Leviticus

Leviticus 1 King James Version

“And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord. And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces. And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire: And the priests, Aaron's sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord. And if his offering be of the flocks, namely, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice; he shall bring it a male without blemish. And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the Lord: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar. And he shall cut it into his pieces, with his head and his fat: and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: But he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water: and the priest shall bring it all, and burn it upon the altar: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord. And if the burnt sacrifice for his offering to the Lord be of fowls, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves, or of young pigeons. And the priest shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off his head, and burn it on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be wrung out at the side of the altar: And he shall pluck away his crop with his feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, by the place of the ashes: And he shall cleave it with the wings thereof, but shall not divide it asunder: and the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord.”

-Leviticus 1 (KJV)

“And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying,”

“And the Lord called unto 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.

“Out of the tabernacle of the congregation,”  This indicates that the tabernacle was now completed. The last several chapters of The Book of  Exodus described the construction of the tabernacle. With the  tabernacle of the congregation complete, the sacrificial system could now be put into operation.

In The Book of John, there is a deliberate link between this  tabernacle of the congregation,  and the incarnate Jesus Christ .As the  tabernacle of the congregation was a symbol of God’s presence among His people, Jesus Christ was God present on earth.

“ And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

-John 1:14 (KJV)

“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock.”

 “If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord” 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.

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.

“Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.”

-Hebrews 7:27 (KJV)

“But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth. Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people, Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”

-Hebrews 9:11-28 (KJV)

This was not the beginning of God’s sacrificial system. Adam knew of sacrifice:

“Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”

- Genesis 3:21 (KJV)

Cain and Abel knew of sacrifice:

“And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering:”

-Genesis 4:3-4 (KJV)

Noah knew of sacrifice:

“And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.”

-Genesis 8:20-21 (KJV)

Israel offered sacrifice:

“Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.”

-Exodus 12:3-4 (KJV)

“And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.”

 -Job 1:5 (KJV)

“And Moses said, Thou must give us also sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God.”

-Exodus 10:25 (KJV)

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.

“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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

“Ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even 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.

“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.”

“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).

“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.” -I Maclaren

“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.

“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.

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.

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.

“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.” 

-K. Morgan

Israel did not always live up to this standard, and much later the prophet Malachi rebuked Israel for offering God sub-standard sacrifices: 

“And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts.”

-Malachi 1:8 (KJV)

“And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.”

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.

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.

“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.’”

-E. Mclearan

“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.” -J. Peter-Contesse

“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.’” 

-A. Rooker

“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.” - A. Rooker

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.

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.” -E. Harris

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.’” - C.S. Spurgeon

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.

“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.” 

-K. Morgan

“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.”

“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.

“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.

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.

“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.

For the Christian, it is appropriate to live our entire life in the conscious presence of God as we see in The Book of Colossians:

“And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”

-Colossians 3:17 (KJV)

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:

“And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me? saith the Lord.” 

-Jeremiah 30:21 (KJV)

“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 (KJV)

“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.” -J.Peter-Contesse

“The head is mentioned separately because it would have been detached from the body in the process of skinning.” 

-G. Harrison

“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.” 

-A Poole

“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.” 

-J. Peter-Contesse

“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.

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.

“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.” 

-E. Maclaren

“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: 

“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 (KJV)

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.”

“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”

“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, but not a sheep or a goat.

“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.”

-M. Peter-Contesse

“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.

“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 as we read in The Book of Hebrews:

“Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people's: for this he did once, when he offered up himself.”

-Hebrews 7:27 (KJV)

“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.”

-Hebrews 9:12 (KJV)

“By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

-Hebrews 10:10 (KJV)

“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.” 

-J. Meye

 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.”

“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.”

-Leviticus 1:14-17 (KJV)

“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.

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.”

“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

“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.”

-D. Poole

“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.”

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.

“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.” 

-D. Poole

Thank you and God bless!