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Study the Word. Meditate on it and let it be your delight and holy guide.
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Before you begin your daily or weekly reading, you may want to visit our Guided Prayer pages or visit the spiritual formation page in order to center yourself without distractions in more prayerful reading.
Background Notes
It won’t take a lot of time to read through Leviticus - you can even speed read! But it’s interesting reading. Some of the details and the degree of detail may amaze you. Living a holy life not only as individuals but as community was of utmost importance - nothing could be left to chance. Leviticus spells out the way to holy living…according to priestly legislation
The book can be divided into six parts:
(1) the sacrificial system (chapters 1-7);
(2) consecration of the priesthood (chapters 8-10) which extends Ex. 35-40;
(3) ritual purity laws (chapters 11-15);
(4) the Day of Atonement (chapter 16);
(5) laws regarding Israel’s existence as a covenant, holy people (chapters 17-26);
(6) appendix of religious vows (chapter 27).
In Leviticus 1-7, Moses provides detailed avenues and prescriptions for Israel’s life with YHWH. Detailed sacrifices are specified. The sacrifices constitute practices enabling Israel to interact with God.
It’s important to understand the mindset of the Hebrew people. Presbyterians begin worship with a call to confession, largely because our tradition tells us that worship requires pardon at the start in order to not remain “stuck” in alienation, sin and distance. Israel’s system of sacrifices enables otherwise.
In the wilderness days, God provided Israel with a mercy seat in the tabernacle. Leviticus expands that notion of God’s gracious mercy, with stipulations about what that mercy entails.
To have a working relationship with God marked by shalom or well-being (for both God and humanity) and authentic mutuality, when the relationship is endangered by sin, an action is required which is expressed by three different offerings:
(1) burnt offerings (Lev. 1; 6:8-13);
(2) grain offerings (Lev. 2; 6:14-23);
(3) offerings of well-being (Lev. 3; 7:11-26)
The offerings are gestures of devotion/commitment, loyalty/ steadfast love and thanksgiving/ gratitude - key ingredients to a vital relationship with God.
When Israel fails in the divine relationship, the relationship can be mended through sin or guilt offerings. These gestures of repentance - including sorrowful admission of guilt and the determination to change - heal the relationship. Walter Brueggemann states, “Israel took sin and alienation seriously, but Israel was not morbid about them…Because of Yahweh’s gracious provision of these practices, sin and guilt can be handled, dealt with, and overcome” (from Theology of the Old Testament, Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress Press, 1997).
According to Leviticus 6:1-6, the gestures of sacrifice must be accompanied by reparations or restitution. Brueggemann suspects the community also used penitential psalms such as Ps. 51:17 or 51:19 to voice their guilt liturgically and be healed by the union of word and act. Once the reparations and admission of guilt have taken place, the priest can indeed declare forgiveness and the relationship is restored. Thereby Israel’s relationship to God is ethical, moral, intellectual, spiritual and very real, involving our relationship with neighbor as well as God.
The Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16 provides important information regarding our understanding of Christ’s sacrificial death. On that day (Yom Kippur), the priest makes atonement for all Israel. God has thereby given to Israel a reliable, authorized, holy device enabling the entire community to be restored to full relationship with God.
The ritual purity laws of chapters 11-15 involved animals (ch.11), childbirth (ch.12), skin diseases (chs.13-14) and genital discharges (ch. 15). The laws stemmed from an appreciation of a divinely ordered natural world (and many think reflected medical wisdom of the day) and showed the Israelites that nothing was outside the realm of those things affecting one’s relationship with God and community.
The covenant laws in chapters 17-26 spell out what it means “to be holy as God is holy.” Israel is to separate from the profane and to behave differently from the other cultures. Thereby there are rules regarding animal sacrifice, marriage, sexual offenses, necromancy, blasphemy, Sabbath and Jubilee years (times appointed to curb economic exploitation and restore justice). Jesus picks up the theme of justice and Lev. 19:18, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” It is interesting to compare these chapters with Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew) or on the Plain (Luke) to see how Jesus refocused our understanding of what it means “to be holy as God is holy.” Ironically, today’s Christian community is embroiled in bitter disputes over the holiness laws regarding sexuality, which were not among Jesus’ primary emphases, while we tend to ignore Sabbath and Jubilee year issues (trust in God’s abundance, peace and justice), which were among our Lord’s predominant concerns!
One of the “devices of rhetoric” segments of the Christian community use against other segments is to declare that “some” Christians “pick and choose” biblical passages, employing some while ignoring others. One cannot read Leviticus without realizing all contemporary Christians “pick and choose.” Even the most fundamentalist Christian in America today disregards some of the laws stipulated in Leviticus. This is one of the reasons Presbyterians are quick to point out we worship GOD and not the Bible - as inspired, God-breathed, wondrous and holy a book it is.
Before we dismiss the incredible detail of Leviticus, however, wonder, as did the Benedictines, many monastics, and John Calvin, what would it be like to have a chance to express your faith in God every time you wash your hands or prepare a meal? Although Jesus admitted it is not what goes into our bodies that makes us spiritually unclean, our Lord never disagreed with the deeper premise of Leviticus - everything we do has an impact on our spiritual lives, our relationship with community and our relationship with God.
Copyright Carrie Scott 2002
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