Leviticus 27, Special Donations

(This DRAFT study has been done fairly quickly, without the further guide of commentaries. I hope to improve on it later.)

The final chapter of Leviticus deals with special vows, in which Israelites dedicate persons, animals, houses, or land, to the service of YHWH.

Leviticus 27:1-8, Prices for special vows

The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: `If anyone makes a special vow to dedicate persons to the LORD by giving equivalent values, set the value of a male between the ages of twenty and sixty at fifty shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel; and if it is a female, set her value at thirty shekels. If it is a person between the ages of five and twenty, set the value of a male at twenty shekels and of a female at ten shekels. If it is a person between one month and five years, set the value of a male at five shekels of silver and that of a female at three shekels of silver. If it is a person sixty years old or more, set the value of a male at fifteen shekels and of a female at ten shekels.  

If anyone making the vow is too poor to pay the specified  amount, he is to present the person to the priest, who will set the value for him according to what the man making the vow can afford. 

Dedicating someone to YHWH, as part of a special vow, comes with a particular price, given in "sanctuary shekels." In the valuation, men between the ages of twenty and sixty are worth more than anyone else. Females are worth less than their male counterpart.

Leviticus 27:9-13, Vows involving an animal

"`If what he vowed is an animal that is acceptable as an offering to the LORD, such an animal given to the LORD becomes holy. He must not exchange it or substitute a good one for a bad one, or a bad one for a good one; if he should substitute one animal for another, both it and the substitute become  holy. If what he vowed is a ceremonially unclean animal--one that is not acceptable as an offering to the LORD--the animal  must be presented to the priest, who will judge its quality as good or bad. Whatever value  the priest then sets, that is what it will be.  13   If the owner wishes to redeem the animal, he must add a  fifth to its value.  

Animals can also be dedicated.

Leviticus 27:14-15, Vows involving a house

"`If a man dedicates his house as something holy to the LORD, the priest will judge its quality as good or bad. Whatever value the priest then sets, so it will remain. If the man who dedicates his house redeems it, he must add a fifth to its value, and the house will again become his.  

A person could dedicate a house to YHWH. If they later attempt to redeem it, they must buy it back with 20% interest.

Leviticus 27:16-21, Dedicating land

"`If a man dedicates to the LORD part of his family land, its value is to be set according to the amount of seed required for it--fifty shekels of silver to a homer of  barley seed. If he dedicates his field during the Year of Jubilee, the value that has been set remains. But if he dedicates his field after the Jubilee, the priest will determine the value according to the number of years that remain until the next Year of Jubilee, and its set value will be reduced. If the man who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it, he must add a fifth to its value, and the field will again become his. If, however, he does not redeem the field, or if he has sold it to someone else, it can never be redeemed. When the field is released in the Jubilee, it will become holy, like a field devoted to the LORD; it will become the property of the priests.

Land ownership has a special status in the Mosaic Covenant. It is generally believed to eventually return to the original owner or his descendants. (An example of that occurs in Ruth 4:1-12.)

Leviticus 27:22-25, Value up to the Jubilee

"`If a man dedicates to the LORD a field he has bought, which is not part of his family land, the priest will determine its value up to the Year of Jubilee, and the man must pay its value on that day as something holy to the LORD. In the Year of Jubilee the field will revert to the person from whom he bought it, the one whose land it was. Every value is to be set according to the sanctuary shekel, twenty gerahs to the shekel.  

Computations about the value of a field involve the upcoming Year of Jubilee, when the land would revert to the original owner. (Apparently the sell of the land is much like renting the land until that Year, when everything is to be reset.)

Specific economic values are set, in accord with a "sanctuary shekel" and its subdivision, the gerah, which is one-twentieth of the shekel.

Leviticus 27:26-28, Firstborn animal

"`No one, however, may dedicate the firstborn of an animal, since the firstborn already belongs to the LORD; whether an ox or a sheep, it is the LORD's. If it is one of the unclean animals, he may buy it back at  its set value, adding a fifth of the value to it. If he does not redeem it, it is to be sold at its set value.

"`But nothing that a man owns and devotes to the LORD--whether man or animal or family land--may be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the LORD.  

The firstborn animal of a little is already to be set aside for YHWH. So this is not the animal to donate as part of a special vow. Anything set aside to for YHWH is holy and is not to be resold.

Leviticus 27:29, Devoted to destruction

"`No person devoted to destruction may be ransomed; he must be put to death.  

A person "devoted to destruction", presumably an idolater or blasphemer, is not to be ransomed, but the capital penalty is to be served.

Leviticus 27:30-33, The tithe

"`A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD. 

If a man redeems any of his tithe, he must add a fifth of the value to it. The entire tithe of the herd and flock--every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd's rod--will be holy to the  LORD. He must not pick out the good from the bad or make any substitution. If he does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute become holy and cannot be redeemed.'"  

The tithe of land or herd is mandatory. Buying back something already set aside for YHWH requires the previously mentioned 20% interest.

Leviticus 27:34, From Mount Sinai

These are the commands the LORD gave Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites.

The book ends with a summary: YHWH gave these instructions to Moses on Mount Sinai and he passed them on to the people of Israel.

First published August 30, 2025; updated August 30, 2025

Leviticus 26, Blessings and Curses

(This DRAFT study has been done fairly quickly, without the further guide of commentaries. I hope to improve on it later.)

Some final prohibitions here echo the Ten Commandments of Exodus 20.

Leviticus 26:1, No idols!

"`Do not make idols or set up an image or a sacred stone for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone in your land to bow down before it. I am the LORD your God.  

The foremost command, the one the Israelites must always remember, is that there is only one God, YHWH, and they are to worship no other.

Leviticus 26:2, The Sabbath

"`Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I  am the LORD.  

Part of the mark of an Israelite was to especially set aside one special day of worship, the Sabbath seventh day.

Leviticus 26:3-7, Blessings

"`If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.  

"`I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove savage beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you.  

Obedience to the covenant will give blessings reminiscent of Eden. The people of Israel will have abundant crops and peace. We note, in verse 4, that rain is a blessing.

The rest of this chapter has similarities with Deuteronomy 28, in which the blessings of following God are offset by the cursings for disobedience.

Leviticus 26:8-12, Power multiplied

Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.  

"`I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and  increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. You will still be eating last year's harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new.  

I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.  

The power of worshiping YHWH is described as a fruitful multiplier of numbers, of people, of harvest crops. Good deeds will lead to abundance.

Leviticus 26:13, Out of Egypt

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high. 

As always, the freedom from Egypt is in the background of covenant worship, whether here in the wilderness or later in the time of the kings and prophets.

Leviticus 26:14-17, But...

"`But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these  commands, and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, then I will do this to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever that will destroy your sight and drain away your life. You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.  

I will set my face against you so that you will be defeated by your enemies; those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you. 

With blessings come the other option, curses for ignoring YHWH.

Leviticus 26:18-22, ... curses

"`If after all this you will not listen to me, I will punish you for your sins seven times over. I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze. Your strength will be spent in vain, because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of the land yield their fruit. "`If you remain hostile toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over, as your sins deserve. I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted. 

Disobedience to YHWH brings curses instead of blessings.

Leviticus 26:23-26, Hostility, plagues, famine

"`If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me, I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. And I will bring the sword upon you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy  hands. When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied.  

The curses include plagues, famine, defeat at the hands of enemies.

Leviticus 26:27-33, Famine and devastation

"`If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over. You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on the lifeless forms of your idols, and I will abhor you. I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings. I will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled. I will scatter you among the nations and will draw out my sword and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins. 

This set of curses describes a famine and attack by an enemy. This did happen when the Babylonians besieged Jerusalem in 605, 597 and 587 BC. (See these two Wikipedia articles on the seige of Jerusalem, in 597 BC, and in 587 BC.)

Leviticus 26:34-39, Defeat and rest for the land

Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate and you are in the country of your enemies; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it. 

"`As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them. They will stumble over one another as though fleeing from  the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies. You will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you. Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their fathers' sins they will waste away.  

If the people have not given the land a sabbath rest, as required in chapter 25, then the future devastation, caused by disobedience, will give the land a rest.

Leviticus 26:40-43,

"`But if they will confess their sins and the sins of their fathers--their treachery against me and their hostility toward me, which made me hostile toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies--then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. For the land will be deserted by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected my laws and abhorred my decrees.

The chapter returns to a reminder that if the people instead follow God, the land will be restored.

Leviticus 26:44-46, Even in captivity

Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the LORD their God. But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the  nations to be their God. I am the LORD.'" 

These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the LORD established on Mount Sinai between himself and the Israelites through Moses.   

But even in a future captivity, God plans to restore His people.

These curses and restoration occurred later, in the Babylonian captivity and the return afterwards, during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.

First published August 29, 2025; updated August 29, 2025

Leviticus 25, The Year of Jubilee

(This DRAFT study has been done fairly quickly, without the further guide of commentaries. I hope to improve on it later.)

YHWH prepares the priesthood for the entrance into Canaan. This chapter describes a special "sabbath" year of Jubilee, in which the land and the people are to reset their debts and obligations, especially regarding the land.

Leviticus 25:1-7, A sabbath for the land

 The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: `When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the LORD. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest. Whatever the land yields during the sabbath year will be food for you--for yourself, your manservant and maidservant, and the hired worker and temporary resident who live among you, as well as for your livestock and the wild animals in your land. Whatever the land produces may be eaten.  

Just as the people rest on a seventh day, so the land is to have a seventh year of rest.

Leviticus 25:8-12, A Jubilee year

"`Count off seven sabbaths of years--seven times seven years--so that the seven sabbaths of years amount to a period of forty-nine years. Then have the trumpet sounded everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement sound the trumpet throughout your land. Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan. The fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; do not sow and do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the untended  vines. For it is a jubilee and is to be holy for you; eat only what is taken directly from the fields.  

Every fiftieth year, after seven sevens, is to be a special year of Jubilee.

Leviticus 25:13-16, The Jubilee reset

"`In this Year of Jubilee everyone is to return to his own property. "`If you sell land to one of your countrymen or buy any from him, do not take advantage of each other. You are to buy from your countryman on the basis of the number of years since the Jubilee. And he is to sell to you on the basis of the number of years left for harvesting crops. When the years are many, you are to increase the price, and when the years are few, you are to decrease the price, because what he is really selling you is the number of  crops.  

The Year of Jubilee is a time of reset, with property being returned to original owners. The buyer is to take into account the upcoming reset when property is sold in this temporary manner.

Leviticus 25:17-24, A Jubilee blessing

Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the LORD your God. "`Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land. Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety. You may ask, "What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?" I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years. While you plant during the eighth year, you will eat from the old crop and will continue to eat from it until the harvest of the ninth year comes in. "`The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land.  

If the Jubilee agricultural rules are followed, YHWH promises an abundant blessing in reward.

Leviticus 25:25-28, Redeeming a relative's property

"`If one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells some of his property, his nearest relative is to come and redeem what his countryman has sold. If, however, a man has no one to redeem it for him but he himself prospers and acquires sufficient means to redeem it, he is to determine the value for the years since he sold it and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it; he can then go back to his own property. But if he does not acquire the means to repay him, what he sold will remain in the possession of the buyer until the Year of Jubilee. It will be returned in the Jubilee, and he can then go back to his property.  

A property sale is not expected to be permanent. A near relative always has a right to redeem the property. (We will see this played out in Ruth 4:1-12.)

Leviticus 25:29-31, City houses vs. country houses

"`If a man sells a house in a walled city, he retains the right of redemption a full year after its sale. During that time he may redeem it. If it is not redeemed before a full year has passed, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to the buyer and his descendants. It is not to be returned in the Jubilee.  

But houses in villages without walls around them are to be considered as open country. They can be redeemed, and they are to be returned in the Jubilee.  

Property in the city is different from land ownership in the open country.

Leviticus 25:32-34, Rights of Levites

"`The Levites always have the right to redeem their houses in the Levitical towns, which they possess. So the property of the Levites is redeemable--that is, a house sold in any town they hold--and is to be returned in the Jubilee, because the houses in the towns of the Levites are their property among the Israelites. But the pastureland belonging to their towns must not be sold; it is their permanent possession.  

The tribe of Levi, representing the priests, does not have its own region in Israel, but instead is spread out across the land, in a variety of cities. So they have special rights when it goes to buying and selling their houses.

Leviticus 25:35-38, No excessive interest

"`If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would an alien or a temporary resident, so he can continue to live among you. Do not take interest of any kind from him, but fear your God, so that your countryman may continue to live among you. You must not lend him money at interest or sell him food at a profit.

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God. 

 As the NIV footnotes will point out, the concept of "interest" in verses 36 and 37 could mean "excessive interest." Embedded in this command is concern for the poor and prohibition against taking advantage of them.

Leviticus 25:39-43, Debtors

"`If one of your countrymen becomes poor among you and sells himself to you, do not make him work as a slave. He is to be treated as a hired worker or a temporary resident among you; he is to work for you until the Year of  Jubilee. Then he and his children are to be released, and he will go back to his own clan and to the property of his forefathers. Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt, they must not be sold as slaves. Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God.  

An Israelite might sell themselves to another Israelite, because of poverty or debt, but the Year of Jubilee is to allow them to be released.

Leviticus 25:44-46, Slavery

"`Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you; from them you may buy slaves. You may also buy some of the temporary residents living among you and members of their clans born in your country, and they will become your property. You can will them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your fellow Israelites ruthlessly. 

The treatment of slaves (bond-servants) is different in regard to enslaving Israelites as against the treatment of members of other nations. Ownership of slaves from other nations can be passed on to descendants.

Leviticus 25:47-55, Redeeming a bondservant

"`If an alien or a temporary resident among you becomes rich and one of your countrymen becomes poor and sells himself to the alien living among you or to a member of the alien's clan, he retains the right of redemption after he has sold himself. One of his relatives may redeem him: An uncle or a cousin or any blood relative in his clan may redeem him. Or if he prospers, he may redeem himself.  

He and his buyer are to count the time from the year he sold himself up to the Year of Jubilee. The price for his release is to be based on the rate paid to a hired man for that number of years. If many years remain, he must pay for his redemption a larger share of the price paid for him. If only a few years remain until the Year of Jubilee, he is to compute that and pay for his redemption accordingly. He is to be treated as a man hired from year to year; you must see to it that his owner does not rule over him ruthlessly. 

"`Even if he is not redeemed in any of these ways, he and his children are to be released in the Year of Jubilee, for the Israelites belong to me as servants. They are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.   

An Israelite can be redeemed from slavery; they may even redeem themselves. Because of the Jubilee reset, the price paid for this redemption must take into account the time remaining before this automatic freedom. One who will be free in two or three years would pay much less for their immediate freedom than one who has decades to go before this automatic release.

First published August 28, 2025; updated August 28, 2025

Leviticus 24, Oil, Bread, Blasphemy

(This DRAFT study has been done fairly quickly, without the further guide of commentaries. I hope to improve on it later.)

We clean up a few regulations on the temple worship and deal with a blasphemer.

Leviticus 24:1-4, Continual light

The LORD said to Moses, "Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning continually. Outside the curtain of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, Aaron is to tend the lamps before the LORD from evening till morning, continually. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. The lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the LORD must be tended continually.  

The lamps in the temple must be lit all the time, 24 hours a day. Aaron is responsible for this.

Leviticus 24:5-9, A special bread

"Take fine flour and bake twelve loaves of bread, using two-tenths of an ephah for each loaf. Set them in two rows, six in each row, on the table of pure gold before the LORD. Along each row put some pure incense as a memorial portion to represent the bread and to be an offering made to the LORD by fire. This bread is to be set out before the LORD regularly, Sabbath after Sabbath, on behalf of the Israelites, as a  lasting covenant. It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a holy place, because it is a most holy part of their regular share of the offerings made to the LORD by fire." 

The temple is to have twelve loads of bread, set out each Sabbath day. The bread is to be eaton by Aaron and his sons.

Leviticus 24:10-16, A blasphemer

Now the son of an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father went out among the Israelites, and a fight broke out in the camp between him and an Israelite. The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse; so they brought him to Moses. (His mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri the Danite.) They put him in custody until the will of the LORD should be made clear to them.  

Then the LORD said to Moses: "Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him. Say to the Israelites: `If anyone curses his God, he will be held responsible; anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.  

The penalty for cursing with the name of YHWH is death by stoning.

Leviticus 24:17-21, Eye for eye

"`If anyone takes the life of a human being, he must be put to death. 

Anyone who takes the life of someone's animal must make restitution--life for life. 

If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be  done to him: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has injured the other, so he is to be injured.  

Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a man must be put to death.

Punishment for these violent acts is to be measure for measure, lex talionis.

Leviticus 24:22, Fairness

You are to have the same law for the alien and the native-born. I am the LORD your God.'" 

The laws apply the same, whether to a native-born Israelite or a foreigner.

Leviticus 24:23, Blaphemer stoned

Then Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him. The Israelites did as the LORD commanded Moses.   

After describing the laws for violence, including murder, the chapter ends with the report that the blasphemer, mentioned earlier, is stoned to death.

First published August 27, 2025; updated August 27, 2025

Leviticus 23, The Annual Feasts

(This DRAFT study has been done fairly quickly, without the further guide of commentaries. I hope to improve on it later.)

We turn to the feast days of the Mosaic Covenant

Leviticus 23:1-2, Appointed feasts

The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: `These are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of the LORD, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.  

There will be certain sacred appointed feasts throughout the year. These are special days to worship YHWH.

Leviticus 23:3, Sabbath

"`There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a Sabbath to the  LORD.  

First, of course, is the Sabbath.

Leviticus 23:4-8, Passover

"`These are the LORD's appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times:

The LORD's Passover begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of that month the LORD's Feast of Unleavened Bread begins; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. For seven days present an offering made to the LORD by fire. And on the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.'"  

The Passover is during the first month.

Leviticus 23:9-14, The wave offering

The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: `When you enter the land I am going to give you and you reap its harvest, bring to the priest a sheaf of the first grain you harvest. He is to wave the sheaf before the LORD so it will be accepted on your behalf; the priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. On the day you wave the sheaf, you must sacrifice as a burnt offering to the LORD a lamb a year old without defect, together with its grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil--an offering made to the LORD by fire, a pleasing aroma--and its drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine.  

You must not eat any bread, or roasted or new grain, until the very day you bring this offering to your God. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live.  

The wave offering represents a special thanksgiving day celebrating the harvest.

Leviticus 23:15-21, New grain

"`From the day after the Sabbath, the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering, count off seven full weeks. Count off fifty days up to the day after the seventh Sabbath, and then present an offering of new grain to the  LORD. From wherever you live, bring two loaves made of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, baked with yeast, as a wave offering of firstfruits to the LORD. Present with this bread seven male lambs, each a year old and without defect, one young bull and two rams. They will be a burnt offering to the LORD, together with their grain offerings and drink offerings--an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to the LORD. Then sacrifice one male goat for a sin offering and two lambs, each a year old, for a fellowship offering. The priest is to wave the two lambs before the LORD as a wave offering, together with the bread of the firstfruits. They are a sacred offering to the LORD for the priest. On that same day you are to proclaim a sacred assembly and  do no regular work. This is to be a lasting ordinance for  the generations to come, wherever you live.  

Seven weeks after the first wave offering, there will be a second offering, celebrating new grain.

Leviticus 23:22, Gleaning

"`When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the  LORD your God.'"  

To provide for the poor and the alien, the people are to allow "gleaning", leaving some grain for those who are in danger of starving.

Leviticus 23:23-25, Feast of trumpets

The LORD said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites: `On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts. Do no regular work, but present an offering made to the LORD  by fire.'"  

Six months after Passover is the Feast of Trumpets. This prepares one for the Day of Atonement.

Leviticus 23:26-32,

The LORD said to Moses, "The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny yourselves, and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. Do no work on that day, because it is the Day of Atonement, when atonement is made for you before the LORD your God.

Anyone who does not deny himself on that day must be cut off  from his people. I will destroy from among his people anyone who does any work on that day. You shall do no work at all. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, wherever you live. It is a sabbath of rest for you, and you must deny yourselves. From the evening of the ninth day of the month until the following evening you are to observe your sabbath."  

The Day of Atonement is a special day of rest and worship.

Leviticus 23:33-36, Feast of Tabernacles

The LORD said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites: `On the fifteenth day of the seventh month the LORD's Feast of Tabernacles begins, and it lasts for seven days. The first day is a sacred assembly; do no regular work. For seven days present offerings made to the LORD by fire, and on the eighth day hold a sacred assembly and present an offering made to the LORD by fire. It is the closing assembly; do no regular work.  

The Day of Atonement is followed shortly by the Feast of Tabernacles.

Leviticus 23:37-38, In addition to the other sacred assemblies

("`These are the LORD's appointed feasts, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies for bringing offerings made to the LORD by fire--the burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings required for each day. These offerings are in addition to those for the LORD's Sabbaths and in addition to your gifts and whatever you have vowed and all the freewill offerings you give to the LORD.)  

These special annual feasts are in addition to regular Sabbath worship and other offerings.

Leviticus 23:39-41, More on the Feast of Tabernacles

"`So beginning with the fifteenth day of the seventh month, after you have gathered the crops of the land, celebrate the festival to the LORD for seven days; the first day is a day of rest, and the eighth day also is a day of rest. On the first day you are to take choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars, and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. Celebrate this as a festival to the LORD for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations  to come; celebrate it in the seventh month.  

This feast in the seventh month, celebrated with tabernacles in verses 33 to 36, includes rejoicing at the fruit and crops YHWH has given.

Leviticus 23:42-43, Live in booths

Live in booths for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in booths so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.'"

Involved in this final feast week is a requirement that the people live in tents ("booths"), remembering their wanderings in the wilderness after leaving Egypt in the Exodus.

The Feast of Tabernacles is also called the Feast of Booths. A modern term is Sukkot.

Leviticus 23:44, Moses announces these feasts

So Moses announced to the Israelites the appointed feasts of  the LORD.   

The chapter concludes with the statement that Moses passed all of these instructions on to the people.

First published August 26, 2025; updated August 26, 2025

Leviticus 22, Serious Sacrifices

(This DRAFT study has been done fairly quickly, without the further guide of commentaries. I hope to improve on it later.)

God has been instructing Moses on the duties of the priests.

Leviticus 22:1-3, Treat the offerings with respect

The LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron and his sons to treat with respect the sacred offerings the Israelites consecrate to me, so they will not profane my holy name. I am the LORD.

"Say to them: `For the generations to come, if any of your descendants is ceremonially unclean and yet comes near the sacred offerings that the Israelites consecrate to the LORD, that person must be cut off from my presence. I am the LORD.  

The sacred offerings are always to be kept clean. Ritual uncleanliness can be spread from unclean object to unclean object and so the offerings must be treated carefully.

Leviticus 22:4-8, Skin, semen, dead bodies...

"`If a descendant of Aaron has an infectious skin disease or a bodily discharge, he may not eat the sacred offerings until he is cleansed. He will also be unclean if he touches something defiled by a corpse or by anyone who has an emission of semen, or if he touches any crawling thing that makes him unclean, or any person who makes him unclean, whatever the uncleanness may be. The one who touches any such thing will be unclean till evening. 

He must not eat any of the sacred offerings unless he has bathed himself with water. When the sun goes down, he will be clean, and after that he may eat the sacred offerings, for they are his food. He must not eat anything found dead or torn by wild animals, and so become unclean through it. I am the LORD.  

As mentioned previously, anything associated with human mortality and reproduction is treated as unclean. This includes "crawling things."

Leviticus 22:9-13, Family

"`The priests are to keep my requirements so that they do not become guilty and die for treating them with contempt. I am the LORD, who makes them holy.

"`No one outside a priest's family may eat the sacred offering, nor may the guest of a priest or his hired worker eat it. But if a priest buys a slave with money, or if a slave is born in his household, that slave may eat his food. If a priest's daughter marries anyone other than a priest, she may not eat any of the sacred contributions. But if a priest's daughter becomes a widow or is divorced, yet has no children, and she returns to live in her father's house as in her youth, she may eat of her father's food. No unauthorized person, however, may eat any of it.  

The right to eat food killed on the altar is reserved for priests, and their families. The associations that count as "family" are herein described.

Leviticus 22:14-16, Mistakes

"`If anyone eats a sacred offering by mistake, he must make restitution to the priest for the offering and add a fifth of the value to it. The priests must not desecrate the sacred offerings the Israelites present to the LORD by allowing them to eat the sacred offerings and so bring upon them guilt requiring payment. I am the LORD, who makes them holy.'"  

If the sacred meat is accidentally eaten by one who has no right to it, they must make restitution with a 20% penalty. The priests must take care that this does not happen; they should not be guilty of encouraging this payment.

Leviticus 22:17-22, Without defect

The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites and say to them: `If any of you--either an Israelite or an alien living in Israel--presents a gift for a burnt offering to the LORD, either to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, you must present a male without defect from the cattle, sheep or goats in order that it may be accepted on your behalf. Do not bring anything with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf. When anyone brings from the herd or flock a fellowship  offering yo the LORD to fulfill a special vow or as a freewill offering, it must be without defect or blemish to be acceptable. Do not offer to the LORD the blind, the injured or the maimed, or anything with warts or festering or running sores. Do not place any of these on the altar as an offering made to the LORD by fire. 

Gifts presented as an offering must be perfect, without defect. One is not to pass off a defective animal as an offering.

Leviticus 22:23-25, An exception

You may, however, present as a freewill offering an ox or a sheep that is deformed or stunted, but it will not be accepted in fulfillment of a vow. You must not offer to the LORD an animal whose testicles are bruised, crushed, torn or cut. You must not do this in your own land, and you must not accept such animals from the hand of a foreigner and offer them as the food of your God. They will not be accepted on your behalf, because they are deformed and have defects.'" 

There are some exceptions to the earlier requirements -- in some cases a deformed animal can be offered as a freewill offering, that is, as some type of thankful donation to the priests. Even here, one must be careful about how deeply is the deformation. These restrictions include offerings made by a foreigner.

Leviticus 22:26-28, Keep the newborn animal with its mother

The LORD said to Moses, "When a calf, a lamb or a goat is born, it is to remain with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on, it will  be acceptable as an offering made to the LORD by fire. Do not slaughter a cow or a sheep and its young on the same  day.

A newborn animal should stay with its mother for a time.

Leviticus 22:29-33, Be serious!
"When you sacrifice a thank offering to the LORD, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf. It must be eaten that same day; leave none of it till morning. I am the LORD.  

"Keep my commands and follow them. I am the LORD. Do not profane my holy name. I must be acknowledged as holy by the Israelites. I am the LORD, who makes you holy and who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD."   

The people are to treat these sacrifices seriously. Their sacrifices actually bring them into the presence of YHWH and they must act with holiness as they make the sacrifices.

First published August 25, 2025; updated August 25, 2025

Leviticus 21, Presenting Purity

(This DRAFT study has been done fairly quickly, without the further guide of commentaries. I hope to improve on it later.)

We continue with requirements for the priests ministering the covenant.

Leviticus 21:1-4, Burial restrictions

The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: `A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean for any of his people who die, except for a close relative, such as his mother or father, his son or daughter, his brother, or an unmarried sister who is dependent on him since she has no husband--for her he may make himself unclean. He must not make himself unclean for people related to him by marriage, and so defile himself.  

In their special position as the sons of Aaron, these priests must stand above normal human emotions and griefs. They are to not touch the dead, with the single exceptions for close family members.

Leviticus 21:5-6, Holy priests

"`Priests must not shave their heads or shave off the edges of their beards or cut their bodies.

They must be holy to their God and must not profane the name of their God. Because they present the offerings made to the LORD by fire, the food of their God, they are to be holy.  

Part of the holiness requirements for priests are that they not shave their heads or beards or cut their bodies. (Cutting one's body was a pagan ritual in the ANE.)

Leviticus 21:7-8, Marriage purity for priests

"`They must not marry women defiled by prostitution or divorced from their husbands, because priests are holy to their God. Regard them as holy, because they offer up the food of your God. Consider them holy, because I the LORD am holy--I who  make you holy.

Purity and righteousness for priests also includes a solid marriage to a woman who has not been divorced.

Leviticus 21:9, Don't allow daughters to be prostitutes.

"`If a priest's daughter defiles herself by becoming a  prostitute, she disgraces her father; she must be burned in the fire.

Prostitution was a temptation for poor women in the ANE. Here it is explicitly prohibited for the daughters of priests. This prohibition is really aimed at the priests: "Make sure your daughters don't turn to this!"

Leviticus 21:10-12, Honorable hair and garments

"`The high priest, the one among his brothers who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and who has been ordained to wear the priestly garments, must not let his hair become unkempt or tear his clothes. 

He must not enter a place where there is a dead body. He must not make himself unclean, even for his father or mother, nor leave the sanctuary of his God or desecrate it, because he has been dedicated by the anointing oil of his God. I am the LORD. 

The high priest favored with special anointing and garment, is not to allow himself to be in disarray. He is to have his hair kempt and good clothes. He is not to enter a room where there is a dead body, even if it is that of his father or mother. The high priest has a very special position in the covenant.

Leviticus 21:13-15, Marry a virgin

"`The woman he marries must be a virgin. He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman defiled by prostitution, but only a virgin from his own people, so he will not defile his offspring among his people.

 I am the LORD, who makes him holy.'"  

The bride of the high priest must be a virgin when they marry, and from the his tribe. All of this is due to the elevated status of the high priest.

Leviticus 21:16-23, No physical defects

The LORD said to Moses, "Say to Aaron: `For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect may come near to offer the food of his God. No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed; no man with a crippled foot or hand, or who is hunchbacked or dwarfed, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles.  

No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any defect is to come near to present the offerings made to the LORD by fire. He has a defect; he must not come near to offer the food of his God. He may eat the most holy food of his God, as well as the holy food; yet because of his defect, he must not go near the curtain or approach the altar, and so desecrate my sanctuary. I am the LORD, who makes them holy.'"

The priests in the lineage of Aaron are to represent a perfect man. They are not to have physical defects. (In some sense, they represent Eden?)

Leviticus 21:24, Moses passes on the requirements

So Moses told this to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.   

The requirements that YHWH gives Moses are then passed on, to both the family of Aaron and then to all the people of Israel.

First published August 23, 2025; updated August 23, 2025

Leviticus 20, Molech, Sex, Holiness

The book of Leviticus continues to lay out expectations for the Israelites, expectations that distinguish them from the nations around them.

Leviticus 20:1-5, Molech

 The LORD said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites: `Any Israelite or any alien living in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech must be put to death. The people of the community are to stone him. I will set my face against that man and I will cut him off from his people; for by giving his children to Molech, he has defiled my sanctuary and profaned my holy name. If the people of the community close their eyes when that man gives one of his children to Molech and they fail to put him to death, I will set my face against that man and his family and will cut off from their people both him and all who follow him in prostituting themselves to Molech.  

Sacrificing children to Molech is a horrible sin, with the penalty of death. This prohibition makes it clear that such customs were common in the people of Canaan.

Leviticus 20:6, No mediums or spiritists

"`I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritists to prostitute himself by following them, and I will cut him off from his people. 

 

Consulting the dead (as mentioned previously) is also forbidden.

Leviticus 20:7-8, Be holy

"`Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the LORD your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy.

As YHWH is different, so too are the people of Israel to be distinct, separate, from those around them.

Leviticus 20:9, Don't curse your parents!

"`If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother, and his blood will be on his own head.  

Cursing one's parents is a grave crime in this new nation.

Leviticus 20:10-17, Sexual prohibitions

"`If a man commits adultery with another man's wife--with the wife of his neighbor--both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death.  

"`If a man sleeps with his father's wife, he has dishonored his father. Both the man and the woman must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

"`If a man sleeps with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. What they have done is a perversion; their blood will be on their own heads.

"`If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.  

"`If a man marries both a woman and her mother, it is wicked. Both he and they must be burned in the fire, so that no wickedness will be among you.  

"`If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he must be put to death, and you must kill the animal. 

"`If a woman approaches an animal to have sexual relations with it, kill both the woman and the animal. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads. 

"`If a man marries his sister, the daughter of either his  father or his mother, and they have sexual relations, it is a disgrace. They must be cut off before the eyes of their people. He has dishonored his sister and will be held responsible. 

These prohibitions echo those of chapter 18.

Leviticus 20:18, Not during her period

"`If a man lies with a woman during her monthly period and has sexual relations with her, he has exposed the source of her flow, and she has also uncovered it. Both of them must  cut off from their people.  

A strange command here prohibits sexual relations with a woman during her menstrual period.

Leviticus 20:19-21, Incest

"`Do not have sexual relations with the sister of either your mother or your father, for that would dishonor a close relative; both of you would be held responsible. 

"`If a man sleeps with his aunt, he has dishonored his uncle. They will be held responsible; they will die childless.

"`If a man marries his brother's wife, it is an act of impurity; he has dishonored his brother. They will be childless. 

We return to chapter 18 prohibitions against incest.

Leviticus 20:22-26, A holy land

"`Keep all my decrees and laws and follow them, so that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.

But I said to you, "You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and  honey."

 I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the nations. "`You must therefore make a distinction between clean and unclean animals and between unclean and clean birds. Do not defile yourselves by any animal or bird or anything that moves along the ground--those which I have set apart as unclean for you. You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.  

The new nation, in this new land, is to be a distinct holy one, a future Eden.

Leviticus 20:27, Mediums (again)

"`A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads.'"   

The command of verse 6 is repeated.

First published August 22, 2025; updated August 22, 2025

Leviticus 19, I am LORD Your God

We continue to read expectations for the Covenant people of Israel.

Leviticus 19:1-2, Be holy

The LORD said to Moses,"Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: `Be  holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

The chapter begins with a thematic call to holiness, to a righteous distinctiveness, separate from the culture of other nations.

Leviticus 19:3-4, Parents, idols

"`Each of you must respect his mother and father, and you must observe my Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God.  

"`Do not turn to idols or make gods of cast metal for yourselves. 

I am the LORD your God. 

We repeat part of the Ten Commandments, especially commandments five and two. (See Exodus 20:4-6,12.) The theme, "I am your God YHWH", will repeat throughout this chapter.

Leviticus 19:5-8. Sacrifices

"`When you sacrifice a fellowship offering to the LORD, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf. It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it or on the next day; anything left over until the third day must be burned  up. If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is impure and will not be accepted. Whoever eats it will be held responsible because he has desecrated what is holy to the LORD; that person must be cut off from his people. 

Sacrifices are to be done with care and respect. The sacrificed animal should be eaten in a timely manner.

Leviticus 19:9-10, Gleaning

"`When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. 

I am the LORD your God.

The Israelites are to set up a simple safety net for the poor, leaving margins of their crops and vines for the poor and the alien, those who have no other resources.

Leviticus 19:11-12,

"`Do not steal. 

"`Do not lie. 

"`Do not deceive one another.

"`Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God.

I am the LORD.

More of the Ten Commandments reappear here -- commandments 8 and 9. (See Exodus 20:15-16.)

Leviticus 19:13-14, Honest dealings

"`Do not defraud your neighbor or rob him. 

"`Do not hold  back the wages of a hired man overnight. 

"`Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. 

I am the LORD.  

The Israelites are to be examples of honesty in dealing with each other. Notable here is the need to respect the deaf and blind.

Leviticus 19:15-16, No partiality

"`Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. 

"`Do not go about spreading slander among your people. 

"`Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life. 

I am the LORD. 

Honesty in relationships is stressed again, with examples. One is to be impartial in judgments, giving no favoritism to the rich nor prejudice against the poor.

Leviticus 19:17-18, In your heart

 "`Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.

"`Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. 

I am the LORD. 

One's dealings with others is to go deeper than outward actions. An Israelite is not to harbor hatred against his neighbor. These commands echo the one commandment of the Ten that speaks to one's thoughts, the Tenth Commandment (Exodus 20:17.)

Leviticus 19:19, Purity even in agriculture

 "`Keep my decrees. 

"`Do not mate different kinds of animals.  

"`Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. 

"`Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material. 

The emphasis on honesty and purity even extends to agriculture! The Israelites are not to blend different kinds of animals, grain or cloth!

Leviticus 19:20-22, Sleeping with a slave girl

"`If a man sleeps with a woman who is a slave girl promised to another man but who has not been ransomed or given her freedom, there must be due punishment. Yet they are not to be put to death, because she had not been freed. The man, however, must bring a ram to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting for a guilt offering to the LORD. With the ram of the guilt offering the priest is to make  atonement for him before the LORD for the sin he has committed, and his sin will be forgiven. 

A person who takes advantage of a slave girl is guilty of sin and must (publicly) make a sacrifice. Notice how little say the woman has in the culture of ANE.

Leviticus 19:23-25, Patience in harvesting

"`When you enter the land and plant any kind of fruit tree, regard its fruit as forbidden. For three years you are to consider it forbidden; it must not be eaten. In the fourth year all its fruit will be holy, an offering of praise to the LORD. But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit. In this way your harvest will be increased. 

I am the LORD your God. 

As the Israelites take over the land of Canaan, they are to let newly planted crops grow to fruition.

Leviticus 19:26-28, Other issues

"`Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it. 

"`Do not practice divination or sorcery.

"`Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off  the edges of your beard.

"`Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.  

The Israelites are not to eat meat with blood (a prohibition that lasts into New Testament times), nor or they to practice sorcery or divination (practices which assume the gods can be manipulated.) Cutting one's beard, cutting one's body or marking it with tattoos -- all apparently pagan practices of the people around them -- are prohibited.

Leviticus 18:29

"`Do not degrade your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will turn to prostitution and be filled with wickedness.  

Prostitution, particularly selling one's daughter, is prohibited.

Leviticus 19:30,

"`Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. 

I  am the LORD.  

Of course, the fourth commandment (Exodus 20:8-11), honoring the Sabbath, is mentioned.

Leviticus 19:31, No mediums

"`Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them.

 I am the LORD your God. 

Once more a prohibition against sorcery and spiritualism. People are not to attempt to communicate with the dead.

Leviticus 19:32, Respect the elderly

 "`Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. 

I am the LORD. 

Respect for the elderly includes standing in their presence. (A variety of Asian cultures still emphasize this respect.)

Leviticus 18:33-34, Treat the alien as a brother.

"`When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat  him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in  Egypt. 

I am the LORD your God.  

The alien in the land is to be treated as a comrade and neighbor. As in other places (eg. Exodus 22:21), the motive is remembrance of the centuries in which the Israelites were aliens in Egypt.

Leviticus 19:35-37, Honest scales

"`Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity. Use honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt. 

"`Keep all my decrees and all my laws and follow them. I am  the LORD.'"   

Honesty in relations with others includes transparency in measuring produce and trade. (The hin was a liquid measure, probably between 1 and 1.5 gallons. The ephah was a dry measure, maybe about 30 pounds.)

Some Hebrew vocabulary

Our Hebrew word for the day is really a phrase, appearing eight times in this chapter: ani YHWH elohim, "I am the LORD your God",

אֲנִ֖י יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם

(See, for example, the Hebrew sentence at the end of verse 2.)

First published August 21, 2025; updated August 21, 2025

Leviticus 18, On Sex

The emphasis on cleanliness and righteousness extends, of course, to human sexual relations. This chapter discusses expectations in that realm, described within the culture of the ANE.

Leviticus 18:1-5,

The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: `I am the LORD your God. You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. 

You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God. Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD. 

The culture of Israel is to be different from those of the surrounding lands. 

Living under the Covenant Law is healthy, it encourages long life, says YHWH. Ezekiel repeats this idea in Ezekiel 20:11, 13 and 21. In the New Testament, Paul repeats this idea in Romans 10:5 and Galatians 3:12.

The remainder of this chapter will get specific about sexual practice.

Leviticus 18:6-8, Incest with relatives

"`No one is to approach any close relative to have sexual relations. I am the LORD.  

"`Do not dishonor your father by having sexual relations with your mother. She is your mother; do not have relations with her.  

"`Do not have sexual relations with your father's wife; that would dishonor your father. 

"`Do not have sexual relations with your sister, either your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether she was born in the same home or elsewhere.  

The first sentence in this paragraph lays out the general concept. Sex with relatives is forbidden. Details and examples follow.

Sex is both an intense and private drive. The ones living with you, in close family intimacy, have a protection that sexual desires should not cross.

Leviticus 18:10-18, Incest, part 2

"`Do not have sexual relations with your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter; that would dishonor you.

"`Do not have sexual relations with the daughter of your father's wife, born to your father; she is your sister.

"`Do not have sexual relations with your father's sister; she is your father's close relative.

"`Do not have sexual relations with your mother's sister, because she is your mother's close relative.

"`Do not dishonor your father's brother by approaching his wife to have sexual relations; she is your aunt.

"`Do not have sexual relations with your daughter-in-law. She is your son's wife; do not have relations with her.

"`Do not have sexual relations with your brother's wife;  that would dishonor your brother.

"`Do not have sexual relations with both a woman and her daughter. Do not have sexual relations with either her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter; they are her close relatives. That is wickedness.

"`Do not take your wife's sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is living.  

More examples of forbidden sexual relations follow. As before, there are people close to one, living in a family relationship. Those people should be protected and comfortable within that relationship. They should not be approached for sex.

Some of these prohibitions imply that a marriage may include several wives and that there are blended marriages and half-siblings and step-children.

Leviticus 18:19, Monthly period

"`Do not approach a woman to have sexual relations during the uncleanness of her monthly period.  

In a world where women often did not have much power in refusing sex, a woman was to be left alone during her period. (Sex during that time would likely be uncomfortable for the woman and would certainly not meet the ANE emphasis on reproduction.)

Leviticus 18:20, Adultery with a neighbor

"`Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor's wife and defile yourself with her.     

One more prohibition -- this one more generic on adultery.

Leviticus 18:21, Molech

"`Do not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am  the LORD.  

The tenor of the chapter turns. The prohibitions move into practices of the surrounding nations, including the practice of sacrificing children to Molech.

Leviticus 18:22-23, Homosexuality and bestiality

"`Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.  

"`Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion.  

Sex between men or sex with animals -- most likely practiced by other nations -- are both forbidden.

Leviticus 18:24-30, Be serious

"`Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the aliens living among you must not do any of these detestable things, for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you.

"`Everyone who does any of these detestable things--such persons must be cut off from their people. Keep my requirements and do not follow any of the detestable customs that were practiced before you came and do not defile yourselves with them. I am the LORD your God.'"  

The chapter ends as it began, with an emphasis on distinctiveness for the people of Israel. They are not follow the sexual practices of the nations around them.

First published August 20, 2025; updated August 20, 2025

Leviticus 17, The Importance of Blood

The Mosaic Covenant places a high value on blood and its treatment. 

Leviticus 17:1-4, No outside sacrifices

The LORD said to Moses, "Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites and say to them: `This is what the LORD has commanded: Any Israelite who sacrifices an ox, a lamb or a goat in the camp or outside of it instead of bringing it to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting to present it as an offering to the LORD in front of the tabernacle of the LORD--that man shall be considered guilty of bloodshed; he has shed blood and must be cut off from his people.  

People are not to initiate their own sacrifices but are, instead, to bring the living animal to the temple.

Leviticus 17:5-7, Pagan sacrifices in the open fields

This is so the Israelites will bring to the LORD the sacrifices they are now making in the open fields. They must bring them to the priest, that is, to the LORD, at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and sacrifice them as fellowship offerings. The priest is to sprinkle the blood against the altar of the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and burn the fat as an aroma pleasing to the LORD. They must no longer offer any of their sacrifices to the goat idols to whom they prostitute themselves. This is to be a lasting ordinance for them and for the generations  to come.'  

Individual sacrifices in the open fields are condemned. Those sacrifices carried the outlook of the Canaan pagan sacrifices. Instead, people are to bring their animals into the temple and sacrifices were to be done there.

Leviticus 17:8-12, Life is in the blood

"Say to them: `Any Israelite or any alien living among them who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice and does not bring it to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting to sacrifice it to the LORD--that man must be cut off from his people. 

"`Any Israelite or any alien living among them who eats any blood--I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from his people. For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life.

Therefore I say to the Israelites, "None of you may eat  blood, nor may an alien living among you eat blood."  

The prohibition against freelance sacrifices continues.

Leviticus 17:13-16, Respect blood

"`Any Israelite or any alien living among you who hunts any animal or bird that may be eaten must drain out the blood and cover it with earth, because the life of every creature is its blood. That is why I have said to the Israelites, "You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off."

"`Anyone, whether native-born or alien, who eats anything found dead or torn by wild animals must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be ceremonially unclean till evening; then he will be clean. But if he does not wash his clothes and bathe himself, he will be held responsible.'"   

The disposal of blood is an important part of the Mosaic Covenant. Killed animals were to have their blood drained into the ground and then covered with dust. In Ezekiel 24:6-8 Jerusalem is accused of shedding blood and then, after the bloodshed, they did not even dispose of the blood correctly.

First published August 19, 2025; updated August 19, 2025