The Book of Leviticus
Leviticus picks up where Exodus leaves off: the glory of the LORD has filled the newly built tabernacle, and now the great question is how a holy God can live in the middle of an unholy people without consuming them. The answer fills this book. God provides a system of offerings to deal with sin, a priesthood centered on Aaron to mediate his presence, laws of clean and unclean to teach Israel that he is utterly set apart, and one day a year, the Day of Atonement, when blood is carried into the Most Holy Place to cleanse the whole nation. Running through every chapter is the heartbeat of the whole book: “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” For Christians, Leviticus is not a dusty rulebook to skip but a gallery of shadows whose substance is Jesus, our once-for-all sacrifice and our great high priest, and a summons still ringing today to belong wholly to the God who has made us his own.
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Whole-Book Overview
Leviticus shows how a holy God provides sacrifice, priesthood, and cleansing so he can dwell among sinful people, calling them to be holy as he is holy.
Open overview → Chapter 1The Burnt Offering
From the Tent of Meeting God teaches Israel to bring a whole animal, given completely to him, to make atonement and rise as a pleasing aroma.
Open study → Chapter 2The Grain Offering
A gift of fine flour, oil, and frankincense, seasoned with salt and free of yeast, offered in thankful dedication of one's labor to God.
Open study → Chapter 3The Peace Offering
A sacrifice of fellowship in which the fat is given to God and the worshiper shares a meal, celebrating peace and communion with the Lord.
Open study → Chapter 4The Sin Offering
When anyone sins unintentionally, from priest to common person, a sacrifice makes atonement, and they are forgiven.
Open study → Chapter 5Guilt and Restitution
From silence in court to broken vows and trespass against holy things, God provides offerings and even restitution for the guilty.
Open study → Chapter 6Laws for the Priests
Restitution to a wronged neighbor, a fire kept burning day and night, and instructions for the priests who tend the offerings.
Open study → Chapter 7Portions for the Priests
Further laws of the trespass and peace offerings, with the priests' shares, the wave and heave portions, and warnings against eating fat or blood.
Open study → Chapter 8Aaron and His Sons Ordained
Moses washes, clothes, anoints, and consecrates Aaron and his sons over seven days, setting them apart to serve as priests.
Open study → Chapter 9The Glory of the Lord Appears
On the eighth day Aaron offers the first sacrifices, blesses the people, and the glory of the Lord appears as fire consumes the offering.
Open study → Chapter 10Strange Fire
Nadab and Abihu offer unauthorized fire and die before the Lord, a sobering call to take the holiness of God seriously.
Open study → Chapter 11Clean and Unclean
God distinguishes clean from unclean animals, teaching Israel to be holy, for he is holy, in every part of daily life.
Open study → Chapter 12Purification After Childbirth
After the joy of birth, a mother undergoes a time of purification and brings an offering, with grace provided for the poor.
Open study → Chapter 13Examining the Plague
The priest carefully examines skin diseases and mildew, pronouncing clean or unclean, while the leper dwells alone outside the camp.
Open study → Chapter 14Cleansing the Leper
When the disease is healed, an elaborate ritual of birds, blood, oil, and offerings restores the cleansed leper to the camp and to worship.
Open study → Chapter 15Cleansing for the Unclean
God gives careful laws for bodily discharges, teaching Israel that the most ordinary parts of human life fall under his holiness and his cleansing.
Open study → Chapter 16The Day of Atonement
Once a year the high priest enters the Most Holy Place with blood, and two goats carry away the sins of the people before a holy God.
Open study → Chapter 17The Life Is in the Blood
God commands that all sacrifice be brought to his altar and that no one eat blood, for blood is the God-given means of atonement.
Open study → Chapter 18A Holy People, a Holy Home
God calls Israel to reject the sexual practices of the surrounding nations and to honor the family bonds he has made.
Open study → Chapter 19Love Your Neighbor
The heart of the Holiness Code unfolds practical holiness in daily life, summed up in the command to love your neighbor as yourself.
Open study → Chapter 20Set Apart to Be Mine
God attaches grave penalties to the sins he has forbidden, calling Israel to be holy because he has set them apart to be his own.
Open study → Chapter 21Holiness for the Priests
God gives the priests, who draw near to offer the bread of their God, stricter standards of purity, marriage, and physical wholeness.
Open study → Chapter 22Treating Holy Things as Holy
God guards the holiness of the offerings, requiring purity in the priests who eat them and perfection in the animals brought to his altar.
Open study → Chapter 23The Appointed Feasts
God sets a sacred calendar of feasts and holy convocations that shape Israel's year around remembrance, rest, and rejoicing in him.
Open study → Chapter 24Light, Bread, and the Name
God commands a continual lamp and weekly bread before him, then judges a man who blasphemes the Name, upholding justice for all.
Open study → Chapter 25The Year of Jubilee
God commands Sabbath rest for the land and a Jubilee of release, when debts are forgiven, slaves freed, and property returns home.
Open study → Chapter 26Blessing, Discipline, and Mercy
God sets before Israel the blessings of obedience and the curses of rebellion, yet promises to remember his covenant even in exile.
Open study → Chapter 27Vows and Dedications
God gives careful instructions for valuing the persons, animals, houses, and fields that his people freely dedicate to him.
Open study →Study together
Gather a group, work through a chapter at a time, and journey through Leviticus together. Invite a friend to join you.