An overview and explanation of the book of Leviticus.

1. Overview of
Leviticus
Presented by Christopher R. Smith
To Capital City Vineyard, Lansing, Michigan
February 17, 2013

2. FACT:
Most attempts to read through the Bible
end in the book of Leviticus

3. Why?
• Because it’s not a story any more.
• Because the material comes from a strange and
unfamiliar culture.
So an overview of the book
will be helpful.

4. THE BOOK’S THEME STATEMENT
“ . . . so that you can distinguish between
the holy and the common,
between the unclean and the clean . . .”
(Leviticus 10:10)

5. THE ORDINARY STATE OF ANY CREATED THING
(represented by the thick circle):
Clean Common
CLEAN MEANS “WHOLE,” “UNIMPAIRED”
COMMON MEANS AVAILABLE FOR ORDINARY USE

6. Someone or something becomes holy
when it is set apart for a special purpose
Holy • Blood
• Sexual relations
• Priests
• Festival days
• Lamp oil
• Show bread
Clean + Common

7. The breaching of boundaries
makes something or someone unclean
and unavailable for a holy purpose
Clean + Common
• Eating certain foods
• Childbirth
• Skin disease, mold
• Discharges
Unclean

8. Someone or something that is holy is returned to
ordinary use by being redeemed (“bought back”)
Holy
Clean + Common

9. Redeem also means to “buy back” from slavery or exile
(Jesus has redeemed us in this other sense)
Community
Slavery, Exile

10. People and things move from
unclean to clean, and from common to holy,
through sacrifices:
Holy
Burnt Offering
Grain Offering
Fellowship Offering
Sin Offering
Guilt Offering
Clean Common Sin Offering
Fellowship Offering
Unclean

11. The chapters in Leviticus are organized by these topics:
Offerings
1 Burnt Offering Cleanness Holiness
2 Grain Offering 11 Foods 17 Blood Redemption
3 Fellowship Offering 12 Childbirth 18 Sexual Relations 25 Land & Slaves
4 Sin Offering 13-14 Skin Diseases 19 Holiness Laws 26 Exile
5 Guilt Offering and Mildew 20 Punishments 27 Vows
6 Sin Offering 15 Bodily Discharges 21-22 Priests
7 Fellowship Offering 23 Festivals
24 Oil & Bread
8-10 Ordination of
Priests 16 The Day of 24 A Holiness
Atonement Infraction
Between each group there is thematic material, e.g. Lev.10:10

12. TO HELP YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE IN THE BOOK,
LEVITICUS OFFERS FREQUENT SUMMARIES OF ITS CONTENT
“These, then, are the regulations for the burnt offering, the
grain offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the
ordination offering and the fellowship offering”(Leviticus 7:37)
“So Moses announced to the Israelites the appointed festivals
of the Lord” (Leviticus 23:44)

13. Though the book was written in a very different culture
from the American one, readers today can still meditate
on its themes of:
wholeness and integrity,
availability for God’s purposes,
being set aside for those purposes,
and joining in God’s work of redemption.

14. LEVITICUS:
YOU’RE GOING TO LOVE IT!