Key Themes in Leviticus

Outline of Exodus

The sacrificial system

1:1-17              Burnt offerings

2:1-16              Grain offerings

3:1–17             Fellowship offerings

4:1–5:13          Sin offerings

5:14–6:7          Guilt offerings

6:8–7:21          Instructions to priests concerning offerings

7:22-27            Prohibitions against eating fat and blood

7:28-36            The priests allotted a portion of the fellowship offerings

7:37-38            A summary of offerings

The consecration of priests

8:1-13              The anointing of priests

8:14-36            The ordination sacrifice

9:1–10:20       The Aaronic priests

Clean and unclean

11:1-47            Clean and unclean meat distinguished

12:1-8              Purification after childbirth

13:1–14:57     Mildew and defiling skin diseases

15:1-33            Purification after bodily secretions

The Day of Atonement

16:1-2              Instructions for entering the Most Holy Place

16:3-28            Sacrifices on the Day of Atonement

16:29-34         Annual observance of the Day of Atonement

The regulation of the life of Israel

17:1-9              The centralisation of worship

17:10-14         Prohibition against consuming blood

17:15-16         Prohibition against eating animals that have died naturally

18:1-30            Sexual offences

19:1–20:27     Regulations and punishments

21:1–22:16     Regulations concerning the priesthood

22:17-33         Regulations concerning sacrificial animals

23:1-44            Regulations concerning festivals, including the Passover

24:1-9              The oil and bread in the tabernacle

24:10-23         The death penalty for blasphemy

25:1-7              The sabbatical year

25:8-55            The Year of Jubilee

26:1-46            Obedience to God

27:1-34            Redemption of things that have been dedicated

Background and setting

There is no consensus about the authorship or dating of Leviticus. All that recent scholarship can agree upon is that this well-structured book is the result of a long process of composition, editing and refinement that probably began long before the formation of Israel’s monarchy (c. 1050 bc). However, this lack of certainty is no reason to ignore or neglect Leviticus, for it is good news. It is good news for sinners who seek pardon, for priests who need empowering, for women who are vulnerable, for the unclean who covet cleansing, for the poor who yearn for freedom, for the marginalised who seek dignity, for animals that demand protection, for families that require strengthening, for communities that want fortifying and for creation that stands in need of care. All these issues, and more, are addressed in a positive way in Leviticus.

Admittedly, this is not the usual impression people have of the book, which often suffers from a bad reputation. Leviticus is a legal document and is broadly similar to other legal documents of the Ancient Near East in style, though not always in content, and not in the way it mixes together civic, cultic, religious, moral, criminal, family and ritual law. Its concern with law gives it a measured tone and makes it less inspirational than, say, Deuteronomy. Even so, its style is not the mind-numbingly legalistic one that is popularly assumed.

That said, Leviticus makes little sense if wrenched from its wider biblical context. Exodus is incomplete without it and Leviticus presupposes much of what is written there, including the exodus, the story of the wilderness, the giving of the law and the building of the tabernacle. So close, in fact, is the relationship with Exodus that the opening words of Leviticus continue directly from the Lord’s filling of the tabernacle with his glory at the end of Exodus.

Themes and relevance

The message of holiness pervades the book of Leviticus. This intricate, complex, yet unmistakable theme runs through the entire book. At its core, holiness is separation. It describes that which is set apart from the ordinary, the mundane, the fallen and the pagan, and that which is set apart to a person or set apart for a purpose. Three major currents of holiness flow back and forth, together and apart, in Leviticus:

1. God is holy

In his being, God is altogether different from the people he has made and so separate from them. He alone is immortal in nature, all-powerful in majesty, all-knowing in wisdom, all-present in creation and, without exception or qualification, morally pure. God’s revelation of himself in the words I am holy (11:44-45; cf. 19:2; 20:26; 21:8) is the fundamental premise on which Leviticus is built.

2. Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy (19:2; cf. 11:44-45; 20:7, 26)

The very statements that assert the holiness of God usually command the people themselves to live holy lives. The command, though, is premised on grace. The formative event in Israel’s experience was that the Lord delivered them from the bondage of Egypt. As a result they have become bound to him by unique ties of gratitude and obligation. They are now his servants, set apart from other nations not only to obey his will but also to display his character in the world. They are to live in imitation of him. They have been set free to be holy. Moreover, holiness is comprehensive; no area of life is untouched by it.

3. I am the Lord, who makes you holy (20:8; cf. 21:8; 22:9, 16, 32)

The responsibility of holiness is awesome, but made lighter by the promise of God. The goal of holiness is not to be reached unaided. The one who set Israel free and conferred on them the status of being his special people is the one who would continue to refashion them by transforming grace so that they could increasingly become in reality what they were already in fact – a holy people. The promise of God’s transforming power, through the Holy Spirit, continues to inspire his people to undergo change so that they manifest his likeness in the world more and more.

Holiness, then, is a statement about God, a command to his people, and a promise concerning his Spirit. The summons of Leviticus leaps across the cultural divide and the intervening centuries to call us once again to holy living. Christians, no less than Israel, are called to be holy (1Pe 1:15-16) and to pursue holiness in every dimension of their lives. Like Israel, we too have been set free, by Christ, but not so that we might continue to live in sin or with indifference to God; rather, we have been set free to be holy.

This blog post is extracted from the study notes of the NIV BST Study Bible, ahead of the publication of The Message of Leviticus, in the newly refreshed Bible Speaks Today Old Testament Series. Below you'll find some resources for digging in to Leviticus!