• Hebrew text – “And He called”. This is from the first word of the first chapter.
• Greek text – “Pertaining to the Levites”.
• English text – “Leviticus.

None of the names mentioned seem proper as a title for this book. The name “Levite” is mentioned only once throughout the book. A more proper name might be “The Worshippers Manual”.

Moses. See Matthew 8:4.

There are three things to note:-

• The book is set during the Israelites time at Mount Sinai.
• It is after the redemption of the Israelites – Saved by blood.
• It is after the covenant. (ie. Ten Commandments).

The word “holiness” appears 87 times throughout this book. The theme of this book is “The fellowship of God’s people with God”. the purposes of the book are:-

• To reveal the Holy character of God. It is revealed through. The feasts and offerings, the precepts and the curses and blessings.
• It is to show the nation of Israel how they are to live, as the people of God. At the end of the Exodus the tabernacle was built and then in Leviticus 1:1 we read that the Lord was in the midst of the tabernacle. And if the Lord is to remain in their midst, then the Israelites must keep His laws, and be holy.
• To prepare the Israelites for the Coming of Christ. They could not perfectly keep these laws and so they offered sacrifices to cover their sins. The tabernacle is a beautiful picture of the incarnation. See John 1:4. “He tabernacled amongst us”.

There are two major divisions in this book:-:-

• The worship of a Holy God. – Chapters 1 – 17. This worship was by four major mediums:-

1. By the proscribed sacrifices. – Chapters 1 – 7. The five offerings were the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace-offering, the sin offering and the trespass offering.
2. By the proscribed priesthood. – Chapters 8 – 10. In these chapters the ordination of the priests, Aaron the High Priest and something of the function of the priesthood is explained.
3. Ceremonial purification. – Chapters 11 – 15. The purification of the nation of Israel in certain situations, was spelt out to them.
4. Annual day of Atonement. – Chapter 16. There was one day of the year they were to offer sacrifices for the sins of the nation.

• A walk before a Holy God. – Chapters 17 – 27. This can be divided into five main sections:-

1. The holiness of the people – Chapters 17 -20. In these chapters there is instructions concerning: the kinds of food they should eat, and concerning marriage and inter-marriage and so on.
2. The holiness of the priests – Chapters 21 & 22.
3. The holiness of the feasts – Chapter 23 – 25.
4. The Holiness of God’s law – Chapter 26.
5. Chapter 27 is an appendix. It is to be noted that we should be holy. See Leviticus 19:2.

• The offerings. – As already mentioned there are five offerings and these can be divided into two groups:-

1. Sweet savour offerings – The burnt offering – This was unique in that all the offering went to God. The Israelites by doing this offering recognised that God was all in their life. Christ gave Himself entirely up to God. See Hebrews 9 v 14. This offering applies to us today. See Romans 12:1. The meal offering – The meal offering was unique in that there was no blood involved in this offering, instead it was composed of different aspects of meal. What it represented to the Israelite was that it was a gift to God from the labours of his own hand. In the New Testament this meal offering represents the life of Christ. The peace-offering – The peace-offering was unique in that the worshipper ate part of the offering. To the believer this suggests that in the Lord’s sacrifice He provided peace between the sinner and God. Christ has reconciled us to God.
2. Non-sweet offerings – These offerings are compulsory. The sin offering – The sin offering was offered for unintentional sins, by an Israelite. This offering is in anticipation of the death of our Lord, who gave Himself for our sins. See 2 Corinthians 5 v 21. The trespass offering – This was generally offered for intentional sins. You not only offered the animal as a sacrifice but you made restitution, with a 20% interest. God becomes richer because of sin and this is one reason why God allows sin. It is because He gets so much more back from man.

• The feasts of Jehovah. There are seven of them:-

1. The Passover – This is on the 14th of April and celebrates the Exodus from Egypt. The feast of Passover anticipates the fact of Christ coming and dying for us. He is our Passover. See 1 Corinthians 5:7.
2. The feast of unleavened bread – This typifies the sinless life of the believer, that he is leaven apart; sin put out; because of our redemption. See 1 Corinthians 5 v 6 – 8. This is celebrated from April 15-22.
3. The feast of first fruits – This was an offering of the first crop on April the 16th. This feast anticipates the resurrection of Christ, it was 3 days after the Passover. Christ is the first fruits. See 1 Corinthians 15:20.
4. Pentecost – This offering took place on June 6th. It was after the harvest time and 50 days after first fruits. Pentecost anticipates the coming of the Holy Spirit; through whose work the body of Christ was to be brought together and unified. The birth of the Church is at Pentecost.
5. The feast of trumpets – This feast is on the 1st of October. It anticipates the rapture of the Church. See 1 Corinthians 15 v 52.
6. The day of atonement – This is on October the 10th and anticipates the day of the national conversion of the nation of Israel.
7. Tabernacles – This is on October 15th until 22nd and anticipated the millennial reign of Christ. See Zechariah 14:9 & 16.