The Bible narrates the story of humanity’s genesis as God’s images, how we failed to trust our Creator, and our subsequent exile from His life-giving Presence. Our history shows violence pervading our societies, for without God, we lose our identity and purpose, severed from the Source of life. Our failing to serve creation in God’s image is sin. Sin defiles creation and relationships, yet God desires to dwell with us. To resolve the crisis, God brings us back into His holy Presence to live forever with Him, healing creation and restoring relationships. The story of Leviticus within the Pentateuch is how God accomplishes this feat, transforming us into a new creation. This blog will look at Leviticus’s three divisions and what they tell us about the power of God’s love for us.

Not since the Garden of Eden had God dwelt with humanity until Mount Sinai. His fiery glory moved from the mountain into the Tabernacle. At the beginning of Leviticus, Moses was outside the Tabernacle, unable to enter, and YHWH spoke to Him from inside the Holy of Holies, revealing specific instructions on how to approach Him safely through five sacrifices performed by a consecrated priesthood (Lev. 1-10). The first and most weighty sacrifice was the ascension or burnt offering, where the entire blameless (tamim) animal was consumed by fire, and its smoke rose near to God into the heavens, representing the worshiper’s total surrender and dedication to YHWH, going through the fire, losing one’s life to gain it. This ascension offering was always accompanied by a handful of firstfruits or tribute offering, saying “thank you” to the Giver of the sacrifices. After these two, a peace offering of fellowship celebrated the abundance of living in God’s Presence, sharing the altar with God and others. Usually offered first, the sin offering remediated the damage sin does to the creation and our relationships, covering death with the life in the blood. The fifth offering was a guilt or restitution offering, given when someone wronged what was another person’s or damaged what was God’s. The restitution offering was accompanied by one-fifth of the monetary value of the harm. As God’s restoration gifts, the offerings acted out purification from sin, self-surrendering, and restoring justice and peace with God and fellow humans.

After “YHWH spoke to Moses” how to love Him with all your heart, mind, and strength, YHWH spoke to him about a seven-day consecration ceremony for Aaron and his sons so they would not die while serving as priests in the Tabernacle (Lev. 8). On the eighth day, God accepted them as a new creation, and they began their priestly service inside the Tabernacle, offering a sin offering, a whole burnt offering, and a peace offering. The fire of YHWH’s glory shot out from the Holy Place and consumed the offering on the altar. All of Israel worshiped in celebration. Having done all God commanded them, Moses and Aaron went into the Tabernacle and came out and blessed Israel, putting His name upon them (Lev. 9; Num. 6:23-27). Then, tragically, two of Aaron’s sons brought incense with unholy fire before YHWH and suffered the consequence of insulting God’s holiness, profaning His name. Nadab and Abihu’s dead bodies polluted YHWH’s house. YHWH spoke seven words to Aaron, saying, “By those who come near Me, I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people, I must be glorified” (Lev. 10:3). A priest must distinguish between holy and unholy, unclean and clean, and teach Israel all YHWH’s statutes (Lev. 10). A holy priesthood acted as a bridge between Israel and God, representing God to the nation and the nation to God.

The second section, Leviticus 11-16, teaches the priests to distinguish between clean and unclean, holy and profane regarding diet, purity after childbirth, skin diseases, and bodily discharges to maintain purity and holiness within the community of His dwelling place. God explained why, “For I am YHWH your God who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves and you shall be holy; for I am holy” (Lev 11:44-45). Even though morally flawed Israel betrayed the Covenant, YHWH wanted them to draw near Him. On the same day as Nadab and Abihu’s death, YHWH purged the Tabernacle and the people through the atonement, restoring the sanctuary and His people (Lev. 16). In the next few blogs, I will go deeper into its rich symbolic meaning.

The last section of Leviticus has ten units¹, where twenty-three times God addresses the community of Israel directly as “I am YHWH your Elohim,” similar to the ten words He spoke to all Israel from the top of Mount Sinai, introduced with “I am YHWH your Elohim” (Exo. 20:2). Leviticus 17 warned Israel to have nothing to do with gods of death, but in everything, daily source it in the God of the living, worshiping only Him. Through worship of other gods, an Israelite became guilty of murder. Chapters 18 and 20 are reflexive; fourteen laws stated in the first are restated in the second fourteen, surrounding the twenty-one core holiness codes in Leviticus 19, totaling 49 or 7² laws. Chapters 21-22 address Aaron and his sons to conduct themselves daily in holiness. In the seventh chapter, Leviticus 23 connects Israel with YHWH’s sacred time, the key to their holiness and bearing His name. The Sabbath, life in YHWH’s light, is contrasted to a man blaspheming His holy name, bearing his own sin to his death outside the camp (Lev. 24). Laws of land Sabbath, Jubilee, and care of the poor (Lev. 25) are followed by the blessing and cursing pronouncement (Lev. 26) and end with laws of redeeming people and property dedicated to God. Defining how to live with the Source of Life dwelling in Israel, Leviticus 25-27 begins and concludes with “And YHWH spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying,” and “These are the commandments which YHWH commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai.” By His words, we are created.

Leviticus focuses on approaching and worshiping God safely, maintaining proximity to His Presence (Lev. 1-10). Living life with God is rooted in purity and a desire to serve Him in a relationship (Lev. 11-16). The covenant foundation of a holy nation bearing YHWH’s name is living life in sacred space, experiencing God’s gifts and blessings, and growing in intimacy with Him while maintaining a loving relationship with each other in holiness (Lev. 17-26). Leviticus’s drama plays out before us: how to love God with all our heart, mind, and strength and to love our neighbors as ourselves. It is an outward expression of what would become internalized in the New Covenant.

Takeaway:
The narrative flow of Leviticus has three sections of God calling out to us, revealing His love that will transform us. Mediated through a priesthood, the first teaches us how to approach a holy God in our fallen state through five offering stories. They are God’s gift to us, modeling complete surrender to Him in trust, purity, and restored fellowship with Him and each other, forming a pathway to His Presence. In the middle section, the consecrated priesthood represents Israel’s vocation as a new creation, cleansed and pure, serving God in His dwelling place. The Day of Atonements climax shows how God deals with our sin and its pollution, keeping us in a holy state to dwell with Him. The last part reveals a “holiness code” to worship God in sacred time and space. Since the heart of God is to dwell with us, our daily existence depends upon God’s transforming Presence, knowing Him, worshiping Him, and carrying His name. Yeshua became the sacrifices, the priesthood, the way, the truth, and the life of the new creation.

Fun Factors:
“I am YHWH” occurs 69 times (3 × 23) in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, and 73 times in the Pentateuch, emphasizing the wisdom of tabernacling with YHWH, Israel’s covenant God who brought them out of bondage (Gen. 15:7; Exo. 6:2-8; 20:2; 31:13; Lev. 18:2-5; 19:2-3; 22:31-33; 23:43; 25:55; 26:1-2; Num. 10:10; 15:41).