Note: the following is the manuscript for the message and will not match exactly the recorded message above.
We left off last week at the end of Exodus. 40:33-35 – Then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. And so Moses finished the work. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
God is now living among the Israelites in a tent just like them. It is a royal tent, set up with all the indicators that someone is home in that tent. There is fresh bread on the table, incense is burning, and the lights are on. This tent, called the Tabernacle, is a sacred place and needs to be kept sacred or else God will no longer be able to dwell among them. God wants to live with them. The tabernacle is not only God’s house, the place of his Presence, but is the access point for people to draw near to God.1
The Israelites want to live in close proximity to God. They want to draw near to him. In Exodus 23, when God and Israel are confirming their covenant to one another, God promises to be an enemy to their enemies, and God’s blessing will be on their food and water, he will take away sickness from among them, and none will miscarry or be barren in their land, and he will give them long life. They wanted these blessings, but more than that, as is expressed in Psalm 27:4, there is nothing worth desiring more than to live in fellowship with the Lord. “One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.”
The problem is, the Israelites are impure by nature. Sure, God now lives in a tent just like them in the middle of their camp, but how do they actually draw near to him without being killed? Exodus ends with even Moses being unable to enter God’s tent. If he can’t enter, no one can. Simply being in proximity to the Tabernacle, the presence of impure people corrupts its sacredness, preventing God from living there. How will it be possible for a pure and holy God to live together with impure, sinful people? If impurity is not dealt with, God’s presence among them will be a curse rather than a blessing. This is where Leviticus comes in. It is all about how humanity can come to dwell in the house of the Lord.2
Today, we will look at two main themes in Leviticus. The first is how Israel embodies holiness through rituals. The second is how Israel drew near to God through offerings. We will end with some connections to the New Testament. I hope, by hearing this message, you will be able to come to a new appreciation for this neglected book. That said, let us consider how Israel was meant to embody holiness.
Embodying Holiness
Our faith, and the faith of the ancient Israelites, is not a mere acceptance of truth. Israel didn’t just agree that Yahweh is the only true God, they lived their faith in very practical ways. In Exodus 19:6, we read that Israel is meant to be a holy nation for God. In Leviticus, God says repeatedly, “be holy, for I am holy.” This holiness must be embodied. Our faith, too, is meant to be lived. We cannot live faithfully as followers of Jesus with an individualistic approach to spirituality. It must be embodied. The instructions in Leviticus are about an embodied and enacted faith. They touch potentially every aspect of life, including our most common social behaviours, public or intimate, and our bodily functions, voluntary or involuntary. Leviticus stands at the heart of the Pentateuch as a barrier against a faith disconnected from physical, material, social, and economic practices. One commentator said that the goal of taking Leviticus seriously is to become more fluent in the thought and language of holiness, so that we might be better equipped to practice it in our own time and communities.3
Before we can do this, we need to know how the Israelites embodied holiness. The main way was through rituals. These days, if we want to pass some truth along to others, we use words. We give lectures, record podcasts, and write books. In ancient civilizations, they embedded truth in rituals. Truth was not helpful if it did not in some way become a part of personal and communal life. This is why it is important to understand what is going on in Leviticus. This book seems so disconnected from us because we do not practice the same rituals as they did. But, there is important truth in the rituals themselves, if we will only take time to read carefully and connect the instructions in Leviticus to the rest of Scripture and to our own lives.
Jacob Milgrom says, “Words fall from our lips like the dead leaves of autumn, but rituals endure with repetition.”4 But, he also says that rituals are meaningless in themselves. For example, the law that limits the sort of four-legged animals that qualify for the dinner table says that the animal must chew the cud and have split hoofs (11:3). This sound absurd and quite random. The restrictions effectively eliminate the entire animal kingdom from human consumption, except for three domestic herbivores: cattle, sheep, and goats. But, consider that these are the same three animals permitted on the sacrificial altar (17:3).
The implications are clear. All life is sacred. Among all the four-legged animals on earth, only these three are eligible for the human table. Why? Because they are eligible for God’s altar. The dining table is thus transformed into a sacred altar and the meal must be treated as sacred—a time for thanking God for the meal (cf. Lev 7:11–13), requesting a blessing for the future (Num 6:22–26), and engaging in conversation befitting the sanctified meal.5
I mentioned earlier that, by simply living in proximity to the Israelites, the Tabernacle is polluted by impurities and sin. Thus, the sanctuary, the dwelling place of God, must be cleansed. Throughout the year, the priests make sacrifices every day in order to cleanse the Tabernacle. But, the inner sanctuary of the Tabernacle, which is where God’s presence rests, is off-limits except for one day each year, which is the Day of Atonement. On this day, the High Priest enters the Most Holy Place in order to offer a cleansing sacrifice so that God can continue to live among them. You can remember what atonement means by looking at the spelling of the word. If you break it down, it spells at-one-ment. Atonement is the Hebrew word kipper, which means to appease or make amends. It is about reconciliation or reparation of a broken relationship between God and humanity.
This is a ritual that the entire nation of Israel participated in together one day each year. It says in Leviticus 16:29-31 – “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you—because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from all your sins. It is a day of sabbath rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance.
The ritual of the Day of Atonement is communicating the truth that, although God is holy, he is making a way for impure people to live in proximity to his dwelling place. Let’s look now at how, through the bringing of offerings, impure Israelites can indeed draw near to this holy God.
Drawing near to God (offerings)
There were five different offerings the Israelites could bring to God as a way of drawing near to him. Three are voluntary and are meant to maintain fellowship, or closeness with God. Two are mandatory and are meant to restore broken fellowship with God.
The Hebrew meaning of the word offering in these passages is “that which goes up.” An offering is literally that which helps you draw near to God. In Psalm 24:3, we read, “Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place?” The answer in the following verse is, “The one who has clean hands and a pure heart.” If you want to draw near to God, you must have clean hands and a pure heart. It is important to note that most of the laws related to purification in Leviticus have nothing to do with sins. They have to do with daily life. Look at the instructions for childbirth in chapter 12 – A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days… Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified… She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over. If she gives birth to a daughter, for two weeks the woman will be unclean… Then she must wait sixty-six days to be purified from her bleeding… When the days of her purification for a son or daughter are over, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering. He shall offer them before the LORD to make atonement for her, and then she will be ceremonially clean.
Obviously, giving birth to a child is not a sin. But, it makes her unclean. There are regulations around skin diseases, different types of molds, and bodily discharges. Most of the things that cause someone to be unclean are things that are just a part of life. They cannot be avoided. So, when you consider the statement that only those with clean hands and a pure heart can draw near to God, it is not about trying to keep ourselves from becoming unclean. It is about atonement. If you want to draw near to God, your sins and your impurities must be atoned for. You must be cleansed and reconciled with God.
When an offering is brought to the Tabernacle, the priest brings it to the alter and it is burned up. The burned up offering is transformed into smoke which rises up to the heavens. This ritual brings people near to God by restoring broken fellowship and by maintaining their fellowship with him. The offering and the priestly ritual are how the Israelites drew near to God. But, what they offer matters. Leviticus 22:20-22 – Do not bring anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf. When anyone brings from the herd or flock a fellowship offering to the LORD to fulfill a special vow or as a freewill offering, it must be without defect or blemish to be acceptable. Do not offer to the LORD the blind, the injured or the maimed, or anything with warts or festering or running sores. Do not place any of these on the altar as a food offering presented to the LORD.
Those of you who raise livestock probably know quite well when an animal is not healthy. Perhaps they look healthy to the average person, but to a trained eye, you can tell that this animal is not going to live long or grow strong. If you were to bring this animal as a sacrifice, are you bringing your best? Perhaps the priest may or may not notice the underlying sickness. But, will God accept a sacrifice that he knows will bring little or no value to you if you keep it? The point of sacrifice is that it is costly.
Let’s spend a few minutes in the New Testament to see how ritual and offerings connect to the Christian faith.
New Testament Connections
James 4:8 says, “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.” Considering what we have learned about Leviticus, this verse should have a new meaning. Those who want to draw near to God, will indeed receive an open invitation from God. Just as was the case with the Israelites, his presence will be at the centre of your life. There is no other place for him but at the centre. And, how do we draw near? We must be purified and atonement must be made.
Hebrews 12 draws our attention back to Mount Sinai. The author says, You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.” But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
And in chapter 13, we read, “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
Similarly, Romans 12:1-2 says – Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Our purification and atonement is complete. The Israelites brought a sacrifice to the Tabernacle, and upon the burning of that sacrifice the smoke rose up to the heavens and through that smoke the people would draw near to God. What do we bring? Jesus Christ himself is our atoning sacrifice. He is the one through whom we draw near to God. We no longer live as those under threat of the fire of God’s presence consuming us. We are continuously and permantently made pure. Remember, though, there were more offerings than those which purified sins. There were voluntary offerings meant to maintain fellowship, or closeness with God. You may be technically purified by the sacrifice of Jesus, but how close do you feel to God? How have you drawn near to him? Our voluntary offerings are what will bring that closeness. They are offerings of praise and peace and a life dedicated to bringing God’s blessings to others.
Just a word about tithes and offerings, the subject I thought would be the focus of this message. People ask, how much does the Bible say to give? Most people would respond by saying “a tenth,” which is found in Leviticus 27:30 where the word tithe comes from. It says, “ ‘A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.” As is the case with all of the instructions in Leviticus, the ones on tithing in the Pentateuch are difficult to translate to our daily lives because we do not have the same societal structure as they did.
So, if you are asking what God wants us to give, the answer is everything. He was us to give our entire lives to him and to others. The question is not how much to give, but how much to keep for yourself. C.S. Lewis famously wrote, “the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc, is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little.”
I want to bring us back to the Tabernacle for a moment and the idea of rituals as a way to communicate truth. It is also connected to the theme of blessing that we have been coming back to throughout the series.
In Numbers 8:1-4, we read the following instructions: The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron and say to him, ‘When you set up the lamps, see that all seven light up the area in front of the lampstand.’ ” Aaron did so; he set up the lamps so that they faced forward on the lampstand, just as the LORD commanded Moses. This is how the lampstand was made: It was made of hammered gold—from its base to its blossoms. The lampstand was made exactly like the pattern the LORD had shown Moses.
This text has an interesting and important piece of instruction: make sure the lamps light up the front of the lampstand. Why was this so important? It is only upon considering what is across the room from the lampstand. It is the table with the 12 loaves of consecrated bread on it, which represents the 12 tribes of Israel. The image of the light shining on the bread, along with the daily ritual of ensuring the lamp is continually burning and the bread is continually fresh, speak to the presence and blessing of God, which is mediated by the priests.
This image and priestly duty symbolizes what Numbers 6:23-27 affirms verbally. “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: “ ‘ “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.” ’ “So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.”
The light of the lampstand represents God’s presence and blessing, while the 12 loaves of bread represent the 12 tribes of Israel. The priest’s role of continuously ensuring that the light shines on the bread is symbolic of the role and function of the priesthood which is to mediate God’s blessing to his people.
What does this mean for us now? We do not have priests in the same way the Israel did. Rather, through Jesus Christ, all who are saved by him are priests.
1 Peter 2:5 – you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Revelation 1:6 – To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever!
Revelation 5:10 – You [Jesus] have made them [all who have been purchased by Jesus for God, persons from every tribe and language and people and nation] to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”
It is now our duty, just as it was for the priests of the Tabernacle, to remind one another of God’s presence and blessing. Let’s have a closing song and then we will practice our own ritual by reciting the blessing from Numbers 6 together.
References
1 L. Michael Morales, Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord?: A Biblical Theology of the Book of Leviticus, ed. D. A. Carson, vol. 37, New Studies in Biblical Theology (England; Downers Grove, IL: Apollos; InterVarsity Press, 2015), 109.
2 L. Michael Morales, Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord?: A Biblical Theology of the Book of Leviticus, ed. D. A. Carson, vol. 37, New Studies in Biblical Theology (England; Downers Grove, IL: Apollos; InterVarsity Press, 2015), 20.
3 Davis, Ellen F.. Opening Israel’s Scriptures (p. 63). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.
4 Jacob Milgrom, A Continental Commentary: Leviticus: A Book of Ritual and Ethics (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2004), 1.
5 Jacob Milgrom, A Continental Commentary: Leviticus: A Book of Ritual and Ethics (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2004), xii.
The Bible Project Podcast: bibleproject.com/podcast/series/leviticus-scroll
Pentateuch Series Bibliography
Alexander, T. Desmond. From Paradise to the Promised Land: An Introduction to the Pentateuch. Fourth Edition. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2022.
Alter, Robert. The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary. New York: W.W. Norton, 2004.
Averbeck, Richard E. The Old Testament Law for the Life of the Church: Reading the Torah in the Light of Christ. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic: An Imprint of InterVarsity Press, 2022.
Brueggemann, Walter. Preaching from the Old Testament. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2019.
Glanville, Mark. Freed to Be God’s Family: The Book of Exodus. Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2021.
Longman III, Tremper. Genesis. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016.
Lynch, Matthew J. Flood and Fury: Old Testament Violence and the Shalom of God. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2023.
Provan, Iain, V. Philips Long, and Tremper Longman III. A Biblical History of Israel. Second Edition. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2015.
Smith, James E. The Torah. 2nd ed. Old Testament Survey Series. Joplin, MO: College Press Pub. Co., 1993.
Walton, John H and J. Harvey Walton. The Lost World of the Torah: Law as Covenant and Wisdom in Ancient Context. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2019.