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The Bible book of Leviticus may seem like a lot of dos and don’ts for a Tabernacle service that hasn’t existed for two millennia. But what’s revealed at the end, in Torah reading בְּחֻקֹּתַי Bechukotai/Bekhuqotai (“in My statutes,” Leviticus 26–27), is that it is the gospel of hope, promises from Heaven of the new covenant, that our past can be removed, setting us up for a bright future ahead of us.
The Shabbat for the Torah reading בְּחֻקֹּתַי Bechukotai/Bekhuqotai (“in My statutes,” Leviticus 26–27) is day 42 of the 50-day counting of the Omer (the seven sevens of days plus one between the wave offering just after Passover and ending at Shavuot/Pentecost). I want to draw your attention to day 40 of the Omer, which was the day of Yeshua’s ascension into Heaven that year. Acts 1 records this, recounting His final instructions to His Apostles.
The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when He was taken up to heaven, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen. To these He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God. Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” (Acts 1:1–5 NASB)
If we forget and forsake Yeshua’s sacrifice, there is no other sacrifice that can bring salvation to us (Hebrews 10:26–27). There is only one Way into the Kingdom.
God broke the might of Mitzraim (Egypt) three times to teach both Israel and Mitzraim who was the real power, the real authority that builds up and breaks up empires:
- The 10th plague
- Crossing of the Red Sea
- Assyria and Babylon. When they invaded Israel and Judah, rather than turning to God, Israel and Judah turned to Mitzraim. So God used them to break Mitzraim, too, so that Israel would understand their only strength was in God.
God warned that if they would not give the land its rest voluntarily, then God would evict the people of Israel from the land so that the land could rest. God did not do this because He is vindictive but because He wants Israel to act with humility and admit their sin, repent from it and make amends.
The people of Israel lived in the land, but they did not attach themselves to it the way God instructed them. They mistreated the land and ended up polluting it with idolatry and had to be given a “time out” for the land to recover.
Shavuot is a message, not just for a select clique, but for all people. God selected Israel to proclaim His message, not to just keep it for themselves. As Ruth said to Naomi:
“Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.” (Ruth 1:16–17 NASB)
The key to the Kingdom is not in our DNA (Matt. 3:9; Luke 3:8). Ruth, Rahab, and Cornelius were not descendants of Abraham, yet they were accepted into the Kingdom.
The key to the Kingdom is to understand who God is and to live in covenant with Him. The terms of the covenant are not made up on a whim. He has given us a revelation of who He is and what He wants of us in the Bible.
“If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit.” (Leviticus 26:3–4 NASB)
What does it mean “to walk” in God’s statutes? What is the word “work” in Hebrew?
- הָלַךְ halakh (H1980) = to walk, go
- הֲלָכָה halakhah = going [on the way] = teaching = way of life
- Two passages from Devarim (Deuteronomy) help emphasize what is meant by this way of “walking”:
- Deut. 6:4–9 (beginning of the Shema)
- Deut. 5:1 (Shema for the Ten Commandments redux)
“Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4–9 NASB)
This is not a casual walk, or a stroll, but a deliberate walk, with best practices that make the experience fruitful. If you visit a swimming pool, there are rules posted in public areas in large print that tell people how to conduct themselves while on the property and consequences if they ignore or disregard them.
Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I am speaking today in your hearing, that you may learn them and observe them carefully.” (Deuteronomy 5:1 NASB)
We are to learn what God’s instructions are, guard them so that the next generation will know what they are, and teach them carefully to the next generation. We don’t want to overpromise and underdeliver when telling others about the Kingdom of God. The LORD’s instructions aren’t just for study. They’re to become how we think, respond and live.
This archaeological find shows that not only the people who left Egypt, even though they had been born into slavery, were literate, but also God’s personal name as YHW, goes much further back in history then secular historians have been willing to acknowledge.
The blessings and curses in Leviticus 26 mirror those in Deuteronomy 28. They were as important for the first generation out of the “house of bondage” as for the second generation about to “enter His rest” (i.e., the Promised Land). Deuteronomy speaks to that second generation.
The Leadership contributes greatly to the direction of the people toward or away from God. But the people (of Levi or in general) who choose the leaders must love the LORD (Dt. 6:4–5) and love each other (Lv. 19:18) to select humble, wise leaders and guard the foundations of the nation.
We need to understand what is written on the Bible and how serious we should take our relationship with God. We live in a society that loves to break down barriers, without understanding of why the barriers were set up in the first place. They want the blessings of God without living in a way that God blesses and they aren’t willing to accept the curses from God when they live in a way that goes completely against His plan.
What we have at the end of both Leviticus and Deuteronomy is God telling His people “I love you, please stop.” God doesn’t tell us “Please choose death so I can smite you!”
Even when God sent them into exile, He goes into exile with them. He doesn’t leave them.
The economy of the Torah is not Laissez-faire capitalism, but it’s also not communism. The Torah acknowledges property rights but also balances property rights with charity and resetting the economy periodically when debt and monetary inflation need to be corrected.
During the Exodus, the people had to be reminded that God was the one who provided them food and water, it wasn’t brought to them by chance. The bread was God’s and He gave it to the people on His schedule, not theirs.
There are things that God has given us and things that belong to God but we must remember that even what we own is what was given to us by God.
What is a vow? What does it mean to take a vow?
- נֶדֶר neder (H5088) = verbally setting apart a service, abstention (Nazirite vow) or qorban (offering)
- אָלָה alah = the general uttering of oaths and curses as part of that larger catagory (cf. קָלַל qalal)
- אָסַר asar = be bound or joined to or in (cf. אֱסָר/ אִסָּר issar, “bond,” Num. 30:2)
- חרם kherem = to devote something to destruction
- שָׁבַע shavah = make a statement or a promise” (with an oath invoking God and pledging something valuable)
“No one who may have been set apart among men shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.” (Leviticus 27:29 NASB)
This verse is very confusing in English. This is a verse that uses the Hebrew word kherem, which means to be dedicated/devoted to destruction. An example of something that was explicitly “set apart” for destruction was the city of Jericho in the book of Joshua.
Vows and oaths are promises, the first underscored by the thing given and the latter by the authority invoked to seal it. The value of the vow underscores the desire to get closer to the LORD. It’s better to consider the cost of the vow and make it wisely, than to make it and then have to pay a larger amount to redeem it. Yeshua compared joining the Kingdom to considering the cost of building a tower or going into battle (Luke 14:25–33).
Oaths underscore the veracity of the promise by the authority “co-signing” the oath.
What we see here is that we remember these promises because these are the credibility of the Kingdom of God. They show us that God is able to save us, redeem us and bring us to rest.
God warns that if we don’t trust Him, we will not enter His rest (Hebrews 3–4). He will only let those who trust Him enter in.
Ten of the 12 spies didn’t want to enter the Promised Land. The issue was not God’s law, the issue was their unbelief.
God sent those who did not believe in Him exile and will only bring back those who trust and believe Him into His rest.
God wants to come as we are but He doesn’t want us to stay as we are. He wants to transform us.
The qorban doesn’t remove sin. It allows the offerer to approach God’s Presence. The qorbanot bring the people near but one special khattat takes their iniquity far away.
God does not require us to take any vows at all, but if we take a vow, we are duty-bound to follow through with it.
There seems to be a profound chiastic structure across the Book of Leviticus1Adapted from “The epic conclusion to Leviticus,” The Parasha Experiment, AlephBeta.org:
- Leviticus 1–7: Offerings (things that approach the Presence)
- Leviticus 8–10: Priests, time (7+1 days) and Tabernacle
- Leviticus 11–15: Clean & unclean foods and personal conditions
- Leviticus 16–17: High priest bears Israel before the Presence
- Leviticus 18–20: Clean & unclean behaviors
- Leviticus 11–15: Clean & unclean foods and personal conditions
- Leviticus 21–26: Priests, time (moedim of 7 & 8) and Land
- Leviticus 8–10: Priests, time (7+1 days) and Tabernacle
- Leviticus 27: Vows (hearts that approach the Presence)
The book of Leviticus is a book of hope, a book of promises that our past can be removed and that we have a bright future ahead of us.
Summary: Tammy