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#77.
Leviticus. Some phases of holiness.
pp. 105 - 109
The laws enumerated in Leviticus were all given by the Lord from Mount Sinai. This
is plainly stated four times. At the end of chapter 7:, where the five great offerings are
detailed, we read:--
"This is the law of the burnt offering, of the meat offering, of the sin offering, and of
the trespass offering, and of the consecrations, and of the sacrifice of the peace offering;
which the Lord commanded Moses in Mount Sinai, in the day that He commanded the
children of Israel to offer their oblations unto the Lord, in the wilderness of Sinai"
(Lev. 7: 37, 38).
Again at the beginning of 25: and end of 27: we read:--
"And the Lord spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai."
"These are the commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of
Israel in Mount Sinai."
Throughout the book there are indications that Israel are living in camp. Both the
incidents that break into the narrative, namely, that of Nadab, and that of the blasphemer
(chapters 10: and 24:), speak of the camp, and their very introduction indicates that the
actual giving of the law was in progress.
The time occupied in the giving of the law in Leviticus is just one month. This is
discovered by referring to the following:--
"And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first day of the
month, that the tabernacle was reared up" (Exod. 11: 17).
"And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of the
congregation, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they were
come out of the land of Egypt" (Numb. 1: 1).
Under the shadow of the law and its threatenings, therefore, was given this gracious
typical provision for sin. The laws of Leviticus come with the same divine authority as
the ten commandments of Exod. 20: The book of Leviticus contains more of the spoken
words of God than any other, and while we do not intend by this statement to imply that
it is more inspired than the rest of Scripture, nevertheless, the fact should give pause to
any waverer who listens to the critic who relegates the whole to later times, and speaks of
it as a pious forgery. Leviticus, moreover, is quoted in forty places in the N.T. and these
quotations are not confined to one section, but are found in the four Gospels, the Acts,
Hebrews, Peter, James, Jude, Revelation, I and II Corinthians, Galatians, Romans,
Ephesians and Colossians.
The fundamental basis of the book is holiness, and it is no exaggeration to say that
holiness is implied in every law, every ordinance and every offering. Qadosh, "holy",