Category: Leviticus

This chapter is about the guidelines around dedicating people and possessions to God for His service. “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, If anyone makes a special vow to the Lord involving the valuation of persons… If the vow is an animal that may be…

“If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you…

This chapter is about two main themes: Sabbath / the Year of Jubilee, and redemption (not redemption from sin, but from debt, servitude, slavery and loss). To summarize the Sabbath years and Year of Jubilee: every seventh year was a Sabbath for the land to rest (no sowing or pruning). Every seven times seven years…

This chapter contains a variety of commands regarding lamps and bread in the tabernacle, as well as some social justice issues. We’ll look at a commonly misquoted/abused passage. “Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death. Whoever takes an animal’s life shall make it good, life for life. If anyone injures his…

This chapter details several feasts (holy days) and instructions for how to conduct them. “These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the Lord’s Passover. And on the…

This chapter contains two main sections of parameters around the consumption of the “holy things” (offerings sanctified through tabernacle sacrifice) and more details on which animals are acceptable for the different types of offering (in summary, animals without blemish). “Speak to Aaron and his sons so that they abstain from the holy things of the…

This chapter describes the holiness of the priests and some boundaries around their ritual cleanliness. “He shall not make himself unclean as a husband among his people and so profane himself. They shall not make bald patches on their heads, nor shave off the edges of their beards, nor make any cuts on their body….

The first two thirds of the chapter detail the punishments for sacrificing children to foreign gods and for sexual immorality. There is a list of infractions followed by the appropriate punishments – almost all of which are death. The conclusion is God’s summary of why the commands should be obeyed. ” ‘You shall therefore keep…

This chapter focuses on the holiness of God, loving our neighbor, and keeping the Lord’s statutes/laws. “ ‘When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall…

This chapter gives boundaries and laws against marital relations between relatives. “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the Lord your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as…