Leviticus 16-18

What I Noticed Today (Leviticus 16-18)

The Day of Atonement (aka Yom Kippur) is the most Holy day in the Jewish calendar. It occurs on the 10^th day of the seventh month (late September/early October). Aaron’s sons found out first hand that going into the Holy of Holies anytime you want is a bad idea.

Leviticus 16

In Leviticus 16, God gives Aaron explicit instructions for the Day of Atonement.

In verses 1-2, the Lord instructed Moses after the death of Aaron’s sons that Aaron was not to come into the Holy of Holies and approach the Mercy Seat anytime he wanted, or he would die.

In verses 3-5, the Lord gave Moses instructions for how Aaron was to prepare to for the Day of Atonement:

• He is to bring a young bull for a sin offering and a young ram for a guilt offering.
• He is to bathe and then put on simple linen garments.
• He is to take from the Israelite community two male goats; one for a sin offering and one for a guilt offering.

In verses 6-10, the Lord provides Moses an overview of the Day of Atonement rituals:

• He presents the bull as an offering to make atonement for him and his family.
• He is to present the two goats and cast lots over them. One goat will be sacrificed as a sin offering. The other goat will be released outside the camp (the “scapegoat”).

In verses 11-28, the Lord provides Moses a detailed description of the Day of Atonement rituals:

• In verses 11-14, Aaron began by making atonement for himself and his family through the sin offering of the bull. Once the sin offering was completed, and he had made atonement for his own sins, he could become the mediator for the sins of the people.
• In verses 15-17, Aaron made atonement for the sins of the people through the sin offering of the goat.
• In verses 18-19, Aaron purified the altar that is before the Lord by sprinkling it with some of the blood from the bull and the goat seven times.
• In verses 20-22, Aaron was to lay both hands on the head of the scapegoat and confess all the sins of the nation. The goat was then sent away into the wilderness. In this way, the sins of the people were separated from them and sent out of the camp.

In verses 23-25, Aaron was then to take off his linen garments inside the tent of meeting, bathe, and put on his priestly garments. He then could step outside to sacrifice a ram as a burnt offering for himself, and the second ram as a sin offering for the people.

In verses 26-28, the ceremony concluded with the man who released the goat and the man who disposed of the sin offerings outside the camp bathing and washing their clothes before re-entering the camp.

In verses 29-34, The Lord institutes the Day of Atonement as an annual ceremony for the people of Israel:

• It is to be completed on the seventh day of the tenth month.
• They are to practice self-denial (fasting).
• They are to do no work (this applies to foreigners who live with them as well).
• The priest who is anointed and ordained as the high priest will make atonement for the priests and all the people of Israel.

Leviticus 17-27

These chapters contain what is known as the “Holiness Code.” They describe the ways in which the Israelites are called to be holy before the Lord and separate themselves from other nations.

Leviticus 17

Leviticus 17 is a straightforward prohibition of killing animals except those to be sacrificed before the Lord.

• When an animal was to be sacrificed and offered to God, the only place for the sacrifice to occur was in the confines of the tabernacle.
• Anyone who killed an animal either inside or outside the camp was guilty of shedding blood and was to be cut off from their people.
• Anyone who offers a burnt offering, but does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to sacrifice it must be cut off from their people.

In verses 10-12, the people were prohibited from eating blood. Two reasons are given for this law: 1) the life of the creature was in its blood, and 2) the only atonement for sin was blood. The life of the animal and its blood were to be treated with respect because it was only through the blood that atonement was made.

In verses 13-16, the same prohibition against eating blood applied to wild animals that died of natural causes or were killed by other animals.

Leviticus 18

In Leviticus 18, God gives commands six times, saying because “I am God.” There is no doubt that God wanted the Israelites to be different and separate from the nations surrounding them. They were to live up to God’s moral laws, not those of the Egyptians or Canaanites.

In verses 1-5, God told Moses to speak to the Israelites and tell them He, Yahweh, is their God and they are not to behave like to Egyptians or the Canaanites. By keeping His commands, they would live.

In verses 6-18, these laws extended to sexual relations.

• You are not to have sexual relations with a close relative (some translations, “uncover their nakedness”).
  • This includes your mother, your father’s wife, your sister, your son’s daughter, your daughter’s daughter, sisters who are adopted, your father’s sister, your mother’s sister, your daughter-in-law, your brother’s wife, or a woman and her daughter.
• You are not to marry a woman and her sister and have intercourse with her during her sister’s lifetime.

In verses 19-23, the Lord gives Moses additional prohibitions against practices common among the Canaanites:

• You are not to have sex with a woman during her menstrual cycle.
• You are not to have sex with your neighbor’s wife.
• You are not to sacrifice your children to Molech (the god of the Ammonites).
• You are not to have intercourse with a man as you do with a woman.
• You are not to have intercourse with animals.
• A woman is not to have intercourse with animals.

In verses 24-30, the Lord issues a final warning:

• Do not defile yourself by any of these practices of the nations in this land. The people have defiled the land by these practices, and I am driving them out.
• But you are to keep My commands and not do any of the detestable things these people have done.
• If you do these things, I will vomit you out of the land.
• Anyone of you who does these things must be cut off from his people.
• I am Yahweh your God.

Some thoughts for additional consideration:

• There is a strong message here for us today. God wants us to uphold His standards and not conform to the morality of the world. He expects us to be loyal to Him.
• There is also a clear indication in this chapter that these depravities lead to other moral lapses, and that is another reason that they were to be avoided. We would do well to consider how we are living our lives today and think about what road we are following: God’s or the world’s?

What did you notice in your study today? Feel free to visit the website and leave a question or a comment.

Tomorrow: Leviticus 19-21