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- Leviticus Qindepthonline Lutheran Bible Study Bible
- Leviticus Qindepthonline Lutheran Bible Study Materials
Biblia de Estudio Herencia Reformada RVR 1960, Enc. Dura (Reformation Heritage Study Bible, Hardcover) Reformation Heritage Books / 2018 / Hardcover. Leviticus 23 does not specifically link the offering of firstfruits with the exodus event, but Deuteronomy 26:1-11 states that when the Israelites brought the firstfruits of their harvest before the priest, they were to acknowledge that God had delivered them from Egypt and had given them the land just as he had promised. Study an ESV and KJV text side-by-side in this revolutionary Bible commentary. With a focus on the Gospel of Luke’s reversals and the importance of the temple, you can see that Jesus comes to fulfill all that God promised to do in and through the temple. Mark Lutheran Church. 3030 E Thunderbird Rd. Phoenix, AZ 85032.
ByMichael LeFebvre, General EditorJ. I. Packer, Series edited by Lane T. Dennis, Dane C. Ortlund
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ByMichael LeFebvre, General EditorJ. I. Packer, Series edited by Lane T. Dennis, Dane C. Ortlund
... Show All
The Knowing the Bible series is a resource designed to help Bible readers better understand and apply God’s Word. These 12-week studies lead participants through books of the Bible and are made up of four basic components: (1) reflection questions help readers engage the text at a deeper level; (2) “Gospel Glimpses” highlight the gospel of grace throughout the book; (3) “Whole-Bible Connections” show how any given passage connects to the Bible’s overarching story of redemption, culminating in Christ; and (4) “Theological Soundings” identify how historic orthodox doctrines are taught or reinforced throughout Scripture. With contributions from an array of influential pastors and church leaders, these gospel-centered studies will help Christians see and cherish the message of God’s grace on every page of the Bible.
The book of Leviticus can be challenging for contemporary readers, but it has an important message for the modern church. Indeed, the laws outlined in this book are more than just archaic rules. Rather, they reveal the holiness of God and the forgiveness he offers to all who sincerely repent. In this accessible study, pastor Michael LeFebvre helps readers understand how the rituals in the Old Testament law point to Christ’s work of atonement at the cross—highlighting the riches of the gospel for Christians today.
Part of the Knowing the Bible series.
Author:
Product Details
| Category: | Bible Studies & Devotionals |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Page Count: | 96 |
| Size: | 6.0 in x 9.0 in |
| Weight: | 5.82 ounces |
| ISBN-10: | 1-4335-4796-1 |
| ISBN-13: | 978-1-4335-4796-6 |
| ISBN-UPC: | 9781433547966 |
| Case Quantity: | 10 |
| Published: | June 30, 2016 |
Table of Contents
Series Preface: J. I. Packer and Lane T. Dennis
Week 1: Overview
Week 2: Offering the Sacrifices (1:1–6:7)
Week 3: Sharing the Sacrifice Meals (6:8–7:38)
Week 4: Introducing the Priesthood (8:1–10:20)
Week 5: Clean and Unclean Meats (11:1–47)
Week 6: Clean and Unclean Bodily Conditions (12:1–15:33)
Week 7: The Day of Atonement (16:1–34)
Week 8: Holy and Unholy Meats (17:1–16)
Week 9: Holy and Unholy Moral Conditions (18:1–20:27)
Week 10: Perfection of Priests and Sacrifices (21:1–22:33)
Week 11: Observing the Sacrifice Festivals (23:1–25:55)
Week 12: Blessings and Discipline (26:1–27:34)
Endorsements
“This Knowing the Bible series is a tremendous resource for those wanting to study and teach the Bible with an understanding of how the gospel is woven throughout Scripture. Here are Gospel-minded pastors and scholars doing Gospel business from all the scriptures—this is a biblical and theological feast preparing God’s people to apply the entire Bible to all of life with heart and mind wholly committed to Christ’s priorities.”
Bryan Chapell, Pastor Emeritus, Grace Presbyterian Church, Peoria, Illinois
“Mark Twain may have smiled when he wrote to a friend, “I didn’t have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long letter.” But the truth of Twain’s remark remains serious and universal, because well-reasoned, compact writing requires extra time and extra hard work. And this is what we have in the Crossway Bible study series Knowing the Bible—as the skilled authors and notable editors provide the contours of each book of the Bible as well as the grand theological themes that bind them together as one Book. Here, in a 12-week format, are carefully wrought studies that will ignite the mind and the heart.”
R. Kent Hughes, Senior Pastor Emeritus, College Church, Wheaton, Illinois
“Knowing the Bible brings together a gifted team of Bible teachers to produce a high quality series of study guides. The coordinated focus of these materials is unique: biblical content, provocative questions, systematic theology, practical application, and the gospel story of God’s grace presented all the way through Scripture.”
Philip Graham Ryken, President, Wheaton College
“These Knowing the Bible volumes introduce a significant and very welcome variation on the general run of inductive Bible studies. Such series often provide questions with little guidance, leaving students to their own devices. They thus tend to overlook the role of teaching in the church. By contrast, Knowing the Bible avoids the problem by providing substantial instruction with the questions. Knowing the Bible then goes even further by showing how any given passage connects with the gospel, the whole Bible, and Christian theology. I heartily endorse this orientation of individual books to the whole Bible and the gospel, and I applaud the demonstration that sound theology was not something invented later by Christians, but is right there in the pages of Scripture.”
Graeme Goldsworthy, Former Lecturer in Old Testament, Biblical Theology, and Hermeneutics, Moore Theological College
“What a gift to earnest, Bible-loving, Bible-searching believers! The organization and structure of the Bible study format presented through the Knowing the Bible series is so well conceived. Students of the Word are led to understand the content of passages through perceptive, guided questions, and they are given rich insights and application all along the way in the brief but illuminating sections that conclude each study. What potential growth in depth and breadth of understanding these studies offer. One can only pray that vast numbers of believers will discover more of God and the beauty of his Word through these rich studies.”
Bruce A. Ware, T. Rupert and Lucille Coleman Professor of Christian Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Leviticus is known as a book of rules (which it is). But specifically, it’s a book of rules that the ancient Israelites believed they had to follow in order to be close to their God. That’s why it’s a vital piece of the Torah, the foundation of the rest of Scripture.
You could sum up the book of Leviticus with God’s repeated command: “Be holy, as I am holy.”
Important characters in Leviticus
God (Yahweh)—This isn’t a cop-out. This whole book is about how the nation of Israel needs to live in order to survive living in the presence of such a powerful, holy being.
Moses—He led the Israelites from Egypt to Sinai. At this point in the story, Moses has already passed along many, many laws to the people of Israel on God’s behalf. In Leviticus, Moses continues to list the ways Israel can stay pure enough to live alongside their God.
Aaron—Moses’ older brother and the high priest of Israel, Aaron is a character to keep an eye on throughout the Pentateuch. Leviticus’s narrative elements have a lot to do with Aaron. In this book, Aaron is consecrated as the high priest, but this is also the book in which God kills Aaron’s sons.
Key themes in Leviticus
I like to find a passage in each book of the Bible that sums up what that book is all about. Moses makes it easy for me:
“Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.” (Le 20:26)
You can see a piece of art for each book of the Bible here.
Holiness
“Holy” means “set apart”—but it’s a lot more involved than just being special. God is holy: far greater in love, goodness, power, and justice than humans. Until this point in the Bible, God has been a long way off from the people of earth. Although God has communicated with humans and in some cases even appeared to them privately (think Abraham’s visitors in Genesis 18), he has yet to publicly manifest his presence on earth since the garden of Eden.
But all this has changed. God has made Israel his people: a people that now represent him on earth. He has now established his presence in the tabernacle, a portable holy place where God can dwell in the midst of his new nation.
But if people are going to live in the presence of God, some things will need to change. Because God is so “other” from the world, the people associated with him must become “others” too. God is holy, and his people need to be holy as well.
Cleanliness and uncleanliness
One way that the ancients understood holiness was in terms of whether something was “clean” or “unclean.” This isn’t the same as “good” or “bad.” It’s a sense of purity. Is something aligned with the god we are approaching? Or is it unaligned?
This wasn’t specific to the people of Israel. People of most religions (past and present) have an understanding that there are ways that are appropriate and inappropriate when it comes to interacting with the divine. Those who work and live closest to a divine being are expected to abide by more stringent rules. The rules vary from religion to religion. We even see this within Christianity today: some faith traditions prefer married church leaders, others prefer celibate leaders.
This is a core theme to the book of Leviticus. When someone is operating in alignment with God’s purity laws, they are “clean.” When someone is out of bounds, they are “unclean.” The book of Leviticus has a lot to say about how to stay clean and how to become clean again.
An important thing to note: throughout the Pentateuch, Moses assumes that everyone will be unclean at some point. After all, everybody poops (Dt 23:12–14). The point is to live in a manner that respects the presence of God.
Zooming out: Leviticus in context
Leviticus is right in the middle of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. It has a reputation for being boring, harsh, and unpopular. (But it’s not the least-popular book of the Bible.)
In Genesis, we saw Israel’s origin story. At the tower of Babel, God and the other divine beings scattered the families of the world into nations with their own languages. A few generations later, God chooses Abraham as the patriarch of his own special nation.
In Exodus, Abraham’s descendants have multiplied, becoming a mighty people group cohabitating with the Egyptians. The Pharaoh enslaves the people for a few centuries until God rescues them. After a dramatic exit from Egypt, God makes a special agreement with Israel, making them his people and himself their only God. The people then build a tabernacle, and the Creator of the world begins dwelling among his people.
That’s why Leviticus is so important. It’s a new normal: Yahweh is publicly living with humans. This hasn’t happened since the Garden of Eden, when God would visit with Adam and Eve. Last time God shared a place with humans, the humans (with help from an evil serpent) messed it up. How can they get it right this time?
Not a lot of story happens in Leviticus. The people stay camped at Mount Sinai throughout the book. It’s not until the book of Numbers that they resume their journey to the promised land—and that journey isn’t completed until the book of Joshua.
Leviticus’ role in the Bible
Leviticus is about holiness (being set apart, separate)—both God’s holiness and the holiness He expects of His people.
Whereas Exodus displays God’s holiness on a cosmic scale (sending plagues on Egypt, parting the Red Sea, etc.), Leviticus shows us the holiness of God in fine detail. God spells out His expectations for His priests and people so that the congregation can appropriately worship and dwell with Him.
The call to holiness in Leviticus resounds throughout Scripture, both the Old and New Testaments. Parts of the Levitical law are fulfilled in Jesus Christ, such as distinctions between clean and unclean foods (Mark 7:18–19), but the call to holiness still stands—Peter even cites Leviticus when he encourages us to be holy in all our behavior (1 Peter 1:15–16).
Quick outline of Leviticus
- The Holy Priests
- How to give offerings (Leviticus 1–7)
- Aaron and sons ordained (Leviticus 8–10)
- Cleanliness laws for the congregation (Leviticus 11–15)
- The Holy Place (Leviticus 16)
- The Holy People (Leviticus 17–27)
Who wrote Leviticus?
The whole Torah is a carefully, intentionally edited work. Moses is traditionally credited as the human author of the Old-Testament book of Leviticus. This is because Leviticus is part of the Torah, which is known as the Law of Moses.
Lutheran Bible Study Materials
That doesn’t necessarily mean Moses penned every single word of this book. However, Moses is the main human character in these books, and since Moses is the one receiving directives from God, the books are usually attributed to him.
You can learn more about the traditional authors of the Bible here.
More books related to Leviticus
Bible Study
- Numbers (next book of the Bible)
- Exodus (previous)
- Malachi (God addresses His covenant with Levites)
Leviticus Qindepthonline Lutheran Bible Study Bible
The Beginner’s Guide to the Bible
Leviticus Qindepthonline Lutheran Bible Study Materials
A non-preachy, jargon-free handbook to what the Bible is, where it came from, and what it’s all about.