I had the privilege of teaching the book of Leviticus to our CSBS class recently. Throughout my time working with the School of Biblical Studies program I have gained a great appreciation for the book but before I began my time here I am not sure that I had spent even ten minutes studying Leviticus in my whole life. It can be described in many ways, most of the descriptors used have a negative connotation; strange, boring, difficult to explain. It definitely doesn't garner a lot of attention these days BUT it should!
Context is always important, but we can often learn biblical truths, though they may be a little more simplistic, without a lot of context when reading the scriptures. This is not the case for the book of Leviticus. Leviticus without context is very difficult for believers to understand. For unbelievers the book of Leviticus taken out of context is used to discredit all the scriptures. So let's try and understand the context.
I am pretty sure we have all seen a super hero movie. Remember the stereotypical scene when the innocent, helpless girl/bus load of children is in some dramatic near death situation. There looks to be no escape. Suddenly, out of nowhere the superhero flies in and saves the day. That person that was rescued had heard rumors of this superhero's existence and now they had witnessed first hand the power of that superhero but the superhero had a mask on. Who was he? Was he good or was he bad? Israel was like that rescued person when Leviticus was delivered to them. They were at Mount Sinai right after the exodus from Egypt, about 600 years separated them from God's promise to Abraham. So they would have known of the promise God made and witnessed His power in the events of the exodus but they themselves knew very little about who God really was. Was he a good god? Did they need to appease him? They knew He had made a promise and they knew he was more powerful that the pagan gods and then came the message of Leviticus.
With this context in mind we can read Leviticus and understand that God was identifying himself to the Israelites. Keep in mind that the Israelites were very likely polytheistic and would have been trying to place Yahweh and understand his role amongst all the other gods that the pagans around them worshipped. The pagan worship practices were very perverse and were practiced in order to manipulate and/or appease their deities. These pagan deities were often angry and perverse beings that were selfish and immoral. So through the book of Leviticus God was setting himself apart from these pagan gods and calling His chosen people to seek holiness - BECAUSE HE IS HOLY.
As for all the seemingly crazy laws and rituals given to the people in Leviticus, they can still be difficult to understand. We all want to rationalize what we don't understand in the book and the fact that we can never fully understand the culture and daily lives of these people that lived around 3000 years ago means that we likely will never understand all of the mysteries of the book. After studying the book for a few months I have come to the conclusion that the majority of the laws are either related to hygiene or related to pagan rituals and God's desire for His people to be completely separate from the pagans around them. There are of course scholars who have spent decades studying Leviticus who you can look up and study their findings so that you can come to your own conclusions.
For those who might see Leviticus as God imposing impossible laws, or those who use it to identify God as legalistic and unable to be pleased, remember the order of the events! God delivered the people first and then gave them the law as a revelation of who He is. The law was never imposed on them, they were given a glimpse of who God is and then given the choice of whether to seek Him or not. The same is true today with Christ. God took the first step, He sacrificed His son for us and then made redemption from sin available to us. We adopt His good laws as we desire to worship and serve our heavenly father, never out of obligation.
I think today we are a lot like that rescued girl in the superhero analogy, we put a lot of focus on what was done to save us - Jesus, His death, His resurrection. Jesus definitely does deserve our praise but let's spend sometime getting to know our Superhero. So try giving Leviticus a read and see if you gain a deeper understanding of our HOLY GOD, who is GOOD and LOVING and FAITHFUL. And when you are reading Leviticus and come to realize how far you and I are from being able to commune with a holy God due to our filth and sin then remember the sacrifice of Christ and understand it with greater depth and appreciation.
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