Holiness
The keynote of the book — holiness predicated of God (19:2) and required of his people. Not merely ritual; ‘thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’ sits inside the holiness code (19:18).
Old Testament · Book 3 of 66
Leviticus
A holy people before a holy God. Five offerings, a priesthood, a purity code — and at the centre, a single day that carries the sins of a year to a cleansed Most Holy Place.
27
Chapters
5
Offerings
1
Day of Atonement
“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.”
A Holy People · A Holy God
Leviticus concentrates its theology. Six ordered rings close in on chapter 16 — the single day that carries a year's sin to a cleansed Most Holy Place. Click any ring to enter its opening chapter.
Vows and dedications27The Holiness Code17–26Clean and unclean11–15Priestly consecration8–10The five offerings1–7Day of Atonement16
Day of Atonement16
The single day — the high priest behind the veil, two goats, the scapegoat into the wilderness, the Most Holy Place cleansed.
The five offerings1–7
Burnt, grain, peace, sin, trespass — the vocabulary of Israel's worship.
Priestly consecration8–10
Aaron and his sons ordained; the first service; strange fire; ‘I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me.’
Clean and unclean11–15
Diet, childbirth, skin disease, mildew, bodily discharges — holiness traced through the ordinary.
The Holiness Code17–26
‘Ye shall be holy; for I the LORD your God am holy.’ Blood, sexual ethics, neighbor-love, the feasts, the Jubilee, blessings and curses.
Vows and dedications27
Redemption of vows, tithes, devoted things — the book's outer appendix.
‘The life of the flesh is in the blood … to make an atonement for your souls’ (17:11).
- Author
- Moses — receives these laws at Sinai; the repeated formula is ‘the LORD spake unto Moses, saying’
- Date
- Composed during Israel's year at Sinai (15th–13th century BC)
- Audience
- The priesthood primarily; the laity through the priests
- Position
- Old Testament · Book 3 of 66
Structure
- The five offerings1–7
Burnt, grain, peace, sin, trespass — the sacrificial vocabulary of Israel's worship.
- Consecration of the priesthood8–10
Aaron and his sons ordained; the first service; Nadab and Abihu's strange fire.
- Laws of clean and unclean11–15
Diet, childbirth, skin disease, mildew in garments and houses, bodily discharges — holiness traced through ordinary life.
- Day of Atonement16
The high priest enters the Most Holy Place; the scapegoat carries sin into the wilderness; the single day that cleanses.
- The Holiness Code17–26
‘Ye shall be holy; for I the LORD your God am holy.’ Blood, sexual ethics, neighbor-love, feasts, jubilee, blessings and curses.
- Vows and dedications27
Appendix on redemption of vows, tithes, and devoted things.
Section pages
Each section is one focused part of Leviticus — purpose, key movements, key verses, Christ-in-this-section. Roughly five minutes each.
Themes
Atonement
‘The life of the flesh is in the blood … I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls’ (17:11). The day of atonement (ch. 16) concentrates the whole sacrificial system into one high-priestly act.
The sacrificial system
Five kinds of offering for five kinds of need. The pattern is substitution, presentation, and fellowship — shadowing the one sacrifice that would fulfil them (Heb 9–10).
Priesthood
Aaron and his sons mediate between the holy God and the people. The priestly garments, the ordination sacrifices, and the careful attention to ‘strange fire’ all teach that access to God is God's gift, not man's invention.
Clean and unclean
A pedagogy of separation in ordinary life — what you eat, how you handle disease, how you relate to death. Holiness is embodied, not merely mental.
Feasts and Jubilee
Seven appointed feasts (ch. 23) punctuate the year with remembrance and hope; the Jubilee (ch. 25) restores land and sets captives free, patterning the liberty of the gospel.
If you only read a few chapters
- 1The burnt offeringThe first of the five offerings; whole consumption upon the altar.
- 10Nadab and Abihu‘I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me’ — a terrible lesson in approach.
- 16Day of AtonementTwo goats, one sacrificed, one sent away; the high priest behind the veil.
- 17The blood of atonement‘The life of the flesh is in the blood’ — the book's theological keynote in one verse.
- 19Holiness in ordinary life‘Love thy neighbour as thyself’ (19:18) — cited by Jesus as the second great commandment.
- 23The feasts of the LORDSabbath, Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Weeks, Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles.
- 25The JubileeEvery fiftieth year, liberty proclaimed; the pattern Jesus claims in Luke 4.
- 26Blessings and curses‘If ye walk in my statutes’; the covenant's blessings, then its discipline if forsaken.
Featured studies in this book
The Five OfferingsLev 1–9The Peace OfferingLev 1–17The Sin OfferingLev 1–12The TabernacleLev 1–36The TabernacleLev 1–36The Great High Priest — Aaronic TypeLev 1–36The TabernacleLev 1–2Nadab and AbihuLev 1–7The TabernacleLev 1–2The Scarlet ThreadLev 51The Scarlet ThreadLev 4–6The Day of AtonementLev 1–34The TabernacleLev 2The Scarlet ThreadLev 21–22The TabernacleLev 1–34The ScapegoatLev 20–22The Scarlet ThreadLev 11The Scarlet ThreadLev 11The Holiness CodeLev 1–18The Feasts of the LORDLev 1–44The Year of JubileeLev 8–55Creation to New CreationLev 12Covenant Blessings and CursesLev 1–46