# The Book of Leviticus  ## Metadata - Author: [[Gordon J. Wenham]] - Full Title: The Book of Leviticus - Category: #books ## Highlights - God is present not only in worship, but at all times, even in the mundane duties of life. ([Location 419](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=419)) - Tags: [[pink]] - “Be holy, for I am holy” (11:44–45; 19:2; 20:26) could be termed the motto of Leviticus. ([Location 448](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=448)) - Tags: [[pink]] - The priests were instructed “to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean” (10:10). ([Location 451](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=451)) - Tags: [[pink]] - Everything that is not holy is common. Common things divide into two groups, the clean and the unclean. Clean things become holy, when they are sanctified. But unclean objects cannot be sanctified. Clean things can be made unclean, if they are polluted. Finally, holy items may be defiled and become common, even polluted, and therefore unclean. ([Location 459](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=459)) - Tags: [[pink]] - Cleanness is the normal condition of most things and persons. Sanctification can elevate the clean into the holy, while pollution degrades the clean into the unclean. ([Location 467](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=467)) - Tags: [[pink]] - The unclean and the holy are two states which must never come in contact with each other. ([Location 468](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=468)) - Tags: [[pink]] - some holy objects make everything that touches them holy (Exod. 29:37; 30:29; Lev. 6:11 [Eng. 18], 20 [27]). ([Location 474](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=474)) - Tags: [[pink]] - The greater the deviation from the norm the greater is the degree of uncleanness and the difficulty in cleansing. ([Location 490](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=490)) - Tags: [[pink]] - Anyone or anything given to God becomes holy. ([Location 511](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=511)) - Tags: [[pink]] - Leviticus stresses that there are two aspects to sanctification, a divine act and human actions. God sanctifies and man also sanctifies. Only those people whom God calls to be holy can become holy in reality. “The man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one” (Num. 16:7). ([Location 520](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=520)) - Tags: [[pink]] - There were at least three parties involved in every sacrifice: God, the priest, and the worshipper. ([Location 632](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=632)) - Tags: [[pink]] - It also points out that correct performance of the atonement rituals by the priest is not enough by itself. God must grant forgiveness and cleansing. It makes one final point concerning the attitude of the worshipper. In the case of unintentional sin, remorse and sacrifice are sufficient for atonement. But where the sin was “high-handed,” i.e., deliberate, reparation and public confession were necessary prerequisites to sacrificial atonement9 (ch. 5 [Eng. 5:1–6:7]; cf. Num. 15:27–30). ([Location 634](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=634)) - Tags: [[pink]] - God’s call to Israel to be his holy people preceded the revelation of the law at Sinai, but only obedience could make holiness a living reality. ([Location 680](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=680)) - Though God’s holiness is unchanging, its expression may vary from age to age. ([Location 1090](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=1090)) - So that the Lord may accept him (v. 3); that it may be accepted on his behalf7 (v. 4). In these phrases the general aim of the sacrifice is indicated. It is that the offerer may be accepted (rātsāh) by God. Peace with God is the goal of sacrifice. ([Location 1180](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=1180)) - In 1 Sam. 15:22 and Ps. 40:7 [Eng. 6] sacrifice and obedience are contrasted with the implication that sacrifice ought to express obedience; sacrifice without obedience is an empty ritual. ([Location 1228](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=1228)) - If affirmation of faith and obedience are underlying motives for bringing a burnt offering, it is very appropriate that it should be offered as a thanksgiving for deliverance, as a freewill offering, or when a vow is fulfilled (Num. 6:14; 15:3; Ps. 50; 66:13–15). The worshipper has proved God’s faithfulness in his life and wishes now to express his faith publicly. ([Location 1229](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=1229)) - When man is reminded of sin, whether by disease or childbirth or by his own obvious fault, he has to offer a burnt offering, the sacrifice that makes divine and human coexistence possible. ([Location 1241](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=1241)) - Sacrifice without prayer is useless. All a man’s powers must be active in divine worship, heart and mouth as well as hands and feet. Mere ceremonial or church attendance is inadequate by itself. They must be accompanied by heartfelt prayer and praise. ([Location 1287](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=1287)) - The cereal offering symbolized the dedication of a man’s life and work to God. He brought his normal food to the priest, and he declared his willingness to keep the law. ([Location 1491](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=1491)) - Tags: [[pink]] - The peace offering was an optional sacrifice, which a man could bring when he felt like it. Lev. 7:12ff. gives three possible reasons for bringing it: as a confession offering, as a free-will offering, or to fulfil a vow. ([Location 1547](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=1547)) - Tags: [[pink]] - Leviticus 7 mentions three different types of peace offering: confession offerings, vow offerings, and free-will offerings. Salvation (peace) is the common factor in the different situations in which these offerings were presented. ([Location 1603](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=1603)) - Tags: [[pink]] - The enjoyment of eating the meat was a physical reminder of all the other blessings that attended the faithful observance of the covenant (Lev. 26:3ff.; Deut. 28:1ff.). ([Location 1674](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=1674)) - It is not God who is endangered by the pollution of sin, but man. ([Location 1953](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=1953)) - Bringing guilt on the people (v. 3). When the priest sinned he involved not only himself but the whole nation. Here we have the idea that one man’s action can affect the whole nation. ([Location 1989](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=1989)) - Note: A man is responsible for what he does and what everybody else does - the purification offering deals with only one aspect of the process of atonement. It purifies the tabernacle or temple, so that God may be present with the worshipper. The burnt offering may then be offered to bring reconciliation between man and God and give the worshipper an opportunity to rededicate himself to God’s service. ([Location 2064](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=2064)) - Whereas in the Levitical laws it was the place of worship that was purified, under the new dispensation it is the worshipper himself. ([Location 2076](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=2076)) - Jesus Christ is the true high priest, whose actions Aaron and his sons were only imitating as best they could. ([Location 2079](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=2079)) - For a Christian the animal offering is no longer necessary, since Christ’s death has brought purification, but confession is, if fellowship with God is to be reestablished. ([Location 2111](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=2111)) - The worshipper had to compensate the man he had offended by giving him back what he lost, and had to acknowledge his guilt before God by bringing the sacrificial ram. ([Location 2183](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=2183)) - The reparation offering draws attention to the fact that sin has both a social and a spiritual dimension. It not only affects our relation with our neighbor, it affects our creator. It influences our relationship vertically with God as well as horizontally with our fellow man. Just as we must put ourselves right with men by paying them back for the wrongs we have done them, so we must compensate our heavenly Father for the debts we run up against him. ([Location 2260](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=2260)) - The burnt offering uses a personal picture: of man the guilty sinner who deserves to die for his sin and of the animal dying in his place. God accepts the animal as a ransom for man. The sin offering uses a medical model: sin makes the world so dirty that God can no longer dwell there. The blood of the animal disinfects the sanctuary in order that God may continue to be present with his people. The reparation offering presents a commercial picture of sin. Sin is a debt which man incurs against God. The debt is paid through the offered animal. ([Location 2267](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=2267)) - Our spiritual debts have been written off in the sacrifice of Christ. ([Location 2282](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=2282)) - If the perpetual fire represents God’s eternal presence with his people, the Christian is reminded to keep the divine fire ever burning within him. In the words of Paul, “Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thess. 5:16ff.). ([Location 2472](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=2472)) - This Levitical law stands as a reminder that though complete forgiveness is available to us as Christians, we still need to claim it daily. ([Location 2514](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=2514)) - Tragedy and triumph go hand in hand in the Bible and in life. On the very first day of Aaron’s high-priestly ministry his two eldest sons died for infringing God’s law. In the life of our Lord his baptism by the Spirit was followed by temptation in the wilderness, his triumphal entry into Jerusalem by his crucifixion six days later. In the early Church the healing of the lame man was succeeded by the death of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 3–5). ([Location 3127](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=3127)) - Amos says that while other nations deserve God’s punishment for their grave sins against humanity, Judah and Israel will be punished just because they have not kept the law (Amos 2–3). ([Location 3196](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=3196)) - In limiting themselves to eating the normal members of the fish world, Israel was reminded that its life was to conform to the norms of God’s world in a moral and spiritual sense as well as physically, and that God had chosen them to be a holy nation. ([Location 3555](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=3555)) - If the distinction between clean and unclean was sometimes obscure to Israel, the reason for God’s election of Israel was too. It rested in God’s inscrutable will, not on national merit (Deut. 7:6–8). ([Location 3666](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=3666)) - It was little wonder that when a man was diagnosed as unclean he had to go into mourning. He experienced a living death; his life as a member of God’s people experiencing God’s blessing came to an end. ([Location 4128](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=4128)) - Clean animals in OT thought symbolize Israel.2 The birds must represent the healed Israelite who is about to reenter the covenant community. ([Location 4309](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B091L57DDZ&location=4309))