Book Intro › Law

Leviticus

וַיִּקְרָא Vayikra, “and he called”. Law and ritual instruction. 27 chapters, 859 verses.

How a holy God can live among his people: sacrifice, priesthood, purity and a call to be holy in every part of life.

Read Leviticus 1 →

Overview

Exodus ends with God’s glory filling the tabernacle; Leviticus begins with God speaking from it (1:1). The question it answers is practical and urgent. If the holy God now lives in the middle of the camp, how can an imperfect people live near him and not be destroyed?

The answer comes in stages: the offerings people bring (chapters 1–7), the priests who serve (8–10), what makes a person clean or unclean (11–15), and the Day of Atonement that cleanses the whole people once a year (16). The second half, often called the Holiness Code, widens holiness from the tabernacle to every part of life: family, farming, business, justice and the calendar. Almost nothing happens in Leviticus. Israel stays camped at Sinai throughout, for about a month.

Author and date

Leviticus presents itself as words God spoke to Moses at Sinai (1:1, 27:34). As with the rest of the first five books, who wrote them down, and when, is debated.

Traditional view

Moses · 15th or 13th century BC

Jewish and Christian tradition take the book as Moses’ record of the instructions given at Sinai, written for the priests who would carry them out.

Academic view

Priestly writers · final form c. 6th–5th century BC

Most academic scholars assign Leviticus to Israel’s priestly writers. They see an earlier priestly layer in chapters 1–16 and the Holiness Code in 17–26, which some think was added later. The final form is usually dated to the Babylonian exile or after, though many argue that much of the ritual itself is considerably older.

Both views see Leviticus as the handbook of Israel’s priests, preserving practice as well as theory.

Audience and setting

Leviticus speaks first to the priests, Aaron and his sons, who were responsible for the tabernacle and for teaching the difference “between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean” (10:10). But much of it is addressed to “all the congregation of the children of Israel” (19:2), because holiness was the whole people’s calling, not the priests’ alone.

Genre, and how to read it

Leviticus is instruction, interrupted by two short stories: the ordination of the priests and the death of Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu (chapters 8–10), and the case of a man who blasphemes God’s name (24:10–23). Both show that the rules are not abstract.

It helps to keep three categories apart. Holy means set apart for God; clean and unclean are about fitness to come near the sanctuary; sin is wrongdoing. Being unclean, for example after childbirth or after touching a dead body, was usually not a sin at all, simply a state to be washed away. Read that way, the laws on food, skin disease and bodily discharges become a map of the camp, with life and wholeness near God and death at the edges. Christians often read the sacrifices in the light of the letter to the Hebrews, and Jewish tradition kept Leviticus central to study long after the Jerusalem temple was destroyed.

The five offerings: what burns, and who eats

Chapters 1–5 tell the worshipper how to bring each offering. Chapters 6–7 then tell the priests what becomes of it, and that is where most of the shares are given.

  • burned on the altar
  • the priests’ portion
  • eaten by the worshipper
  • burned outside the camp
Offering Altar Priests Worshipper Outside the camp
Burnt offering 1:1–17 · 6:8–13 burn all of it on the altar 1:9 the skin of the burnt offering 7:8 nothing —
Meal offering 2:1–16 · 6:14–23 his handful of its fine flour, and of its oil, with all its frankincense 2:2 That which is left of the meal offering shall be Aaron’s and his sons’ 2:3 nothing —
Peace offerings 3:1–17 · 7:11–36 the fat, the kidneys and the liver’s cover: all the fat is Yahweh’s 3:16 the breast 7:31 and the right thigh for a portion 7:33 the meat: everyone who is clean may eat it 7:19 —
Sin offering 4:1–5:13 · 6:24–30 for a ruler or one of the people All its fat 4:26 The priest who offers it for sin shall eat it 6:26 nothing —
Sin offering for the anointed priest or the whole congregation all the fat of the bull 4:8 nothing: its blood was taken into the Tent, and no such sin offering is eaten 6:30 nothing all the rest of the bull burned where the ashes are poured out 4:12
Trespass offering 5:14–6:7 · 7:1–7 all of its fat 7:3 Every male among the priests may eat of it 7:6 nothing —

Why each is brought, and how

Offering Brought when What is brought The blood Called
Burnt that he may be accepted 1:3 and to make atonement for him 1:4 a male without defect 1:3 from the herd or flock, or turtledoves or of young pigeons 1:14 sprinkled around on the altar 1:5 a pleasant aroma 1:9
Meal no occasion given; also as first fruits 2:14 fine flour 2:1 with oil and frankincense, never yeast or honey 2:11 and always salt 2:13 none a pleasant aroma 2:2 and most holy 2:3
Peace for a thanksgiving 7:12 or a vow, or a free will offering 7:16 from the herd or flock, without defect, whether male or female 3:1 sprinkled around on the altar 3:2 a pleasant aroma 3:5
Sin If anyone sins unintentionally 4:2 set by who sinned and what they can afford (below) on the horns of an altar 4:25 and, for a priest or the whole people, seven times before Yahweh, before the veil 4:6 most holy 6:25 and once a pleasant aroma 4:31
Trespass a wrong regarding Yahweh’s holy things 5:15 or against a neighbour 6:2 a ram without defect 5:15 and what was taken, with a fifth part more 6:5 sprinkled around on the altar 7:2 most holy 7:1

The sin offering, on a sliding scale

  1. The anointed priest a young bull without defect 4:3 its body burned outside the camp 4:12
  2. The whole congregation a young bull 4:14 its body burned outside the camp 4:21
  3. A ruler a goat, a male without defect 4:23
  4. One of the common people a goat, a female without defect 4:28 or a lamb, a female without defect 4:32
  5. One who can’t afford a lamb two turtledoves, or two young pigeons 5:7 one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering
  6. One who can’t afford two birds one tenth of an ephah of fine flour 5:11 with no oil and no frankincense

The higher the one who sinned, the further in the blood is taken. For the anointed priest or the whole people (shaded) it goes into the Tent of Meeting, before the veil and onto the incense altar (4:6–7); for a ruler or one of the people it stays at the altar of burnt offering in the court (4:25). The WEB calls the offering in 5:6–7 a “trespass offering… for a sin offering”; it is set here with the sin offering, as 5:11–13 name it. A tenth of an ephah is about two litres of flour (see the ephah).

I am Yahweh

Leviticus signs its laws. In the Hebrew, I am Yahweh comes 52 times, and 50 of them fall in chapters 17–26, the part scholars call the Holiness Code, where the book turns from the sanctuary to the whole of life. Chapter 19 alone says it 16 times, closing commands like you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am Yahweh (19:18).

  • be holy; for I am holy (11:44)
  • You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy (11:45)
  • You shall be holy; for I, Yahweh your God, am holy (19:2)
  • Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy (20:7)
  • You shall be holy to me, for I, Yahweh, am holy (20:26)

Counted in the site’s Hebrew as ani followed by the divine name; where the WEB reads I, Yahweh, am holy the same two words stand together. The refrain also closes the love of the stranger, you shall love him as yourself; for you lived as foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God (19:34), and the book’s blessings and curses end on it (26:45). Its first uses come with the food laws, the first call to be holy (11:44–45).

Outline

Approaching God (1–16)

Living as a holy people (17–27)

Key themes

Holiness
The book’s refrain is “You shall be holy; for I, Yahweh your God, am holy” (19:2). Holiness is not only ritual: the same chapter covers gleaning, wages, the deaf and the blind, and honest weights.
Atonement
Sacrifice is God’s provision, not a bribe: “I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls” (17:11). The Day of Atonement cleanses the whole people “from all your sins” (16:30).
Love of neighbour
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself” comes from Leviticus (19:18), and chapter 19 extends it to the foreigner living among them (19:34).
Rest and release
The sabbatical year and the Jubilee (25:10) build rest, debt release and the return of land into Israel’s calendar. See the Jubilee in the Almanac.
God among his people
Everything serves one promise: “I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you will be my people” (26:12).

At a glance

18 people and 6 places named.

Most mentioned: Moses, Aaron, Jacob (Israel), Molech, Canaan

Main places: Egypt, Holy Place, Mount Sinai, Azazel, Canaan

In the Almanac: Hin, Log, Gerah, The Hebrew year, Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Weeks, Trumpets, Day of Atonement, Tabernacles, Sabbatical year, Jubilee, Casting lots