I would like to start by saying I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in seminary so far. In the echo chamber of social media and politics, having an anchor in the word of God has been my foundation in a world that seems to be constantly sinking into the abyss. Even as I spend time in some of the most challenging books of the Bible, I find myself firmer in the embrace of a God who is the same in Genesis and today.
So today, I would like to share some revelations I have made while reading through a book that is the source of much debate today: LEVITICUS. Yes, that dreaded book with all the do's and don't's for the early Israelites, but how much of that can we depend on that today?
Well... I'm not going to answer that today. The word gets far more confusing than it needs to be when we get into the weeds and try to interpret it through our own myopic lens of "how does this apply to me?" Here I have a revolutionary idea: the Bible is not about you - it's about God. I think that is the most important thing to understand first and foremost before diving into Leviticus, because it can be really easy to get defensive and give up if we take it all personally. But rather, what Leviticus is doing is establishing a code of conduct for the people of God within a certain culture in a distinct time period in the specific trial of wandering in the wilderness and preparing to enter the promised land. This law in its time was extremely practical, and it would have been appripriate for the Israelites to read it and ask "how does this apply to me?" because they were the ones being asked to carry out this covenant with God. But for us, we have the benefit of several thousand years of distance from this text, and the gift of a redeemer in Jesus Christ that was not in view in Leviticus. Instead, we must look to Leviticus and search for God's character. Based on the laws He is establishing, who is He, who are His people, and how does He want people to perceive Him, and how does He want them to serve Him.
We must make these characterizations from the specific text, but apply them generally. For example, a large portion of Leviticus deals with animal sacrifices. These kinds of sacrifices are not relevant today, but we can tell from the level of detail that God gives for these sacrifices, He cares a great deal about us surrendering our security in exchange for trust and faith in Him, which at its root, is what the sacrificial system was meant to illustrate. This gets more difficult when we get to some very specific and very graphic purity laws, but again, we can see that how we conduct ourselves in day to day activities is not insignificant to God, and like a father, He cares a great deal about how we remedy ourselves when we are sick, diseased, or simply unclean.
So with this little preface, I would like to share my insights on this book, and hope this can provide some clarity and a framework through which to understanding this challenging text that, once all the layers are peeled back, is really a quite powerful book:
Key Themes of Leviticus
Theme is the “so what” of every story ever told. More specifically, “A theme is a universal idea, lesson, or message explored throughout a work of literature…. themes are ideas that not only apply to the specific characters and events of a book or play, but also express broader truths about human experience that readers can apply to their own lives” [1] . Every story has the contents that are obvious to the reader, listener, or watcher, but beneath the surface, all of the action and narrative devices are propelled in a single direction because of its unifying theme. These themes can be conveyed using characters, setting, dialogue, plot, or other literary elements [2] . Obviously, when talking about the Bible, these are not fictitious characters going about their business to make claims about a made-up deity in the sky, but real events that happened to real people as evidence of the real character of God, but that doesn’t mean literary devices can’t be used to illustrate the character of God. Themes are key in identifying in order to accurately interpret the meanings of scriptures, so themes should be broad in scope, but briefly stated [3] in order to establish an accurate scope with which to interpret the text. Below, some such themes identified in the book of Leviticus will be stated briefly and explored more deeply.
God is Holy
This is the chief theme of this book, as identified by most biblical scholars. For starters, the word “holy” appears in this book more than any other book in the Bible [4] . Secondly, this is also a natural progression from the covenants of Genesis, to the Exodus to Israel, that now God provides guidance on how Israel is now to fulfil their covenant responsibility to be a holy nation of God [5] . God’s holiness and humanity’s impurity cannot exist in the same space, so concessions must be made. These concessions are most commonly made through sacrifices for physical (i.e after child birth Lev 12, persons with skin diseases Lev. 14, emissions Lev 15, etc) and spiritual (i.e. unintentional sin Lev 5, intentional sin Lev 6) impurity. These are not all necessarily sins, but sometimes just unholy or unclean states of being. By atoning for these impurities with sacrifices, the people can dwell with God, and God with them.
God is Just
God also gives many regulations regarding legal matters, primarily in chapters 18-20. Practically, these served as guidelines for justice in Israel, but culturally, amongst the ancient contemporaries of Israel [6] , these were the clear picture of Godly justice. In many ancient near-east cultures, justice was far more subjective. When comparing the laws regarding relationships in Leviticus 20 side-by-side with Mesopotamian laws, Israel’s law is plain and clear, but many of the same offenses in Mesopotamian laws are dealt with according to the husband or father [7], leaving the women terribly vulnerable to abuse and further injustice. This is just one example of how the law of Leviticus shows a stark cultural difference and the value placed on justice for the holy people of God. God is clearly communicating a ritual, civil, and moral ethic to be upheld that is not up for debate or interpretation, offering the best protection for those in legal jeopardy to see that justice is not served based on one persons thoughts and feelings, but on the justice dictated by God himself.
God Cares about Details
Only a father-like God would take the time to teach his child how to navigate the lowliest of human functions (Lev 13-15). Nothing is out of God’s sight, and He cares about everything we do. However, He does not hold us to expectations beyond our means, in the sense that carrying out these laws is not excluded to anyone based on class or social status. There are options available to those who are poor and don’t have the means to offer animal sacrifices. The laws about conduct and morality also show that worshiping God can be done in every area of life. Therefore, living in the holiness of God is not excluded to some based on a religious hierarchy, but applies to everyone [8] . God delights in us conducting ourselves worshipfully in his presence not just in the tabernacle, but in everyday life.
Humans Are Sinful
As Paul says, “Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made…” [9]. The purpose of the law is to expose our need not only for atonement of sins, but on a larger scale, our need to trust God. In the Old Testament, the Messiah was not yet in view, so the law functioned so that people were forced to see that they had to rely on God for all things, and were not capable of redemption, purification, or even morality by their own means, but only as mediated through God and His priesthood. Stated another way, “just as a servant had to follow proper protocol to approach the king, so Israel had to recognize its own unworthiness to enter the sacred precincts of God’s dwelling place”. There is humility that comes from knowing this.
God Bridges the Gap
Understanding our own depravity is key to understanding the magnificence of God, and His character in providing ways for us to always come back to Him. Whenever God gives the commands for the purification offering, He says “Do the following wherever someone sins unintentionally…” [10] . It’s not a matter of if we sin against God, but when. And WHEN we do, He is prepared to extend grace when we show that we trust in Him. As Merrill puts it, “The gulf between the people and their God could be bridged only by their confession of their unworthiness and their heartfelt adherence to the rites and ceremonies prescribed by Him as a precondition to fellowship" [11]. In Leviticus, there is comfort in knowing that we are going to mess up, and God has a system in place for us so that we don’t have to bear the guilt of all of our missteps, and an even more glorious comfort now that the Messiah has been lifted up and dwells within us.
In essence, these key themes of Leviticus also reflect the key themes of the Biblical story itself - God is holy, just, and compassionate towards us in light of our sin, and in His grace, He continually extends opportunities for us to be forgiven of the burden of our sins. Understanding this is absolutely essential for understanding the redemptive narrative of the entire Bible.
Literary Structure of Leviticus
The Book of Leviticus is a fascinating perspective into the daily lives, culture, and relationship to God that the ancient Israelites had. This book is extremely systematic in its construction, and the methodology of writing down the practices, procedures, and even narrative sections all serve to help the reader (or listener) remember the commands of God and their importance. An alternative title for Leviticus could be “God’s Law for Israel”. While both the Hebrew (Wayyiqra) and Greek (Lauitkon) roughly translate to “book of priests”, this book addresses law on a broader scale than just the priests.[12] A significant amount of time is spent regarding specific conduct of priests (4:3-12, 6:8-7:36, 8:1-10:20, 16:1-28, 21:1-23:44), there is a larger portion of the book that applies generally to the people of Israel. As Merrill puts it, “The overall burden of the Book of Leviticus was to communicate the awesome holiness of Israel’s God and to outline the means by which the people could have access to Him.”[13] This book is for everyone, as its main theme is God’s desire for a relationship with Israel, and His character that is revealed when He does that.
When dividing Leviticus into logical sections, the book is most commonly divided into 2 sections - chapters 1-16 and chapters 17-27, with chapter 16 detailing the Day of Reconciliation as the major dividing marker between the two sections. Generally, the first section is more focused on worship and sacrifices made to God, and the second section is more concerned with morality and neighbourly conduct.[14] This macro-division accurately sees that Leviticus is not primarily book for the priests regarding worship and sacrificial practices in the tabernacle, but also laws regarding conduct within the community, and chapter 16 as an incredibly theologically important chapter. It shows the measure of God’s mercy and grace to cleanse the sins of Israel in this way so that He could be with Him, and live substitutionary atonement through the scapegoat (16:6-10), and a full understanding of this concept in inseparable from the sacrifice of Jesus, the prophesied Messiah.[15] However, in the natural observation of the book, the Day of Reconciliation falls in the middle of a section detailing Dietary & Purity Laws (Chapters 11-15) and Sexual, Moral & Worship Laws (Chapters 18-20).[16] Although Chapter 16 recounts a specific event, is structured more like the law sections, and thus is more accurately interpreted as an interlude between the laws for Israel rather than a fault-line between two distinct sections of the book. For these reasons, I have chosen instead to order Leviticus as follows:
A - General Offerings & Celebrations (Chapters 1-7)
This section functions to show the important offering for the newly-constructed tabernacle that was to house God’s holy presence. [17] The sub-sections follow the thematic division of these chapters, outlining the 4 primary kinds of offerings: Burnt Offering (1-2), Peace Offering (3), Sin Offering (4:1-5:13), and Guilt Offering (5:14-6:7). There are specifications, stipulations, and clarifications for these offerings within these sections about when and how to do them properly, beginning usually with “This is the Instruction…/The Lord said to Moses…” signifying a new idea or type of offering, or “If…”, which is used to show a clarification about a particular offering. The final section clarifies the priests’ roles in these sacrifices.
B – The Priesthood of Israel (Chapters 8-10)
Immediately following the construction of the framework of the sacrificial system comes the construction of the priesthood for Israel through Aaron & his sons (AKA: the Levites). This section is unique because it begins by outlining precise actions Moses must take to anoint Aaron and his sons, Moses, Aaron and his sons do all of those things, and what appears to be soon after, two of Aarons sons bring strange fire and are swiftly punished for their disobedience after all they went through to be able to carry out the tabernacle functions. [18] This section shows the importance of the priesthood and their elevated state within the community, but also the danger that comes from dealing irresponsibly in the presence of God, and that these rules are not arbitrary, but have a specific function for the nation of Israel. As the people now responsible for the atonement and reconciliation of the people through God, the weight of their position must be adequately understood and respected.
C – General Laws for Israel (Chapters 11-22)
Holiness is of paramount importance to God, and this section makes that the clearest. Until this point, most of the laws and regulations were regarding the priesthood, the tabernacle, and holy days. Now, God outlines daily expectations of holiness in every area of life.[19] Those areas include: diet (11), childbirth - female (12), skin (13:1-46), clothing (13:47-59), disease (14:1-32), houses (14:33-57), emissions – male & female (15), the sins of the nation (16), temple sacrifices (17), sexuality – male & female (18), morality with others (19:1-22), stewardship of the land (19:23-37), pagan worship (20), priestly worship (21-22).
D – Priests, Tabernacle, & Holy Times (Chapter 23-25)
This section is shorter and begins to wrap up the legal instructions of this book. Much of the contents of this section are review, but some new items are brought to light here. The holy celebrations are reviewed (23:1-24:9). Then, we encounter another unique narrative, similar to Chapter 10. This recounts an event where a half-Israelite blasphemes, awaits judgement, and is punished for his actions. This story shows that not only the priests are held accountable to these laws, but the people of Israel as well. Fire and words are not insignificant to God, and misusing either one, or any other holy vessel for God’s words and presence, is a great offense. This story is also unique, because in the entire Pentateuch, it is only one of four instances recorded where the law did not explicitly state how to proceed and Moses had to seek divine counsel before making a judgement.[20] Although in this case, it is negative, this does show that God cares about the details, and most of all, He cares that people turn to Him in uncertainty. After this, the section resumes, now discussing Sabbath & Jubilee years in greater detail (25).
E – Blessings, Curses & Dedications (Chapter 26-27)
As the concluding section of this book, this brings the reader (or listener) back to the theme of this book – God’s desire for relationship with Israel. The law is the way through which Israel can live holy lives, and therefore, God’s presence can dwell with them in the tabernacle. With this, like most near-eastern treaty covenants at the time, after the laws, regulations, and expectations are laid out, there is a section of blessings and curses that explain what will happen when the commands are followed, and what will happen if they are not.[21] It is important to note that the blessing subsection (26:1-13) is much smaller than the curses section (26:14-46). Within the understanding that God is all-knowing, yet gives humanity free-will, this section is marked by large ‘if-then statements”, implying a choice in how Israel will respond to this treaty, but the sheer difference in length and detail of these sections seems to show that God knows how Israel will respond. The final section talks about dedications, which appear a bit out of place after the blessings and curses. Some believe this to be a later addition or an appendix. Dedications are things (people, land, items) given in service to the Lord. People are more likely to make vows in times of distress, which flows thematically from the curses section of Chapter 26. The section on dedication quite simply lays out what kinds of dedications can and cannot be made, when they can be made, and how they can be redeemed.
So with the conclusion of this breakdown of the themes and structure of Leviticus, I have also created a chart to help visualize the sections of this book. I sincerely hope with this blog, this chart, and some of these listed resources, that this can help you peel back the layers of this book and see that even in the dusty old law book of an ancient people, the gospel can still be found. This sacrificial system is what Jesus was aware of when He died on the cross, and the lens through which that sacrifice was interpreted. The understanding of this book is crucial in understanding the deeper meaning of the sacrifice, and how it was able to cleanse the sins of the. entire world. It seems impossible, but after reading this book, we see how this makes perfect sense within the ultimate plan and will of God.
Footnotes:
[1] Sally Scopa, “Theme,” LitCharts, last modified May 5, 2017, accessed October 15, 2022, https://www.litcharts.com/literary-devices-and-terms/theme Links to an external site..
[2] Master Class, “Complete Guide to Literary Themes: Definition, Examples, and How to Create Literary Themes in Your Writing - 2022,” MasterClass, last modified August 20, 2021, accessed October 15, 2022, https://www.masterclass.com/articles/the-complete-guide-to-narrative-theme-in-literature-definition-examples-and-writing-how-to Links to an external site..
[3] Allen B. Wolfe, “Definition of Literary Terms, Biblical Terms, and Theological Terms,” Balancing the Sword - A Comprehensive Study Guide to Life's Manual, last modified 2022, accessed October 15, 2022, http://www.balancingthesword.com/study_support/glossaryword.asp?ID=59&_Word=theme Links to an external site..
[4] Victor P. Hamilton, Handbook on the Pentateuch, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2015), 232.
[5] John Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative: A Biblical-Theological Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1995), 323.
[6] John Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative: A Biblical-Theological Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1995), 346.
[7] John H Walton and Craig S Keener, NIV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible: Bringing to Life the Ancient World of Scripture, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2017), 216-217.
[8] Victor P. Hamilton, Handbook on the Pentateuch, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2015), 233.
[9] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ga 3:19.
[10] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Lev. 4:2.
[11] Eugene H. Merrill, “The Pentateuch,” in Holman Concise Bible Commentary, ed. David S. Dockery (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 37. [12]Mark F. Rooker, Leviticus, vol. 3A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 23. [13] Eugene H. Merrill, “The Pentateuch,” in Holman Concise Bible Commentary, ed. David S. Dockery (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 37. [14] Mark F. Rooker, Leviticus, vol. 3A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 42. [15]F. Duane Lindsey, “Leviticus,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 195–196. [16] H. D. M. Spence-Jones, ed., Leviticus, The Pulpit Commentary (London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1910), 260. [17] John Peter Lange, Philip Schaff, and Frederic Gardiner, A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Leviticus (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2008), 9. [18] Eugene H. Merrill, “The Pentateuch,” in Holman Concise Bible Commentary, ed. David S. Dockery (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 43. [19] Richard S. Hess, “Leviticus,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Genesis–Leviticus (Revised Edition), ed. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, vol. 1 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008), 574. [20] F. Duane Lindsey, “Leviticus,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 209. [21] Mark F. Rooker, Leviticus, vol. 3A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 312.
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