Leviticus Chapter 1 Introduction
A. Introduction: the idea of sacrifice in ancient Israel.
Introduction
Here is a book that is ostensibly of special interest only to the religious antiquarian. Most regard it with indifference or doubt, and it certainly seems distant from any relevance to our current horizon for most of us. So it may come as a surprise to discover that there are a number of Biblical experts who regard the Book of Leviticus as the most important book of the Bible! Dr. Samuel H. Kellogg, Dr. Albert C. Dudley, J. Vernon McGee, et al.
If it were possible to get the message of this book into the hearts of all people who are trying to be religious, all cults and ‘isms’ would end.
J. Vernon McGee
What is the most important thing in the world? Holiness.
He that sees the beauty of holiness, or true moral good, sees the greatest and most important thing in the world.
Jonathan Edwards
Holiness vs. Happiness: True happiness begins with holiness.
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
Hebrews 12:14
Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Matthew 5:6
If I had my choice of all the blessings I can conceive of I would choose perfect conformity to the Lord Jesus, or, in one word, holiness.
Charles Spurgeon
[Would you make that choice?]
We want Jesus to solve our problems and carry our burdens, but we don’t want Him to control our lives and change our character. Eight times
God said to His people, “Be Holy, for I am Holy.”
Key Verse(s): Be Holy, for I am holy.
Leviticus 11:44, 45 Applied to the New Testament Church:
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
1 Peter 1:15, 16
Holiness isn’t a luxury: it’s a necessity. It is not “limited to the Jews in ancient Israel”: Leviticus instructs New Testament Christians how to appreciate holiness and appropriate it into their everyday lives.
Most frequent words:
Holy 94X in 77 verses
Uncleanness 129X in 96 verses
Five Basic Themes
1. A Holy God
What is “holiness”? It is the primary emphasis in the Bible. This word occurs 87 times in this book.
And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.
Leviticus 20:26
The Hebrew word for “holy” used in Leviticus, vd,qo qodesh, means “that which is set apart and marked off; that which is different; separateness; apartness; sacredness.”
The Sabbath was holy because God set it apart for His people (Ex 16:23). The priests were holy because they were set apart to minister to the Lord (Lev 21:7-8). Their garments were holy and could not be duplicated for common use (Ex 28:2). The tithe was holy (Lev 27:30). Anything that God said was holy had to be treated differently from the common things of life.
The English word “holy “ comes from the Old English word halig, which means “to be whole, to be healthy.” The related word “sanctify” comes from the Latin sanctis, which means “consecrated, sacred, blameless.” How did a Holy God reveal Himself and His Holiness? The religions of the nations of Canaan (and the other regions as well) were notoriously immoral and involved occultic idols, temple prostitution, and the like. (The religions of Greece and Rome weren’t much better.) For this reason, God commanded His people to stay away from their altars and shrines and to refuse to learn their ways.
You never call any of the heathen deities “holy.” But the “Holy One of Israel” is one of the most oft-repeated names of YHWH in Scripture (30X in Isaiah alone).
He also gave them a Holy Law that contained both promises and penalties, of which the Ten Commandments are the essence (Ex 20:1-17). It taught them right from wrong, defined things both clean and unclean, and outlined the penalties of disobedience.
In both declaration and demonstration, YHWH made it clear to the people of Israel that He is a holy God, righteous in all His works and just in all His judgments.
The requirements of holiness is uncompromising. Near misses don’t count. “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23), and “the soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Ezek 18:4).
Even Socrates recognized the paradox of a holy God:
It may be that Deity can forgive sins, but I don’t see how.
Socrates, 500 B.C.
The Predicament of Man
“In his fallen, degenerate condition, man is lost.
Darkness, which he cannot dissipate, is all around him.
Stains of guilt, which he cannot wash out, are upon him.
The curse of condemnation stands written against him, beyond his power to expunge it, or check it off.
A foul disease is fretting through all his nature, against which there is no earthly antidote or remedy.
Death and decay are on him, and cling to him as part of himself, and he cannot cut loose from them.
Eternity itself, so far as his own strength goes, can bring him only sorrow and despair.
But God come to us in this desperate estate, and proffers, through Christ, an eternal deliverance.
For darkness, He proposes to give us light.
For sin, He holds out to us the means of an effectual cleansing.
For condemnation, He tenders to us a present and full reprieve.
For all our ailments, He engages to work for us an abiding cure.
And for our corruption and death, He offers us glory and immortality.
In one word, He proposes to save us.
Restoration—complete restoration—is now proclaimed from the heavens as the portion of those who will receive it through Jesus Christ.
It is a blessed proclamation.
It is, indeed, Good News—glad tidings of great joy.
And this proclamation is the Gospel.”
Joseph A. Seiss
God’s Predicament
God hates sin, but He loves sinners. And because He loves sinners and wants to forgive them, He provided a substitute to die in the sinner’s place. The whole sacrificial system declared to Israel that a substitutionary death would be required in the sinner’s place. All this was a prefiguring of a promised Savior who would lay down His life for the sins of the world.
What is the “Gospel”? It is God’s proclamation of a plan of mercy to sinners.
The very definition of the “Gospel” is built on these very specifications:
That Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
1 Corinthians 15:3, 4
The death of Jesus Christ was not a tragedy; it was an achievement. He didn’t just die: He fulfilled the myriads of precise specifications detailed in the Scriptures. The entire sacrificial system pointed toward this most significant event in the universe.
Science can tell of God, see His fingerprints throughout the Creation, and trace His footsteps everywhere; but it cannot tell of any remedy for sin, any Savior of the soul, nor any peace for the guilty. It is more important for us to understand the laws of grace than the laws of nature.
[God has devoted only two chapters to the one, and over 500 to the other.]
2. A Holy Priesthood
The Jewish priesthood belonged only to the tribe of Levi, the third son of Jacob and Leah (Gen 29:34; 35:23). Levi was the father of Gershom, Kohath, and Merari (Gen 46:11). Kohath’s son Amram was the father of Aaron, Moses, and Miriam (Num 26:58-59).
Aaron was the first high priest and his male descendants became priests, with the firstborn son in each generation inheriting the high priesthood. (You couldn’t be a priest unless you had Levi genes!) Every priest was a Levite, but not every Levite was a priest. The rest of the men in the tribe of Levi were assigned to serve as assistants to the priests.
The Levites were substitutes for the firstborn males in Israel, all of whom had to be dedicated to the Lord (Ex 13:11-6; Num 3:12-13, 44-51).
David divided the thousands of Levites into 24 courses (this is a key to understanding the 24 Elders in the Book of Revelation). The title of the book, “Leviticus,” derives from “Levi” and means “pertaining to the Levites.” They are only mentioned once (Lev 25:32).
The priests had to not only come from the tribe of Levi, but they also had to be free of any physical defects, and not marry women whom God disapproved (Lev 21, 22). They were subject to many special laws for bathing, garments, and other details that did not apply to the common people. In every way they were set apart and, therefore, holy to the Lord.
The Levites were in charge of the sanctuary, and during the wilderness wanderings they carried the tent and its furnishings from place to place (Num 1:47-54). They were responsible to guard the sanctuary (1 Chr 9:19); to teach the people the Law (Deut 33:8-11; Neh 8:7-9); and, to lead the worshipers in praising god (1Chr 28:28-32).
Under penalty of death: Only a holy priesthood could approach God’s altar and be acceptable to serve God. If they weren’t dressed properly (Ex 28:39-43); if they didn’t wash properly (30:20-21); if they tried to serve while unclean (Lev 22:9); if they were careless with the Tabernacle furnishings (Num 4:14, 20) ...they were in danger of death.
Jesus is, of course, our High Priest (Heb 9:25-26). And every true believer in Jesus Christ is a priest of God, with the privilege of offering spiritual sacrifices through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5, 9).
In the OT, God’s people had a priesthood; in the NT, God’s people are a priesthood (Rev 1:6).
Through faith in Christ, we’ve been
• washed (1 Cor 6:9-11);
• clothed in His righteousness (2 Cor 5:21);
• anointed by the Spirit (1 John 2:20, 27); and • given access into His presence (Heb 10:19-20).
3. A Holy People
God’s purpose for Israel was that the nation be “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex 19:6). Everything was either “holy” (set apart for God’s exclusive use) or “common.” “Common” things were either “clean” (the people could use them) or “unclean” (it was forbidden to use them).
The laws governing marriage, birth, diets, personal cleanliness, the quarantine of diseased persons, and the burial of the dead—while they certainly involved hygienic benefits—were all reminders that God’s people couldn’t live any way they pleased.
They had to learn to “put a difference between unclean and clean” (Lev 10:10). And there were ceremonial provisions for cleansing and repair of failures...
When Israel started to live like pagans, they robbed God of His glory; and the Lord had to chasten them.
The frailties of our own genetic defects are provided for if we, too, comply with His provision for our inadequacies.
4. A Holy Land
A holy God wants His people to live in a holy land. In Leviticus 18-27, the word “land” is used 68 times. The sins that defile the land invite divine judgment: immorality (Chapter 18); idolatry (Chapter 19); capital crimes (Chapter 20); blasphemy (Chapter 23); and, refusing to give the land its rest (Chapter 25).
When the people of Israel committed these sins, God had to chasten them by allowing Babylon to destroy Jerusalem and take the people captive (2 Chr 34:14-21).
The nations of the world don’t have the same covenant relationship to God that Israel has—not even the United States. But all are still responsible to obey His moral law and to use His gifts wisely (Amos 12). And with our unique heritage we need to realize that to whom much is given, much will be required. For a long list of reasons, the United States is overdue for judgment.
Rise and Fall of Nations
The rise and fall of empires can be mapped by their treatment of God’s chosen people. After the Spanish Inquisition tortured the Jews, the Great Armada of Spain was destroyed by the British; from that point on Britannia, not Spain, ruled the waves.
When Great Britain abrogated the Balfour Declaration, causing Jews to go to concentration camps instead of to the land promised to them, the sun began to set on the British empire.
During WWII, the Germans built walls around the Jewish ghettos of Europe; any Jew climbing over the wall to escape was machine-gunned to death. Within a few years a wall was built around Berlin; any German climbing over it was machine-gunned to death.
The Berlin Wall remained standing until the last leader of the generation of Germans responsible for the Holocaust was dead. Immediately after the death of Rudolf Hess in Spandau Prison, the Berlin Wall came down.
[The judgment overdue on America is possibly being deferred because of Gen 12:2, 3...]
I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.
Thomas Jefferson
5. A Holy Savior
Every detail in the Scriptures points toward Christ:
For the law having a shadow of good things to come...
Hebrews 10:1
Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,
Psalm 40:7 (also quoted in Heb 10:7)
Jesus emphasized that on the Emmaus Road:
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.Luke 24:27 And again that evening in the upper room:
And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
Luke 24:44
And none are more fundamental than those that deal with His substitutionary performance on our behalf. No amount of good works or religious efforts can make a sinner holy. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse us from our sins (1 Jn 1:7).
And only a risen, glorified Savior can intercede for us at the throne of God as our Advocate (1 Jn 2:1) and high priest (Heb 8:1; Rom 8:34). Just as the nation of Israel had to beware of that which was unclean and defiling, so also must believers today
...cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
2 Corinthians 7:1
The Occasion of the Book
The book begins with a Vav connective, w (“And”), which connects it with the preceding book of Exodus.
In Genesis we see man ruined.
In Exodus we see man redeemed by God.
In Leviticus we see man worshiping God.
The Kingdom of God, rejected by corporate humanity in the founding of the Babel world power, continued on the earth in a few still-loyal souls in the line of Abraham and his seed. Now, at last, according to promise, it had been formally and visibly reestablished on earth at Mt. Sinai.
The fundamental law of the kingdom contained in the Ten Commandments, and certain applications of the same, was received and solemnly covenanted to by Israel with the sprinkling of blood (Ex 24:3-7).
YHWH then issued the specifications for the building of the Tabernacle (“tent of meeting”), and the Shekinah cloud covered the Tabernacle, manifesting the presence of the King of Israel.
Out of the Tabernacle, YHWH now called unto Moses and delivered the law as we have it in this book.
About 10 weeks after their deliverance from Egypt, the Israelites arrived at Mt. Sinai (Ex 19:1). Moses erected the Tabernacle on the 1st day of the 1st month of the 2nd year of liberation (Ex 40:17); Ex 16-40 covers about 9 months (Num 9:1-5). The Book of Numbers opens with a census being taken on the 1st day of the 2nd month of the 2nd year (Num 1:1). Thus, Leviticus covers only about a month of Israel’s history.
Exodus Contrasted with Leviticus:
In Exodus we see an offer of pardon; Leviticus offers purity.
In Exodus we have God’s approach to man; Leviticus describe man’s approach to God.
In Exodus Christ is the Savior; In Leviticus Christ is the Sanctifier.
In Exodus man’s guilt is prominent; In Leviticus man’s defilement is prominent.
In Exodus God speaks out of Mt. Sinai; In Leviticus He speaks out of the Tabernacle.
In Exodus man is made nigh unto God; In Leviticus man is kept nigh unto God.
1. (1) God speaks to Moses from the tabernacle.
Now the LORD called to Moses, and spoke to him from the tabernacle of meeting, saying,
The book opens with the Hebrew word, arq.YIw: vayiqara, which means “and He called....” This is the title of the book in the Hebrew text. The Greek translators of the Septuagint devised the title Leviticus as it deals with institutions committed to the priests, who were of the tribe of Levi. The Talmud, for similar reasons, calls it “the law of the priests.”
The Church is the eklesia, the “called-out ones.” This is a book for those who are called out—saved: Thus, it is a message for us.
It is God that is the direct speaker on almost every page. “The Lord spake unto Moses” directly. This is asserted 56 times in the 27 chapters. This book is more entirely made up of the very words of the Lord than any other book of the Bible.
“Out of the Tabernacle”: God is no longer speaking from the top of Mount Sinai in thunder and lightning. As soon as the Tabernacle was set up, He called to Moses from the Mercy Seat in the Holy of Holies.
a. Now the LORD called to Moses: The story of Leviticus picks up where Exodus left off. The people of Israel, the covenant descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were still camped at the foot of Mount Sinai. They remained at Sinai throughout the time period covered by the book of Leviticus.
b. From the tabernacle of meeting: This indicates that the tabernacle was now completed. The last several chapters of Exodus described the construction of the tabernacle (Exodus 35-40). With the tabernacle of meeting complete, the sacrificial system could now be put into operation.
i. In John 1:14 there is a deliberate link between this tabernacle of meeting and the incarnate Jesus Christ (the Word became flesh and dwelt [tabernacled] among us. As the tabernacle of meeting was a symbol of God’s presence among His people, Jesus Christ was God present on earth.
The book opens with the Hebrew word, arq.YIw: vayiqara, which means “and He called...” (This is the title of the book in the Hebrew text. The Greek translators of the Septuagint devised the title Leviticus as it deals with institutions committed to the priests, who were of the tribe of Levi. The Talmud, for similar reasons, calls it “the law of the priests.”)
The Church is the eklesia, the “called out ones.” This is a book for those who are called out: saved. Thus, it is message for us.
It is God that is the direct speaker on almost every page. “The Lord spake unto Moses” directly. This is asserted 56 times in the 27 chapters. It is more entirely made up of the very words of the Lord than any other book of the Bible. [Moses: About 1/3 of the OT was written by this remarkable man. He was, and remains, the great Lawgiver and Historian of the world.]
Authority
We won’t trouble ourselves with the various theories and conjectures of “higher criticism” (an oxymoron from the liberal seminaries). There are those that quibble about possible redactory alterations during the days of Ezra, etc. (We’ll take up some of these later as we get to them.) We will simply take the most authoritative authentication possible: That of Jesus Christ Himself. He has spoken on this matter.
As to the Torah in general, He called it “the Law of Moses” (Lk 24:44); and He declared it to be such that “till heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all be fulfilled” (Mt 5:18). [Could this somehow exclude the book of Leviticus? Was it a forgery, with 56 affirmations of its Mosaic origin and inspired authority, and thus somehow excluded?]
Jesus said that if the Jews had believed Moses they would also have believed Him (Jn 5:46, 47). Was He including Leviticus as a forgery? More specifically, when Jesus healed the lepers (Mt 8:4) He sent them to the priests on the ground that Moses had commanded this in such cases. Such a command is only in Leviticus (Lev 14:3-10).
In justifying His disciples for plucking the ears of corn on the Sabbath day, He alludes to the example of David, who ate the shew-bread when he was in flight from Saul, “which was not lawful for him to eat, but only for the priests” (Mt 12:4); thus, referring to a law found only in Leviticus (Lev 24:9). This citation was only pertinent on the ground that the prohibition of the shew-bread had the same inspired authority as the obligation of the Sabbath.
Jesus refers to Moses as having renewed the ordinance of circumcision (Jn 7:22, 23), having been first given to Abraham; but this renewal is recorded only in Leviticus (Lev 12:3). Our Lord Himself rests the obligation of certain duties upon the fact that this law of Leviticus was a revelation from God to Moses for the children of Israel.
Jesus declared “that Moses wrote of Him” (Jn 5:46), and, as He highlighted on the Emmaus Road, “the things concerning Himself” (Lk 24:27).
The defense rests...on the testimony of the Messiah Himself.
Leviticus is quoted over 100 times in the NT.
Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1 Corinthians 10:11
Now these things were our examples...
1 Corinthians 10:6
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
Romans 15:4
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.’
2 Tim 3:16,17
Cf. 1 Pet 1:10-12; Heb 11:13
It is a book of worship. Sacrifices, ceremony, ritual, liturgy, instructions, washings, convocations, holy days, observances, conditions, and warnings comprise this book. Worship today is no longer by ritual or in a specific place (Jn 4:21-24).
The laws of Leviticus constantly held before the Israelite the absolute holiness of God as the only standard of perfection.
There are three key emphases in the Book of Leviticus:
1) The Awfulness of Sin.
Blood is mentioned over 88 times.
Without the shedding of blood there is no remission.
Hebrews 9:22 2) The Graciousness of God.
With equal clearness it also proclaims that with the shedding of blood there can be remission of sin to every believing penitent. In God’s grace, He also provided for the remedies for their inevitable failures and restoration. 3) The Sacrifice of Christ.
Apart from any relation to the New Testament, the prescriptions given in Leviticus dwindle down to a burdensome round of uninviting and meaningless ceremonies, seemingly unworthy of so high an origin, or so solemn a method of inculcation.
Joseph A. Seiss Without the New Testament, the Old Testament closes with:
• Unexplained ceremonies (sacrificial rituals);
• Unachieved purposes (the covenants);• Unappeased longings (poetical books);
• Unfulfilled prophecies.
The New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed; The Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed.
Augustine
Relevance of this Book to Us Today
• A revelation of the character of God. And God has not changed.
• A revelation of the fundamental conditions of true religion. The spiritual truths still abide: there is for sinful man no citizenship in the kingdom of God apart from a High Priest and Mediator with a propitiatory sacrifice for sin.
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• Beyond the self-offering of the worshiper of God stands the constant testimony that it is only through the shedding of blood not
his own that man can have remission of sin. We can’t appreciate Christ as the solution until we understand the requirements which had to be met.
The Sacrifices
“Atonement” occurs 45X in this book. It means to “cover up.” One of the key verses in Leviticus is:
For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
Leviticus 17:11
While the sacrifices were codified in the Levitical system of the Torah, the sacrifices were instituted as early as the Garden of Eden when God taught Adam and Eve that only by the shedding of innocent blood would they be covered (Gen 3:21).
(It was through the failure to properly offer a blood sacrifice of faith, rather than that of his own works from a cursed ground, that Cain murdered his younger brother Abel.)
The shedding of animal blood couldn’t change a person’s heart or take away sin (Heb 10:1-4). However, God did state that the sins of the worshiper were forgiven (Lev 4:20, 26, 31, 35; 5:10, 13, 16, 18; 6:7). He did this on the basis of, and in anticipation of, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross (Heb 10:5-14). [Like some people in churches today, Jewish worshipers could merely go through the motions at the altar, without putting their heart into it; but this meant that God had not truly forgiven them (Ps 50:8-14; 61:16-17; Isa 1:10-20; Micah 6:6-8). God doesn’t want our sacrifices: He wants obedience from our hearts (1 Sam 15:22).]
Six basic offerings could be brought to the Tabernacle altar. They can be classified in three categories:
The Commitment to God
These three speak of total dedication to the Lord.
The Burnt Offering
The Grain or Meal (“meat,” KJV) Offering
The Drink Offering (Num 15:1-10)
The other three met specific needs in the life of the worshiper and also expressed some truth about the person and work of Jesus Christ, God’s perfect sacrifice:
The Communion with God
The Fellowship (“Peace,” KJV) Offering
The Cleansing from God
The Sin Offering
The Guilt (“Trespass,” KJV) Offering
These offerings are detailed in the first seven chapters.
The consecration of the priests, detailed in Chapters 8, 9, and 10, will reveal how shallow and inadequate is our thinking on Christian consecration. The diet God provided for His people in Chapter 11 was hygienic and therapeutic, and contains much spiritual food for our souls.
God’s attitudes toward motherhood—and womanhood—are profiled in Chapter 12.
The prominence given to leprosy and its treatment—as a type of sin— is detailed in Chapters 13-15. The cleansing of the leper finds its fulfillment in the death and resurrection of Christ as typified in the unusual sacrifice of the two birds. If we are to escape the defilement of sin in this world we need to now a great deal about the death and resurrection of Christ and the application of it to our own lives.
The Day of Atonement—Yom Kippur—is a complete portrait of the sacrifice of Christ in Chapter 16.
The role of the Brazen Altar highlights the essential characteristics of the Cross in Chapter 17.
Chapters 18-22 reveals how the minute details of the daily lives of the human family are to be involved with Him. God wants to be involved in your business, your family life, and your social life. We must beware lest we shut Him out of our lives.
They say that a Jew’s catechism is his calendar, and the feasts detailed in Chapter 23 furnishes the prophetic program of God’s agenda for all time.
Chapters 24-27 furnish an interpretation of the Promised Land, its checkered history, and an insight into its future prominence in God’s program. It is especially timely in view of the international meddling and controversies over Israel’s right to the land which dominates global politics today.
Our Hermeneutics
The Epistle to the Hebrews lays down the principles upon which we are to interpret Leviticus. The examples of types there furnish a model for our guidance to other cases. (Allegories, types, etc. prove nothing, but they do declare and open a text that it may be better perceived and understood.)
The typical character of the ordinances is affirmed that the Tabernacle was an “example and shadow of the heavenly things” (Heb 8:5); and the sacrifices prefigured “better sacrifices than these,” even the one offering of Him who “put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Heb 9:23, 26); and that the holy times and sabbatic seasons of the law were “a shadow of things to come” (Col 2:16, 17).
And yet there’s still more to be fulfilled: We have seen the “type” of the day of atonement fulfilled in the entering into heaven of our great High Priest; but in the type He came out again to bless the people. Has that been fulfilled? Has He yet proclaimed absolution of sin to guilty Israel? How about the Feast of Trumpets and that of the ingathering at full harvest? How about that consummate type of all, the year of Jubilee?
Leviticus looks forward to a glorious future yet to come, with the requirements of holiness fully met in Him.
Fasten your seat belts! It’s going to be an exciting and highly privileged excursion!
2. (2) What to do when you bring an offering to LORD.
“Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When any one of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of the livestock—of the herd and of the flock.
“If any man...” means “whosoever will may come.”
Two types of animals were used in the burnt offering: Animals of the herd are cattle; of the flock are sheep. Excluded were animals of prey and carnivorous animals. Animals that live by the death of others could never typify Christ, who came to give His life a ransom for many. A further restriction was that the animal must be a clean animal and it must be domesticated. It could not be taken in the hunt. Only that which was valuable and dear to the owner could be offered because it prefigures Christ. God spared not His own Son.
Each of these were horned animals, which traditionally symbolized power, honor and authority. Christ suffered on the Cross, but the Father suffered in heaven.
The final restriction was that the animal was one that was obedient to man: Christ was the obedient servant. He came to minister and He was obedient unto death. There are six parts to the blood ritual:
1) The Presentation;
2) The Laying on of the Hand;
3) The Killing of the Victim;
4) The Sprinkling of the Blood;
5) The Burning;
6) [The Sacrificial Meal (omitted in this one).]
(Each offering type will have distinctives in each of these that relate to its particular signification.)
a. When any one of you brings an offering: In the covenant God made with Israel at Mount Sinai, there were three major parts. The covenant included the law Israel had to obey, sacrifice to provide for breaking the law, and the choice of blessing or curse that would become Israel’s destiny throughout history.
i. The sacrificial system was an essential element of the Mosaic covenant because it was impossible to live up to the requirements of the law. No one could perfectly obey the law, and sin had to be dealt with through sacrifice. Each commanded sacrifice was significant, and they all pointed toward the perfect sacrifice Jesus would offer by His crucifixion (Hebrews 7:27, 9:11-28).
ii. This was not the beginning of God’s sacrificial system. Adam knew of sacrifice (Genesis 3:21), as did Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:3-4), and Noah (Genesis 8:20-21). Israel offered sacrifice at the Passover (Exodus 12). Job 1:5 and Exodus 10:25 also mention burnt sacrifices before the book of Leviticus.
iii. The idea of sacrifice to the gods was not unique to Israel. Other nations and cultures practiced sacrifice, often ultimately involving human sacrifice. The universality of sacrifice is evidence that this concept was known to man before the flood and was carried to different cultures from the survivors of the flood in Noah’s day.
b. Brings an offering to the LORD: Because sacrifice was already known to Israel, these instructions to the priests were not particularly new – they were mostly a clarification of a foundation that was already known to Israel through the traditions of their fathers.
i. God planned wisely in bringing the law of the sacrifices at this time. Before the tabernacle of meeting was built, there was no one place of sacrifice, and the procedures for sacrifice couldn’t really be settled and regulated. But now with the completion of the tabernacle, Israel could bring their sacrifice to one place and follow the same procedures for each sacrifice.
ii. The first seven chapters of Leviticus deal with personal, voluntary offerings. Chapters one through five are mostly instructions to the people who bring the offering, and chapters six and seven are mostly instructions to the priests concerning offerings.
iii. Matthew Poole explained why there were so many different kinds of sacrifices: “To represent as well the several perfections of Christ, be true sacrifice, and the various benefits of his death, as the several duties which men owe to their Creator and Redeemer, all which could not be so well expressed by one sort of sacrifices.”
iv. The fact that God gave so much instruction on how to specifically offer sacrifices shows that this was not a matter God left up to the creativity of the individual Israelite. They were not free to offer sacrifices any way they pleased, even if they did it with sincerity. God demanded the humility and obedience of His people in the sacrificial system. It had to be carried out in a way that was God-centered, not man-centered.
c. You shall bring an offering of the livestock—of the herd and of the flock: This meant that an Israelite worshipper could not offer a “wild” or non-domesticated animal. They could only bring domesticated livestock from the herd or from the flock. Each animal was part of the Israelite’s inventory of animals for fabric, milk and all its products, and meat. Giving to God of the herd and of the flock meant that sacrifice cost something.
i. “In Numbers and Ezekiel as well as Leviticus, the Hebrew word for offering is a very general term used to designate anything given as a sacrifice to God. In Nehemiah 10:35 and 13:31 it is even used of non-sacrificial offerings made to God.” (Peter-Contesse)
It may be that Deity can forgive sins, but I don’t see how.
Socrates, 500 B.C.
Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.
John 1:29
Here, in this book entitled, “The Called,” we will discover, encased in these ancient rituals, the most fundamental and essential truth in God’s program. Widely ignored, even by diligent students of God’s Word, this profound book was included in Paul’s observation:
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
Romans 15:4 It was also included by the Lord Himself when He pointed out:
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Matthew 4:4 And it deals with very core of God’s plan of redemption for each one of us.
The Sacrifices
While the sacrifices were codified in the Levitical system of the Torah, the sacrifices were instituted as early as the Garden of Eden when God taught Adam and Eve that only by the shedding of innocent blood would they be covered (Gen 3:21).
It was through his failure to properly offer a blood sacrifice of faith, rather than that of his own works from a cursed ground, that Cain murdered his younger brother Abel (Gen 4). One of the key verses in Leviticus is,
For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
Leviticus 17:11
“Atonement” occurs 45X in Leviticus; it means “to cover,” not remove. Blood is the substance of life; as sin is the forfeiture of life.
...without shedding of blood is no remission.
Hebrews 9:22
The shedding of animal blood couldn’t change a person’s heart or take away sin (Heb 10:1-4). However, God did state that the sins of the worshiper were forgiven (Lev 4:20, 26, 31, 35; 5:10, 13, 16, 18; 6:7). He did this on the basis of, and in anticipation of, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross (Heb 10:5-14).
Six basic offerings could be brought to the Tabernacle altar. They each teach us something essential about Christ and His sacrifice on our behalf. They can be classified in 3 categories:
The Commitment to God
The Burnt Offering
The Grain or Meal (“meat,” KJV) Offering
The Drink Offering (Num 15:1-10)
These three speak of total dedication to the Lord. The other three met specific needs in the life of the worshiper and also expressed some truth about our relationship with Him.
The Communion with God
Page 20 Page 21
The Fellowship (“Peace,” KJV) Offering
The Cleansing from God
The Sin Offering
The Guilt (“Trespass,” KJV) Offering
These offerings are detailed in the first seven chapters; we will begin with the most basic:
The Burnt Offering
This is the oldest offering known to man. It was the offering of Abel, Noah, and Abraham. It is mentioned first because of its prominence and priority.
The burnt offering is the offering mentioned up to the time of Leviticus; it was the only offering made by those who wanted an approach to God. The burnt sacrifice, called hl[o olah in Hebrew, means “that which ascends.” It literally went up in smoke—it was totally consumed on the altar; nothing remained but ashes. This reveals that the burnt offering is what God sees in Christ: in Leviticus 1:9, 13, & 17, the sacrifice is a “sweet savour unto the Lord.”
“Sweet-smelling savour”: Literally, xA;xyn-I xy;re reyach niychoach, “savour of rest,” a soothing, quieting, tranquillizing scent, fragrance, aroma, odour, staying His wrath and calming His soul.
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Ephesians 5:2
Cf. The rest after the Flood: Genesis 8:21. [Our new beginning in Christ was on the anniversary of the new world (Gen 8:4), which also began on the 17th day of Nisan, three days after our Passover was offered!]
God is saying that He is satisfied with what Jesus did for your sins and mine. Jesus has paid it all for you and that He can save you to the uttermost if you will put your trust in Him. The question is, Are you satisfied with that?
It had to involve death. It is not the spotless life of Christ and our approval of Him that saves us. Only His death can save the sinner: This is the very definition of the Gospel (1 Cor 15:1-4).
B. The procedure for the burnt offering.
1. (3) Bringing the animal for the burnt offering.
‘If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish; he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the LORD.
The sacrifice is to be a male, and without blemish. This, too, speaks of the Second Adam, Christ (1 Jn 3:5; 1 Pet 2:22; 2 Cor 5:2; Heb 7:26; Mt 3:17). It must be without blemish; the most perfect of its kind. God claims the best that we have. It is impossible to induce purity by anything impure.
[This will be different in the peace offerings, which typify the effects of Christ’s sacrifice on the receiver, which may be imperfectly experienced by the sinner, even though the work itself is perfect.]
“He shall offer it of his own voluntary will”: The offeror would bring the victim himself. The Hebrew phrase rendered “of his voluntary will” is better rendered “that he may be accepted before the Lord.”1 By doing so he signified his acceptance of God’s gracious arrangements on his behalf. No one can do for another.
Also, this was free will with a vengeance: this is equivalent to “If any man thirst, let him come...” (Jn 7:37).Anyone can come to Christ if he chooses to come. You don’t have to come to Christ. But if you want to be saved, then you will have to come to Christ; there’s no other way (Jn 14:6; Acts 4:12).
[You may think that is dogmatic and narrow. It is. But it works; nothing else will.]
The door of the Tabernacle was the only way in. If you want to come to God, then you must come this one way because God has established this as the only way! He made the place; He writes the rules.
You cannot come to God on the basis of your own “righteousness” (Isa 64:6; Tit 3:5). You must come to Him on His terms, not ours. You can’t work for it. You can’t buy it. But it is free for the receiving—through faith in Christ.
“If any man...” means “whosoever will may come.”
a. If his offering is a burnt sacrifice: The burnt offering, as its name implies, was completely burnt before the LORD. It was a total sacrifice. The burnt sacrifice was a general offering intended to make one right with God through the atonement of sin (propitiation) or to demonstrate special devotion to God (consecration).
i. “Its name literally means ‘that which ascends,’ and refers, no doubt, to the ascent of the transformed substance of the sacrifice in fire and smoke, as to God. The central idea of this sacrifice, then, as gathered from its name and confirmed by its manner, is that of the yielding of the whole being in self-surrender, and borne up by the flame of intense consecration to God.” (Maclaren)
b. Let him offer a male: The animal offered had to be a male because male animals were thought to be stronger and usually considered to be more valuable.
c. Without blemish: The animal must not have any obvious defect. God would not accept a defective sacrifice. A priest of Israel would examine each animal brought for sacrifice and affirm that it had no obvious blemish or defect.
i. This demonstrates the principle that to atone for the sin of another, the sacrifice must be perfect. An imperfect sacrifice could neither atone for its own sin nor for the sins of another.
ii. This wonderfully points toward the perfect, ultimate sacrifice and atonement of Jesus Christ. Jesus fulfilled this standard perfectly, being a sinless and pure sacrifice without blemish (John 8:29, 8:46, 14:30, and 15:10).
iii. “The LXX [Septuagint] translated the adjective tamim [without blemish] with the word amomos. Peter employed this Greek adjective to refer to the death of Christ as the offering of a lamb ‘unblemished’ (1 Pet 1:19).” (Rooker)
iv. This demonstrates the principle that God wants and deserves our best. A farmer in ancient Israel might be happy to give God a diseased and useless animal because it would cost him little. There are many anecdotes and funny stories illustrating this tendency to give God lesser things. These include the story of the farmer whose cow gave birth to twins, and he swore he would give one of the calves to God. He didn’t decide which one to give to God until one day one of the calves died. He said to his wife: “Guess what? God’s calf died today.” In contrast, “Our best is but poor, but that which we do give, must be our best.” (Morgan)
v. “The first, dealt with in this chapter, was the burnt offering, suggesting the need of personal dedication to God. Those who are admitted to the place of worship are such as have utterly failed to render their life to God thus perfectly. Therefore the offering they bring must be slain and burned.” (Morgan)
vi. Israel did not always live up to this standard, and much later the prophet Malachi rebuked Israel for offering God sub-standard sacrifices: And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably? (Malachi 1:8)
d. He shall offer it of his own free will: God did not want the offering of the burnt sacrifice to be forced. Each animal had to be freely offered. This illustrates the principle that God wants our hearts, freely given to Him.
e. At the door of the tabernacle of meeting: The sacrifices were not to be made at the home of each individual Israelite, or at the places they later called the high places. God had an appointed place and order for sacrifice.
i. Some think that the burnt sacrifice was the most commonly offered in ancient Israel, therefore it is listed first.
2. (4) The transference of guilt.
‘Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him.
This was an act of designation:
This symbolized a transfer, according to God’s merciful provision, of an obligation to suffer for sin, from the offeror to the innocent victim. Henceforth, the victim stood in the offeror’s place, and was dealt with accordingly.
S. H. Kellogg
The offeror was confessing that he deserved to die. The little animal was dying a substitutionary death in the place of the offeror. That’s what Christ did for us. When you designate Him as your Savior, He takes your place in your stead (2 Cor 5:21; Rom 4:25). The Hebrew word here, %m;s samak, means to lean heavily or rest upon another (Cf. Ps 88:7).
Atonement simply means to cover, not to remove; it occurs 45X in this book.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Hebrews 10:4 Only the Lamb of God can remove sin.
The offeror, having left his sins, conveyed to the victim, now steps aside. This is all of his part. The treatment of the victim is God’s part.
This offering was done publicly. He went down to the tabernacle, and the animal was slain in a public act.
The sinner needs to confess Christ publicly. This is the primary meaning of baptism today. Baptism means “to be identified with.” It symbolizes an identity with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection (1 Cor 15:1-4).
The Ritual
Like some people in churches today, Jewish worshipers could merely go through the motions at the altar, without putting their heart into it; but this meant that God had not truly forgiven them (Ps 50:8-14; 61:16-17; Isa 1:10-20; Micah 6:6-8). God doesn’t want our sacrifices: He wants obedience from our hearts (1 Sam 15:22). But there is much to learn from the details here (Rom 15:4).
a. Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering: This was a clear picture of identification with the animal to be the sacrificial victim. Through this symbol, the guilty person transferred his guilt to the sacrificial victim that would die and be completely consumed for the sin of the one bringing the offering.
i. It was not enough that the victim merely died. The one receiving atonement had to actively identify himself with the sacrifice. In the same way, it is not enough to know that Jesus died for the sins of the world. The one who would receive His atonement must “reach out” and identify himself with Jesus.
ii. Maclaren on the laying of the hands on the head: “Did not the offerer say in effect, by that act, ‘This is I? This animal life shall die, as I ought to die. It shall go up as a sweet savour to Jehovah, as my being should.’”
iii. “By means of this gesture the person offering the sacrifice identifies himself as the one who is offering the animal, and in a sense he offers himself to God through the sacrificial animal.” (Peter-Contesse)
iv. “Usage of the verb samak [shall put] suggests that the act of laying on hands implied the exertion of some pressure and should perhaps be rendered ‘lean upon.’” (Rooker)
v. “In Leviticus 16:21 in the Day of Atonement ritual laying hands on an offering is associated with the confession of sins, and we should assume that confession accompanied the laying on of hands as the worshiper identified his purpose in bringing an offering.” (Rooker)
vi. “His hand, i.e. both his hands, Leviticus 8:14,18 16:21; a common enallage [grammatic form using the singular for the plural].” (Poole)
b. To make atonement for him: The idea behind the Hebrew word for atonement (kophar) is to cover. The idea was that an individual’s sin and guilt were covered over by the blood of the sacrificial victim.
i. Leviticus is a book all about atonement. “The word kipper (“to make atonement”) is used almost fifty times in Leviticus…. It is used about fifty times more in the rest of the OT.” (Harris)
ii. But there is a difference between the Old Testament idea of atonement and the New Testament idea. In the Old Testament, sin is “covered over” until redemption was completed by Jesus on the cross. In the New Testament, sin is done away with – and a true “at-one-ment” was accomplished by Jesus’ sacrifice. The believer is therefore right with God on the basis of what Jesus has done at the cross, not on the basis of what the believer does. “There are two ruling religions around us at this day, and they mainly differ in tense. The general religion of mankind is ‘Do,’ but the religion of a true Christian is ‘Done.’” (Spurgeon)
iii. Significantly, the burnt offering was more about total surrender to God than about sin. Yet this shows that when we come to God with the greatest surrender possible for us, we are still marked by sin and in great need of atonement. Efforts of greater devotion and surrender to God should, if done properly, drive us to greater dependence on God’s perfect sacrifice of atonement in and through Jesus Christ.
iv. “Our only right to offer anything to God, in any form, is created by the one Offering through which we must be sanctified. Every offering is a symbol still of the One.” (Morgan)
3. (5-9) The procedure for offering a bull as a burnt offering.
‘He shall kill the bull before the LORD; and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall bring the blood and sprinkle the blood all around on the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of meeting. And he shall skin the burnt offering and cut it into its pieces. The sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar, and lay the wood in order on the fire. Then the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat in order on the wood that is on the fire upon the altar; but he shall wash its entrails and its legs with water. And the priest shall burn all on the altar as a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD.
Having “transferred” his obligation to suffer for his sins, the sinner would bring his offering to the entrance of the tabernacle where he would be met by a priest. The sinner himself would slay the victim. (There is an exception in vv.14, 15).
For the wages of sin is death...
Romans 6:23 The innocent died for the guilty. The model is quite clear:
For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
1 Peter 3:18
There has been much discussion about just who is responsible for the death of Christ. They typically indict the religious leaders, the Jews, the Romans, etc. If you want to blame someone, blame me! It was my fault. And yours. It was our sins which put Him on that Cross. Only the blood of Christ can cleanse us from all sin.
After the slaying of the victim, the priest took over by sprinkling the blood about the altar. The blood represented life and the sprinkling presented it to God. (The term for sprinkling is qr;z” zaraq, to scatter abundantly in large quantities.)
[We, too, leave it to our heavenly Priest to act in our behalf with God.]
God is not the author of confusion (1 Cor 14:33): all had to be done decently and in order.
The offering was to be cut into pieces so that it might be exposed and more easily consumed by fire
Flayed: totally uncovered; a complete undoing; with no protection from God’s view.
The inner life of the Lord Jesus has been open for inspection for almost 2,000 years; He has been examined more than any other person. And still the question continues: “Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?”
“Into his pieces”: a deliberate and systematic procedure; each stroke relentless, determined.
The head and the fat: one inward; the other outward.
But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.
Again, “inwards” and “legs”: the inward and outward. We cannot give our bodies to God and reserve our hearts. The whole man must go, or nothing.
Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew 10:28 “Washed”? Prefiguring the just for the unjust: Christ taking our place.
“All” burnt: Here in the burnt offering, everything was consumed: the sinews, horns, bones, hoof, the wool on the sheep’s head, the hair on the goat’s beard, etc.
a. He shall kill the bull: It seems as though the one who brought the offering – who laid his hands on the head of the bull – was the same one expected to actually kill the animal.
i. In each place the laying of hands on the sacrificial victim is mentioned (Leviticus 1:4-5, 3:2, 3:8, 4:4, 4:15, and 4:24), the killing of the sacrifice – by the one who put his hand on the head – is mentioned also.
ii. He shall kill the bull: The sacrifice had to die. The animal was without blemish, but that in itself did not atone for sin. It wasn’t enough that it was dedicated to God. It may have been a hard-working or kind or wise animal (as animals go); none of that mattered. It had to die to atone for sin.
iii. Of course, the priest would assist as necessary, and the priests would do the heavy work of skinning and cutting the animal up. But the one who brought the offering delivered the deathblow. The individual Israelite cut the jugular vein of the bull, in the presence of the priests at the tabernacle of meeting. This was a solemn testimony to the need for sacrifice, a confession of the fact, I need atonement for my sin.
b. He shall kill the bull before the LORD: This is the second occurrence of the phrase before the LORD in Leviticus; it occurs more than 60 times – more than any other book in the Bible. What happens in Leviticus happens before the LORD, and every sacrifice that was made was to be made before the LORD.
i. For the Christian, it is appropriate to live our entire life in the conscious presence of God (Colossians 3:17). Yet this is especially true of our spiritual exercises, our acts of worship, prayer, and receiving God’s word. It would transform those acts to consciously do them before the LORD. For who is this who pledged his heart to approach Me?’ says the LORD. (Jeremiah 30:21)
c. Bring the blood and sprinkle the blood all around: The blood of the animal – representing the life of the animal (Leviticus 17:11) – was sprinkled on the altar of sacrifice.
i. The altar: “The Hebrew word for altar comes from the verb ‘to slaughter.’ Eventually, however, it took on a more general meaning that included any place where any kind of sacrifice was offered to God.” (Peter-Contesse)
ii. “The head is mentioned separately because it would have been detached from the body in the process of skinning.” (Harrison)
iii. And the fat: “All the fat, which was to be separated from the flesh, and to be put together, to increase the flame, and to consume the other parts of the sacrifice more quickly.” (Poole)
iv. In order on the wood: “It seems to indicate that the priests could not be satisfied with simply piling wood or pieces of meat in bulk on the altar; they had to be arranged in the proper manner, although we do not know precisely how this was done.” (Peter-Contesse)
d. And the priest shall burn all on the altar as a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire: The rest of the animal, having been washed from excrement or impurity, was burnt on the altar. The complete offering (shall burn all on the altar), burnt before God, was a sweet aroma before God’s throne.
i. This reflects the heart behind the burnt offering. It was a desire to give everything to God, an “I surrender all” attitude. When everything was burnt before the LORD on the altar, there was nothing held back.
ii. “What a scene it must have been when, as on some great occasions, hundreds of burnt offerings were offered in succession! The place and the attendants would look to us liker shambles and butchers than God’s house and worshippers.” (Maclaren)
e. A sweet aroma to the LORD: This is stated for all aspects of the burnt sacrifice. The atoning for sin and the giving of all, in obedience to God’s instruction, pleased God as a sweet aroma pleases the senses. The Bible specifically tells us that Jesus Christ fulfilled this sacrifice with His own offering, perfectly pleasing God in laying down His life at the cross: As Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. (Ephesians 5:2)
i. The burning carcass of a dead animal may not, in itself, smell good. This was noted by Matthew Poole (“it rather caused a stink”) and by John Trapp: “The burning and broiling of the beasts could yield no sweet savour; but thereto was added wine, oil, and incense, by God’s appointment, and then there was a savour of rest in it.”
4. (10-13) The procedure for offering a sheep or a goat as a burnt offering.
‘If his offering is of the flocks—of the sheep or of the goats—as a burnt sacrifice, he shall bring a male without blemish. He shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the LORD; and the priests, Aaron’s sons, shall sprinkle its blood all around on the altar. And he shall cut it into its pieces, with its head and its fat; and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire upon the altar; but he shall wash the entrails and the legs with water. Then the priest shall bring it all and burn it on the altar; it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD.
Here a lamb is specifically included.
...He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
Isaiah 53:7
(The Cross, and the garden tomb, was on the north side of the city. See our notes appended to Session 5.)
The defenseless victim left without a covering...
Cut in pieces and totally exposed. The sacrifice is now totally disfigured; a mass of disjointed bones and mangled flesh.
...His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men: So shall he sprinkle many nations...
Isaiah 52:14, 15
Fire represents the resistless power of God, which:
sometimes destroys (Deut 9:3), sometimes cleanses, sometimes purifies (Mal 3:3), and sometimes consumes (Deut 4:24; Heb 12:29).
This sacrifice speaks to the total commitment of Christ to God. Absolute consecration.
The reason there is so much that is phony in Christian service is that we are not serving God unless we are letting Him cleanse and purify our life.
We have forgotten this matter of holiness today.
a. If his offering is of the flocks; of the sheep or of the goats: The procedure here was essentially the same as that for offering a bull, except that a sheep or a goat was not skinned. A bull presented as a burnt offering had to be skinned (Leviticus 1:6), but not a sheep or a goat.
i. Peter-Contesse on the lack of mention of placing the hands on the head of the sheep: “The absence of any mention of the gesture does not necessarily indicate that it was omitted in the sacrifice of sheep or goats. It is possible that the author simply decided not to repeat all the mechanical details of the ritual.”
b. He shall wash the entrails and the legs with water: Since the entire animal was to be burned, only the impurities of the entrails had to be washed before the sacrifice was burnt.
c. A sweet aroma to the LORD: This sacrifice, done the way God commanded, was pleasing to Him. It demonstrated the awareness of sin, the need for a substitute, the need for total dedication to God, and was a look forward to the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ to come. That ultimate sacrifice would be perfectly sweet and pleasing to God, and therefore be offered once-for-all (Hebrews 7:27, 9:12, 10:10).
i. “The burnt-offering was an imperfect type of His entire devotion to His Father’s will. When Jesus saw the inability of man to keep the holy law, and volunteered to magnify it, and make it honourable; when He laid aside His glory, and stepped down from His throne, saying, ‘I delight to do Thy will, O my God’; when He became obedient even to the death of the cross—it was as sweet to God as the fragrance of a garden of flowers to us.” (Meyer)
ii. Spurgeon said this about the perfect sacrifice of Jesus: “There must be an infinite merit about his death: a desert unutterable, immeasurable. Methinks if there had been a million worlds to redeem, their redemption could not have needed more than this ‘sacrifice of himself.’ If the whole universe, teeming with worlds as many as the sands on the seashore, had required to be ransomed, that one giving up of the ghost might have sufficed as a full price for them all.”
5. (14-17) The procedure for offering a bird as a burnt offering.
‘And if the burnt sacrifice of his offering to the LORD is of birds, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves or young pigeons. The priest shall bring it to the altar, wring off its head, and burn it on the altar; its blood shall be drained out at the side of the altar. And he shall remove its crop with its feathers and cast it beside the altar on the east side, into the place for ashes. Then he shall split it at its wings, but shall not divide it completely; and the priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the LORD.
Poverty was no excuse for not bringing an offering to God. A bird could be substituted for the more expensive animal. (Joseph and Mary did.)
The Hebrew word is hnAYh;ynEB, ben yonah, “sons of the dove.” This, too, had to be a male. (The dove after the Flood brought the olive branch, the message of peace...)
...Awful violence done to one so pure, so tender, and so lovely.
...He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
Isaiah 53:9
The crop, containing the food, seems to be considered unclean because it is an emblem of appetites. The feathers are removed because they are a covering to the dove.
The cleaving, [s;v’ shaca, implies a separation that is not complete; a dislocation, not a disruption of the parts; as is explained in the clause, “but shall not divide it asunder.”
For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A bone of him shall not be broken.
John 19:36
Cf. Ex 12:46; Num 9:12; Ps 22:14; 34:20. The sweet savor was the reason for the sacrifice. And this is what God sees in Christ.
a. If the burnt sacrifice of his offering to the LORD is of birds: This procedure followed the same principles, adapted to the sacrifice of birds instead of bulls, sheep, or goats. The animal was killed, its blood was offered, the carcass was first prepared and then burnt before the LORD.
i. Trapp on wring off its head: “Or, Pinch it with his nail, that the blood might go out, without separating it from the rest of the body. This prefigured the death of Christ without either breaking a bone or dividing the Godhead from the manhood; as also the skill that should be in ministers, to cut or divide aright the word of truth.”
ii. Drained out at the side of the altar: “The body of the bird was squeezed against the side of the altar, since there would not have been enough blood to perform the complete ritual described earlier.” (Peter-Contesse)
iii. On the east side: “To wit, of the tabernacle. Here the filth was cast, because this was the remotest place from the holy of holies, which was in the west end; to teach us, that impure things and persons should not presume to approach to God, and that they should be banished from his presence.” (Poole)
b. He shall bring his offering of turtledoves or young pigeons: God would not accept any kind of bird, but He would accept turtledoves or young pigeons as sacrifices. The fact that God would accept a bull, a goat, a sheep, or a bird shows that God was more interested in the heart behind the sacrifice than in the actual animal being offered. If the sacrifice was made with the right heart, God accepted the poor man’s bird as much as the rich man’s bull; the simple sacrifice of a poor man could still be a sweet aroma to the LORD.
i. At the same time, the sacrifice had to correspond with what one could afford. It was wrong for a rich man to only offer a bird as a burnt offering. The greatness of the sacrifice had to correspond with the greatness of the one who brought the offering. Therefore, when God made His offering for sin, He gave the richest, most costly thing He could – Himself.
ii. “These birds were appointed for the relief of the poor who could not bring better. And these birds are preferred before others, partly because they were easily gotten, and partly because they are fit representations of Christ’s chastity, and meekness, and gentleness, for which these birds are remarkable.” (Poole)
This ritual was an outward rite corresponding to an inward experience: it was an act of worship.
It is not so much Christ representing His people in atoning death—that will come later—as it is Christ representing His people in perfect consecration and entire self-surrender to God. In a word, perfect obedience.
He has become our perfect Example of what consecration to God really is. Later, in Chapter 6, we’ll also review some special offering requirements for the priests. We will discover that the burnt offering was not occasional, it was continuous!
“Each morning we should imitate the priest of old in putting away all that might dull the flame of our devotion, and, morning by morning, when we arise, and evening by evening, when we retire, by a solemn act of selfconsecration give ourselves anew unto the Lord.”2
We need to understand God’s heart; Leviticus gives an essential glimpse. He changes not.
Conclusion
We find the distinctions between clean and unclean in Noah’s day (Gen 7:2ff; 8:20). We find, in Abraham’s day, the heifer, the goat, the turtle and the pigeon (Gen 15:9), and the mention of “commandments, statutes, and laws” (Gen 26:5), parallel to Lev 26:46. We then begin to recognize that these fuller instructions in Leviticus are simply the expansion of what Adam first received when he had to leave Eden.
Some think that sin is nothing; that God is too good and merciful to punish it. Why has God chosen such awful illustrations of His consuming wrath upon it? Why has He Himself ordained so much blood, deathagony, and burning, as the only means of covering it? Why did He leave His own Son to such unspeakable suffering when found among the guilty? Did God fail to love his Son in that dreadful extremity?
If the stroke invoked by sin so overwhelmed the soul of Him whose voice could hush the storm and stop the ocean’s billows, yea drive out devils and raise the putrid dead; what shall be thy portion, helpless mortal, when that stroke comes to be visited on thee? If God did not spare His own Son from an immolation like this, how can He spare you in your impenitence and unbelief?
J.A. Seiss
There yet remains one other particular to be noticed with regard to this atoning offering: the perfect freedom with which any and everyone might avail himself of its benefits. It was not confined to any special time, and demanded no specific precedent events or the like: the notion of “his own voluntary will” (v.3) was paramount.
So now, let’s get personal:
God sees Christ as the only One who can satisfy Him for your sins. Have you seen Him like that? Do you have the sacrifice of Christ between you and your sins? Has His blood been shed that you might live? Have you trusted Him today? Are you still trying to bring your little puny self and your trite goodness to offer to a truly holy God?
God won’t take that. He only accepts what Christ has done for you and He counts the righteousness of Christ as your righteousness. He made this place; He writes the rules.
This book of Leviticus is for the people of God. Those that are saved.
You are only a heartbeat from eternity.Trust Him right now and live!
