Inter-Varsity Press

Contents

General preface
Author’s preface

Introduction

Title of the book
Nature of Leviticus
Authorship and date
Unity of Leviticus
Purpose of the book
Theology of Leviticus
Leviticus and the New Testament
The Hebrew text

Analysis
The sacrifices of Leviticus

Commentary
Probable plan of the tabernacle
The high priest’s breastpiece
The feasts of Leviticus 23 and other Old Testament calendars

Appendix A: Leviticus 13
Appendix B: Sex and its theology

The aim of this series of Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, as it was in the companion volumes on the New Testament, is to provide the student of the Bible with a handy, up-to-date commentary on each book, with the primary emphasis on exegesis. Major critical questions are discussed in the introductions and additional notes, while undue technicalities have been avoided. ...

The book of Leviticus, much prized by our Jewish friends for its emphasis on a distinctive holiness to be displayed by God’s people, has too often been neglected by Christians, except for a few selected themes or incidents. Professor Harrison puts emphasis on the purpose and meaning of the various sacrifices and rituals, and on their relation to the New Testament which similarly challenges the reader to lead a holy life. He does much to make the book as a whole clear in its original setting and relevant for us today.

Interest in the meaning and message of the Old Testament continues undiminished and it is hoped that this series will thus further the systematic study of the revelation of God and his will and ways as seen in these records. It is the prayer of the editor and publisher, as of the authors, that these books will help many to understand, and to respond to, the Word of God today.

D. J. Wiseman

From the AUTHOR’S PREFACE

Leviticus is a book that is read all too infrequently by the Christian Bible student. Being a rather technical priestly work which deals to a large extent with the rituals and sacrifices of the old covenant, it is commonly imagined to have little relevance for those living in the age of grace.

A closer study of Leviticus, however, provides the reader with remarkable insights into the character and will of God, particularly in the matter of holiness. Amongst the pagan Near Eastern nations, holiness was a state of consecration to the service of a deity, and often involved the practice of immoral rites. For the Hebrews, to be holy as God is holy required a close relationship of obedience and faith, and a manifestation in daily life of the high moral and spiritual qualities characteristic of God’s nature as revealed in the Law. This same kind of holiness is demanded also of every believer in Jesus Christ.

Leviticus is thus a work of towering spirituality, which through the various sacrificial rituals points the reader unerringly to the atoning death of Jesus, our great High Priest. An eminent nineteenth-century writer once described Leviticus quite correctly as the seedbed of New Testament theology, for in this book is to be found the basis of Christian faith and doctrine. The Epistle to the Hebrews expounds Leviticus in this connection, and therefore merits careful study in its own right, since in the view of the present writer it is pre-eminent as a commentary on Leviticus.

R. K. Harrison

From the INTRODUCTION

Nature of Leviticus

Since Leviticus is basically a manual of priestly regulations and procedures, it is only natural that the purely historical element should be subordinated to ritual and legal considerations. Nevertheless, historical narratives are interwoven with sections of law and instructions concerning sacrificial procedures in such a way as to make it clear that Leviticus is closely connected historically with Exodus and Numbers. On purely stylistic grounds alone Leviticus is linked with Exodus 20 – 40, and the association is demonstrated in the Hebrew text by means of the opening word of Leviticus, the very first consonant of which is a ‘waw consecutive,’ indicating a direct connection with what has just preceded it, i.e. Exodus 40:38.

Leviticus enlarges uponmatters involving the ordering of worship at the divine sanctuary that are mentioned only briefly in Exodus. Whereas the latter described the specifications and construction of the tabernacle, Leviticus narrates the way in which the priests are to care for the sanctuary and throne room of the Great King. The work is a fundamentally important legal treatise because it contains the regulations by which the religious and civil life of the Hebrew nation was to be governed once the land of Canaan was occupied.

At Mount Sinai, where the legislation contained in Leviticus was revealed by God to Moses, the tribes of Israel had entered into a special relationship with God which by its very structure had all the marks of a second-millennium BC vassal treaty. Such agreements were made between a great king and a smaller nation with whom the king desired to enter into a political relationship. International treaties of this order were set out according to a traditional pattern, and when the stipulations had been accepted by the vassal, a formal ratification by both parties took place in the presence of their national gods, who acted as ‘witnesses’. The Sinai covenant with its associated stipulations is recorded in Exodus 20:1 – 23:33, and was enlarged greatly in content by the addition of related legal and other material to form the book of Deuteronomy, which in effect is a covenant-renewal document. Leviticus differs from both Exodus and Deuteronomy, however, in containing technical regulations which the priests were to apply to the conduct of worship and the regulating of the community’s life in Israel.

Leviticus is a well-organized reference manual for the Old Testament priesthood, and consists of two principal divisions or themes which have as their pivot the sixteenth chapter, dealing with regulations governing the annual day of atonement. The first fifteen chapters deal broadly with sacrificial principles and procedures relating to the removal of sin and the restoration of persons to fellowship with God. The last eleven chapters emphasize ethics, morality and holiness. The unifying theme of the book is the insistent emphasis upon God’s holiness, coupled with the demand that the Israelites shall exemplify this spiritual attribute in their own lives. The material content is priestly in character, and therefore deals with the covenant obligations of the Israelites at a level which is not found elsewhere in the Pentateuch. The regulations and procedures connected with the observance of the day of atonement are an illustration of this tendency.

At first sight the book of Leviticus might appear to be a haphazard, even repetitious arrangement of enactments involving the future life in Canaan of the Israelite people. Closer examination will reveal, however, that quite apart from the division of the work into two basic themes,many of the chapters have their own literary structure....