The Book of Leviticus

An Introduction to the book of Leviticus

Introduction: Let me quote from p. 127 of Barthel's What the Bible Really Teaches: The contents of the Book of Leviticus are so dry and technical that the ability to read a passage from it served as the standard test of literacy in the Middle Ages. This was particularly important because priests, or persons claiming ot be priests, who were accused of serious crimes were allowed to go free if they could successfully invoke the "benefit of clergy"—that is, if they could read through a line or two of difficult liturgical Latin without stumbling over too many of the words.

The introduction to Leviticus in The New American Standard Study Version says, on the other hand, Leviticus is today the least appreciated portion of the Pentateuch.

In working through the exegesis of this book, I have found it to be one of the more poorly translated books of the Bible (in the KJV as well as in most other translations, a conspicuous exception being Young's Translation. There are very different Hebrew words which are translated alike; there are a host of Hebrew words which could be translated uniformly, yet the translators unnecessarily give them a variety of different translations. It is as though the translators picked the least qualified team to handle Leviticus. I feel it is one of the most neglected portions of God's word myself. For those who carry a red-letter edition of the Bible, note that Levitcus is spoken to Moses directly from Yahweh Elohim, the revealed member of the Godhead, Who is also Jesus Christ. In other words, almost all of Leviticus should be in red letters.

General content: The name Leviticus implies that this book is predominantly the rules and regulations which are part and parcel to the operation of the Levitical priesthood; however, this is only partially true. First of all, when those of the priesthood are addressed, as in Lev. 1–9, 21–22 and 23, it is not the entire tribe of the Levi's but those who are descended directly from Aaron. Not even Moses's sons were considered. Furthermore, the remainder, which is the bulk of the book, is directed toward all Jewish believers of that time (and all believers in Israel for the next several centuries). As we will see, these are not just a collection of old, unimportant, antiquated laws, but the regulations will have a two-fold purpose to believers today: (1) An outline of holiness and correct behavior is presented; (2) the future of Israel is predicted throughout several chapters of this book (particularly Lev. 23); and, (3) a complete Christology is given in OT shadow form (particularly in the sacrifices and the feast days). When we exegete this book, it will be clear that the true Author knew exactly what would occur on the cross and revealed this to the people of Israel in shadow form. The images and the parallels are too great in number for this to all be a happy coincidence. And considering that we have a Greek translation of the entire Old Testament preceding the writing of the New Testament by at least 100 years, this indicates that Leviticus could not have been written after our Lord suffered on the cross. It is my personal opinion that throughout the Old Testament we have our Lord's suffering revealed in shadow form, enough so that anyone who would be positive toward God's Word could be saved by the revealing of the gospel and the regeneration of their souls. In such cases, they may not be able to verbalize just exactly what it was the took them from death to life, however God redeemed them with their one decision of positive volition toward the work of Christ on the cross.

The name of this book is quite the misnomer. The tribe of Levi is mentioned twice by name in the same passage (Lev. 25:32–33). The Levites were to help out the priests, but they themselves were not the priesthood. Again, the priesthood, as we have seen, is a very small subset of the Levite tribe—those who are descended from Aaron.

L.S. Chafer once remarked in his great Systematic Theology that the gospel and every aspect of the gospel is more clearly revealed in the New Testament than it is in the Old. Let me explain why: God would use Satan to take our Lord to the cross. The betrayal and brutality that our Lord faced, the courts which tried and convicted our Lord, and the suffering which He endured prior to the cross were things that He endured at the hand of Satan. Satan put our Lord on the cross. Had He known what He was actually doing, Satan would have in any way possible tried to prevent Jesus Christ from going to the cross. However, in his scheming to place Jesus Christ under the greatest of human suffering, he inadvertently placed out Lord on the cross whereupon our Lord paid for our sins in full. Satan's greatest act of evil up until that time resulted in the salvation of billions of lost members of the human race. Satan fell into God's plan because, even though millions upon millions of people were saved prior to the cross by believing in Jesus Christ as revealed by the animal sacrifices and the holy days, that information was revealed to them by the Holy Spirit, as the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit. God the Holy Spirit never revealed the gospel to Satan and that is how God took the greatest acts of evil and transformed it into blessing for all of the human race. We are fortunate beyond our ability to express in words that our God has turned cursing into blessing, which is the story of every Christian's life.

Important Quotations: (1) And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying; (2) You will be holy [or, set apart] because I am holy; (3) I am Yahweh Elohim, the one taking you out of Egypt. These several verses help set the theme for Leviticus. God makes a distinction between the Jews and the surrounding Gentile nations. God has severed them from the Gentiles, just as we as believers are distinguished and separated from the unsaved world. Once man is redeemed (Lev. 1–16), then his life should reflect God's holiness and perfection. The latter portion of Leviticus is God speaking to Israel explaining how to distinguish themselves from the degenerate Egyptians from whom they were removed; and from the Gentiles in whose midst they would soon find themselves.

B. Limitations on qualification for the priesthood and operation in the priesthood (Lev. 21:17–22:16)

VIII.Penalties Which Accompany Disobedience—the Outline of Israel's Future (Lev. 26:14–46)

Scofield groups these chapters slightly differently, and I provide his outline due to its brevity, an attribute of Scofield for which he was legend: I. The Offerings (Lev. 1–7). Ii. Consecration of Aaron and His Sons (Lev. 8–10). Iii. Law of Cleanliness and Holiness (Lev. 11–15, 17–22). Iv. The Day of Atonement (Lev. 16). V. Laws Regulating the Personal Relatinships of the Redeemed People (Lev. 18–20). Vi. Law Regulating the Priesthood and the Seven Great Feasts of the Hebrew Calendar (Lev. 21–23). Vii. Additional Laws, Promises, and Warnings (Lev. 24–27).

Authorship: Moses was not really the author of Leviticus, except for a few short portions of it, e.g., Lev. 9–10 and a part of Lev. 24. Moses was God's secretary and this book was given directly from God to Moses. For those of you who have red-lettered editions of the Bible wherein all of the words of Jesus Christ are in red—most of Leviticus should also be in red. The most oft-used phrase of Leviticus is then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying... (Lev. 4:1 6:1, 8 8:1 11:1 etc.). Leviticus is a fulfillment of a promise made by God in Ex. 25:22 "And there I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, I will speak to you about all that I will give you in commandment for the sons of Israel." See also Ex. 29:43 40:34, which tell us that the presence of Yahweh came to dwell in the finished tabernacle and the very first verse of Leviticus tells us: Then Yahweh called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying... Essentially, what appears to be the case, is that God called Moses into the Tent of Meeting and began dictating to him, probably speaking from above the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. Whether the curtain was open between Moses and the Ark is not told to us (and that God spoke from above the Ark is an educated guess, not a stated fact of Scripture).

Our Lord gave a general witness as to the inspiration of Leviticus (and to the rest of the Law in Lev. 24:44–46: Now He said to them, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." Then He opened their mind to understand the Scriptures and He said to them, "Thus it is written that the Messiah [or, Christ] should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day."

Our Lord also said that the entirety of the Law and the prophets depend upon Deut. 6:5 and Lev. 19:18 (Matt. 22:40).

Throughout this verse by verse study of the book of Leviticus, we will find several portions of it which are quoted authoritatively in the New Testament, another witness to their inspiration by God.

However, as God's secretary, Moses was the human author of Leviticus, and this is confirmed in the New Testament. Leviticus states this specifically in the Hebrew of Lev. 26:46, the literal rendering of which is: These are the statutes and ordinances and laws which Yahweh placed between Himself and the sons of Israel by the hand of Moses on Mount Sinai. Jesus Christ said to the cleansed leper, "Go and show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded." (Matt. 8:4 Lev. 14:2).

Paul writes: For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on the law will live by that righteousness (Rom. 10:5; paraphrasing Lev. 18:5).

Therefore, anyone who suggests that the human author of Leviticus was anyone other than Moses or that Leviticus is anything less than the Word of God, directly contradicts both the Old and New Testaments.

The primary reason authorship is attributed to authors other than Moses is (1) some liberal theologians do not like the idea that most of Leviticus is presented as a series of quotations from God to Moses. If authorship is laid upon someone or upon a group of people who came along much later in the history of Israel, then this as a quotation from God can be considered fanciful embellishment, thus demeaning its contents. (2) There are elements of prophecy in Leviticus: the cross and the work of our Lord Jesus Christ is foreshadowed throughout; the future history of the Jews is laid out for us in Lev. 26; and the liberal theologian does not like the idea that God has told us centuries in advance what would occur. This is way too supernatural for them. (3) Finally, we have some laws in here dealing with sexual morality, ethical behavior and crime and punishment which are stated in absolutes (Lev. 18–20). If these are direct quotations from God, then logically we are not allowed to do our own thing and engage in sexual immorality or unethical behavior without possible reprisal from the God of the universe. Some people despise the notion that God treats some groups of people as a cancer that should be removed; however, such a viewpoint is found in Leviticus and is expanded upon throughout the rest of the Old Testament. The NIV Study Bible comments: During the last three centuries many scholars have claimed to find in the Pentateuch four underlying sources. The presumed documents, allegedly dating from the tenth to the fifth centuries bc, are called J (for Jahweh/Yahweh, the personal OT name for God), E (for Elohim, a generic name for God), D (for Deuteronomic) and P (for Priestly). Each of these documents is claimed to have its own characteristics and its own theology, which often contradicts that of the other documents. The Pentateuch is thus depicted as a patchwork of stories, poems and laws. However, this view is not supported by conclusive evidence, and intensive archaeological and literary research has tended to undercut many of the arguments used to challenge Mosaic authorship.

We have covered this subject before in greater detail and for those with an interest, Josh McDowell covers the arguments in great detail in his book, Evidence Which demands a Verdict, Vol. 2.

Time of Writing: As has been discussed previously, Leviticus was written by Moses and not as the result of several people writing the Pentateuch centuries after these events took place. The actual time spent on Leviticus was short; just four weeks, or possibly less. The few events which took place and the dictation occurred after the erection of the tabernacle (Ex. 40:17 Lev. 1:1) and prior to the departure fromMount Sinai two months later (Num. 1:1 10:11). Ex. 40:17 and Num. 1:1 place the writing between the first day of the first month of the second year and the first day of the second month of the second year. Therefore, Leviticus was written in approximately May of 1445 bc (Scofield gives a wider range, between 1450 and 1410 bc).

Synopsis: The bulk of Leviticus is a direct quote from Yahweh to Moses. There is only a small amount of narrative in Lev. 9–10 and 24:10–23 (which is interspersed by directives from God). The great emphasis of the book of Leviticus is that God spoke this directly to Moses. No less than 50 times do we find this particular fact recorded in this book.

The Title of Leviticus: The Septuagint titled this book Levitikon (Λευιτικον) [pronounced lyoo-IT-ee-kon], which means pertaining to the Levites.

The Levites were descended from Levi, one of the twelve sons of Jacob. At the beginning, the Levites were not given a place in the worship of Yahweh, but Aaron and his sons were. Whenever some information was convey by God to Moses concerning the offerings or the function of ceremonial worship, we find either the phrase, then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron saying... (Lev. 13:1 14:33 15:1) or then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to Aaron and to his sons... (Lev. 17:1–2 21:1 22:1, 18). Aaron and his sons are properly Levites, but they are a small subset of the tribe of Levi. The actual tribe of Leviticus is only alluded to but once in one small portion of all of Leviticus (Lev. 25:32–33). In other words, this title is a misnomer—it is not a good title for the book of Leviticus. The title given this book by the Jews was different. The Hebrews entitled this the same way we name most of our hymns; the first line of our hymns are often the name of the hymn and the first word in Leviticus is the Hebrew designation for this book: Wayîq'râ’ (א ָר ׃ק ̣ ַו ) [pronounced wa-yee-q'-RAW]

and it means and He called, which is a much better title for this book. From the beginning of the book until the end, it is God calling to us, particularly in Lev. 26 with His impassioned warning to the Jews, a warning to follow them throughout their entire history.

Least Known Linguistic Fact: We will see a lot of similarities in the vocabulary of Leviticus and Ezekiel (and occasionally Numbers)—and more similarities than we would find in the vocabulary of the rest of the Pentateuch and Leviticus. There are some words found only in two or three of these books throughout the entirety of the Old Testament. This is due in part ot subject matter, but more so because much of both books were spoken by the same person: Jesus Christ, Yahweh Elohim, the God of Israel. Furthermore, I would not be surprised if Ezekiel primarily studied Leviticus. A similarity in vocabulary does not have to mean, as some have claimed, that Leviticus and Ezekiel were written by the same person.

Themes: Throughout the beginning of Leviticus, we will find the sacrifice of various animals. Every one of these animals must be innocent, without spot and blemish, a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. The sins of the Jews were transferred to these animals just as the sins of all mankind were placed upon our Lord. The shedding of their blood, which is their life, is analogous to the spiritual death of our Lord (and using this expression does not minimize the pain and sacrifice involved on the part of our Lord).

Holiness plays a prominent part in the book of Leviticus. Yahweh demands perfect animals for His sacrifices, the priests must be without physical defects. Several chapters are devoted to what is clean and not clean, therefore, what is holy and what is not. The NIV Study Bible points out that just as Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden due to their sin, a person with a skin disease is banished from the camp of God, and the unregenerate man, who has not taken upon himself the covering or shield of Jesus Christ, will be banished from the presence of God forever.

Israel became God's representative here on earth, just as the church presently represents Jesus Christ here on earth in this dispensation. God demanded that they be holy, even as He is holy. The book of Leviticus, among other things, sets a standard of behavior and laws which separated or, better yet, distinguished the Jews from the heathen world around them.

Separation is a key theme of Leviticus. The Jews were not just to be separated away from the Gentiles as separation has a two-fold connotation—not only are you separated away from something, but you are separated to something else. The Jews were to separted unto God, and this was to be revealed in their ceremonies (Lev. 17), their daily living (Lev. 18–22), their worship (Lev. 23–25), and their future was tied directly to their relationship with God (Lev. 26). When our Lord summed up the Law in one sentence, He quoted from Leviticus and from Deuteronomy: And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And He said to him, " 'You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your sould and with all your mind.' This is the great and foremost commandment. And a second is like it: 'You will love your neighbor as yourself' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." (Matt. 22:35–40 Deut. 6:5 Lev. 19:18).

Narrative Content: The bulk of Leviticus is Law; that which is to separate the Jews from the Gentiles around them. There are regulations dealing with the ceremonial laws of Israel, such as the sacrifices, the holy days, the feasts, etc. Every ceremony in Leviticus is backed by solid reality and fraught with meaning. There are laws concerning what is clean and unclean, there are laws which deal with ethical behavior, sexual morality and the proper treatment of slaves, Gentiles, and fellow Jews. The brief portions of Leviticus which are narrative were likely episodes which occurred chronologically between the sessions of God's dictation to Moses and serve as a backdrop. We have the various sacrifices that the Jews were to make, led by their priests; and we have the responsibilities of the priests; and this is followed by the sloppiness and imprecision of Aaron's two oldest sons, who were executed by God for their lack of personal integrity in spiritual matters. We may view their transgression as minor; however, when it comes to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, we should never be sloppy or imprecise. They were in a position of great spiritual authority and responsibility and they did not take seriously their office before the Lord. God executed them under the Law.

The second narrative is found in Lev. 24:10–23 where Israel is commanded to stone a man guilty of blaspheming. All of the Jews had witnessed their deliverance at the hand of God. Only the most irreverent would take God's omnipotence lightly. His execution was demanded by God and carried out by the people.

The New Testament View: One of the major pitfalls of people who are involved in self-study and who begin with the Law, is that they become confused as to what God's program is. When our Lord was resurrected from the dead, He immediately began to teach the Scriptures; that is, the Old Testament (Luke 24:25–32, 44–48). Every pastor should teach the Old and New Testaments. Although the Old Testament primarily deals with the Age of Israel when Israel was under the Law, this does not mean that we should not study it. We need to know how the gospel was presented to our Old Testament brothers. It is in studying the Old Testament that we develop a full appreciation for God's Word and a much deeper understanding. What occurs in the Old Testament helps us to fix our place today in the New Testament Church Age. Finally, we are awed by the prophecies which are found throughout the Old Testament, those which deal with our Lord's death on the cross and the future of Israel, found in Leviticus 1400 years prior to their fulfillments. It is these prophecies which aide some in solidifying their faith in God's Word, realizing that not every religious book is God's Word, but that we can determine whether it is from God or not because when He speaks, we can see that it will come to pass.

Leviticus 1

Leviticus 1:1–17

Introduction: In Exodus 40, Moses saw to it that the tabernacle had been assembled. Now, in Lev. 1, he meets Yahweh in the tent of meeting and receives more instructions as to the ceremonial portion of worship. What should be kept in mind throughout is that the gospel will be presented through the sacrifices offered in this chapter. Lev. 1 allows a person making an offering to bring one of five kinds of animals, enumerated in three categories, depending upon his financial ability. This was an offering to God over and above tithing.

Yahweh called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, [Lev. 1:1]

The order of the Hebrew is much different: it reads, called to Moses and spoke Yahweh to him from the tent of meeting saying. Because of the preposition preceding Moses, we know that Moses is not the subject the the object of the verb. The tent of meeting was a place set up for Yahweh to come and speak to Moses and occasionally to the priests. This was not a place of human contact. Our churches are not tents of meeting. But note, the first sentence in Leviticus tells us that God is speaking directly to Moses and we are given a direct quote from the God of the Universe, the God who created the heavens and earth. The great emphasis of the book of Leviticus is that God spoke this directly to Moses. No less than 50 times do we find this particular phrase recorded in this book. It is this relationship that Moses had with God, speaking with God face-to-face, which was not enjoyed by any prophet after him (Deut. 34:10). Prepositions are important; the concluding verse of Leviticus is These are the commandments which Yahweh commanded Moses for the people of Israel at Mount Sinai (Lev. 27:34). Owen's, NIV, The Amplified Bible, NRSV all translate this on Mount Sinai. The KJV and Owen's translate this last verse as in Mount Sinai. However, the preposition in question is the bêyth prefixed preposition and, although it can mean in or on; what is implied by this often used preposition is proximity. Moses receives this information at, near or by Mount Sinai.

The whole point of the tent of meeting was so that Moses did not have to climb up Mount Sinai to meet with Yahweh; that God would come to him in the tent of meeting. The Jews have moved somewhat, as we have seen in Ex. 33; apparently, by Lev. 27:34, they are still within the sight of Mount Sinai or are walking around it and are still at its base. It is clear in this verse that God spoke to Moses from the tent of meeting. Here we use the mîn prefixed preposition, which is a preposition of separation, translated out of, out from, from. This verse and the last verse of Leviticus when taken with Ex. 33, indicate that the Jews have not traveled very far since Moses receive the Law from upon Mount Sinai.

There has been a change which has taken place. Back in Exodus, after the golden calf incident, the tent of meeting was outside the camp. Prior to that, God was removed, almost unreachable at the top of Mount Sinai; and He only allowed Moses to approach Him. Since the tabernacle was built, the tabernacle which speaks of His holiness and righteousness and foretells His plan, God now has a place to dwell in the camp of Israel. This is a matter of the Jews responding favorably to God's directions to bring offerings to Moses to build the tabernacle. When we listen to God and follow his directives, we are blessed. Israel was then blessed by having the tent of meeting, the tabernacle within their camp.

As has been discussed in the introduction, there is no objective reason for doing anything other than taking this book at face value as the writing of Moses.

"Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: 'When any man from you brings an offering to Yahweh you will bring your offering of cattle from the herd or from the flock.' [Lev. 1:2]

To the reader in the English, nothing seems out of place here; however, we have a new word, not used before, and one which is generally translated offering or oblation. Qorbân (ן ָ ׃ר ָק) [pronounced kor-BAWN] is firstly pronounced differently than I would have thought; this may have been a convention from transliterating it into the Greek later (or Aramaic), but we would expect because of its spelling that qorbân would be pronounced qaw-r'-BAWN instead. This word is found almost exclusively in Leviticus and Numbers (primarily in the first three chapters of Leviticus and the 7th chapter of Numbers) and then in Ezek. 20:28 40:43. That is it; we find it no where else. What I would like to do is put together another English word for it so that this is not confused with the two common words for offering, which are minchâh (ה ָח ׃נ ̣מ) [pronounced min-KHAWH] (Strong's #4503 BDB #585) and t^erûmâh (ה ָמ ֻר ׃) [pronounced t'roo-MAWH] (BDB #929 Strong's #8641). Let's see if we can possibly distinguish between these three words, all translated offering (this, by the way, excludes the word sin, which is occasionally translated sin offering).

A fourth word could be added to this list—׳ôlâh (ה ָלֹע) [pronounced ģo-LAW]—a word which is related to the word for climb, ascend and it can be consistently rendered burnt offering.

A person has purposed in his heart to bring an offering to Yahweh. From you refers to from the person bringing the offering; this is pretty much exactly what Moses is to say to them. The offering first of all will come from their herd or flock. This is not going to be an offering of their favorite vegetables, as Cain brought before God. Most, but not all, offerings, were blood sacrifices.

"If a burnt offering—his offering—[is] a male from the herd without blemish, he will bring it [near] at the door of the tent of meeting; he will offer it that he may be accepted before Yahweh. [Lev. 1:3]

Recall that right at the door of the tabernacle is the brazen altar. The animal brought is to be without blemish. This is not because we are bringing our very best to God. There is nothing in these sacrifices which indicate that is the criteria. What is expected, however, is an animal that is without spot and without blemish; this is Jesus Christ come in the flesh, a man without fault, without failing and without sin. The sacrifices brought before Yahweh had to be illustrative of our Lord. This is what it took to be accepted before Yahweh.

A burnt offering was to be brought before Yahweh every morning and evening throughout Israel's history (Ex. 29:39–42). As the NIV points out, double burnt offerings were brought on the Sabbath (Num. 28:9–10) and additional burnt offerings were brought on feast days (Num. 28–29). The offering in this verse is in addition to those offerings. The offering had to be male, without blemish (see Mal. 1:8); the rich brought a bull, the average person brought a sheep or a goat; and the poor brought a dove or a pigeon. The giver always placed his hand upon the head of the animal to transfer his sin to the innocent animal (Lev. 1:4). And, one of the more interesting aspects of this burnt sacrifice is that the fire was never to go out (Lev. 6:13), speaking of God's continual and unending justice, which necessitates a continual and unending Lake of Fire. Further pointed out in the NIV, is that they entire sacrifice was to be burned (Lev. 1:9); hence it was sometimes designated the holocaust offering (hole means whole, and caust means burnt). The priest was allowed to retain the hide of the animal (Lev. 7:8), as the hide speaks of the covering (or, atonement) of our sins. See the Doctrine of the Burnt Offering. Not finished yet!!

"He will lay his hand upon the head of the burnt offering and it will be accepted for him to make atonement for him. [Lev. 1:4]

In Ex. 29:33 we covered the doctrine of atonement. This was a covering of the sin until our Lord came and bore our sins in His own body on the tree (I Peter 2:24). What is being done is the sins of the man bring the offering are being laid upon the head of his animal; they are transferred from his hand to the animal and then the animal is sacrificed on his behalf. The hand lain upon the head indicates identification. The sinner is identified with the animal, whose sacrifice covers his sin, just as our Lord was identified with us and our sins (Isa. 53:4–6 Rom. 6:3–10).

"Then he will kill the bull [lit., son of the herd; often renderered one of the herd] before Yahweh and Aaron's sons, the priests, will present the blood and throw the blood against the altar round about [the altar] that is at the door of the tent of meeting. [Lev. 1:5]

The primary sacrifice is a blood sacrifice. This is not a function of the day and time; blood sacrifices go all the way back to the first couple, Adam and the woman (recall their clothing was made from animal skins; an animal had to die first and the hide was used to cover them up). A blood sacrifice is the way that God the Father pointed forward in history to the sacrifice of His Son on our behalf. The priests present the blood and the offering to God. We had to learn immediately that there would always be an intermediary between us and God. This intermediary began as the priests; however, the true mediator between God and man is the man Christ Jesus; the priests themselves were shadows of the One to come. Peter called the recepients of his first letter sprinkled with the blood of Jesus Christ (I Peter 1:2).

Notice the order in which these things are done. First the offerer brings the bull and slays it. Before all else, Jesus Christ must die on behalf of sinners. This is the first place that the unbeliever must go to. The primary nature of this act applies both to man and to God. Then, the priests spring into action. They, representing man to God, place this offering before God the Father, just as Jesus Christ, after His death on the cross, presented Himself to God the Father. The resurrection indicates the acceptance of His atoning work on our behalf. This is the smoke, the tranquilizing scent, which is lifted up toward heaven.

Heb. 9:19–23 reads: For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people, according to the Law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which God command you." And in the same way, he sprinkled both the tabernacle and all the vessels fo the ministry with the blood. And according to the Law, almost all things are cleansed with blood, and without shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. Therefore, it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly thing s themselves with better sacrifices than these.

I am not certain if there is any symbolism involved when the body of the animal is cut into pieces here. It could be simply a matter of practicality; that is, there is no way that they could pick up the entire animal and lay him upon the altar. It would require them to cut the larger animals into pieces.

"And the sons of Aaron, the priest, will place fire on the altar and lay in order wood upon the fire. [Lev. 1:7]

So, what we have so far is that the animal has been sacrificed by having its little wooly throat cut. Now Aaron's sons place a fire upon the altar. Now I would think that it would be ideal if the top of the brazen altar was grating, but I don't think that it was. The word flay here is ideal. It means to strip off and has a variety of applications. The hide was stripped off the rest of the body, which was cut into pieces. The hide was saved for the priests, as a covering.

"And Aaron's sons, the priests, will lay in order the pieces: the head and the fat upon the wood that is on the fire, upon the altar. [Lev. 1:8]

As Paul said in I Cor. 14:40: But let all things be done properly and in an orderly manner.

"But its entrails and its legs, he will wash with water and the priest will burn the whole on the altar as a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a tranquilizing smell to Yahweh. [Lev. 1:9]

The entire animal is offered upon the altar and it is offered as cleansed. Our Lord offered Himself on the cross as absolute human perfection. Since we see this phrase, a sweet savor or a pleasing odor to Yahweh throughout the Penteteuch, we should attempt to discern its meaning. There are, obviously, two He

Doctrines Covered		Doctrines Alluded To
Burnt Offering	Types of Animal Sacrifices in the Law