If you ask most Christians who are knowledgeable about the Bible about which book that they like the least, the answer would probably consistently be Leviticus. Our impression of this book is that it is full of obscure rules and harsh punishments. All too often, we have a difficult time seeing Jesus in this book. However, when you look deeper, there is a world of profound meaning and principles of unselfish generosity in this book.
Author: The book was written by Moses after the tabernacle was finished. He received the rules that he wrote in the book of Leviticus while the people of Israel were still camped at Mount Sinai. It is important to remember that God was dwelling in the tabernacle at this time and communed with Moses there. The people of Israel would see a cloud by day and a fire by night and know that Yahweh was with them. The people had already received the ten commandments as the guiding principles for their lives. The tabernacle and high priest had already been dedicated. Now, Moses through communication with God was setting up the basic procedures to be followed both in the tabernacle services and in the people’s daily lives.
In his earlier life, Moses had been a prince of Egypt until he had killed an Egyptian for beating a man of Moses’ own ethnic background. Thus, he had identified himself with the Hebrew slaves rather than his adopted Egyptian family, and Pharaoh then considered him a traitor to be hunted down and terminated. Moses had run for his life and ended up as a simple shepherd married to one of the seven daughters of Reuel/Jethro, who was a priest or prince of Midian. Which was better preparation for leading a conglomeration of ignorant slaves and converted Egyptians—participating in the top government decisions of the most powerful nation in the world or herding a bunch of dumb, defenseless sheep? I have a feeling that being a shepherd in Midian was better job preparation than being a prince of Egypt.
When the former Hebrew slaves first left Egypt, Moses was the only leader who made executive decisions about the people’s disputes. However, Exodus 18 describes how Moses’ father-in-law Reuel/Jethro advised him to set up a basic civil governing body so that he was only judging in critical situations rather than spending his time on every minute dispute and difficulty. Thus, a basic hierarchy of government was set up, but the people needed specific laws to guide them in their worship and every day lives. Leviticus was part of the answer to this need.
Content: Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s household as an heir to the throne. As such, he would have been educated in laws and procedures needed to govern people. However, these procedures were based on idolatry. Also, the rules of a settled civilization are vastly different from those of a nomadic people. Thus, a different set of rules needed to be developed for the mobile civilization on their way to the Promised Land. In addition, this new society was being formed from a group of slaves with little notion of self-governance. They needed guidance in a new way of living as free followers of Yahweh. Thus, the rules in Leviticus take the ten commandments and break them down into specific situations with specific penalties so that the former slaves could comprehend what was expected of them in their daily lives. In addition, they were generations away from their patriarchs, and many idolatrous practices had crept into the true worship of Yahweh. This corruption first needed to be purified and then their knowledge of the plan of redemption would continue to be increased far beyond that of their forefathers through a more formal worship system. To accomplish these goals, Leviticus provided detailed instructions about the sanctuary and priestly behavior.
Organization: Leviticus is organized in a chiastic structure. In fact, theologians say that the five books of Moses are also arranged chiastically. A chiasm is like a mountain where the topics of the sides are aligned to each other, and the pinnacle is the most important idea or heart of the message. When viewed from this perspective, Genesis and Deuteronomy align to each other. Exodus and Numbers are partnered, and Leviticus contains the central message of the Pentateuch. Thus, Leviticus is worthy of study because its position in the books of Moses indicates that it is the heart of the five books of the law.
With regard to Leviticus specifically, chapters one to seven and twenty-three to twenty-seven are at the bottom of the chiasm and give information and regulations dealing with the sanctuary. Chapters eight to ten and twenty-one to twenty-two provide laws about priests. Chapters eleven to fifteen and seventeen to twenty delineate laws about personal behavior. This leaves the Day of Atonement in chapter sixteen as the pinnacle of the book. Thus, the Day of Atonement becomes the central message of the book, and the laws should be viewed with the knowledge that God was providing a way to cleanse His people from all sin, not just individually, but as a nation. Another aspect of the chiastic structure of Leviticus is that the laws on the ascending side of the chiasm deal with blood, i.e., justification. These laws focus on uncleanness, whether from sin, bodily discharge, or leprosy. The laws on the descending side of the chiasm deal with holiness, or sanctification. These laws deal with pure behavior versus actions that will degrade people. In other words, God begins by bringing His people out of sin. He cleanses the camp from sin. Then He gives instructions on how to live without sin.
Message for Today: It is easy to be distracted by the harsh penalties and anachronistic examples given in Leviticus so that we miss the many important messages contained within its pages. For example, Hebrews 9:28 tells us that Jesus’ one sacrifice covered everything; however, in Leviticus we are informed of multiple kinds of sacrifices for varying purposes. It took all of those sacrifices to represent Jesus’ one sacrifice on the cross. We can learn much about the implications of Jesus’ death through understanding Leviticus. In fact, Hebrews is not the only place with ties to Leviticus. Many New Testament references have their roots in Leviticus, including the admonition to love your neighbor (Leviticus 19:18).
Roy E. Gane in his book Old Testament Law for Christians explains that the laws of Leviticus (and elsewhere) can benefit modern Christians because these rules were examples of applying God’s law of love to specific situations. However, there can be difficulties in this process because of what Gane calls exegetical issues, legal scope issues, and theodicy issues. The first problem is that Leviticus (like other books of the Pentateuch and the book of Joshua) was focused on the life and times of the Hebrews of the Exodus. Thus, there are obsolete customs and confusing references that would have made perfect sense in Moses’ time but confuse us today. One way to deal with this problem is to look for parallel passages in other books of the Bible that might shed light on the reasons for rules that seem strange to us today. Gane’s “legal scope issues” refer to the idea that there are laws in Leviticus that are outside of the legal scope of our present situation. For example, the temple services are no longer required since Jesus’ death and resurrection. Another kind of legal scope issue is the rules that deal with situations that are no longer a part of most people’s modern lives (such as an ox goring another ox). In these cases, we need to look at the principles behind the laws and ask how these standards apply in our situations today. For example, Leviticus 19:9-10 tells farmers to leave some grain in the field for the poor. An example of the application for us today would be that even if we had the ability to take all the toilet paper off the shelf during the Covid pandemic, we should have only taken enough for our present need and left some there for the next needy person who came looking for toilet paper. The point is that just because you can legally take everything, you are behaving immorally if you do not consider the less fortunate who might need the extra that you leave behind. The third problematic issue facing the modern reader of Leviticus (and other books of the Bible) is that the moral standard may seem to reflect poorly on God. For example, while Leviticus 18:18 supports a wife’s emotional health, it also allows for polygamy, which many would say is just as harmful to a wife’s emotional health as having her sister as a rival wife for her husband’s affections. These kinds of issues usually result from God accommodating His sinful people until such time as they are ready for reformation. This is not a simple band-aid explanation. Jesus Himself gave us this principle in Matthew 19:8 speaking of divorce. The best way to deal with this issue is to look to see what later prophets wrote about the topic, especially those in the New Testament. Another area that troubles modern readers of Leviticus are the harsh punishments for breaking the laws, such as a death sentence for cursing parents in Leviticus 20:9. Several factors should be considered when attempting to come to terms with these punishments. The first principle is to consider the pattern of severity of the punishments. The more severe punishments are prescribed for more severe infractions, especially the breaking of the ten commandments (except the tenth which is internal and so has no way to be legally enforced). Thus, the seriousness of the punishment can teach us how God views the particular rule itself. Second, the culture of the world at this time was such that these punishments actually tended to be less severe than those found in the Hebrews’ idol-worshipping counterparts. This goes along with the idea that God was dealing with the people in a manner that they would understand and learn from rather than His ideal will. Thirdly, there were no imprisonments in biblical law, i.e. there were limited means to punish and/or control criminal behavior. The situation simply did not allow for lesser punishments in some cases. These are just a few of the justifications for the harsh punishments called for in Leviticus.
The question remains for some people: Does this mean that we should have such harsh punishments today? Of course not! First of all, there is no theocracy in the world today. There are no Urim and Thummim to consult about guilt or innocence. Instead, we have fallible people who make corrupt or incompetent judgments. In addition, the New Testament is consistent about separating punishment for civil issues from church responsibilities (see Romans 13). Jesus clearly modified these punishments when He told us to turn the other cheek to our enemies and to extend mercy to fallen sinners. In short, we can learn much from studying Leviticus and applying the principles found in its laws today, but we must be careful that our application is consistent with later revelation, especially as presented to us in the New Testament.