Hi James and Ellen,
Leviticus essentially means for the use of Levi tribal clan priests. The Leviticus Book is the operational manual for God’s specially chosen people’s priests. Israelite people group of guys and gals are God’s specially chosen guys and gals. The extended families of eleven sons of Jacob and the extended families of Joseph’s two sons make up the Israelite people group tribal clans. While Jacob was on a trip and as he was sleeping one night, Jacob was visited by an angel who began to literally wrestle with him. As Jacob was wrestling with the angel, Jacob apparently suffered a dislocated hip. Because of what happened while Jacob was wrestling with the angel, God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. Israel means wrestling with God. Jacob had twelve sons by four gals. Two of the gals – Leah and Rachel, were sisters. They both had a handmaiden. The two handmaidens each had two kids with Jacob. Laban was the dad of Leah and Rachel and an uncle of Jacob. When Jacob and Rachel met, they ‘fell in love’. But because Leah was older than Rachel and because allegedly the older gal was to be married before . . . Jacob – before he could marry Rachel, was tricked into marrying Leah. Jacob spent fourteen years working for his Uncle Laban so that he could marry Rachel. Jacob would spend another six years or so working for his Uncle Laban before he was finally able to return to his family home in the land of Canaan. The land of Canaan is the land area that God gave to the Israelite people group guys and gals to always have to live in as their very own land. Almost from the get-go when Abram was led by God to take his family and possessions to the land of Canaan – which is purportedly in 2091 B.C. or 4102 years ago; the land area of Canaan – which is smaller than New Jersey’s land area, has been a central site on planet Earth for conflicts. Your grandpaa thinks that it is probable that the land of Canaan has had more guys, gals and kids indiscriminately killed on it than on any other people group identifiable land area on planet Earth.
The legal and ritual worship paradigms that are recorded in Leviticus were given to Moses by God when God met with Moses on Mount Sinai not long after the Israelite people group guys, gals and kids began their forty year exodus from the country of Egypt to the land of Canaan. Jacob had 430 years earlier relocated his family from the land of Canaan to the country of Egypt where Joseph – who was Jacob’s second to the youngest son, had ended up providentially – after a couple of his bros tried to get rid of him, because of a devastating famine that left him and his family without food in the land of Canaan. Because God expected that His specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group guys and gals, to worship only Him, God – when He met Moses on Mount Sinai, passed on through Moses what became known as the Torah – which are the legal and ritual worship laws that God expected His specially chosen guys and gals to obey. Instead of having each tribal clan appoint guys to insure the proper implementation of a new worship paradigm that was centered solely on Him, God designated one of the Israelite people group tribal clans – the Levi tribal clan, to implement and enforce His life rules and worship regulations. Levi was the third son born to Leah and Jacob – and the third oldest of Jacob’s twelve sons. Moses’ tribal clan was the Levi tribal clan. Your grandpaa thinks that the reason that the Levi tribal clan got the nod from God to be the executors and caretakers of the Torah was because of Moses’ direct tie to the Levi tribal clan. Because Aaron was three years older than Moses, because Aaron apparently had oral communication skills that Moses claimed that he did not have and because Moses was the influence leader within the Israelite people group of guys and gals at this time, Aaron was named to be the Israelite people group’s first positioned high priest.
The Levitical Law or the Torah is composed of God formulated commands that the Israelite people group guys and gals were expected to faithfully conform to or else. God’s explicit instructions for His specially chosen guys and gals involved sacrifice norms that included detailed procedures for Levi tribal clan priests as they performed various kinds of burnt offerings, meal offerings, sin offerings and purification offerings after a God covenant directive had been defiled. Once the worship functionality had been clearly defined and established, God outlined the process for the consecration of priests who were to be from the Levi tribal clan and for the Levi tribal clan priesthood roles and tasks. God then identified what living creatures were clean or unclean with only the clean creatures to be sacrificed to Him or to be eaten. God then established hygiene rules for His specially chosen guys and gals to always obey or else. Because God knew that even though His expectations for His specially chosen guys and gals demanded total adherence – that because of an inherited sin nature His specially chosen guys and gals would invariably cave in to sinning, that an established Atonement Day ritual would enable His specially chosen guys and gals to start over in their relationship with Him. God also put in place penalties for the guys and gals who defied His ethical laws. The compilation of works driven functions or activities in the Leviticus Book’s 27 chapters did not keep God’s specially chosen guys and gals from living self-absorbent lives. The Leviticus Book does though introduce the substitutionary atoner – Jesus Christ, Who sacrificed His life for God’s specially elected guys, gals and kids to receive eternal life.
Leviticus