Leviticus 6:8-7:38

Leviticus 6:8-7:38

The rest of Leviticus 6 as well as much of Leviticus 7 look into the second part of these offerings. Whereas the previous chapters discussed what the Israelites were to do when they brought these offerings, and what they were to bring to sacrifice, these chapters discuss the priest’s roles in the offerings. The offering was not just in their hands, it had to go through the priest. Again this showed how in the Old Testament, people did not have that direct link with God as we know it today. Yes, God provided for them, took care of them, and they could go to Him freely, but they had to go through the priest, offering a sacrifice to Him. In the New Covenant, there has only been one sacrifice, and it is good for all sins for all time. Jesus’ sacrifice was given once for all. Furthermore, He has become our eternal priest, and in a sense we go through Him to get to the Father. He is the only way to Heaven, and He serves a similar role as Aaron did, just better.

So in the Old Covenant, the priests had certain responsibilities as well. They had to know the instructions on how to perform each type of offering. They had to know what was considered lawful (or clean) and what was unlawful (or unclean). They were also punished when they broke the laws involved with these offerings/sacrifices. These men were chosen by God for a specific purpose in life, and they were expected to live up to that standard, paying very careful attention to following His commands. Again, the New Covenant has a much greater priest. Whereas the Old Covenant had priests who would unknowingly or willingly break the Law, the New Covenant gave us a superior priest who was perfect. It was this perfection that made His sacrifice so great as well. Leviticus can be a tough book to read through, but there are so many parallels between it and the life of Christ, and it can be helpful to see how these Laws were originally given so that we can understand the New Covenant better.

Leviticus 7 ends with a conclusion to all of the offerings. God gives the Israelites a few final commands about what they are allowed to touch and eat from these offerings, and what they are not allowed to touch or eat. He also told them what they were to offer to Aaron and the priests. Since the priests would daily be involved in sacrificing to the Lord, they would not have time to grow their own food or raise their own flocks and herds like the rest of Israel. So God provided for them through the sacrifice, setting aside part of the sacrifice for them to eat. These are a lot of rules and stipulations and can seem pointless to us today. I have already mentioned how we can see pieces of the New Covenant in some of these laws, but even when those parallels are not evident, try not to get bogged down in Leviticus. It may be hard to read, but it can be a very valuable book to study.

Matt