Lev. 15:1-33 Unclean Emissions (HBH) The final kind of uncleanness dealt with in Leviticus concerns abnormal male emissions by disease (15:1-15), the release of semen (15:16-18), and menstrual flow (15:19-24) and other kinds of female discharge of blood (15:25-30). These all were not inherently unclean. But they symbolize impurity and must therefore be cleansed by appropriate ritual and sacrifice in order that the holiness of GOD's people might be asserted and maintained (15:31-33).
Lev. 15:31 See section 3 of "TRUTH IN ACTION" at the end of Leviticus.
Lev. 16 THE NEED FOR A DAY OF ATONEMENT (HBH) The greatest act of purification - one involving the entire nation - was that achieved on the DAy of Atonement. On this day the high priest first offered up sacrifice for himself (16:1-14). He then slaughtered one goat as a sin offering for all the people (16:15-19) and expelled another goat (the scapegoat) from the camp as a symbol of the removal of sin from the community (16:20-22). Following a whole burnt offering (16:24), the camp was purified of the blood and animal remains by ceremonies of bathing and burning outside the camp (16:27-28). The writer of Hebrews developed images from the Day of Atonement to stress the superiority of Christ's priesthood (Heb. 8:6; 9:7; 11-26). Hebrews 13:11-12 uses the picture of the bull and goat burned outside the camp as an illustration of Christ's suffering outside the Jerusalem city walls. According to one interpretation of II Corinthians 5:21, Paul alluded to the ritual of the Day of Atonement by speaking of Christ as a sin offering.
Lev. 16:1-34 The basic objectives of this chapter are to instruct the priest in the correct way to offer expiation for the purification of the people, about how to approach GOD (that he die not, v.2) and about how to cleanse the tabernacle to make the continual presence of GOD possible. On the Day of Atonement, the high priest wore special, less elaborate, vestments (v.4; see also Exod. 28), which emphasized his role as GOD's servant invested with the symbols that verified him as such. The ceremony of atonement in itself contained four principal elements: the sin offering for the purification of the priest (v.6), the casting lots to determine which of the male goats should be sacrificed for the sins of the people (verses 7,8), the sacrifice of the male goat (v.9) and the sending of the second male goat out into the desert (v.10). In verses 11-22 these elements are described in detail.
Lev. 16:1 See the text and note for 10:1.
Lev. 16:8 Scapegoat: The "expiatory goat", perhaps the most curious aspect of the ceremony, symbolized the banishment of the people's sins (verses 21,22). This was the facet of the ceremony that affected all the people. It all prefigured the crucifixion of Christ, and many of its elements are discussed in Hebrews (see especially Heb. 9). The good news of the New Testament consisted, however, in that while the ceremony of the Old Testament was inadequate and temporary (by having to be repeated annually and only resolving the problem of the sin of the people in a partial manner), the crucifixion of Jesus Christ satisfied once for all the need for purification of sin before GOD.
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Lev. 16:17 congregation, qahal; Strong #6951: A congregation, assembly, company; a multitude that has been "called to join together or congregate". The verb qahal, which means "to convoke, call to a gathering, reune in assemble or call to gather together" is applied to all the congregation of Israel around 30 times in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Although the people included a human group or nation, it was also a spiritual congregation. The New Testament uses the word ekklesia (congregation) to express the same idea. Ekklesia is translated as "church", but "assembly" or "congregation" would be a better translation. In that way, GOD's dealings with his qahal in the Old Testament prefigures his dealings with his ekklesia in the New Testament. Thus we encounter the oldest model of congregational life in the "church" of the desert. |
Lev. 16:23-28 These verses deal with the purifying bathing necessary before returning to the routine of daily life.
Lev. 16:29 The seventh month corresponded approximately to the month of October.
Lev. 16:30 You will be clean of all your sins before Jehovah: The Day of Atonement became the most sacred date of the Israeli calendar. The people recognized their sins, confessed them before the LORD in fasting, repented and examined themselves. The wise Jews teach that every person should forgive his neighbor before imploring the LORD's forgiveness for himself. See 19:18; 23:26-32.
Lev. 17-25 THE NEED FOR HOLY LIVING (HBH) The longest section of Leviticus (chaps 17-25) is sometimes called the "Holiness Code" because it contains an exhaustive list of miscellaneous regulations pertaining to the acquisition and maintenance of holiness in Israel. The previous sections of Leviticus have been concerned primarily with holiness as "position." In chapters 17-25 (especially chap. 19) the focus shifts to holiness as moral condition. These miscellaneous laws may be categorized under eight major headings.
Lev. 17:1-16 The regulations of this chapter deal with sacrifices, hunting and consuming meat. They are more numerous in the case of the laity than for the priests.
Lev. 17:1-16 Sacrifice and Blood (HBH) Because blood was tantamount to life itself and was the GOD-ordained means of effecting atonement (17:11), no animal could be slaughtered outside the tabernacle (17:1-7). In the ancient Near East there was no such thing as ordinary slaughter for meat. For Israel to slaughter meat outside the tabernacle precincts was to shed blood to alien territory and perhaps to alien gods. The Christians of Corinth faced a similar problem regarding meat slaughtered in a pagan context (I Cor. 8; 10:14-33).
As a metaphor for life, blood was sacrosanct and could not be eaten (Lev. 17:10-13). This pertained not only to animals offered in sacrifice but to wild game and other edible animals as well (17:14-16).
Lev. 17:7 They shall no more offer their sacrifices unto demons: Idolatry was the gravest of sins in ancient Israel (see also Deut. 32:17). The laws about the holiness of blood prohibited participating in pagan practices and worship. The essence of the Jewish monotheistic faith is contained in the following verse: "Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our GOD, Jehovah is one" (Deut. 6:4). The early church had similar concerns about the question of the Gentiles of pagan origin who came to believe in Jesus as Messiah and LORD (see Acts 15:20,29; 21:25).
Lev. 17:11 Because the life of the flesh is in the blood: Blood represents the vital force of the living soul (Gen. 4:10; 9:4-6; Deut. 12:23). The consumation of blood was strictly prohibited. In pagan worship the ritual, drinking blood, was often incorporated and it was believed that whoever did so gained the vital force of the creature whose blood he ingested.
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Lev. 17:11 blood, dam; Strong #1818: blood (human or animal). This important word appears 360 times in the Old Testament. It commences with the introduction to the sacrifice in Genesis 4:4, continues with the Law of Moses about the blood sacrifices (that appears in Leviticus some 60 times) and culminates with the sacrifice of the Lamb who is spotless before GOD. Thus the teaching of the expiation through the blood is essential in Scripture. This text teaches the value of the blood: it represents animal and human "life". The sacrifice implies exchanging one life for another. GOD has provided the blood to cover sin. Finally, the blood expiates the "soul", that is, the human life. In accordance with this, verse 12 demonstrates that the blood, shed for this vital purpose is too sacred to be despised, especially by drinking it. |
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Lev. 17:11 Without blood there is no atonement, BLOOD.
This is the clearest declaration of the necessity of blood in sacrificial offerings: the life is in the blood. Life and blood were given on the altar with the specific purpose of atoning for sins and reconciling with GOD. There is no expiation apart from the shedding of blood or handing over life. This ordinance is reaffirmed with the new covenant in Hebrews 9:22. The new covenant with the blood of Christ fulfilled the old covenant requisites for redemption. The blood of Christ supercedes the bloody sacrifices of the old covenant and eternally satisfies the requirements of a holy GOD (Heb. 9:12). (Gen. 15:10/Exod. 12:13) C.S.
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Lev. 18:1-30 See section 3 of "TRUTH IN ACTION" at the end of Leviticus.
Lev. 18:3 Do not do like they do in the land of Egypt, where you dwelt: The rescue f the people from the land of Egypt supposes not only pulling them out of there (see v.1), but also the removal of the idolatrous and pagan practices from the heart of the people. Israel was converted into a people dedicated to the service of GOD, thanks to the liberating action of the LORD. It represented a challenge for each member of the Jewish community. Now they had been made responsible before GOD, their Savior, who delivered them from bondage in Egypt. The people must decide to live in holiness, in accordance with the stipulations of the covenant (see Exod. 20:2 as a preamble of the Ten Commandments). In this chapter the importance of maintaining proper sexual relations is emphasized.
Lev. 18:6 To discover their nakedness: Refers to sexual relations.
Lev. 18:22 You will not lie down with man: All homosexual relations were strictly prohibited (see 20:13).
Lev. 18:1-30 Sexual Relationships (HBH) Strict standards of holiness also had to be observed in the area of sexual relationships. Contrary to the practices of the pagan world (18:1-5,24-30), the people of the LORD had to marry among their own society but not incestuously. Thus a man could not marry his mother (18:7), stepmother (18:8), sister or half-sister (18:9), granddaughter (18:10), stepsister (18:11), blood aunt (18:12-13), uncle's wife (18:14), daughter-in-law (18:15), sister-in-law (18:16), or stepdaughter or step-granddaughter (18:17). Likewise, adultery (18:20), child sacrifice (18:21), homosexuality (18:22), and bestiality (18:23) were strictly prohibited.
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