The Listener’s Bible Commentary

Leviticus 8-10  

Leviticus 8-10 recounts the opening ceremonies for the Tabernacle, and it's important to remember where we’re at in the story of the Pentateuch (Torah). 

The Israelites have come out of Egypt and they’re camped at the foot of Mt. Sinai. God has instructed them to build a sacred tent for him, so he can dwell among them. They have now done that. They just got the tabernacle set up!

Then God has moved in… his glory came down from the mountain and moved into the tabernacle. And his glory and holiness are so great that no one can enter the tabernacle, not even Moses. That’s where Exodus ended 

Leviticus picks up in chapters 1-7 with God inviting Moses to come near and God meets with Moses giving him instructions on 5 different sacrifices/offerings:

whole burnt offering 

grain offering 

fellowship offering 

purification/sin offering 

guilt/restitution offering 

Why all these offerings? Becasue these offerings are God’s gracious gift to the people so that they can draw near to God at his sacred tent and so that they can maintain their covenant relationship with him. 

So the tabernacle is set up. They now know what they need to do to draw near to God. So now, it’s time to kick things off... it’s time to launch the worship of Yahweh at the Tabernacle. 

Leviticus 8-10 details the inauguration of Tabernacle worship. 

 

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Leviticus 4-7   

In Leviticus 1-7, God is giving Moses instructions for the 5 main sacrifices for Israel's worship at the Tabernacle. Chapters 1-3 details the first three. Leviticus 4-6 detail the next two, the sin (or better, purification) offering and the guilt or restitution offering. 

These two offerings are very similar. It even says in these chapters “the guilt offering is like the sin offering.” They both deal with inadvertent wrongdoing that needs atonement. The key difference is that guilt offerings are for matters where restitution or repayment can be made as well.

Also included in these chapters are some special instructions for the priests for all five offerings. 

All of this is by way of the Lord’s gracious provision, making clear what he required and how they could come before him in a way that honors his holiness. 

 

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Leviticus 1-3  

Leviticus opens like this: “Then the Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying…” This makes it clear that it is continuing the story revealed in Exodus. Exodus ended like this: 40:34 -35 - Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

So while Leviticus is a separate book in our bibles, it’s still the same story. Leviticus records events that happen immediately after the tabernacle was set up… and it provides teaching related to worship, ritual purity, and holiness all because God is now living in their midst in the tabernacle. 

The situation is this… God, the holy King of heaven and of Israel, has come to live right the middle of their camp in his own sacred, royal tent. His glory filled the tabernacle and  no one can enter, not even Moses.

Leviticus picks up at this point and it’s going to provide instructions on what Israel needs to do to be able to draw near to God at the tabernacle: atonement will be need; ritual purity must be attended to; and holiness in all of life must also be attended to. 

This is where we’re at in the story and this is what Leviticus is all about. 

So, Leviticus 1-7 begins those instructions by providing instructions for the various sacrifices. There are 5 main sacrifices (with occasional variations on some of them). But 5 main ones:

Burnt offering

Grain offering

Peace or Fellowship offerings 

Sin/Purification offering

Guilt/reparation offerings 

Leviticus 1-3 provides instructions for the first three sacrifices.

 

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Ritual Purity and Atonement in Leviticus 

Reading Leviticus can feel very foreign... we might even say it's weird. And a huge part of that is because all the rules about clean and unclean. These rules rules are addressing the state of ritual purity and ritual impurity. 

Ritual impurity in the Ancient Near East (ANE) was a status rendering a person temporarily unfit to enter sacred spaces (temples) or interact with the divine. Think of it like proper protocol for entering the sanctuary and approaching the Holy…. there are just things you don’t do when approaching the Holy!

So while the rules concerning ritual purity in Leviticus seem foreign to us (because they are!), to the ancient Israelite they were all very normal. In fact, an ancient Israelite might say to us, “Of course God gave us rules concerning ritual purity… it’s all very gracious of him … otherwise we’d have been in the same boat as the rest of the peoples and would not know how to approach him and enter his sacred space!”

This session of The Listener's Commentary on Leviticus aims to help you understand Leviticus more by explaining ritual purity and atonement. 

 

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Introduction to Leviticus  

For most of us, Leviticus is a challenging read! If Exodus was more challenging than Genesis, Leviticus ramps it up even further. The first seven chapters are procedures for sacrifices. Later,  there’s all sorts of teaching about clean and unclean foods and about behaviors that lead to ritual impurity and what to do about all that. A lot of the material in Leviticus is specifically for the priests, almost like a procedures manual. 

And it all feels so…. weird and foreign (which it because it is!).  

So in this recording I want to give a little backstory and introduction to Leviticus. 

 

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