Week 7, February 9–15: Leviticus 1–19; Psalms 1–8

• Sun      Feb 9   Lev. 1–3          Pss. 1-2
• Mon     Feb 10 Lev. 4–5          Ps. 3
• Tue      Feb 11 Lev. 6–8          Ps. 4
• Wed     Feb 12 Lev. 9–11        Ps. 5
• Thu      Feb 13 Lev. 12–14      Ps. 6
• Fri        Feb 14 Lev. 15–17      Ps. 7
• Sat       Feb 15 Lev. 18–19      Ps. 8

After jumping ahead and reading Joshua (since we’re preaching from Joshua on Sundays), now our reading schedule takes us back to where we left off in the Pentateuch. As we start Leviticus this week, it’s important to remember we are continuing the story from Genesis and Exodus. Leviticus is part three of the five-part book of Moses, the Pentateuch, the Torah. The whole book of Leviticus takes place over about one month (see Exod. 40:17; Num. 1:1), while Israel is still at Mt. Sinai. Keeping in mind the broader narrative context of Leviticus helps put the book in perspective, and it helps us understand what it meant for the people of Israel and what it means for us today.

Exodus finished with the completion of the tabernacle’s construction. This was the tent where God would dwell. In fact, God is everywhere. There is no part of the universe where God does not dwell; and yet, the tabernacle was the dwelling place designed to house a concentrated display of God’s holy, glorious presence among his people. The tent’s construction has been completed, all according to the plans the Lord instructed Moses to follow (Exod. 40:16–33), and a cloud came down and covered the tent, and God’s glory filled the tabernacle (Exod. 40:34). However, even Moses was not able to enter the tent because God’s glorious presence dwelt there (Exod. 40:33). This is the dilemma we are left to ponder at the end of Exodus.

Leviticus addresses this problem. It begins with the Lord addressing Moses from the tent of meeting. Leviticus is full of the Lord’s instructions for how the Israelites are to live with the presence of a holy God in their midst. In many ways, it is all about giving an answer to the question of Psalms 15:1 and 24:3.

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? (Ps. 15:1)

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? (Ps. 24:3)

Leviticus is probably not everyone’s favorite book to read. It isn’t always easy to see how it is relevant to us and to our lives as Christians. I knew of an old Scottish Bible teacher who would say, “Beware Leviticus!” Many well-intentioned Bible read thru plans have stalled out at this point. But Leviticus is God’s inspired word to us just as much as Psalms or Philippians. We can trust that it is true, and it is profitable for us to read. We can trust that God has something to say to us in Leviticus.

Here are a few principles that can help guide us as we read through Leviticus and the other parts of the Pentateuch that contain a lot of laws. These are three ways OT laws are important for us today:

First, they show us who God is. Leviticus is about holiness. It shows what it means that the Lord is holy. God’s commandments are grounded in God’s perfect and glorious character. When the people are told to be holy, the reason is because the Lord is holy (Lev. 11:44–45). When we read the laws in Leviticus and the rest of the Pentateuch, we come to know our holy, righteous God more fully. We are not just trying to learn about God, but to grow in relationship with him, we need to know who he is. He is worthy of our worship, and he is worthy of our time and attention as we seek to know him by reading his word.

Second, the laws of the Torah show us what God desires from his people. The Lord has not changed. He is the same God who gave Moses and the Israelites the laws of Leviticus. He gave them those laws so they would flourish in relationship with him. He gave them laws because he loved them. We are in a New Covenant relationship with him, and we are not accountable to all those laws in the same way the Israelites were. Nevertheless, the principles underlying those laws are eternal truths that are still instructive for us today. They help us see what it looks like to live a life of wisdom and blessing before God and in community with his people. Jesus sums up the whole law by quoting from Leviticus and Deuteronomy. The law, says Jesus, is all about loving God and loving our neighbor. (Matt. 22:34–40; quoting Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18) So while we are not required to keep all the laws, we are still called by God to live and love in line with the principles they reflect.

Third, biblical laws show us we need help. Probably the most important takeaway from reading Leviticus and the Pentateuch is to see that we--all humans—are in desperate need of something or someone outside ourselves to achieve the righteousness and holiness required of us. Reading Leviticus should leave us with a healthy sense of helplessness. These laws are impossible to keep. They certainly were for the Israelites. We see this clearly when they break the laws right from the start, even as they’re receiving them at Mt. Sinai. This is why there are such elaborate procedures and a whole priestly system to make offerings and sacrifices for sins. The blood of animals brought temporary, provisional atonement for their sin, and it anticipated the once-for-all atonement that would be achieved through Christ at the cross.

Leviticus is the word of God. It is Christian Scripture for us. It helps us see who the Lord is, and it helps us understand his loving heart for his people and how he wants us to live in relationship with him and others. And Leviticus helps us recognize our need for his grace and for the atoning work he accomplished in Christ. Without Leviticus, we would be missing a key part of the picture that helps us grasp how beautiful the good news of who really is. Leviticus points powerfully to the perfect Lamb of God and our Great High Priest.

For on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the LORD from all your sins. (Lev. 16:30)

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. (Heb. 9:11–12)

The reading plan also has us begin reading in Psalms. The book of Psalms, sometimes called the Psalter, is broken into five parts, or five books. We’ll start by reading through the first book, which goes through Psalm 41. Then we will break from Psalms for a few weeks before coming back to book two, and so on. This way the Psalms reading will be spread throughout the year, with the reading in Psalms incorporated within the other OT and NT reading. We do this partly because the individual psalms function a bit more independently than other chapters in Scripture. The psalms appear to have been written in different settings, and they address different circumstances.

That being said however, they should not be read in total separation from their context within the Psalter and from their connections with one another and with other Scriptures. In fact, many recent commentaries and studies in Psalms highlight the coherence and strategic design of the Psalter and its parts, showing that the individual psalms have been put together intentionally with an overall structure and design to the book of Psalms as a whole. As you read Psalms, notice details linking the psalms to each other, and themes that flow from one to the next.

We see this right at the outset, with Psalms 1 and 2 functioning as a joint pair of psalms introducing the Psalter. Here are a few examples of the language apparently meant to link the first two psalms.

• In Ps. 1:1 and 6, at the beginning and end of the first psalm, two ways are contrasted: the way of the wicked and the way of the righteous; in Ps. 2:12, those who do not honor the Son will perish in the way.
• In Ps. 1:1–2 the one who meditates on Torah is blessed; in the conclusion of Ps. 2:12 those who take refuge in the Messiah are blessed.
• In Ps. 1:2, the righteous meditate on Torah; in Ps. 2:1 the wicked plot (same Hebrew word as “meditate” in 1:2) against the Messiah.
• In Ps. 1:6, the wicked will perish; in Ps. 2:12, those who do not kiss the Son will perish.

Again and again, we see evidence that the Bible has been put together with a great deal of intentionality. It is a cohesive whole that communicates a message that is at the same time both elegantly unified and also deeply complex. God has been so kind to reveal himself to us.