About three months ago, I got the opportunity of attending a beautiful church to teach and share about our ministry. While the sermon was being preached, the pastor mentioned as a passing comment how difficult it is for most people to read through the book of Leviticus.
I took personal offense at this! (My area of specialty is the book of Leviticus). However, the pastor was right. Most people do find Leviticus a bit strange, repetitive, and hard to read through.
Later, during the Sunday school, I promised I would send those who were interested a brief post on how to better understand and even enjoy reading through Leviticus. Here’s such attempt.
Hopefully, after this you’d be able to read Leviticus through without nodding off! Or, at least, you’d be able to better appreciate it.
Let That Sink In!
First, think about this question: what’s different about Leviticus? Why do we have such a, let’s say, different book in our Bibles? If you think about it, when one starts with Genesis, everything is ‘exciting’. The narrative moves forward fast and continuously. Only within the first chapter, we have one week where the whole of creation takes place! After the tragic fall, we see episodes such as the flood (Gen 6–10), Babel’s tower (Gen 11), the great stories of the patriarchs Abraham (Gen 12 ff), Isaac, and Jacob. God’s people end up in Egypt through another dramatic episode narrated in the story of Joseph. We turn to Exodus, and the narrative is even more captivating—Pharaoh’s wickedness, Moses’s survival, the ten plagues, the Red Sea, the ten commandments; you name it! And then, there’s Leviticus—and there’s a pause.
Let that sink in for a second. Really, let all that (Genesis–Exodus) sink in for an hour (which is about the time it takes to read through Leviticus). The narrative pauses for almost a whole book!
Instead of moving forward in time, Leviticus is a detailed explanation of what takes place at the ‘tent of meeting,’ the recently completed tabernacle (Ex 40:34–35; Lev 1:1). In other words, Leviticus offers a window into Moses’s experience while hearing directly from the LORD. Isn’t that amazing?!
So, the first reason why we should pay attention to Leviticus, is because the slowing-down of the narrative compels the reader to do so (Ps 46:10). This pause is a way for Moses to communicate: ‘These rules are important’.
A Central Book
Second, let’s think about placement. For English literature, often, the extremes are good places to emphasize any given topic—think about a title and introduction coming at the beginning or a summary or conclusion coming at the end of written compositions or oral deliveries. Hebrew, on the other hand, usually highlights topics by inserting them just at the center of a composition or even an anthology.
Think, for example, of Lamentations—a very dark collection of poems with the most hope being expressed at the middle of the anthology (Lam 3:22–24). In this sense, Leviticus stands as the theological center of the whole Torah (the Pentateuch).
So, the second reason why we should pay attention to Leviticus is that, whatever is happening there ought to make us pause, like the narrative pauses, and drive us to think this is a crucial, or, a central spot within the whole Torah, since we find the book at the middle of it.
Holy Contents
Alright, so we’ve said that Leviticus slows the narrative and that Moses has placed it at the center of the Torah. Both characteristics should hint to reader that the contents of the book are, indeed, important. Now, it’s our job as readers to do the hard work and look at the small details trying to ask what would this or that passage or regulation teach us about the covenant God and about God’s covenant people. And yet, I think many of us would benefit from a little help.
First, let me introduce you to the main topic of the book: The Holy God wills to dwell among his unholy people (Ex 29:45). That requires holiness. Leviticus, therefore, is teaching God’s covenant people how to live in communion with a Holy God (Lev 11:44–45; 19:2; 20:26). Notice, while you read, the themes of holiness, but also the themes of nearness, separation, purity and impurity among others. Notice how often the phrase «before the LORD» appears in the first seven or eight chapters. All these themes signal that a special people should fulfill special requirements to approach a Holy God. Thus, sacrifices are needed (but more on that bellow). Put simply, Leviticus is a book about holy communion with the covenant God.
A second thing to be on the look-out for are the many famous phrases that will be recaptured in the New Testament as some of the most memorable passages. Think of Peter calling the church to be holy in 1 Pe 1:16 or of Jesus’ famous ‘Love thy neighbor as yourself’ in Matt 22:39 coming directly from Lev 11:44–45 and 19:18 respectively.
So, the third reason Leviticus is extremely important is because of the contents of the book—especially shown by the themes of holiness, communion, and the memorable passages NT authors quote.
The Heart of the Torah
Combining everything we’ve mentioned so far, we begin to understand what makes Leviticus so very special. Leviticus is a window at what happens inside the tabernacle. Also, most of the first half of the book is about “bringing things before the Lord” with chapters 9 and 10 showing what happens when someone brings offerings in the right and wrong way respectively. This “bringing” ought to speak to us about closeness and communion, as mentioned in the point above. The rest of the book will speak about how a holy life before the Lord looks like for the people (Lev 11–20), the priests (Lev 21–22), and everyone together in their national festivities (Lev 23–25). The book closes with a reminder of the covenant blessings for faithfulness and curses for unfaithfulness (Lev 26) and some more laws concerning vows (Lev 27).
Finally, let’s consider what is at the theological heart of Leviticus, and therefore, at the very heart of the Torah. In chapter 16 of Leviticus, we have the institution of a very special holiday for the people: The Day of Atonement (Yom Kapur [Lev 16:1–34]).[1]
This is the only day when, you guessed it, the High Priest is allowed into the holy of holies: the ultimate image of communion between God and its people.
But what happens on that day? The ultimate sacrifice is offered—a threefold sacrifice, actually: one atones for the sins of the High Priest; one atones for the sins of all the people—thus propitiating God’s wrath—; the last one is a goat delivered into the wilderness representing how God drives the people’s sin away from them.
Leviticus 16, the very heart of the Torah, is a clear image of the gospel. Jesus is the ultimate offering (Jn 1:29). Jesus is our sinless Great High Priest taking upon himself all our sins entering as a perfect offering into the heavenly tabernacle God’s presence (Heb 9:11–14; 10:1–14), so that, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, we may find communion with God through faith in Christ (Jn 1:14).
So, there! That’s why I love Leviticus and why you should too! Next time you approach this challenging book, try to think about these categories and see if they help in any why to deepen your appreciation of God’s law.
[1] Many have called my attention to a very similar proposition made in the past by Michael Morales. To read more on his take concerning Leviticus 16 as the theological center of the Torah, see L. Michael Morales, Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord?: A Biblical Theology of the Book of Leviticus, NSBT 37 (IVP Academic, 2016), 167–80; esp. 177.
