Leviticus 1

Lev. 1 AND the LORD called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tent of meeting, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When any man of you offereth an oblation unto the LORD, ye shall offer your oblation of the cattle, ecca of the herd and of the flock. 3 If his oblation be a burnt offering of the herd, he shall offer it a male without blemish: he shall offer it at the door of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD. And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. And he shall kill the bullock before the LORD: and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall present the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is at the door of the tent of meeting. And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into its pieces. And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay wood in order upon the fire: and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall lay the pieces, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: but its inwards and its legs shall he wash with water: and the priest shall burn the whole on the altar, for a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. 10 And if his oblation be of the flock, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt offering; he shall offer it a male without blemish. And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the LORD: and Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall sprinkle its blood upon the altar round about. And he shall cut it into its pieces, with its head and its fat: and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar: but the inwards and the legs shall he wash with water: and the priest shall offer the whole, and burn it upon the altar: it is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. 14 And if his oblation to the LORD be a burnt offering of fowls, then he shall offer his oblation of turtledoves, or of young pigeons. And the priest shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off its head, and burn it on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be drained out on the side of the altar: and he shall take away its crop with the filth thereof, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, in the place of the ashes: and he shall rend it by the winds thereof, but shall not divide it asunder: and the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire: it is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. 6 8 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering: the burnt offering shall be on the hearth upon the altar all night unto the morning; and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning thereon. And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh; and he shall take up the ashes whereto the fire hath consumed the burnt offering on the altar, and 11 he shall put them beside the altar. And he shall put off his garments, and put on other gar- 12 ments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place. And the fire upon the altar shall be kept burning thereon, it shall not go out; and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning: and he shall lay the burnt offering in order upon it, and shall burn thereon 13 the fat of the peace offerings. Fire shall be kept burning upon the altar continually; it shall not go out.

The Greek version of the SEPTUAGINT, and the VULGATE Latin, have given the title of LE- VITICUS to the third book of the Pentateuch; and the name has been retained in almost all the modern versions. The book was thus called, because it treats principally of the laws and regulations of the Levites, and priests in general. In Hebrew it is termed Vayikra, “And he called,” which is the first word in the book; and which, as in preceding cases, be- came the running title to the whole. It con- tains an account of the ceremonies to be ob- served in the offering of burnt sacrifices; meal, peace, and sin offerings; the consecration of priests, together with the institution of the grand national festivals of the Jews, PASSOVER, PENTECOST, and TABERNACLES; with a great variety of other ecclesiastical matters. A. C.

Leviticus has no pretension to systematic ar- rangement as a whole, nor does it appear to have been originally written all at one time. Repetitions occur in it; and in many instances certain particulars are separated from others with which, by the subject-matter, they are im- mediately connected. The fragmentary way in which the Law has been recorded, regarded in connection with the perfect harmony of its spirit and details, may tend to confirm both the unity of the authorship of the books in which it is contained, and the true inspiration of the Lawgiver. Clark.

Leviticus is the book of Old Testament wor- ship. In Exodus there were two grand themes: first, Israel brought out of Egypt to meet with God; and then, God descending from his holy heaven to meet with them (on Sinai) and to dwell with them (in the tabernacle). And now that God dwells among his people, it is neces- sary that they should be well informed as to the manner in which they may with acceptance draw near to him. Such is the object and in- tent of the Book of Leviticus. Think how much labor is spent in the study of the classical my- thology at our schools and universities, not for any value there is in itself, but for the light it throws upon classical literature; and yet how little do Christian people realize the importance of studying the modes of worship among the

Jews, in order to understand their literature, which is our Bible. And besides, not only is the knowledge of the tabernacle worship neces- sary in order to understand the sacred litera- ture, but it is of real value in itself; not merely of antiquarian and psychological value, like the ancient mythologies, but of present practical value, as throwing light upon the New Testa- ment and illustrating that Gospel on which our hopes are founded. J. M. G.

The various forms of offering: The burnt- offering, self-dedicatory. The meal-offering (unbloody). The peace-offering (bloody), eucha- ristic. The sin-offering and the trespassing-offer- ing, expiatory. In the consecration of Aaron and his sons we find these offered in what be- came ever afterward the appointed order: first came the sin-offering, to prepare access to God; next, the burnt-offering, to mark their dedica- tion to his service; and thirdly, the meal-offer- ing of thanksgiving. Henceforth, the sacrifi- cial system was fixed in all its parts, until He should come whom it typified. It is to be noticed that the Law of Leviticus takes the rite of sacrifice for granted, and is directed chiefly to guide and limit its exercise. Dic. B.

The natural order of victims in the sacrificial service of the Law was, first the sin-offering, then the burnt-offering, and last the peace-offer- ing. This answers to the spiritual process through which the worshipper had to pass. He had transgressed the Law, and he needed the atonement signified by the sin-offering; if his offering had been made in truth and sincerity, he could then offer himself to the Lord as an accepted person, as a sweet savor, in the burnt- offering; and in virtue of this acceptance, he could enjoy communion with the Lord and with his brethren in the peace-offering. Clark. — Of the order observed when the offerings were presented in series we have a good example in Lev. 9:15-18: “And he brought the people’s offering, and took the goat, which was the sin- offering for the people, and slew it, and offered it for sin, as the first. And he brought the burnt-offering, and offered it according to the manner. And he brought the meal-offering, and filled his hand out of it, and burnt it upon the altar, beside the burnt sacrifice of the morning. He slew also the bullock and the ram for a sacrifice of peace-offerings.” Here we have the logical, as the order in Lev. (ch. 1 to 7) was the historical order. The sin-offering (or trespass-offering, as the case might be) came first; then the burnt-offering with its associated meal-offering; and finally the peace-offering. This gives us three main sacrifices: the sin-offering, the burnt-offering, the peace-offering. The burnt-offering occupied the central position, having as its antecedent the sin-offering, and as its consequent the peace-offering. The essential significance of the burnt-offering is dedication on the part of man and acceptance on the part of God. The antecedent of this dedication and acceptance is atonement. Hence the sin-offering preceded the burnt-offering. What is the consequence of this dedication and acceptance? Peace with God and joy in his salvation. Hence the peace-offering followed the burnt-offering. Here we have a complete and orderly system of saving truth, beginning with the exceeding evil of sin, and ending with the surpassing joys of fellowship with God. Verily, there was far more of true value for the world in the Hebrew ritual of the altar than in all Greek philosophy or classic art. There was in it, there is in it still, when read not in “the letter which killeth,” but according to “the spirit which giveth life,” a mighty power that makes for righteousness. J. M. G.

Lev. 1:1. And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tent of meeting. God could have spoken these laws to the children of Israel himself, as he did the Ten Commandments; but he chose to deliver them by Moses, because they had desired he would no more speak to them himself, and he had designed that Moses should, above all the prophets, be a type of Christ, by whom God would in these last days speak to us (Heb. 1:1). By other prophets God sent messages to his people, but by Moses he gave them laws; and therefore he was fit to typify Him to whom the Father has given all judgment. II.—The tent of meeting here referred to was the earlier tent spoken of in Ex. 33:7. It could not have been the tabernacle, as that was erected but a short time before the march from Sinai began. The disclosures in this book must have reasonably required the long period of six months, during which the tabternacle and its furniture were being prepared, for their reception and record by Moses. B.

2. Any man offereth.** The owner must offer it of his voluntary will. What is done in religion so as to please God, must be done by no other constraint than that of love. God accepts the willing people and the cheerful giver. Ainsworth and others read it, not as the principle but as the end of offering; “Let him offer it for his favorable acceptance before the Lord. Let him propose this to himself as his end in bringing his sacrifice, and let his eye be fixed steadily upon that end—that he may be accepted of the Lord.” Those only shall find acceptance who sincerely desire and design it in all their religious services (2 Cor. 5:9). H.

Your oblation of the cattle (even), of the herd and of the flock. The term “cattle” here is generic, including the “herd” and the “flock” mentioned in connection. The Heb. term tzon, flock, comprehends both sheep and goats, as is evident from verse 10. Bush.—This was the first rule of obedience, that men should not offer promiscuously this or that victim, but bulls or bull-calves of their herds, and male lambs or kids of their flocks. Calv.

3. Burnt-offering.** The original term for burnt-offering, oldh, comes from the root, âldh, to ascend. It is so called because it was laid whole on the altar, and then being consumed by fire, the greatest part of it ascended toward heaven. Its equivalents in other languages all convey the idea of a fire-offering wholly consumed, which is also clearly intimated by the Latin word “holocaustum,” holocaust. The sacrifice consisted in the immolating of a male animal victim, which was sometimes a bull of three years old, sometimes a sheep or goat of one year old, and sometimes, but more rarely, a turtle-dove, or young pigeon. But whether it were bullock, ram, or goat, one thing was indispensable—it was to be perfect in its kind, “a male without blemish.” The animal was to be the most excellent of its kind, in order the more fitly to shadow forth the excellencies of Him who was to be the great substance of this type, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and who alone of all that ever partook of our nature was truly without sin. As he was a spotless Saviour, so his representing type was to be a spotless victim. Bush.

The burnt-offering is first named in Gen. 8:20, as offered after the Flood. Throughout the whole of Genesis it appears to be the only sacrifice referred to; afterward it became distinguished as one of the regular classes of sacrifice under the Mosaic Law. The meaning of the whole burnt-offering was that which is the original idea of all sacrifice, the offering by the sacrificer of himself, soul and body, to God, the submission of his will to the will of the Lord. It typified our Lord’s offering the perfect sacrifice of his human will to the will of his Father. Dic. B.—The burnt-offering had a regard to the offering of Christ in a human body. It is so stated in the Epistle to the Hebrews; “When he cometh into the world he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not, but a body hast thou prepared me; in burnt-offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me), to do thy will, O God.” Bush.

As the entire burning of the victim was the main thing, it clearly follows that the utter surrender to the Lord which belonged to every sacrifice was in an especial manner represented in the burnt-offering. On this account this was the daily sacrifice, as well as the general sacrifice on all solemn occasions. Thus in every sacrifice of the people of God a self-offering to God by a figurative act took place, which embodied as it were the inward act between God and man. But as an animal could not really take on itself sin and expiate it, as the sprinkling of its blood did not really wash away sin, therefore these typical sacrifices pointed to the true perfect sacrifice of the Son of God, the holy and spotless Lamb, who truly bore the punishment of the sinner in his stead and took it away. The sacrifice of the New Testament is a sacrifice so living, so eternally efficacious, so continually present, that every Christian ought to have it before him in spirit and in faith, as if it had even now been offered for himself. Then he experiences the blood-sprinkling—i.e., God-acceptance of this sacrifice—in his justification before God. To this every sacrifice of the Old Testament more or less pointed. But of all the sacrifices the burnt-offering especially places us in the position and the act of faith of the Christian, when he is conscious of standing in communion with God, and yet needs to seek full forgiveness; when he desires, indeed, to give up his heart entirely to God, but requires the flame of Divine love to consume the sacrifice; and when he consecrates himself to God continually to do that which is well-pleasing in his sight. This burnt sacrifice of the Christian is the general offering of his whole life which is made every day, which includes and sanctifies all other offerings. The fire of this can never be extinguished. Gerl.

Its name, ‘olah, “an ascending,” shows that its main idea was not so much that of the destruction of the victim, on the head of which the offerer had pressed his hands, as the entire dedication of the believer—body, soul, and spirit—to God. He was to mount upward to God, to surrender himself to him, and endeavor to do his will. And it was this devotion of the soul to God, of the creature to the Creator, which made the burnt-offering a “sweet savor” to him. Man rising above the earth and mounting heavenwards is, in all ages, the fulfilling of our Heavenly Father’s will, and was the lesson of this the earliest form of sacrifice. R. P. S.

Give to God ourselves, or nothing; and to give ourselves to him is not his advantage but ours. The philosopher said to his poor scholar, who told him he had nothing but himself to give: It is well, said he, and I will endeavor to give thee back to thyself better than I received thee. Thus doth God with us, and a Christian makes himself his daily sacrifice; he renews this gift of himself every day to God, and receiving it every day bettered again, still he hath the more delight to give it, as being fitter for God the more it is sanctified by former sacrificing. Now that whereby we offer all other spiritual sacrifices, and even ourselves, is love. That is the holy fire that burns up all, sends up our prayers, and our hearts, and our whole selves a whole burnt-offering to God. Leighton.

3. It must be offered at the door of the tabernacle, where the brazen altar of burnt-offerings stood, which sanctified the gift, and not elsewhere; he must offer it at the door, as one unworthy to enter, and acknowledging that there is no admission for a sinner into covenant and communion with God, but by sacrifice; but he must offer it at the tabernacle of the congregation, in token of his communion with the whole church of Israel, even in this personal service. H.

4. Whosoever presented a burnt-offering should lay his hand on its head, after he had come near the door of the tabernacle. This ceremony was not only a sign of consecration, but also of its being an atonement, since it was substituted for the man, as is expressed in the words of Moses, “And it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.” Calc.—He who brought the victim was commanded to lay his hand upon the head of the animal; which action was esteemed an acknowledgment of his own guilt, and a prayer that it might be punished in the victim upon which his hand was laid. And we find in the Rabbinical writers a set form of prayer, which was always used on this occasion. In this form the delinquent acknowledges his offence and professes his repentance; and concludes with a petition that the victim upon which he laid his hand might be his expiation. By which last expression he was, as the Jews inform us, understood to mean that the victim might be substituted in his room, and that the punishment which himself had merited might fall on the head of his offering. Vegsie.

To make atonement for him. The idea expressed by the Hebrew original of the word translated atone was cover and covering. To atone sin in the Hebrew conception was so to cover it over that God could neglect it. “To atone does not mean to cause a sin not to have been committed, for that is impossible; nor to represent it as non-existent, for that would be opposed to the earnest spirit of the Law; nor to pay and compensate it by any act; but to cover it before God—that is, to deprive it of its power to come between us and God” (Kahnis). Cave. —“To atone” is, in the Hebrew, “to cover.” Sin is covered, so that God from that time forth does not see it—i.e., he treats man as though he had no sin in his sight. God cannot hold the same relation to the sinner when his sin still remains upon him, and when it is atoned for. When, therefore, the sin is covered, the wrath of God toward the sinner ceases, and his good pleasure, as was just said (verse 3, Heb., “to his well-pleasing before the Lord”—i.e., that he thereby is made acceptable to the Lord), is turned toward the reconciled one. Gerl.

There are four parts in the great work of atonement: the righteousness and the death of the victim, and the presentation and the acceptance of these by which they become a propitiation. Righteousness can only be rendered and penal death can only be suffered by a moral agent, and for a man by a man. Hence the true victim can only be a person. This same person it is who intervenes to present satisfaction from himself to God, and receive acceptance from God to himself for the penitent, believing offerer. With equal certainty it may be affirmed that the latter two parts can only be performed by a Divine person. M.

5. The sacrifice was to be killed before the Lord—that is, in a devout manner, and with an eye to God and his honor. The priests were to sprinkle the blood upon the altar, for the blood being the life, that was it that made atonement for the soul. This signified the direct and actual regard which our Lord Jesus had to the satisfaction of his Father’s justice, and the securing of his injured honor, in the shedding of his blood; he offered himself without spot to God.

It also signified the pacifying and purifying of our consciences by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ upon them by faith (1 Pet. 1:2; Heb. 10:22). H.—The altar was sprinkled with the blood, that the people might know that the blood poured from the victim did not fall on the ground, but was consecrated to God; just as now the blood of Christ appears before his face. Calv.—The act of sprinkling the blood was, during every period of the Mosaic economy, exclusively the prerogative of the priesthood. It was in the effusion of blood, which is the life, that the virtue of the sacrifice consisted, it being always understood that life went to redeem life. Every reader of the New Testament knows how much our salvation is attributed to the blood of Christ; and this great evangelical truth was abundantly taught to the Israelites under the Law. They were by this rite most impressively shown that without the shedding of blood there was no remission of sins. Bush.

9. A sweet savor unto the Lord.** In Rom. 12:1 we have not only a commentary on the old burnt offering, but a suggestive presentation of the difference between the Old one and that which is required in the New Covenant. “Present your bodies” (as distinguished from the bodies of bulls or of goats), “a living sacrifice” (as distinguished from the slain sacrifice of the Old Covenant), “holy” (there we have the significance of the separation of the parts, and the cleansing of the inwards), “acceptable unto God” (the sweet savor of Lev. 1:9), “which is your reasonable service” (as distinguished from the symbolical service of the old economy). No other exposition of the symbolism of the burnt-offering is needed than these striking words. J. M. G.

When we think of these offerings all the year round, never ending, or ending only to begin again; the smoke always ascending, the fire always alight, we say, “Thank God we are Christians.” What do we mean? Had the Jew more to do than we have to do? Only so in a very limited and mechanical sense. The Jew gave his bullock or his goat, his turtle dove or his young pigeon; but now each man has to give himself. As Christians, we have nothing that is our own; not a moment of time is ours; not a pulse that throbs in us, not a hair of our head, not a coin in the coffer belongs to us. This is the severe demand of love. Who can rise to the pitch of that self-sacrifice? The Jew gives his tenth, and another tenth, and another tenth, and another tenth, even unto five tenths, or one half, and we say, “All that is done for ever; it has passed away with the obsolete ritual, and now we are under the law of love,” as if God had brought us into something less rather than into something more. J. P.

14. Oblation of turtle-doves, or of young pigeons.** In the Divine requirement of the various oblations, the circumstances of the offerers were consulted. Those who could not afford to offer a bullock would bring a sheep or a goat; and those who were not able to do that were expected to bring a turtle-dove or a young pigeon. The parents of our Lord brought this latter kind of offering upon the purification of Mary. It will be observed that the directions respecting the poor man’s offering are as minute and particular as any; intimating that God is no respecter of persons, and that his ministers are to be anxious for the welfare and attentive to the interests of the poorest of their flock.

Lev. 6:9. This is the law of the burnt-offering. That is, this is the daily burnt-offering or perpetual sacrifice, consisting of two lambs offered upon the altar of burnt-offering, one in the morning and the other in the evening. That of the morning was offered about sunrise, after the incense was burnt upon the golden altar, and before any other sacrifice. That of the evening was offered in the decline of day, before the night began. They were both wholly consumed on the altar, after the same manner as the free-will burnt-offering, but by a slow fire, that they might continue the longer burning. Bush.

13. Fire shall be kept burning.** This was a symbol of the never-ceasing worship which Jehovah required of his people. It was essentially connected with their acts of sacrifice.

Cark.—By this law we are taught to keep up in our minds a constant disposition to all acts of piety and devotion, and habitual affection to Divine things, so as to be always ready to every good word and work. Though we be not always sacrificing, yet we must keep the fire of holy love always burning; and thus we must pray always. H.

We may have an altar, but no fire. We need the fire as well as the altar. Magnificent altars we have built: we have brought stone from afar; we have set it up and made ourselves proud in the contemplation of the skilful building. It is the sign of self-idolatry; we have mistaken the means for the end, the process for the result. We may have fire and no altar. This is also a mistake. We ought to have religious places and Christian observances. There is a deadly sophism lurking in the supposition that men can have the fire without the altar, and are independent of institutions, churches, families, and all that is known by Christian arrangement for common worship. We are not meant to be solitary worshippers. Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together: there is a touch that helps life to gather itself up into its full force; there is a contagion which makes the heart feel strong. It is not enough to kindle a fire: we must renew it. “The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.” Did not some men burn once who are cold now? Have not some men allowed the holy flame to perish? and is not their life now like a deserted altar laden with cold, white ashes? Be it ours to escape the fate of people who have lamps but no fire, beliefs but no faith, a bound book but no revelation. J