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How to Read Leviticus

(Every time we begin a new book, I will post a short aide on How to Read that book that will hopefully help you get the most out of your reading)

Content: Various laws having to do with holiness before God and with love of neighbor, including sacrifices, ritual cleanness, and social obligations, as well as laws for the Levites regarding their priestly duties.

Author & Date: Could be Moses or someone who wrote down all that happened during the time of Moses.

Emphases: Getting it right with regard to worship, for both people and priests; institution of the priesthood under Aaron; laws protecting ritual cleanness, including atonement for sins (the Day of Atonement); laws regulating sexual relations, family life, punishments for major crimes, festivals, and special years (Sabbaths and jubilees).

How to read Leviticus: Remember that the Levitical laws are part of God’s covenant with Israel, and therefore are not just religious rites but have to do with relationships.  It is also part of the larger narrative of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) and must be understood in the light of that context.  Israel is still in the wilderness, and need to have their relationships with God and with each other in order so that they can survive.These laws are part of a covenant between God and the Israelites.  Their role is to be God’s priests for the world, and so they must be holy.  God will protect them and bless them, and they must maintain a holy awe and obedience towards him.  Part of this is through sacrifices, where they give gifts to God in order to express their fellowship with Him and provide atonement for the broken relationship.  Another part are the purity laws, established so that they might be holy and remove all that is unclean from God’s presence.  Finally, they must act with justice and mercy towards each other, as proclaimed by the Sabbath and jubilee teaching at the end of the book.

So how does Leviticus apply to us today?  Leviticus is part of the Old Covenant, under which we no longer live.  Therefore, the laws, the blessings, the curses, are all part of the covenant between God and Israel.  However, most of the moral aspects of the law are renewed in the New Covenant, and, since God is unchanging, the whole of Leviticus is a look at who God is and what it means to be holy before Him.  As we read Leviticus, we see the importance of holiness before God, the importance of loving our neighbors as ourselves, as well as many other ethical attitudes and behaviors that are unchanging.

Memory Verse – Leviticus 11:45 – “I am the Lord who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.”

Much of this material is drawn from “How to Read the Bible Book by Book” by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart.

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