Bible Books Explained

The Book of Leviticus (The ThirdBook of Moses), Background

Title

The original Hebrew title of this third book of the law is taken from the first word, translated “And He called.” Several OT books derive their Hebrew names in the same manner (e.g., Genesis, “In the beginning”; Exodus, “Now these are the names”). The title “Leviticus” comes from the Latin Vulgate version of the Greek OT (LXX) Leuitikon meaning “matters of the Levites” (25:32,33). While the book addresses issues of the Levites’ responsibilities, much more significantly, all the priests are instructed in how they are to assist the people in worship, and the people are informed about how to live a holy life. New Testament writers quote the book of Leviticus over 15 times.

Author and Date

Authorship and date issues are resolved by the concluding verse of the book, “These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the sons of Israel at Mount Sinai” (27:34; cf. 7:38; 25:1; 26:46). The fact that God gave these laws to Moses (cf. 1:1) appears 56 times in Leviticus’ 27 chapters. In addition to recording detailed prescriptions, the book chronicles several historical accounts relation to the laws (see 8-10; 24:10-23). The Exodus occurred in 1445 B.C. (see Introduction to Exodus: Author and Date) and the tabernacle was finished one year later (Ex 40:17). Leviticus picks up the record at that point, probably revealed in the first month (Abib/Nisan) of the second year after the Exodus. The book of Numbers begins after that in the second month (Ziv; cf. Nu. 1:1).

Background and Setting

Before the year that Israel camped at Mt. Sinai: 1) the presence of God’s glory had never formally resided among the Israelites; 2) a central place of worship, like the tabernacle, had never existed; 3) a structured and regulated set of sacrifices and feasts had not yet been given; and 4) a High-Priest, a formal priesthood, and a cadre of tabernacle workers had not been appointed. As Exodus concluded, features one and two had been accomplished, thereby requiring that elements three and four be inaugurated, which is where Leviticus fits in. Exodus 19:6 called Israel to be a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Leviticus in turn is God’s instruction for His newly redeemed people, teaching them how to worship and obey Him.

Israel had, up to that point, only the historical records of the patriarchs from which to gain their knowledge of how to worship and live before their God. Having been slaves for centuries in Egypt, the land of a seemingly infinite number of gods, their concept of worship and the godly life was severely distorted. Their tendency to hold on to polytheism and pagan ritual is witnessed in the wilderness wanderings, e.g., when they worshiped the golden calf (cf. Ex 32). God would not permit them to worship in the ways their Egyptian neighbors, nor would He tolerate Egyptian ideas about morality and sin. With the instructions of Leviticus, the priests could lead Israel in worship appropriate to the Lord.

Even though the book contains a great deal of law, it is presented in a historical format. Immediately after Moses supervised the construction of the tabernacle, God came in glory to dwell there; this marked the close of the book of Exodus (40:34-38). Leviticus begins with God calling Moses from the tabernacle and ends with God’s commands to Moses in the form of binding legislation. Israel’s King had occupied His place (the tabernacle), instituted His law, and declared Himself a covenant partner with His subjects.

No geographical movement occurs in this book. The people of Israel stay at the foot of Sinai, the mountain where God came down to give His law (25:1; 26:46; 27:34). They were still there one month later when the record of Numbers began (cf. Nu 1:1).

Historical and Theological Themes

The core ideas around which Leviticus develops are the holy character of God and the will of God for Israel’s holiness. God’s holiness, mankind’s sinfulness, sacrifice, and God’s presence in the sanctuary are the book’s most common themes. With a clear, authoritative tone, the book sets forth instruction toward personal holiness at the urging of God (11:44, 45; 19:2; 20:7,26; cf. 1 Pet 1:14-16). Matters pertaining Israel’s life of faith tend to focus on purity in ritual settings, but not to the exclusion of concerns regarding Israel’s personal purity. In fact, there is a continuing emphasis on personal holiness in response to the holiness of God (cf. this emphasis in chaps. 17-27). On over 125 occasions, Leviticus indicts mankind for uncleanness and/or instructs on how to be purified. The motive for such holiness is stated in two repeated phrases: “I am the Lord” and “I am holy.” These are used over 50 times.

The theme of the conditional Mosaic Covenant resurfaces throughout the book, but particularly in chapter 26. This contract for the new nation not only details the consequences for obedience or disobedience to the covenant stipulations, but it does so in a manner scripted for determining Israel’s history. One cannot help but recognize prophetic implications in the punishments for disobedience; they sound like the events of the much later Babylonian deportment, captivity, and subsequent return to the land almost 900 years after Moses wrote Leviticus (ca. 538 B.C.). The eschatological implications for Israel’s disobedience will not conclude until Messiah comes to introduce His kingdom and end the curses of Lv 26 and Dt 28 (cf. Zec 14:11).

The 5 sacrifices and offerings were symbolic. Their design was to allow the truly penitent and thankful worshiper to express faith in and love for god by the observance of these rituals. When the heart was not penitent and thankful, God was not pleased with the ritual. (Cf. Am 5:21-27. The offerings were burnt, symbolizing the worshiper’s desire to be purged of sin and sending up the fragrant smoke of true worship to God. The myriad of small details in the execution of the rituals was to teach exactness and precision that would extend to the way the people obeyed the moral and spiritual laws of God and the way they revered every facet of His Word.

Interpretive Challenges

Leviticus is both a manual for the worship of God in Israel and a theology of Old Covenant ritual. Comprehensive understanding of the ceremonies, laws, and ritual details prescribed in the book is difficult today because Moses assumed a certain context of historical understanding. Once the challenge of understanding the detailed prescriptions has been met, the question arises as to how believers in the church should respond to them, since the NT clearly abrogates OT ceremonial law (cf. Ac 10:1-16; Col 2:16,17), the Levitical priesthood (cf. 1Pe 2:9; Rev 1:6; 5:10; 20:6), and the sanctuary (f. Mt 27:51), as well as instituting the New Covenant (cf. Mt 26:28; 2Co 3:6-18; Heb 7-10). Rather than try to practice the old ceremonies or look for some deeper spiritual significance in them, the focus should be on the holy and divine character behind them. This may partly be the reason that explanations, which Moses often gave in the prescriptions for cleanness, offer greater insight into the mind of God than do the ceremonies themselves. The spiritual principles in which the rituals were rooted are timeless because they are embedded in the nature of God. The NT makes it clear that from Pentecost forward (cf. Ac 2), the church is under the authority of the New Covenant, not the Old (cf. Heb 7-10).

The interpreter is challenged to compare features of this book with NT writers who present types or analogies based on the tabernacle and the ceremonial aspects of the law, so as to teach valuable lessons about Christ and New Covenant reality. Though the ceremonial law served only as a shadow of the reality of Christ and His redemptive work (Heb 10:1), excessive typology is to be rejected. Only that which NT writers identify as types of Christ should be so designated (cf. 1Co 5:7), “Christ our Passover”).

The most profitable study in Leviticus is that which yields truth in the understanding of sin, guilt, substitutionary death, and atonement by focusing on features which are not explained or illustrated elsewhere in OT Scripture. Later OT authors, and especially NT writers, build on the basic understanding of these matter provided in Leviticus. The sacrificial features of Leviticus point to their ultimate, one-time fulfillment in the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ (Heb 9:11-22).

Outline

Leviticus 1-16 explains how to have personal access to God through appropriate worship and Leviticus 17-27 details how to be spiritually acceptable to God through an obedient walk.

MacArthur Study Bible, NASB, Updated Edition. 2006. Nelson Bibles, Thomas Nelson. La Habra, CA.

Introduction to The Bible

"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." 2 Tim 3:16,17

The Bible is the Word of God. This maxim is very familiar in most Christian circles and for the most part, deeply revered in many hearts. The Scriptures are the Words of God, a love letter to us. God loves us and greatly desires, and even commands us, to know His mind and heart. By studying the Word(s) of God we grow closer in relationship to Him.

I’ve created this online resource, surely one of thousands on the web, as a means by which you have an introduction to all 66 books of the Bible at the tip of a click. I hope you find richness and true understanding in your daily Bible reading.

Think of the academic rigor of studying the chapter introductions as a humble and thirsty approach to finding out “What does God mean?” As one of my favorite pastors exhorts, “It's not enough to read the text and jump directly to the application; we must first determine what it means, otherwise the application may be incorrect.”

Sixty-Six books comprise the Bible. These documents are gathered into two testaments, the Old (39) and the New (27). Prophets, priests, kings, and leaders from the nation of Israel wrote the OT books in Hebrew (with two passages in Aramaic). The apostles and their associates wrote the NT books in Greek.

The Old Testament record starts with the creation of the universe and closes about 400 years before the first coming of Jesus Christ.

The Scriptures take on a timeline in the following chronology:

- Creation of the Universe

- Fall of man

- Judgment flood over the earth

- Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel) - fathers of the chosen nation

- The history of Israel

~ Exile in Egypt - 430 years

~ Exodus and wilderness wanderings - 40 years

~ Conquest of Canaan - 7 years

~ Era of Judges - 350 years

~ United Kingdom - Saul, David, Solomon - 110 years

~ Divided Kingdom - Judah/Israel - 350 years

~ Exile in Babylon - 70 years

~ Return and rebuilding the land – 140 years

The details of this history are explained in the 39 books divided into 5 categories:

~ The Law – 5 (Genesis thru Deuteronomy)

~ History – 12 (Joshua thru Esther)

~ Wisdom – 5 (Job thru Ecclesiastes)

~ Poetry – 2 (Psalms and Song of Solomon)

~ Major Prophets – 5 (Isaiah thru Daniel)

~ Minor Prophets – 12 (Hosea – Malachi)

After the completion of the Old Testament, there were 400 years of silence, during which God did not speak or inspire any Scripture. That silence was broken by the arrival of John the Baptist announcing the arrival of the Promised Lord Savior. The New Testament records the rest of the story from the birth of Jesus Christ to the culmination of all history and the final eternal state; so the two testaments go from creation to consummation, eternity past to eternity future.

While the 39 Old Testament books focus on the history of Israel and the promise of the coming Savior, the 27 New Testament books emphasize the person of Christ and the establishment of the Church. The four gospels give the record of Jesus Christ’s birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension. Each of the four writers views with distinctive perspective, the greatest and most important event of history – the coming of the God-man, Jesus Christ. Each are listed below:

~ Matthew looks at Jesus through the perspective of His kingdom

~ Mark through the perspective of His servanthood

~ Luke through the perspective of his humanness

~ John through the perspective of His Deity

The book of Acts tells the story of the impact of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Lord Savior – from His ascension, the consequent coming of the Holy Spirit, and the birth of the Church, through the early years of gospel preaching by the apostles and their associates. Acts records the establishment of the church in Judea, Samaria, and into the Roman Empire.

The 21 epistles were written to churches and individuals to explain the significance of the person and work of Jesus Christ, with its implication for life and witness until He returns.

The New Testament closes with Revelation, which starts by picturing the current Church Age, and culminates with Christ’s return to establish His earthly Kingdom, bringing judgment on the ungodly and glory and blessing for believers. Following the millennial reign of the Lord Savior will be the last judgment, leading to the eternal state. All believers of all history enter the ultimate eternal glory prepared for them, and all the ungodly are consigned to hell to be punished forever.

To understand the Bible, it is essential to grasp the sweep of that history from creation to Christ's consummation and beginning of the church age. It is also crucial to keep in focus the unifying theme of Scripture. The one constant theme unfolding throughout the whole Bible is this: God for His own glory has chosen to create and gather to Himself a group of people to be the subjects of His eternal Kingdom, to praise, honor, and serve Him forever and through whom He will display His wisdom, power, mercy, grace, and glory. To gather His chosen ones, God must redeem them from sin. The Bible reveals God’s plan for this redemption from its inception in eternity past to its completion in eternity future. Covenants, promises, and epochs are all secondary to the one continuous plan of redemption.

There is one God. The Bible has one Creator. It is one book. It has one plan of grace, recorded from initiation, through execution, to consummation. From predestination to glorification, the Bile is the story of God redeeming His chosen people for the praise of His glory.

As God’s redemptive purposes and plan unfold in Scripture, five recurring motifs are constantly emphasized:

~ The character of God

~ The judgment for sin and disobedience

~ The blessing for faith and obedience

~ The Lord Savior and sacrifice for sin

~ The coming kingdom and glory

Everything revealed on the pages of both the Old and New Testament is associated with those five categories. Scripture is always teaching or illustrating: 1) the character and attributes of God; 2) the tragedy of sin and disobedience to God’s holy standard; 3) the blessedness of faith and obedience to God’s standard; 4) the need for a Savior by whose righteousness and substitution sinners can be forgiven, declared just, and transformed to obey God’s standard; and 5) the coming glories end of redemptive history in the Lord Savior’s earthly kingdom and the subsequent eternal reign and glory of God and Christ. It is essential as one studies Scripture to grasp these recurring categories like great hooks on which to hang the passages. While reading through the Bible, one should be able to relate to each portion of Scripture to these dominant topics, recognizing that what is introduced in the Old Testament is also made more clear in the New Testament.

Looking at these five categories separately gives an overview of the Bible.

1. The Revelation of the Character of God

Above all else, Scripture is God’s self-revelation. He reveals Himself as the sovereign God of the universe who has chosen to make man and to make Himself known to man. His standard of absolute revelation is established in this self-revelation. From Adam and Eve through Cain and Abel and to everyone before and after the law of Moses, the standard of righteousness was established and is sustained to the last passage of the New Testament. Violation of it produces judgment, temporal and eternal.

In the Old Testament, it is recorded that God revealed Himself by the following means:

~ Creation – primarily through man – who was made in His image

~ Angels

~ Signs, wonders, and miracles

~ Visions

~ Spoken words by prophets and others

~ Written Scripture (Old Testament)

In the New Testament, it is recorded that God revealed Himself again by the same means, but more clearly and more fully:

~ Creation – the God-man, Jesus Christ, who was the very image of God

~ Angels

~ Signs, wonders, and miracles

~ Visions

~ Spoken words by apostles and prophets

~ Written Scripture (New Testament)

2. The Revelation of Divine Judgment for Sin and Disobedience

Scripture repeatedly deals with the matter of man’s sin, which lead to divine judgment. Account after account in Scripture demonstrates the deadly effects in time and eternity of violating God’s standard. There are 1,189 chapters in the Bible. Only four of them do not involve a fallen world: the first two and the last two – before the Fall and after the creation of the new heaven and new earth. The rest is the chronicle of the tragedy of sin.

In the Old Testament, God showed the disaster of sin – starting with Adam and Eve, to Cain and Abel, the patriarchs, Moses and Israel, the kings, priests, some prophets, and Gentile nations. Throughout the Old Testament is the relentless record of continual devastation produced by sin and disobedience to God’s law.

In the New Testament, the tragedy of sin becomes clearer. The preaching and teaching of Jesus Christ and the apostles begin and end with a call to repentance. King Herod, the Jewish leaders, and the nation of Israel – along with Pilate, Rome, and the rest of the world – all reject the Lord Savior, spurn the truth of God, and thus condemn themselves. The chronicle of sin continues unabated to the end of the age and the return of Christ in judgment. In the New Testament, disobedience is even more flagrant than Old Testament disobedience because it involves the rejection of the lord Savior Jesus Christ in the brighter light of the New Testament truth.

3. The Revelation of the Divine Blessing for Faith and Obedience

Scripture repeatedly promises wonderful rewards in time and eternity that come to people who trust God and seek to obey Him. In the Old Testament, God showed the blessedness of repentance from sin, faith in Himself, and obedience to His Word – from Abel, through the patriarchs, to the remnant in Israel – and even Gentiles who believed (such as the people of Nineveh).

God’s standard for man, His will, and His moral law were always made known. To those who faced their inability to keep God’s standard, recognized their sin, confessed their impotence to please God by their own efforts and works, and asked Him for forgiveness and grace – there came merciful redemption and blessing for time and eternity.

In the New Testament, God again showed the full blessedness of redemption from sin and repentant people. There were those who responded to the preaching of repentance by John the Baptist. Others repented at the preaching of Jesus. Still others from Israel obeyed the gospel through the apostle’s preaching. And finally, there were Gentiles all over the Roman Empire who believed the gospel. To all those and to all those who will believe through all history, there is blessing promised in this world and the world to come.

4. The Revelation of the Lord Savior and Sacrifice for Sin

This is the heart of both the Old Testament, which Jesus said spoke of Him in type, picture, and prophecy. The New Testament gives the biblical record of His coming. The promise of blessing is dependent on grace and mercy given to the sinner. Grace means that sin is not held against the sinner. Such forgiveness is dependent on a payment of sin’s penalty to satisfy holy justice. That requires a substitute – one to die in the sinner’s place. God’s chosen substitute – the only one qualified – was Jesus. Salvation is always by the same gracious means, whether during Old Testament or New Testament times. When any sinner comes to God, repentant and convinced he has no power to save himself from the deserved judgment of divine wrath, and pleads for mercy, God’s promise of forgiveness is granted. God then declares him righteous because the sacrifice and obedience of Christ is put to his account. In the Old Testament, God justified sinners that same way, in anticipation of Christ’s atoning work. There is, therefore, a continuity of grace and salvation through all of redemptive history. Various covenants, promises, and epochs do not alter that fundamental continuity, nor does the discontinuity between the Old Testament witness nation, Israel, and the New Testament witness people, the Church. A fundamental continuity is centered in the cross, which was no interruption in the plan of God, but is the very thing which all-else points.

Throughout the Old Testament, the Savior and sacrifice are promised. In Genesis, He is the seed of the woman who will destroy Satan. In Zechariah, He is the pierced one to whom Israel turns and by whom God opens the fountain of forgiveness to all who mourn over their sin. He is the suffering substitute spoken of by the prophets. Throughout the Old Testament, He is the Messiah who would die for the transgressions of His people; from beginning to end in the Old Testament, the theme of the Lord Savior as a sacrifice for sin is presented. It is solely because of His perfect sacrifice for sin that God graciously forgives repentant believers.

In the New Testament, the Lord Savior came and actually provided the promised sacrifice for sin on the cross. Having fulfilled all righteousness by His perfect life, He fulfilled justice by His death. Thus God Himself atoned for sin, at a cost too great for the human mind to fathom. Now He graciously supplies on their behalf all the merit necessary for His people to be the objects of His favor. That is what Scripture means when it speaks of salvation by grace.

5. The Revelation of the Kingdom and Glory of the Lord Savior

This crucial component of Scripture brings the whole story to its God-ordained consummation. God controls redemptive history, and it will culminate in His eternal glory. Redemptive history will end with the same precision and exactness with which it began. The truths of eschatology are neither vague nor unclear – nor are they unimportant. As in any book, how the story ends is the most crucial and compelling part – so with the Bible. Scripture notes several very specific features of the end planned by God.

In the Old Testament, there is repeated mention of an earthly kingdom ruled by the Messiah, Lord Savior, who will come to reign. Associated with that kingdom will be the salvation of Israel, the salvation of Gentiles, the renewal of the earth from the effects of the curse, and the bodily resurrection of God’s people who have died. Finally, the Old Testament predicts that there will be the “uncreation” or dissolution of the universe, and the creation of a new heaven and new earth – which will be the eternal state of the godly – and a final hell for the ungodly.

In the New Testament, these features are clarified and expanded. The King was rejected and executed, but He promised to come back in glory, bringing judgment, resurrection, and His kingdom for all who believe. Innumerable Gentiles from every nation will be included among the redeemed. Israel will be saved and granted back into the root of blessing from which she has been temporarily excised.

Israel’s promised kingdom will be enjoyed, with the Lord Savior reigning on the throne, in the renewed earth, exercising power over the whole world, having taken back His rightful authority, and receiving due honor and worship. Following that kingdom will come the dissolution of the renewed, but still sin-stained creation, and the subsequent creation of a new heaven and new earth – which will be the eternal state, separate forever from the ungodly hell.

Those are the five topics that fill up the Bible. To understand them at the start is to know the answer to the question the question that continually arises – Why does the Bible tell us this? Everything fits the glorious patter of those five topics. As you read, hang the truth on these five hooks and the Bible will unfold, not as 66 separate documents, or even two separate testaments – but one book, by one divine Author, who wrote it all with one overarching theme.

(MacArthur Study Bible, NASB. Quoted and Paraphrased. xi-xiv.)

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