Leviticus

The book Leviticus contains the account of the establishment of the Levitical priesthood in Israel.  In this book Moses instructs the Israelites on what sacrifices to offer in what cases.  Moses talks about matters of intentional sin and matters of unintentional sin.  For each matter, there must be the offering of an animal that is without blemish.  There are also laws of purity for what to sacrifice when giving birth.  In here we have the proof that Jesus is portrayed as being from a poor family in the New Testament  as Mary and Joseph in Matthew had to offer the poor couple's offering that is described in the book of Leviticus.  The first several chapters of Leviticus deal with the offering of sacrifices.  Some sacrifices are voluntary in which the person has done nothing wrong that comes to their mind but they want to offer up a sacrifice to God in order to show him their appreciation and to worship him.  Other sacrifices are offered as a result of intentional sin in which a person has to come to the realization that what  they deliberately chose to do wrong and with a tender and sincere heart, they had to offer up a sacrifice to God for their actions.  The other sacrfice dealt with in Leviticus is the sacrifice for unintentional sin.  No one could make a sacrifice for unintentional sin until they realized that what they have done is sin.  No one deliberately sins unintentionally. The only reason a sin can be done unintentionally is because a person reacts out of instinct and the do not realize that the action which they have naturally committed is sin.  Thus, a person's charactar should not be judged for what they do not realize at the moment that they commit the sin because sanctification is a gradual process and it takes time in the Word and praying that God would reveal your sin in order for you to come to the realization of what is sin in some cases.  Once sin is realized as sin, then it is the individual's responsibility to atone for that sin.  Notice that whenever the sacrifices were offered in the Old Testament that the high priest always had to remove the fat from the altar.  He had to be the one doing the work at the altar.  The role of the high priest in this matter makes the high priest a foreshadow of Jesus Christ who came and when he conquered death hell and the grave he set himself up as the high priest of our faith who is the mediator between us and God.  Notice the law that the high priest could not have defect which is theologically significant because it is a foreshadow of Christ who would not have the defect of sin on him which would keep him from serving as high priest.  Also notice that each sacrifice must be offered without blemish and must be clean which is also another symbolic element that points to Christ. Chapter ten tells the story of two sons of Aaron named Nadab and Abihu who offered up fire at the altar.      Nadab and Abihu are symbolic of those who offer up their own fire and expect it to be an acceptable sacrifice to God.  Many people throughout history have offered up their own fire.  This is the distinguishing underlying meaning of the verse that there is a way that seems right to man but in the end it leads to death.  This is the difference between Christianity and the other religions in the world.  people offer up their works to God thinking they are going to satisfy them.  This is true of all religions except for Christianity who by the power of the Holy Spirit go on the fire supplied by Jesus Christ to offer an acceptbale sacrifice to God.  All throughout history, people who you think of as anti-heroes like Hitler and Stalin offered up their own fire because what they did in their reigns over their respective countries were based upon their religion, which was in their eyes the path that was acceptable to God.  Thus, they offered up their own fire but the fire that you offer up emanating from the path of your own works and lifestyles will only come right back and burn you up just like it did with Nadab and Abihu.  In Leviticus, you also discover ritualistic purity and many other laws.  Most of these laws are not held by Christians anymore.  Some would argue that they are all part of the Old Testament holiness code.  However, if that were the case, then homosexuality would be permissible in the New Testament.  There is a pattern to each set of laws that is given and a way to test whether or not they still apply today.  The Dietary laws, as well as the laws about ritualistic purity after the act of sexual intercourse, and laws concerning mildew and skins diseases all fall under the category of health decrees.  The laws applied for the nation of Israel because God was in the process of spreading his message to all of humankind.  What better way to spread the message than to raise up a people and tell them how to live healthy so that when other cultures around them come to them and see them in their healthy state they will be impressed and the God who revealed these laws to the Israelites would be gloridied.  Now Leviticus 18-22 contains a set of laws that follow in this manner but are jumbled in the middle of laws against sex with animals and against homosexuality.  Now if the laws against homosexuality were not to apply, then it is also now okay to have sex with an animal.  Therefore, the laws must apply in all cases based on the rule of exegetical parallelism.  The way you tell whether or not a certain law applies today is by looking in the text and seeing if a violation of the law requires that the individual be cut off from their people or stoned to death.  If so, then that law applies today.  Though the act of stoning or alienating the individual does not apply at least in the physical sense because Israel basically was a physical kingdom that was representative of a spiritual kingdom of those who struggle with God that would be set up by Christ in the New Testament.  Now the dietary and health laws although they would be good practices to abide by do not apply because in the New Testament all foods were declared as clean if they are received with thanksgiving.  Thus, the issue of Christianity does not hold that the profane stay out of a physical setting while the sacred stay within a physical for the kingdom of the Christian is not a physical one but a spiritual kingdom that has been established by Christ.  The final chapters of Levitucus set up the act of tithing for the Old Testament.  Tithing applied for the Old Testament because it was necessary to have money for the priests who would run the tabernacle.  Tithing (although a good practice) is not necessary for the New Testament because every Christian shares in the priesthood of the spiritual tabernacle that has been established by Christ.  The final chapters also set up the feasts and sabbaths for the Old Testament believers.  This ties in with the New Testament in the sense that Passover is the sacrifice of the lamb.  Yom Kippur is the atoning of the sin for the people which was offered by Christ.  Rosh Hashanah ties in significantly as the feast of trumpets because it represented the Jewish new year and Christ was actually born on Rosh Hashanah in 3 BC.  This symbolizes the stting of a new time for God's covenant.  This is the time when it changed over from the institution of a physical tabernacle to the establishment of a spiritual tabernacle which was established by Jesus Christ when he came in the flesh and offered the bridge between us and God to reconcile us with the Father because of our sins.    Another significant feast is that of Shavuot which is the Jewish equivalent to what we now call Pentecost.  Pentecost is when the firstfruits of the Christian faith were yielded forth, as the apostles spoke in unknown tongues so that the gospel could be spread across the barrier of language..  Shavuot was the Jewish festival of firstfruits.  The other festival mentioned in Levticius is the feast of tabernacles which is a festival that the Jews celebrated to commemorate where God had taken them from in Egypt.  This festival does not have an established Christian equvalent, though it sheds theological preface on the idea that we should each as Christians take time to think of where God has brought us out of where we started at.  An interesting thing to note about the feasts is the fact that foreigners could participate in the feasts, Sabbaths, and customs of Israel if they agreed to abide by the laws of Israel.  This is a clear demonstration that by the term "chosen people" God was not establishing a race which gained his favor, but rather he satblished a chosen people who were to carry the messageof his love to the whole world.  Unfortunately for the Jews, they misinterpreted why they were called the "chosen people."  For more details on this read my theological expose on the book of Jonah.