LEVITICUS is not read as it should be. Even Christians say it is not interesting, or that apparently it has very little to do with us. But it has a great deal to do with us, and if we find it uninteresting the fault lies in our lack of spiritual understanding. If we could imagine its being dropped out of the Bible, it would leave a gap which no other book could fill, and if we leave it out of our reading and study there will be a corresponding gap in our apprehension of Divine things. It carries on the history commenced in Exodus, and shows us the means whereby a holy God can dwell in the midst of a sinful people; it outlines the character and conduct suitable to a people among whom God dwells, and describes for our warning the failure of three members of the congregation, on whom the solemn judgment of God fell.
In the close of Exodus we read that, “the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle, and Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.” But in Leviticus 9:23,23And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people. (Leviticus 9:23) in most striking contrast it is said that, “Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation, and came out and blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people.” What had made this great difference? The offerings had been appointed, the priests consecrated, the priestly service instituted. These are very wonderfully brought together in Hebrews 10. The offerings make way for Him who said, “Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God” (verse 9), the earthly priesthood gives place to Him who is the “High Priest over the house of God” (verse 21), and the result is, “Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the Holiest” (verse 19).
The burnt offering typifies the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus in its infinite acceptance to God. The word used for burning is to burn as incense, and is a different word to the burning of the sin-offering. The meat offering presents the Lord in His holy life of obedience and suffering, on earth. The peace-offering speaks of communion; God and the worshipper having part in the offering. In the sin and trespass offering we see, in the words of Isaiah 53:10,10Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. (Isaiah 53:10) His soul made “an offering for sin.”
The difference in the offerings, a bullock, a sheep, turtle-doves, signifies the difference of apprehension in those who draw near. In the sin and trespass offerings it will be seen that the greater and more influential the sinner, the greater his culpability; while he whose apprehension was so small that it is pictured as a handful of fine flour was forgiven, equally with him who brought a bullock.
It has been beautifully said that all the sweet savor of the burnt offering was put upon the offerer, but in the sin-offering all the guilt of the offerer has been laid on the offering. We should carefully observe the way the offerings are spoken of — a sweet savor unto the Lord — a thing most holy — especially is this said of the meat offering. It should warn us against the irreverent and flippant speech of our day; one hears of “the Man of Nazareth,” and other such sayings, which are contrary to the whole tenor of Scripture.
We must pass briefly over the consecration of the priests, though the details are full of instruction. They proclaim in no uncertain tone that it is not sufficient to be priests in name, but that there must be moral suitability also. There is one point on which we must however dwell a little. The high priest was to bear the names of the tribes on his shoulders and on his heart. In the two onyx stones on his shoulders — the place of strength — the names were engraved according to their birth. It was no question of what they were in themselves nor of different degrees of merit, but all, quite equally, had their share in the strength that would bear them along, all the way, and for evermore. The twelve stones in the breastplate were all different, of varied values, and of varied colors, but all alike were borne on the heart of the high priest, set in the breastplate, which was firmly attached to the ephod by a lace of blue, and in the light of the Urim and Thummim (8:8).
The import of all this is very precious. The Lord as our great High Priest, loves all His people. In all their varying temperaments and capacities each has his own place in that heart of love, each is set in the light that lays bare all that we are, and each is in the perfection of all that He is. The day was yet future when He would grave those names on the palms of His hands. Poor, doubting Thomas, looking on those pierced Hands, could only cry from the depths of his heart. “My Lord and my God” (John 20:2828And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. (John 20:28)).
From chapter 11 to the end of chapter 20 are the injunctions for the behavior of the congregation. We shall note that the things that were forbidden were things that no right-minded person should wish to do. It is a pitiful commentary on human nature, at its best, that a man should need the prohibition, not to oppress a stranger, not to curse the deaf, not to put a stumbling-block in the way of the blind. Moreover nothing was arbitrarily forbidden. The foods that were pronounced ceremonially unclean, were, in their conditions, unsuitable for them; we are not quite sure now what creatures some of those enumerated were, but we are quite sure that our God never denies His people anything that is for their good.
Again, all the directions for the various washings, in the purifying of the unclean, were ceremonial and typical no doubt, but in them the foundation of sanitary science was laid.
Then the sanctity of family life was enjoined, and the integrity of commercial life, and — what should be emphasized at the present time — the people were repeatedly forbidden to have any dealings with witchcraft, sorcery, or necromancy. The man or woman who had a familiar spirit — a medium, as we say — was to be stoned.
Some people suggest that these things do not exist, but are fruits of a too vivid imagination, and probably in all the spiritist cults there is a certain amount of charlatanry, but this only blinds the eyes of the unwary to the great and horrible thing that lies behind such cults, nothing less than Satan and the power of darkness. Those who preach the Gospel in heathen lands, where sorcery and witchcraft abound, know well with whom they are in conflict, and by whose power things are done in secret which could never be told. What an appalling thing it is that in Christian lands men and women should revert to that which was forbidden of God to His people so long ago, and which is the ruin, spirit, soul and body, of those who tamper with it. There is only one safe rule, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:77Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (James 4:7)), and a word of comfort for those who may well fear his power is, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world” (1 John 4:44Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. (1 John 4:4)).
Let us turn now to chapter 10. Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire unto the Lord; that same Nadab and Abihu who had been vouchsafed the wondrous vision of God as we read in Exodus 24:10,10And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. (Exodus 24:10) but now “there went out fire from the Lord... and they died before the Lord.” Moses explains it for us in his words to Aaron. “This is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh Me, and before all the people I will be glorified.” Neither their exalted position as priests, nor their high privilege on the mount had availed to keep them in the hour of temptation.
From the command immediately following “Do not drink wine nor strong drink... when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation” (verse 9), it has been thought that this was the cause of their fall. It may indeed be so, and we who have been brought so near to God in grace do well to take it to heart, and ever to remember that “Our God is a consuming fire” (Heb. 12:2929For our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrews 12:29)). We would not have it otherwise, that He is thus, should bow our hearts in worship and praise.
Only one other incident is mentioned in Leviticus and that also — such is man — is of failure. The son of a woman in Israel, whose father was an Egyptian, strove with another. Israelite and — we may suppose he was losing in the fight — he blasphemed “THE NAME.” In this case the punishment is not direct from the hand of God but from his brethren. There is no haste, they wait that the mind of the Lord may be shown. “And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him” (24:13, 14).
So many warnings for our admonition seem to meet in this sad story. We are reminded what it is to be “under the law,” we are shown the danger of mixed marriages, of strife, of secret departure, for no man whose heart is right with God will blaspheme His name. We see the need of patience and of wisdom from on high in dealing with sin, and also how all the congregation is involved so that none may say, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
May we have a deeper sense of His grace, and a better understanding of what is pleasing to Him.
L. R.