BIBLE BOOK GUIDE
Leviticus
27 chapters
How Israel, through sacrifice, purification, and holy living, lives as a people set apart before a holy God.
Leviticus
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Why this book was written
Written by Moses after Israel entered covenant at Sinai, Leviticus instructs the redeemed congregation of Israel on God's holiness, the handling of sin, and how they must live; its purpose is to make them a holy, priestly nation through sacrifice and statutes.
Structure
- 1–7Laws of Sacrifices
- 8–10Consecration and Service of the Priests
- 11–16Laws of Clean and Unclean
- 17–22Commands for Holy Living
- 23–27Feasts, the Sanctuary, and Vows
Major themes
Holiness and Purification
Leviticus provides detailed instructions on how Israel was to maintain holiness in body, ritual, and morality—covering clean and unclean laws, priestly purification, and separation from defilement—emphasizing that God's holiness requires a corresponding holiness in His people (Lev. 11–15).
Atonement and Intercession
The Day of Atonement (Lev. 16) stands as the book's climax, with the high priest entering the Most Holy Place once a year to atone for himself and the people, foreshadowing Christ's ultimate atoning work. The priestly mediator role pervades the book.
Sacrifice and Substitution
The five offerings—burnt, grain, fellowship, sin, and guilt offerings (Lev. 1–7)—provided substitutionary atonement, teaching that sin demands a price while revealing God's grace and forgiveness.
Holiness in Covenant Community
Leviticus 17–27 emphasizes ethical and communal life within the covenant—sexual morality, justice toward neighbors, Sabbath and Jubilee years, festivals, and faithful stewardship—calling Israel to live out its covenant identity (Lev. 17–27).
God's Sovereignty and Provision
God's detailed directions for offerings, priesthood, festivals, and land sabbaths reveal His sovereignty over every aspect of life, while Sabbath years, Jubilee, and festivals demonstrate His faithful provision and mercy.
Consecration and Service
The consecration of priests (Lev. 8–10) and the setting apart of the Levites for service show that ministering to God requires cleansing, anointing, and full dedication to His service.
How it points to Christ
Leviticus points to Christ as the ultimate High Priest and the ultimate sacrifice. He is the mediator of a better covenant (Heb. 8:6), whose one offering of His body forever accomplishes what the repeated Day of Atonement could only foreshadow (Heb. 9:11–14; 10:1–14). The offerings typify Christ: the burnt offering (perfect consecration), the sin offering (bearing the penalty of sin), and the fellowship offering (restored communion with God). The Sabbath and Jubilee years foreshadow the true rest and liberty Christ brings. The command, "Be holy, because I, the LORD your God, am holy" (Lev. 19:2), is fulfilled in believers through Christ's holiness imputed and imparted.
Key verses
- 1:3–4The burnt offering foreshadows Christ offering Himself without blemish as the substitute.
- 16:30The Day of Atonement — God's provision of atonement for the whole congregation, the supreme OT picture of redemption.
- 17:11'For the life of the flesh is in the blood' — the theological foundation of substitutionary atonement.
- 19:2'You shall be holy, for I am holy' — the central summons of the book.
- 20:7–8Holiness is God's own work, sanctifying the people from within.
- 23:5The Passover points to Christ, our Passover Lamb.
- 25:10The Jubilee year foreshadows the freedom and restoration accomplished in Christ.
- 27:30The tithe belongs to the Lord, echoing the NT principle of giving all to God.
Reflections on Leviticus
Questions for reflection
- ·How do the purity laws in Leviticus deepen your understanding of the seriousness of sin and God's demand for holiness?
- ·How does the detail of the Day of Atonement point you to Christ as the once-for-all sacrifice for your sin?
- ·As a New Covenant believer, how do you understand the relationship between grace and the call to "be holy"?
- ·How does the Jubilee command to free slaves and return inheritance reflect the freedom and restoration Christ brings in the gospel?
- ·The priest had to first atone for himself before atoning for the people (Lev. 16)—how does this show that no one can approach God on their own merit?
Want to read Leviticus start to finish? Open the reader for parallel Chinese/English text and ask anything as you go.
Start reading LeviticusLeviticus
Chapter 25
1And Jehovah spake unto Moses in mount Sinai, saying,
2Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land which I give you, then shall the land keep a sabbath unto Jehovah.
3Six years thou shalt sow thy field, and six years thou shalt prune thy vineyard, and gather in the fruits thereof;
4but in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath unto Jehovah: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
5That which groweth of itself of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, and the grapes of thy undressed vine thou shalt not gather: it shall be a year of solemn rest for the land.
6And the sabbath of the land shall be for food for you; for thee, and for thy servant and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant and for thy stranger, who sojourn with thee.
7And for thy cattle, and for the beasts that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be for food.
8And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and there shall be unto thee the days of seven sabbaths of years, even forty and nine years.
9Then shalt thou send abroad the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month; in the day of atonement shall ye send abroad the trumpet throughout all your land.
10And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
11A jubilee shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of the undressed vines.
12For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.
13In this year of jubilee ye shall return every man unto his possession.
14And if thou sell aught unto thy neighbor, or buy of thy neighbor's hand, ye shall not wrong one another.
15According to the number of years after the jubilee thou shalt buy of thy neighbor, and according unto the number of years of the crops he shall sell unto thee.
16According to the multitude of the years thou shalt increase the price thereof, and according to the fewness of the years thou shalt diminish the price of it; for the number of the crops doth he sell unto thee.
17And ye shall not wrong one another; but thou shalt fear thy God: for I am Jehovah your God.
18Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep mine ordinances and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.
19And the land shall yield its fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.
20And if ye shall say, What shall we eat the seventh year? Behold, we shall not sow, nor gather in our increase;
21then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for the three years.
22And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat of the fruits, the old store; until the ninth year, until its fruits come in, ye shall eat the old store.
23And the land shall not be sold in perpetuity; for the land is mine: for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.
24And in all the land of your possession ye shall grant a redemption for the land.
25If thy brother be waxed poor, and sell some of his possession, then shall his kinsman that is next unto him come, and shall redeem that which his brother hath sold.
26And if a man have no one to redeem it, and he be waxed rich and find sufficient to redeem it;
27then let him reckon the years of the sale thereof, and restore the overplus unto the man to whom he sold it; and he shall return unto his possession.
28But if he be not able to get it back for himself, then that which he hath sold shall remain in the hand of him that hath bought it until the year of jubilee: and in the jubilee it shall go out, and he shall return unto his possession.
29And if a man sell a dwelling - house in a walled city, then he may redeem it within a whole year after it is sold; for a full year shall he have the right of redemption.
30And if it be not redeemed within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city shall be made sure in perpetuity to him that bought it, throughout his generations: it shall not go out in the jubilee.
31But the houses of the villages which have no wall round about them shall be reckoned with the fields of the country: they may be redeemed, and they shall go out in the jubilee.
32Nevertheless the cities of the Levites, the houses of the cities of their possession, may the Levites redeem at any time.
33And if one of the Levites redeem, then the house that was sold, and the city of his possession, shall go out in the jubilee; for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their possession among the children of Israel.
34But the field of the suburbs of their cities may not be sold; for it is their perpetual possession.
35And if thy brother be waxed poor, and his hand fail with thee; then thou shalt uphold him: as a stranger and a sojourner shall he live with thee.
36Take thou no interest of him or increase, but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee.
37Thou shalt not give him thy money upon interest, nor give him thy victuals for increase.
38I am Jehovah your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God.
39And if thy brother be waxed poor with thee, and sell himself unto thee; thou shalt not make him to serve as a bond-servant.
40As a hired servant, and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee; he shall serve with thee unto the year of jubilee:
41then shall he go out from thee, he and his children with him, and shall return unto his own family, and unto the possession of his fathers shall he return.
42For they are my servants, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: they shall not be sold as bondmen.
43Thou shalt not rule over him with rigor, but shalt fear thy God.
44And as for thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, whom thou shalt have; of the nations that are round about you, of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.
45Moreover of the children of the strangers that sojourn among you, of them shall ye buy, and of their families that are with you, which they have begotten in your land: and they shall be your possession.
46And ye shall make them an inheritance for your children after you, to hold for a possession; of them shall ye take your bondmen for ever: but over your brethren the children of Israel ye shall not rule, one over another, with rigor.
47And if a stranger or sojourner with thee be waxed rich, and thy brother be waxed poor beside him, and sell himself unto the stranger or sojourner with thee, or to the stock of the stranger's family;
48after that he is sold he may be redeemed: one of his brethren may redeem him;
49or his uncle, or his uncle's son, may redeem him, or any that is nigh of kin unto him of his family may redeem him; or if he be waxed rich, he may redeem himself.
50And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he sold himself to him unto the year of jubilee: and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years; according to the time of a hired servant shall he be with him.
51If there be yet many years, according unto them he shall give back the price of his redemption out of the money that he was bought for.
52And if there remain but few years unto the year of jubilee, then he shall reckon with him; according unto his years shall he give back the price of his redemption.
53As a servant hired year by year shall he be with him: he shall not rule with rigor over him in thy sight.
54And if he be not redeemed by these means, then he shall go out in the year of jubilee, he, and his children with him.
55For unto me the children of Israel are servants; they are my servants whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt: I am Jehovah your God.
