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    Leviticus: A 12-Week Study
    Leviticus: A 12-Week Study
    Leviticus: A 12-Week Study
    Ebook135 pages1 hour

    Leviticus: A 12-Week Study

    By Michael LeFebvre

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    About this ebook

    The Knowing the Bible series is a resource designed to help Bible readers better understand and apply God's Word. These 12-week studies lead participants through books of the Bible and are made up of four basic components: (1) reflection questions help readers engage the text at a deeper level; (2) "Gospel Glimpses" highlight the gospel of grace throughout the book; (3) "Whole-Bible Connections" show how any given passage connects to the Bible's overarching story of redemption, culminating in Christ; and (4) "Theological Soundings" identify how historic orthodox doctrines are taught or reinforced throughout Scripture. With contributions from an array of influential pastors and church leaders, these gospel-centered studies will help Christians see and cherish the message of God's grace on every page of the Bible.
    The book of Leviticus can be challenging for contemporary readers, but it has an important message for the modern church. Indeed, the laws outlined in this book are more than just archaic rules. Rather, they reveal the holiness of God and the forgiveness he offers to all who sincerely repent. In this accessible study, pastor Michael LeFebvre helps readers understand how the rituals in the Old Testament law point to Christ's work of atonement at the cross—highlighting the riches of the gospel for Christians today.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCrossway Books
    Release dateJun 14, 2016
    ISBN9781433547997
    Leviticus: A 12-Week Study
    Author

    Michael LeFebvre

    Michael LeFebvre (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is an ordained Presbyterian minister and an Old Testament scholar. He is also a fellow with the Center for Pastor Theologians. Michael and his wife, Heather, have five children and live in Indianapolis, Indiana.

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      Book preview

      Leviticus - Michael LeFebvre

      SERIES PREFACE

      KNOWING THE BIBLE, as the series title indicates, was created to help readers know and understand the meaning, the message, and the God of the Bible. Each volume in the series consists of 12 units that progressively take the reader through a clear, concise study of that book of the Bible. In this way, any given volume can fruitfully be used in a 12-week format either in group study, such as in a church-based context, or in individual study. Of course, these 12 studies could be completed in fewer or more than 12 weeks, as convenient, depending on the context in which they are used.

      Each study unit gives an overview of the text at hand before digging into it with a series of questions for reflection or discussion. The unit then concludes by highlighting the gospel of grace in each passage (Gospel Glimpses), identifying whole-Bible themes that occur in the passage (Whole-Bible Connections), and pinpointing Christian doctrines that are affirmed in the passage (Theological Soundings).

      The final component to each unit is a section for reflecting on personal and practical implications from the passage at hand. The layout provides space for recording responses to the questions proposed, and we think readers need to do this to get the full benefit of the exercise. The series also includes definitions of key words. These definitions are indicated by a note number in the text and are found at the end of each chapter.

      Lastly, for help in understanding the Bible in this deeper way, we would urge the reader to use the ESV Bible and the ESV Study Bible, which are available online at www.esvbible.org. The Knowing the Bible series is also available online. Additional 12-week studies covering each book of the Bible will be added as they become available.

      May the Lord greatly bless your study as you seek to know him through knowing his Word.

      J. I. Packer

      Lane T. Dennis

      WEEK 1: OVERVIEW

      Getting Acquainted

      Leviticus—the center book of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible)—reveals the heart of Old Testament law.¹ Portions of the law teach the holiness God requires of his people. Other portions teach the forgiveness God offers to restore sinners to holiness. The major focus of Leviticus is atonement,² God’s provision for forgiveness. Readers often find Leviticus difficult to understand since it is written in the language of ancient ritual, with rules about festivals, sacrifices, ritual washings, and the like. Nevertheless, rich lessons on the atonement offered through Christ will reward those who undertake its study.

      As we begin our study of Leviticus, it will help to bear in mind that ritual is acted theology. Rituals are prescribed actions whereby the Old Testament people of God expressed and passed on what they believed about sin³ and atonement. Their method of expressing faith (i.e., ritual) is unfamiliar to many modern readers; but as we explore the Levitical rites in this study, the truths confessed by Old Testament believers will become delightfully familiar to New Testament Christians.

      Reading Leviticus is like rummaging through an old chest in the attic. Though confronted with many strange items from a bygone era, the photos you encounter present faces of ancestors with a striking resemblance to your own. Likewise, the rituals of Leviticus are unfamiliar relics of a bygone era, but in them we discern the early outlines of the same gospel⁴ we cherish as Christians. (For further background, see the ESV Study Bible, pages 211–216; available online at www.esvbible.org.)

      Placing It in the Larger Story

      Leviticus is the third of the five Books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). Exodus brought the people out of Egypt to Mount Sinai, where the tabernacle was constructed. Numbers will take the people from Mount Sinai to the border of the Promised Land. Nestled in between those two books, Leviticus takes place during the course of one month at the foot of Mount Sinai (Ex. 40:17; Num. 1:1). It was the first month of the tabernacle’s operation, when the people learned lessons on communion with God, who dwelt in their midst. The book’s rich descriptions of sacrifices, moral holiness, and ritual purity provided ancient Israel with a gripping vision for living at one (at-one-ment) with God.

      The New Testament teaches that Jesus came to fulfill the atonement taught in the Old Testament law (Matt. 5:17). That means the rituals of the law should no longer be practiced (Heb. 8:13; 10:1), but it also means that we can gain insight into Christ’s work by studying those rituals (Luke 24:27). The Old Testament law (including Leviticus) is like the blueprints of a building: once the building is finished, its blueprints are no longer needed, but they are still useful for understanding the finished product. When we study these blueprints of atonement, we explore the riches of what Christ came to fulfill.

      Key Verse

      The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life (Lev. 17:11).

      Date and Historical Background

      It is not clear how soon Leviticus was written after the events it records. Scholars have advanced numerous theories concerning the production of the Pentateuch (including Leviticus), but there is no conclusive reason to question the testimony preserved within Scripture. Moses is identified in Leviticus itself as the one who received the laws from God contained in its pages, and Moses is elsewhere described as writing down various collections of the laws God gave at Mount Sinai (Ex. 24:4, 7; Deut. 31:9, 24). For these reasons, Moses has traditionally been recognized as the primary author of the entire Pentateuch, including Leviticus. That would mean Leviticus was originally written during Moses’ lifetime, in the fifteenth or thirteenth century

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