5-13

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1. What are the effects of the burnt offerings?
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2. How does the burnt offering differ from the grain, peace and sin offerings?
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3. What does this section teach you about God's character and demands?
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PONDER What do you say to the friend who says, “I don't need to follow a religious system; I'm close to God when I see the sunset”?

PRAYER IDEAS Thank God for providing atonement for your sins through Jesus Christ so you can approach him. Pray for friends and family who are far from God.

POINTERS 5:5-13: Instead of a lamb or a goat, a poor person could bring doves, pigeons or a grain offering for the sin offering. No-one is precluded from atonement because of poverty.

Reading 3 Applying Leviticus

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1. What does Romans 2:12-16 say about your state before God? How are you like the Israelites of Leviticus?
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2. The ultimate offering to God was Jesus' sacrifice on our behalf (cf. Heb 10:10-14, 18). But there are also New Testament texts that describe the offerings that Christians bring to God today. What do Philippians 4:15-18 and Hebrews 13:8-16 say?
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PONDER How can you, in Christ, offer yourself to God?

PRAYER IDEAS Thank God for Christ's amazing sacrifice of himself to make us holy. Ask him for wisdom to know how you might offer yourself to him.

Reading 4 Leviticus 9

In Leviticus 8, Moses consecrates Aaron and his four sons to serve the Lord in the tabernacle (cf. Exod 28-29). After Moses anoints Aaron and his sons with oil, he performs the required sin and ordination sacrifices, and then instructs them to spend seven days in the tabernacle. Leviticus 9 begins on the eighth day.

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1. What does the Lord command Aaron to do? What did his actions achieve?
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2. How does the Lord respond to the priest's actions?
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PONDER How do people view priests and their roles today? How does this differ from the Old Testament priests and their roles?

PRAYER IDEAS Thank God for providing priests to intercede for the people of Israel. Also thank God for making Jesus our high priest, who intercedes permanently for us.

Reading 5 Leviticus 10:1-7

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1. What do Nadab and Abihu do? How does the Lord respond?
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2. Why do their cousins, and not their immediate family, carry out the funeral arrangements?
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PONDER How would you have felt if you were not allowed to mourn the death of your sons/brothers? What does this say about the Lord's requirements for the holiness of his priests?

PRAYER IDEAS Thank God for Jesus, who, unlike the Levitical priests, was always clean and holy. Thank him for cleansing us permanently.

Reading 6 Leviticus 10:8-20

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1. What instructions does Moses give Aaron and his sons about the sacrifices and their way of life?
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2. In verses 16-20, Moses is angry with Aaron and his sons for not doing as God commanded. Why is the Lord not angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, despite being angry with Nadab and Abihu (reading 5)?
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3. Why is it generally wrong for the priests not to eat their share of the sacrifices?
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PONDER What have you learned about the priests so far? How is Leviticus and the role of the priests relevant to the issue of support-

ing Christian ministers and missionaries in 1 Corinthians 9:13-14?

PRAYER IDEAS Confess your sins and disobedience. Thank God for his justice, slowness to anger and compassion. Ask him to help you be generous in your support of gospel workers.

POINTERS The priest's share of the sacrifices was their only food. The Levites didn't own any land; the Lord was their inheritance (Num 18:20-24).

Reading 7 Hebrews 7:20-28, 1 Peter 2:4-10

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1. What does it mean for Jesus to be high priest?
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2. What does it mean that we are the priesthood of God?
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3. What sacrifice(s) is/are acceptable to God today?
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PONDER How can you fulfil your role as one of God's priests?

PRAYER IDEAS Praise God for his mercy in making you one of his people and a holy priest through Jesus. Ask him to help you proclaim his praises to the world.

Reading 8 Leviticus 11:1-9, 31-47

Leviticus 11-15 is a sermon from Moses, and establishes the need for the Day of Atonement (Lev 16). In Leviticus 10:10, the priests were told that one of their jobs was to distinguish between the holy and the common, the clean and the unclean.

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1. What instructions does the Lord give the Israelites regarding food? What must the Israelites do if they come into contact with unclean food/animals?
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2. Why are they only allowed to eat clean food? Did it cleanse their inner beings?
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PONDER Read Mark 7:14-23. Do the clean and unclean foods laws apply to us today? Why/why not?

PRAYER IDEAS Thank Jesus for shedding his blood to cleanse our hearts. Ask God to fill you heart with clean thoughts, words and actions.

Reading 9 Leviticus 12

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1. What did women have to do after childbirth?
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2. Why was it necessary to do these things after childbirth? How do you feel about these laws?
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PONDER Why does bearing children make a woman unclean when God instructs people to be fruitful and multiply (Gen 1:28)? (Consider also the pain of childlessness: Sarah, Rachel and Hannah.)

PRAYER IDEAS Thank God for the gift of children. Thank God for caring about women and wanting them to be clean. Thank God for Jesus, who died to cleanse both men and women.

POINTERS v. 7: It is the not the childbirth but the post-birth blood flow that makes a woman unclean. (Note the difference between ‘unclean’ and ‘sinful’: childbirth is not sinful.) Why? One possible explanation has to do with the Fall and its effects (cf. Gen 3, Rom 8).

vv. 3-5: No commentator knows why a woman is unclean for longer after birthing a girl. Some suggest it's to do with the status of Israelite women (see Num 27:1-8; Lev 27:2-7). Whatever the reason, the woman is unclean after birthing both sexes (cf. Gal 3:27-28).

Reading 10 Leviticus 15:1-18

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1. What things cause a man to be unclean?
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2. What must a man do to become clean again?
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PONDER Why is it necessary for a man to make atonement before the Lord not just for sin, but for physical uncleanness?

PRAYER IDEAS Ask God to cleanse you. Thank him for Jesus, who became human to cleanse us, forgive us, and save us from death (Heb 2:14-18, 9:14, 22).

Reading 11 Leviticus 15:19-33

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1. What happens for a woman during menstruation?
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2. What must she do when her period finishes?
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3. Why do you think menstruation makes a woman unclean?
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PONDER Why is God so concerned about cleanliness? Isn't godliness more important?

PRAYER IDEAS Thank God for allowing us to approach him at all times in Christ. Thank him for cleansing us permanently so that we do not have to undergo rituals.

POINTERS Mary Douglas suggests that because Israelite women married young and had many children straight away, they probably didn't menstruate every month. Only unmarried teenage girls did so, so these laws were a deterrent to young men acting inappropriately (Leviticus as Literature, OUP, Oxford, 1999, pp. 177-79). The laws also excluded pagan fertility rites and cultic prostitution.

Reading 12 Mark 5:24b-34

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1. What was wrong with this woman?
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2. How do the Levitical laws concerning menstruation help you understand the effect Jesus' healing had on her?
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3. What do we do with such laws today?
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PONDER Read Revelation 19:5-8, 13-14, 21:1-5. Will we have the problem of uncleanness in heaven? Why not?

PRAYER IDEAS Thank God for the hope of heaven and ask him to hasten the day of Christ's return when we will dwell with him. Pray for family and friends who are sick—that they might know Christ's cleansing power and be freed from suffering.

POINTERS Rev 19:8, 14: The word translated ‘pure’ (katharos) can also be translated ‘clean’.

Reading 13 Leviticus 16:1-14

Leviticus 16 continues the narrative from Leviticus 10. It is the key chapter of Leviticus, and brings together what we've looked at so far.

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1. When is Aaron allowed to approach God? What must he do to approach God?
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2. Why does he need to make atonement for himself first?
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3. Why does he need to wash before and after making atonement? (Cf. 16:23-24.)
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PONDER What would happen to Israel if the high priest did not do his job right? (Cf. Mal 1:6-10, 3:1-4.)

PRAYER IDEAS Thank God that Jesus was without sin and so could atone for our sins by his sacrifice. Thank him for Jesus, our high priest, who entered the Most Holy Place once for all (Heb 9:6-12).

POINTERS The Hebrew word ‘kipper’ means ‘to cover over, propitiate, atone’. The Jewish festival Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement is what Leviticus 16 is about. The word ‘atonement’ means ‘at one with’ or ‘in unity with’.

Reading 14 Leviticus 16:11-22

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1. Why does Aaron need to burn incense (vv. 12-13)?
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2. Compare Aaron's burning of incense with that of his two sons in 10:1-3. What is different?
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3. What types of offering are presented? On what or whose behalf are they offered?
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PONDER What is unusual about the offerings presented on the Day of Atonement?

PRAYER IDEAS Thank God for giving us direct access to him without fear of death through faith in Jesus (cf. Heb 10:19-22). Thank him for providing Jesus as the scapegoat.

Reading 15 Leviticus 16:20-34

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1. When and how often were the Israelites to offer these sacrifices of atonement?
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2. What were the effects of the Day of Atonement?
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PONDER What does it mean for Jesus to be the sacrifice of atonement? Read Romans 3:19-31. How does his sacrifice affect those who were under the law?

PRAYER IDEAS Thank God for making us righteous through faith in the death of Christ.

POINTERS Most people think the Day of Atonement was about sacrifices for sin for forgiveness. While this is true, the main point was to cleanse Israel so that they could approach God. The tabernacle also needed to be cleansed so that God could dwell with them.

Reading 16 Leviticus 19

Leviticus 17 forbids unlawful sacrifices and eating the blood of the sacrifice. Leviticus 18-20 outlines how the Israelites are to relate to each other and to strangers living among them, and the punishments for disobedience.

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1. What types of laws do you see here? Try categorizing them. What common themes do you see?
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2. How does God provide for the poor, the stranger and the disabled?
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3. Why should Israel obey these laws?
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PONDER Why is verse 2 a fitting summary of the whole of Leviticus? Read 1 Peter 1:13-21. Why does Peter call Christians to be holy?

PRAYER IDEAS Ask God to help you be holy as he is holy. Confess your sins, and ask him to help you to act justly, generously and honestly in everything you do.

Reading 17 Leviticus 23:1-14

Leviticus 21-22 contains further instructions for the priests for maintaining cleanliness and holiness.

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1. What festivals are to be celebrated during the Jewish year? (Hint: there are four here.) What are the reasons behind each of them? (Cf. Exod 12:1-20, 20:8-11.)
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2. How were they to celebrate the festivals?
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3. Read Luke 6:1-5, 22:1-2, 33-38 and 1 Corinthians 15:20-23. What Old Testament festivals are mentioned? How has Jesus fulfilled them? What do they mean for us today?
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PONDER Should Christians do no work on Sundays? Why/why not? What was the purpose of the Sabbath?

PRAYER IDEAS Thank God for Jesus, our Passover lamb and resurrection firstfruits, in whom we find our Sabbath rest.

Reading 18 Leviticus 23:15-44

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1. What festivals are to be celebrated during the Jewish year? (Hint: there are four here: vv. 15 [cf. Exod 34:22a], 23, 27, 34.) What are the reasons behind each of them?
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2. How were they to celebrate the festivals?
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3. Read John 7:1-39, Acts 2:1-4, Hebrews 9:7-12 and pointers. What Old Testament festivals are mentioned? How has Jesus fulfilled them? What do they mean for us today?
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PONDER How do you celebrate what God has done on the cross in rescuing you from sin and death? What place does the Lord's Supper have in the Christian life?

PRAYER IDEAS Praise God for cleansing you and making you holy by the sacrifice of his Son. Thank him for the Holy Spirit.

POINTERS vv. 15-16: The Feast of Weeks was often called ‘Pentecost’ because it came 50 days after the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Reading 19 Leviticus 26:1-22, 40-45

Leviticus 24 contains instructions for the lamp and the bread of the tabernacle, and recounts a case of blasphemy. Leviticus 25 contains instructions about the Sabbath and Jubilee years.

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1. What are the conditions for God blessing or punishing Israel?
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2. What blessings and punishments are promised?
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3. What does God promise to do for Israel in verses 40-45?
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PONDER What do you idolize instead of God? Where do you need to be obedient to God's word?

PRAYER IDEAS Confess the times when you have disobeyed God. Thank him for what Christ has done in taking upon himself the punishment you deserved. Ask him to help you be obedient.

Reading 20 Leviticus 16, 19:2

Leviticus 27 deals with dedicating the people, animals, fields and houses to the Lord for the priests' use, and redeeming those things.

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1. What have you learned about Israel and their relationship with God? What have you learned about God?
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2. How has this helped you understand Jesus' high priesthood and sacrificial death?
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PONDER What has challenged you in these studies? What do you need to change?

PRAYER IDEAS Thank God for everything you have learned from Leviticus. Praise him for Jesus. Ask him to help you to live a holy life, pleasing to him in every way.