Introduction

Leviticus absolutely fascinates me. Weird, right? Its ancient ritual, extensive laws, and preoccupation with blood and guts do not usually get rave reviews with its modern-day reader. Most people consider it outdated, primitive, or downright barbaric. Yet Yeshua and his followers often drew on the concepts from this ancient document for inspiration and instruction. When Yeshua spoke of the second greatest commandment, he was not making up a new commandment or using Rabbinical mid-rash or drawing upon Greek philosophy; he was quoting from the Book of Leviticus. Do we think “love your neighbor as yourself” is outdated and barbaric? Have we got that commandment figured out so well that we can move on to more spiritual matters?

Then there are the writings of Paul and the Apostles. They referred to Yeshua’s death in sacrificial terminology, calling him the slain Lamb of God. They called upon their audience to make themselves a living sacrifice and recognize themselves as the true Temple of God, fulfilling the promised end-time temple. We today often refer to our Messiah as a sacrifice and call ourselves the temple of the Holy Spirit, but when was the last time we studied what the function of the temple was, as understood by Yeshua and Paul’s audience? When was the last time we tried to discover why ancient Israel offered sacrifices and how they understood the effects and benefits of such offerings? If we are to offer our lives up as a living sacrifice, shouldn’t we know what a sacrifice was and why anyone thought that killing and burning an animal was an act of worship? These questions propelled my journey into the Book of Leviticus, and I would like to share some insights that I have gained from this fantastic adventure into God’s Torah.

Tabernacle and Eden

One of the significant problems we face when it comes to an understanding of why Israel built the Tabernacle is that the writer of Exodus never tells us; that is not his style. Instead, the writer uses allusions during the account of building the Tabernacle that alert the reader to this complex structure’s real purpose. The Book of Exodus begins with Israel enslaved in Egypt, experiencing the tangible absence of the Divine. The story develops as the oppressed Hebrews cry out to God, and He delivers them from slavery and brings them to a mountain for an intimate encounter. Yet, this is not Israel’s final destination, and so they face the dilemma of how to continue having holy communion with the Creator while they travel towards the promised land. God commands them to build for Him a Mishkan—a dwelling place—that He may dwell in their midst. This structure would have been very familiar to ancient Israel; it was a portable version of a temple, and everyone understood temples. In the ancient world, temples were not slaughterhouses as we often imagine them. Instead, they were designed to be the house of the god and the place where supplicants could come to worship and connect with that particular deity. The sacrificial slaughter of animals was only secondary to the temple. Because the god dwelt there, and animal sacrifice was the normative mode of worship in that world (much like song and prayer are in our modern-day), it was only fitting to bring animal offerings for the god of that temple.

Ancient Israel would have understood and connected with the idea of the Tabernacle as the place where YHWH would live in their midst. Dwelling with the Divine was the ultimate purpose of their freedom, not freedom from all masters, but a transfer of ownership to a master who deeply cared about their wellbeing and desired intimate relationship. The author of this narrative includes frequent allusions to the creation of the world and the Garden in Eden in the Tabernacle-building story that takes up nearly the entire second half of Exodus. For example, the author of Genesis records, “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good” (1:31). The author of Exodus echoes Genesis’ wording in the Tabernacle-building episode of 39:43 “And Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it.” Exodus 25-31’s instructions are structured along seven speeches by God with the seventh speech speaking of the Sabbath and creation (31:12-17) and Exodus 40:17-33 records Israel’s compliance in seven acts.

Exodus ends with Israel, a people who just a few months before had lived in slavery and death and divine abandonment, at Mount Sinai with a fully built house for God. They had experienced God’s awesome power thundering from the mountain and had sent their representative, Moses, to have a personal encounter with the Almighty. They feel they are fully ready to also enter into this intimate relationship, and one can almost taste the anticipation as the Tabernacle was erected and God’s presence visibly settles on the tent. The people are in awe; they want to rush forward and greet God, but they also are cautious; they want Moses to lead the way into the presence of the Divine. Yet, Exodus ends with a huge plot twist and a giant cliffhanger. “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glorious presence of YHWH filled the Tabernacle. Moses, the man who had gone up the mountain and encountered this God, was not able to enter the tent of meeting, for the cloud had settled upon it, and the glorious presence of YHWH filled the Tabernacle.” If Moses couldn’t get in, how could any of the other Israelites enter? Who would be able to dwell with the Divine?

Entering God’s Presence

Leviticus, or Vayikra as it is known in Hebrew, is unique out of all the Bible books in that it is the only one with a name that starts with the letter vav. In Hebrew, the convention for naming books comes from the first word in that particular text; Genesis begins with Bereshit (“in the beginning”) and is thus named. So, why is it so peculiar that Leviticus is the only book to start with a vav? Because a vav at the beginning of a word is a conjunction; it is equivalent to the English word “and.” How many books have you ever picked up that began with the word “And?” If your book did start with “And,” you would probably turn the page back to see if you missed something. “And” signifies that what follows is dependent upon what precedes the conjunction for proper understanding. Yes! Leviticus cannot be understood apart from the Exodus story and especially the ending where Israel is left at the doorstep of God’s new house and cannot enter into His presence. Thus, rather than being a stand-alone manual for the priests on how to perform their duties, Leviticus contains instructions for Israel on how to return to God’s presence. It instructs the People of the Book how to get back to the Garden in Eden! This book often seems strange and outdated to modern readers with its bloody sacrifices, bizarre rituals, and uncomfortable commandments. Yet beneath these ancient rituals and commands lies a deep concern for how we are to worship God, how we are to love our fellow humans, and how we are to take care of our environment. Are these things we’ve perfected and are ready to move past or are these some of the same struggles we deal with today?

Ancient Rituals, Modern Values

Jacob Milgrom, one of the most influential modern commentators on Leviticus, states this in the opening to his commentary on Leviticus, “Leviticus does discuss rituals. However, underlying the rituals, the careful reader will find an intricate web of values that purports to model how we should relate to God and to one another. Anthropology has taught us that when a society wishes to express and preserve its basic values, it ensconces them in rituals” (Milgrom, Continental Commentary: Leviticus, 1). We do not have a tabernacle or temple to offer up sacrifices to the Lord, but we can still apply the principles that underlie these ancient practices in our lives today.

This concept isn’t foreign to the Biblical text either. We see a necessary change in ritual practice within the Torah related to the Tabernacle that still preserves the underlying principle. In Leviticus 17, Israel is camped in the wilderness around the Tabernacle. There, they are commanded to kill all cattle and herd animals in the Tabernacle. Anyone who slaughters these animals in the camp or outside the camp will incur bloodguilt. Yet, this commandment will be impractical once they reach the land of Canaan and spread out. Those who lived far from Jerusalem would be unable to keep this commandment because it would take days to travel from their homes to Jerusalem. So, the commandment undergoes a change in Deuteronomy 12 & 15; Israel is allowed to slaughter within their towns provided that they pour the blood out on the ground like water and not eat it. Pouring out the blood on the ground preserves this prohibition’s function, stopping the practice of worshiping goat-demons while changing the way the command was kept. The author of Deuteronomy recognized that a change in conditions necessitated changing the way the law was kept while preserving its function. We are also charged with the sacred duty of making the laws and rituals in Leviticus relevant for today by maintaining their principles and ethics.

How do we undertake the sacred duty of making Leviticus relevant today? It is crucial for us to begin the journey by doing our best to understand the text from the original audience’s cultural and anthropological context. We must seek to put aside how we have been trained to understand the text and enter the ancient Near Eastern worldview. My studies have focused on the five sacrifice types found in Leviticus 1-5, and for an in-depth analysis, I would encourage you to check out my teaching, A Gift of Fire & Blood: Leviticus Then and Now. Each of these sacrifices was offered for a different purpose; not all were offered for sins, as has been commonly taught. The ritual of sacrificing was also much more than simply killing an animal in a particular geographical location. In fact, the text minimizes the description of the animal's slaughter, implying that the animal’s death was simply a necessity to procure the animal’s lifeblood to ritually give that life over to God.

Emphasized in the ritual texts are six rites, each rite containing its own significance. The animal is first presented to the priest for inspection, ensuring that the worshiper is not careless in what he or she offers the Divine. Then is the hand-leaning rite, used in all sacrifices, including those that are not for sin. Hand-leaning creates a connection between the offerer and the animal, a way of identifying the one receiving benefits from the offering. Next, the animal is caused to face the presence of God in the tent and is slaughtered. The priest collects the blood and wipes or splashes the blood on the altar, not on the offerer. This blood affirms the covenant connection between the offerer and YHWH and, in some instances, functions to remove the stain on the altar caused by the offerer’s sins. In these cases, the sacrifice functions as a means for the offerer to take accountability for his or her misdeeds. It demonstrates his or her commitment to healing the world from the chaos caused by his or her actions. Next, the animal’s flesh is placed on the altar, not to be burned—there is a different Hebrew word for that—instead, the text speaks of the animal’s flesh being transformed into smoke and rising into the heavens. It is a beautiful picture of how, through worship, we ascend to the heavenly abode of the God of Heaven and Earth and enter into His presence. Finally, in the case of the peace offering, the communion rite of eating the animal takes place where the Israelite enjoys the hospitality of God’s house. What a phenomenal experience it must have been!

Conclusion

Leviticus speaks to us about how we can enter into God’s presence and worship Him in a manner befitting the King of the Universe. When we move past our apprehension towards understanding strange, ancient texts and begin to see the underlying beauty, our lives will be filled with the glory of the LORD. We will learn His ways. We will learn how to be a good neighbor in the way Yeshua instructed us. We will better understand what it means to proclaim our Messiah as the slain Lamb of God. We will understand how to become better stewards of this amazing world which God has entrusted to us. May the grace and peace of our Lord and God, Yeshua the Messiah, always be with you. - Author Ryan White (Faith of Messiah)