WHY I LOVE LEVITICUS
August 11, 2020 2023-06-29 17:52WHY I LOVE LEVITICUS
Why I love Leviticus
There’s nothing quite like the book of Leviticus for getting a feel of what scripture means when it calls God holy. When I was doing my doctoral studies my dissertation advisor, Gordon Wenham, told me that in all his years of being an Old Testament scholar the thing that had the biggest impact on his faith was writing a commentary on Leviticus. Why? What are we supposed to get out of Leviticus?
Leviticus Teaches that Holiness is a Real Thing
If I had to boil the book of Leviticus down to one sentence it would be: How does a holy God live in the midst of an unholy people? Holiness in ancient cultures was not an intangible, abstract notion of ethics or morals as it is for the modern west. Holiness was just as real to them as nuclear or biohazardous waste is for us and the measures taken to prevent outbreak were tangible.
They would fear an outbreak of the holy the same way someone living near a nuclear reactor might fear an outbreak of radiation from a meltdown. Think of the response of sheer terror of the Israelites towards Achan when he took some of the things devoted to Yahweh. The book of Leviticus makes God’s holiness concrete.
Leviticus Shows that God Actually Likes People
The whole point of the sacrificial system introduced in Leviticus is to figure out how God can be near his people. I go back to what the book is about: How to have a holy God live in the midst of unholy people. The story of the construction of the tabernacle in Exodus is a story of going from a seemingly absent God (Ex 1-2) to Yahweh living in a tent in our midst (Ex 40). The tabernacle was a tangible way God could remind people of his nearness to them. Yahweh loves people and desires to be with them.
Leviticus Brings a Deeper Understanding of Christ
Just as the sin offering in Leviticus was meant to cleanse the tabernacle, Jesus’ blood sacrifice is meant to cleanse people so God can live in them via his Spirit. People become the tabernacle and the sacrifice required to cleanse people is above and beyond what was required for the tent. Knowing Leviticus gives clarity to the flow of thought in Hebrews 9-10, a couple of the most epic chapters of scripture.
I wrote about this in chapter four of my book Jesus Prequel. I hope you’ll take a look at it. If it inspires you in your faith even 1% of how much writing it inspired me it will be worth your time.
