Leviticus Introduction

The purpose of the Israelite sacrificial system was twofold—to offer a gift to God and to effect atonement. The word atonement addresses the need for reconciliation in the disturbed relationship between God and humans brought about by sin. The need for atonement is necessitated by the universality of sin, the seriousness of sin, and humanity’s inability to remove or deal with sin. The word atonement is closely related to and frequently occurs in context with the prominent theological terms forgiveness and reconciliation. It specifically addresses the need for removal of sin (expiation) in order to effect reconciliation with God.

Sacrificial offerings preceded the era of the Mosaic law. God had prescribed offerings from the time of Abel (Gn 4). After the flood, Noah offered burnt offerings (Gn 8:20), as did Abraham (Gn 22:9). In harmony with the Old Testament prophets (see Hs 6:6; Am 5:21-24; also 1Sm 15:22), Jesus focused on the motivation underlying the sacrificial act and taught that the offering was only acceptable to God when the worshiper’s devotion was genuinely heartfelt (Mt 5:23-24; 9:13; 12:7; Mk 12:33). The Old Testament sacrifices to God were types of the ultimate, climactic sacrifice made by Jesus Christ, the Son of God. His sacrifice can never be repeated (Rm 6:10; Heb 7:27; 9:12; 10:10), and now the most desirable sacrifice that anyone, rich or poor, can bring to God is a consecrated life (see Rm 12:1; 15:15-16; 2Co 2:14-17; Php 2:17; 4:18; 2Tm 4:6; Heb 13:15; 1Pt 1:15-16; Rv 6:9).

Adherence to the Old Testament sacrificial system made the nation of Israel a holy nation and distinct from other nations. Perhaps no other category of laws would contribute more to Israel’s distinctiveness than the dietary laws (chap. 11). As God classified the world at creation, so God’s holy people were expected to classify their world. The driving force behind this novel consideration was surely the notion that Israel had been called to be a holy people. Observation of these laws goes beyond the more limited notion of personal purity in that it distinguishes not only clean people from those who are not, but also Israelites from other nations. The main reason for the purity instructions was to keep Israel separate from the neighboring nations (Lv 18:3; 20:24,26). The dietary laws prevented Israelites from participating in pagan worship to foreign gods, as well as made the possibility of intermarriage with a nonbeliever less likely (see 11:44-45; Dt 14:2,21).