The
Third Book of Moses, called Leviticus
Introduction
Leviticus is the third book of Moses. It means, “to the Levites,”
and is, as commentators say, a profoundly theological book. It is very detailed
in its instructions. We must remember a few things to understand it. First, the
Hebrews were carved out of the Gentiles at Ur of the Chaldees in the form of
Abram, called by God. Secondly, this book will contain very detailed
regulations that made a Hebrew much different than the Gentile nations, ethnic
groups, around them.
We should also note that unbelieving and even many evangelical
Christian authorities and scholars do not accept God’s hand in the writing AND
the preservation of the Bible so, looking only to temporal evidence they will
insist that Leviticus must be written much later than it was, over a long period
of time, and not by Moses. Once you take God’s hand out of the Bible it becomes
not unlike Homer’s Illiad or Odyssey. The Bible-believing Christian must always
remember that God not only gave His word by inspiration, which is wisdom and
understanding, but also preserved the words and ideas He wanted us to have.
In our study, as this defines what it meant to be a Hebrew in
practice and ritual and religious observance as well as civil and ceremonial
law I will compare it to what I can glean from the Bible and outside the Bible
from our knowledge of surrounding cultures of Moses’ time sometime between
1200-1500BC.
Leviticus Chapter 1
Leviticus 1:1 ¶
And the LORD called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle
of the congregation, saying, 2 Speak
unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an
offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even
of the herd, and of the flock.
The use of the name, LORD, all capitals, indicates that it is God speaking,
as LORD, all capitals, is translated from the name, Jehovah, which Strong’s
dictionary says means, “the existing one.” It is used over 6500 times in the
Bible.
We see how the word even
is used as a connecting word between two like things, synonymous with each
other. The cattle come from a herd or flock. So, cattle refers to both cows or beeves, and sheep.
Genesis 30:32 I will pass
through all thy flock to day, removing from thence all the speckled and spotted
cattle, and all the brown cattle among the sheep, and the
spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire.
Exodus 9:3 Behold, the
hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle
which is in the field, upon the
horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous
murrain.
As an eighteenth-century commentator and Pastor of C.H. Spurgeon’s
church a hundred years before him, John Gill, noted this use of man refers to people and includes men
and women.
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