Overview of the Bible: Leviticus

 Overview of the Bible: Book of Leviticus

Title: Leviticus – the book about “Levites”, the servicemen of God.

Hebrew: Va’-yikra’ – “And called” 

Date of writing: 1446 – 1444 BC (mostly dictated to Moses)

Date of Narrative: 1446 – 1444 BC (Tent of meeting – not Tabernacle)

Structure:

A. 1 – 7, Sacrifices – Holy rights of God

  B. 8-10, Priests - Holy people of God, and story inserted (ch. 10)

    C. 11 – 15, Clean-unclean

      D. 16, Day of coverings

    C’. 17 – 22, Holy-profane (Code of holiness)

  B’. 23 – 25:22, Calendar – Holy days of God, and story inserted (24:10-16)

A’. 25:23 – 27, Proper rights for men: redemption, obedience, and vows     

Main themes:

Closeness to God (Lev. 1 – 3)

Holiness of God and how it should be reflected in/by His people (Lev. 19:2)

The ways that priests mediate between God and the people.  

Main Characters:

Moses, Aaron, their sons – Nadab, Abihu, and Eleazar and Ithamar   

Reflection in other parts of the Bible:

Leviticus 1 – 16 follows the Narrative of Gen. 1 – 4. 

Any part of the Bible that mentions the sacrifices, feasts, vows etc. (f. ex. Ps. 51:16-17; 56:11-12; Mic. 6-6-8; John 2 and 7; Acts 2).   

Lev. 16 is an important background from interpretation of Luke 15 – drawing near (v. 1), animals of the feast (v. 27-29).

Correlation of Leviticus 23 with the Book of Revelation:

	Feast	Lev. 23	Revelation	Theme
1.	Sabbath	:3	1	Lord’s day
2.	Passover	:4-8	2-3	Judgement and salvation
3.	First fruits	:9-14	4-5	Christ’s Ascension (Waving)
4.	Pentecost	:15-22	6-7	Seals of the Book (the Word)
5.	Trumpets	:23-25	8-14	Trumpets
6.	Atonement	:26-32	15-19:10	Chalices of wrath
7.	Tabernacles	:33-44	19:11-22:21	New World

 

Lutheran teaching:  

Eucharistic services are sacrifices of praise (Ap. XXIV (XII): 25) – based on Lev. 3 and 7.

Lutheran liturgy has three main parts (Confession-Burnt offering + Service of the Word-Grain offering + Service of the Sacrament-Peace offering) following the pattern of Lev. 1 – 3.

Relevancy of the Book:

The Book of Leviticus tells us that God pays very close attention to the worship. The primary purpose of the worship is not for us to feel good, but for us to give glory to God the way He likes (1 Cor. 14:40).

The Book of Leviticus shows that someone must die for a sin. The sacrificial system shows that sins can not be simply excused – the sins should be atoned for (Rom. 6:23). Therefore, any sacrifice – one way or another – points to the ultimate atonement that the world experienced in Jesus the Messiah (2 Cor. 5:19).     

Memory verses:

19:1-2, And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, you [plural] shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy”.