Inter-Varsity Press

Contents

General preface
Author’s preface

Introduction
Part 1. The manual of sacrifice: enjoying God’s presence (1:1 – 7:38)
1. Consecration to God: the burnt offering (1:1–17)
2. A gift for God: the grain offering (2:1–16)
3. Fellowship with God: the peace offering (3:1–17)
4. Forgiveness from God: the sin offering (4:1 – 5:13
5. Amendment before God: the guilt offering (5:14 – 6:7)
6. Instructed by God: the priests’ responsibilities (6:8 – 7:38)

Part 2. The manual of priesthood: entering God’s service (8:1 – 10:20)
7. Anointed for service (8:1–36)
8. The glory of the Lord appeared (9:1–24)
9. Fire from Lord (10:1–20)

Part 3. The manual of purity: encountering God’s design (11:1 – 15:33)
10. Purity and the diet (11:1–47)
11. Purity and the body (12:1–8; 15:1–33)
12. Purity and disease (13:1 – 14:57)

Part 4. The manual of atonement: ensuring God’s forgiveness (16:1–34)
13. For all the sins of Israel (16:1–34)

Part 5. The manual of holiness: enacting God’s word (17:1 – 26:46)
14. God’s word about life blood (17:1–16)
15. God’s word about family health (18:1–30)
16. God’s word about society’s welfare (19:1–37)
17. God’s word about the penal code (20:1–27)
18. God’s word about spiritual leadership (21:1 – 22:33)
19. God’s word about times of celebration (23:1–44)
20. God’s word about safeguarding the sacred (24:1–23)
21. God’s word about radical economics (25:1–55)
22. God’s word about future prosperity (26:1–46)

Part 6. The manual of dedication: enamoured of God’s grace (27:1–34)
23. God’s word about consecration (27:1–34)

Almost ten years ago I wrote a little commentary on Leviticus aimed for use by small groups for Crossway Bible Guides. It has been a pleasure to return to Leviticus and study it afresh in order to write this volume for the ‘Bible Speaks Today’ series. I remain convinced that Leviticus is fundamental to our understanding of God and of the Christian faith. Without it so much else in the Bible simply makes no sense. It is, therefore, essential that we encourage people to study it and hear its message. I am also convinced that Leviticus does not deserve its bad reputation and that if Christians could overcome their prejudices against it they would soon find it yielding rich spiritual fruit. Paul’s claim that ‘all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful’ certainly includes Leviticus. For these reasons I am also convinced that Leviticus is a book that can be preached, and needs to be, to congregations today. A great deal of scholarly work has been done on Leviticus in the last ten years or so. It is not the purpose of this volume to engage in scholarly debates, but I have tried to acknowledge them in the notes, and those who wish to pursue matters can refer to the publications mentioned there. A textual critic will be able to discover a number of places where I have changed my mind since writing the Crossway Guide, but none of them are of crucial significance, and many, I hope, make for further clarification of the text and its meaning.
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I have valued the BST Old and New Testament volumes so much in my own preaching ministry over the years that I found it a privilege to be asked to contribute this volume, even if it was one of the less easy books of the Old Testament on which to write! I dare to pray that, like the volumes from which I have profited, this one may be faithful to the text and help to unlock its message for God’s people today. May it provoke, stimulate and motivate them to be free to be holy.

Derek J. Tidball; June 2004; London School of Theology

Leviticus is good news. It is good news for sinners who seek pardon, for priests who need empowering, for women who are vulnerable, for the unclean who covet cleansing, for the poor who yearn for freedom, for the marginalized who seek dignity, for animals that demand protection, for families that require strengthening, for communities that want fortifying and for creation that stands in need of care. All these issues, and more, are addressed in a positive way in Leviticus.

Admittedly, this is not the usual impression people have of the book, which often suffers from a bad reputation. As far back as 1891, one evangelical commentator spoke of people’s difficulties with it. A large number who wanted to own it as the word of God only did so, according to Samuel Kellogg, ‘in a discouraged way’. Most, however, either chose to dismiss it as relevant only for the Mosaic age, or expressed discomfort at the extreme severity of its laws, or simply treated it with indifference and doubted whether it was the word of God. The situation has not improved since then and, sadly, for most Christians today it is simply an unknown and unopened book.

Contemporary attitudes of indifference stand in contrast to earlier Jewish attitudes towards Leviticus, when it was valued so highly that it was made the first book of the Torah to which they introduced their children at school. It was the place they started when instilling the values and rules necessary for daily living. Jesus would have known it well, along with the rest of the Pentateuch, and respected its authority.

The gospel, which presumes a knowledge of sacrifice and atonement, of law and grace, of sin and obedience, of defilement and cleansing, of priesthood and temple curtains, makes little sense without it. Leviticus serves as a preliminary sketch of the master-piece that was to be unveiled in Christ. The fullest exposition of the relationship between Leviticus and the gospel, of course, is to be found in the letter to the Hebrews. Leviticus forms a foundation not only for the gospel but for Christian living. While the New Testament draws up new maps to guide the moral and spiritual life of the Christian, it does so by making use of the earlier charts of Leviticus. Particular applications may have changed, but the guiding ethical principles remain as firm as ever. Without Leviticus our Christian experience would be a house without a foundation.
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8. The glory of the Lord appeared - Ch. 9:1–24 extract

The eighth day (9:1) is the first day of a new week. It signals a new beginning. The consecration of Aaron and his sons, which had occupied the whole of the previous week, is now complete and Aaron is ready to begin his ministry. But the inauguration of his priesthood heralds a change not only for him but also for the entire company of Israel. The glory of the LORD (6, 23) was to appear to them from within the tabernacle, which was God’s permanent residence among them. God had made his home in the midst of his people and, in doing so, had restored to some degree the close fellowship he had once enjoyed with human beings in the Garden of Eden, though not, of course, the innocence they had once possessed.

1. The promise of God’s appearing (9:1–6)

a. The promise to the leaders (9:1–4)
Moses took Aaron and his sons to one side and, in the presence of the leaders of Israel (1), instructed them to gather the materials needed for the numerous offerings Aaron was to present that day. He was to offer a sin and and a burnt offering for himself (2), and the four major offerings – the sin, burnt, grain and peace offerings – on behalf of the community (3–4). Only one detail begs attention in these otherwise routine instructions. Aaron is instructed to offer a bull calf for his own sin offering (2), which is the only time this particular animal is stipulated. Later Jewish commentaries quite rightly explained that the choice of victim was due to the shameful incident of the golden calf in which Aaron had played such a crucial role. With this offering ‘the last stains of that grave sin’ were being removed.

All this, however, is a preliminary to the startling announcement Moses then made. ‘Today’, he said, ‘the LORD will appear to you.’ The leaders of Israel had witnessed from a distance the Lord’s appearance to Moses on Mount Sinai and had also once before encountered him enthroned in majesty. But they had not previously been confronted by God so closely in person. Had they heard aright? Was the Lord really going to appear to them in the camp? They must have greeted such an announcement with a mixture of joyful anticipation and nervous apprehension.

b. The promise to the people (9:5–6)
When the priests had gathered the sacrificial materials together and brought them to the entrance of the tabernacle, the entire assembly came near and stood before the LORD (5). Moses then repeated his joyful announcement to them all: ‘This is what the LORD has commanded you to do, so that the glory of the LORD may appear to you’ (6). The people had previously witnessed the glory of the Lord, but then it was in thunder and lightning, enveloped in thick cloud and smoke, and had the sound of a trumpet blast about it. God had revealed himself on that occasion in awesome majesty, and the people had been warned to keep their distance lest he should break out against them in their unconsecrated state. Not unnaturally, on that occasion the response of everyone in the camp was to tremble. But now his glory was going to appear, not from a distant mountain top, but in their midst. Like their leaders, they must have been unsure whether to greet the news with delight or with fear.

What is this ‘glory of the Lord’ that is referred to in Leviticus only in this chapter but is mentioned frequently elsewhere in Scripture? Kabod (the Hebrew word for ‘glory’) derives from the word for ‘weight’ or ‘heavy’, and hence came to mean something of worth and supreme value. The proper response to such things is to treasure or honour them. The glory of the Lord refers to the ‘weight of God’. He is worthy, and so not to be thought of lightly, dismissed easily or dealt with casually. God’s glory is almost ‘a technical term for God’s manifest presence’ in Israel, which shows itself in ‘luminous unearthly brilliance’ and in a display of intense majestic splendour. Israel rightly approaches this God of glory with caution, listens to his words with care, and responds to them with submissive minds and diligent obedience. ...