Entire book of Leviticus covers a period of a month/30 days.
A month away from Canaan.
Jesus quotes more passages from this book more than any other.
Why Study It?
It will help you understand the rest of the books of the Bible. It's essential to understanding the book of Hebrews.
Leviticus can drive you to a place to deeper worship. Leviticus demands a serious approach toward worship. It required a cost and personal involvement.
Cadesh--to be holy, sanctified
Two basic categories of offerings in the OT:
1. First group enabled a person to find communion/fellowship with God.
Proprietary, it had to happen first.
Sin offerings, trespass offerings
2. Second class offered by believer's who longed for fellowship with God.
Burnt offerings, peace offerings, thanksgiving offerings, drink offerings, heave offerings, wave offerings,
"sweet smelling savor" to the Lord--like a barbecue in your neighborhood.
The Lord gives Moses instructions for offerings from the tent of the meeting. These are all for voluntary or free will offerings.
Burnt offering
If it's a burnt offering, it should be from your livestock--herds and flocks.
If it's from the herd, it should be a male without blemish. He should bring it to the door of the tent of the meeting and put his hand on it. Then he should kill and Aaron's sons should throw the blood on the sides of the altar.
Why, Lord? Why so bloody? Throwing blood on the sides of the altar is disturbing.
Then he should flay and prepare the offering while Aaron's sons build the fire and set the offering on it. But the entrails and legs are washed in water, then burned.
It's like a religious, bloody, barbecue. I don't get it. It's foreign and weird.
He goes through somewhat similar instructions for an offering of a sheep/goat, or bird.
What do I think? This is weird. No women involved. All men. Aaron's sons particularly involved, creating a priesthood that has haunted us since.
Jesus is everything this system is not. Is it kind of like you have to love a bad man to be able to appreciate a good one? lol.
JFB points out that this entire sacrifice is burnt--none of it eaten. They suggest is is an atonement sacrifice and so indicates their full submission of everything to atonement. The door is the only place a non-Levite could stand. They note that Egyptian culture was also obsessive about animals without defects. Honestly, I can't say this is much different from the inspections I've seen at the county fair or in dog breeds. We are obsessed with the ideal, nearest to perfect.
Yes, I was thinking along these lines too--that God makes accommodation for all in these sacrifices: "It is obvious, from the varying scale of these voluntary sacrifices, that the disposition of the offerer was the thing looked to - not the costliness of his offering." -JFB
Lord, give me eyes and a heart to see greater things about You in this text. Give me hands that serve You and see those who need to be loved by You and therefore me, today.
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