Leviticus (Chapters 3-5)

Leviticus 3–5 gives instructions for the peace offering and the sin offering. The peace offering was brought as an offering to the Lord, and portions were shared according to God’s command. The sin offering addressed unintentional sins committed by priests, leaders, or the people. These chapters show that sin required atonement and that God provided a way for His people to be restored through the sacrifices He commanded.

Transcript

Welcome And Leviticus Preview

Phil Porter 0:00

You're listening to Teach Me the Bible podcast. Our mission is to help the people of God understand the Word of God. Join us each Monday and Thursday for new episode releases. Listen to our full library of content at teachmethebible.com or by downloading the Teach Me the Bible app from any app store. You're listening to Teach Me the Bible Podcast. Hey everybody, welcome back to Teach Me the Bible Podcast. I'm here with Dr. David Klingler, and today we are uh going to continue in the book of Leviticus. Um some have called it, or just me, Snooz Leviticus. And uh, but that is just a light, funny term because no one, everybody, you uh normally, you know, it seems like when you get to this book, it's just it's you just kind of skip over it. Um but if you have viewed in previously to these two uh podcasts, you'll realize that there's a lot more here than you would ever think. Uh one being on the point that uh if you had a red letter version uh book of the old testament where God would speak, this would be a lot. And the first seven chapters actually is God just giving instruction to Moses. And so we're gonna actually continue with that today. Last last week we did chapters one and two, but today we're gonna start at chapter three, and God is still speaking to Moses, and uh you're gonna walk us

How Leviticus Is Organized

Phil Porter 1:28

through what he's doing.

Dr. David Klingler 1:28

Yeah, so the you know, we've got we as you said, chapters um one and two we did last time, chapters three and four we'll do this time. Uh but the chapters uh in Leviticus are put there kind of where the topic breaks are, the different types of sacrifices, and so that's how they've they've chosen to divide it. But really the the whole section, all the way down to the end of really chapter seven. Uh let me just look down here and double check. All the way down uh into uh into chapter uh seven, um at the end of chapter seven is kind of the summary of these sacrifices, and we mentioned this last time. This is the law of the burnt offerings, the grain offering, the sin offering, guilt offering, ordination offering, and the sacrifice of peace offering, which the Lord commanded Moses at Mount Sinai. And so um if we uh I I color coat, I'm I'm making the habit of of color coding uh my Old Testament Hebrew Bible, um, so that I can see it. It really gives a color picture of how the text is functioning. So um if you're watching the video or you've seen me teach online, you'll see that some of it's green, and the green is is kind of the narrator's talking and telling the story. This happened, and then this happened, and then this happened. And then there's uh red, and we call that in Hebrew preterite for those of who are interested, or or a viictal is the term for you know different Hebrew folks. Um, or uh red, the narrator interrupts the story to make a point, uh disjunctive clause. It's uh now you need to know this. Now back to the story, right? That type of function. And then the blue is a quote, when a character is quoting. The narrator says something like, and this is you know in Leviticus 1:1, then uh the Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the ten of meeting, saying, quote. Now there aren't quotation marks in Hebrew Bible. Um the grammatical construction changes. That's how you know that someone's talking. And also the you know, the the word uh the uh saying, you know, he said saying, and so then the grammatical construction changes. And so all of chapter one, two, and three is one long quote. We chopped it up. Last time we kind of interrupted the middle of the quote. In chapter four, uh there's one verse that is back to the narrator speaking. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, right? So that's all that's all it is, and then there's another long quote, and this is going to go all the way down to 514, and then the same phrase by the narrator is stated. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, And so he said, you know, the Lord said this to Moses, and then the Lord said this to Moses, and then the Lord said this to Moses. Um, that's 5.14, 520, the same thing. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying 6.1, the Lord spoke to Moses saying 612, the Lord spoke to Moses saying 617, and then 728. Right? So all of those are just a narrator quick comment, and then the Lord said to Moses, saying, and then the quotes continue. So all the way through here is a continuous quote. Um, just summarizing what we've said uh in the the the past podcast. And um, and every time we say this all the time in all the different books, you know, we're chopping it up, we shouldn't, but we can't make a podcast that runs from Genesis to 2nd Kings and covers it all. It would I I guess maybe we could just you just stop listening and pick it up where you know uh and that may be a better way to do it, you know. But or or a uh maybe a 50,000 foot overview. Yeah, but even the 50,000 foot overview, it it'd be like reading the plot, you know, like uh whenever I'm gonna watch a movie, I you you have the tile there and it kind of gives the brief synapsis of the of the plot, but that's not that doesn't tell you if the if the movie's any good. Yeah, you're right. You know, so uh and so you've got to get down into the details of it. And um, and so so in chapter three, we're we're kind of in the middle of uh of Moses's

Peace Offering And Shared Meal

Dr. David Klingler 6:00

uh you know, the Lord's instruction to Moses. Um and in chapter one, uh he has talked about burnt offerings, chapter two, then the grain offering, and then chapter three, and then again they're dividing this by topics, uh the peace offering. Now, uh if his offering, so when a man comes to the Lord, if his offering is a sacrifice of peace offering, um he shall offer it out of the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without defect before the Lord. He'll lay his hands on the head of his offering and slay it at the doorway of the tent of meeting, and Aaron and the sons of priests will sprinkle the blood on the altar. There's a lot of this that's going to be repeated over and over and over. The uh a lot of the process is the same. Um, the the the peace offering, uh, you know, when we look at kind of where does the the peace offering uh the the story I'm reminded of is back in chapter 26 of Genesis. This is when uh Abimelech is encountering Isaac um and um and they make a covenant. This is, we'll pick it up in chapter 26, verse 26 of Genesis. Then Abimelech came to him from Jaar, came to Isaac, uh, with his advisor, uh Azuath and uh Philkol, the commander of his army, and Isaac said to them, Why have you come to me since you hate me, and you have uh sent me away from you? And they said, We plainly see that the Lord uh has been with you. So we said, Let there now be an oath between us, between you and between us, and let us make a covenant with you, that you will not do us any harm, and uh just as we have not touched you, uh and have not done anything good uh but good, uh, and have sent you away in peace. That's our word, peace, shalom. Um you are now blessed of the Lord. Then he made a feast, and they ate and drank. In the morning they arose early, they exchanged oaths, then Isaac sent them away and departed from him in peace. Um in uh in the book of Leviticus, this is the only offering that the actual one who's doing the offering gets to partake in. And we'll see this. Uh this is gonna be um discussed here in chapter three, and then also in chapter seven. And so we'll get some further instruction in uh in chapter seven. Um, all the others you offer it, sacrifice, the priest can partake in some of these offerings, but not the the one who's making the offering. But here uh it uh it is different. Um and so it uh is more of a fellowship offering, communion offering, you know. Um you know, you're at peace with God, that that type of uh thing. Um you know it um it sometimes it accompanies like an oath or something like that, or a a promise, or just thanksgiving, right? Just giving thanks to the Lord. So these are the uh this is what's going on here. Uh verse uh three, the sacrifice shall be presented um uh uh by fire to the Lord, the fat that covers the entrel and all the fat that covers. Remember the the fat goes back to Genesis chapter four, uh, and as we've said uh you know several times, whenever a concept enters into the plot, it relates or enters into the story, it relates to the plot, right? And so back in chapter four, when um when Abel brings a sacrifice to the Lord, uh a mincah, an offering to the Lord from the firstborns and from their fat portions, um, and it was an acceptable offering um to the Lord. Moses says that the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering, but for Cain and for his offering he had no regard. And um uh and so the uh in chapter four sits in contract in context of chapter three. Back in chapter three, the Lord has provided a an offering, a covering for Adam's sin. And so this carries this this context along. And so the fat portion is gonna be holy unto the Lord all the way through the story, and we're gonna get places later where you know sons of Eli, for example, I think we've talked about this, um, they're going to eat the fat portion. It is prohibited, uh, and the Lord's going to uh not be happy with them. And we're gonna see what happens to them when we get to that that story. Uh last time we introduced uh um Aaron's sons offering strange fire. We're gonna get to that story. So so all of this detail is very important to the priest, to Israel, uh, and how they were to do it, right? All the details were very important, um lest you know, you know, they they get themselves in crossways with the Lord and He He wipes them out. So um, so it goes through the same uh, you know, if it's from the uh, you know, if the if the sacrifice is from the flock, uh if it is a lamb, this is how it's to be offered. Uh same thing. If uh peace offering is offering with fire, it's fat, its entrels, um he shall um remove all of it, the all that is close to the backbone, all the fat that covers the entrals, all the fat that covers uh the entrals, the two kidneys, the fat that's on them, uh that which is on the loins, the lobe of the uh liver, uh all uh you know, he shall remove all the kidneys. And and so this is all um very uh explicit instruction. If his offering is a goat, verse uh twelve, um he shall offer it before the Lord, lay his hand on it, slay it at the tent of meeting, uh Aaron shall sprinkle its blood on the altar, um, and again talks about the the fat and all that. Uh it is to be, verse 17, a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all of your dwellings, uh you shall not eat any of the fat or any of the blood. Um and this is going to be repeated throughout all of the uh the the sacrifices.

Unintentional Sin Versus Rebellion

Dr. David Klingler 12:17

Um the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, chapter four, verse one, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, if any man sins unintentionally in any of the things uh which the Lord has commanded not to be done, uh, and commits any of them. Okay, now we this is a pretty important um uh point that we need to make here. There's there's the unintentional sin, you know, I I didn't know, right? Um, and then there's the sin with the high hand, and these two are going to be kind of contrasted. The sin with the high hand says, I don't care, right? Um, and there's debate about what the sin with the high hand means. Is it like uh, you know, kind of shaking your fist at uh at the Lord, or is it uh, you know, you know kind of making a I don't care vow, you know. I don't care what you say, I'm not doing it. Um it's open rebellion. It is uh it is intentional open rebellion against the Lord. Uh and for that there is no forgiveness, forgiveness of sin. But here uh there is. Uh then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, if any person uh sins uh unintentionally, uh you know, the the um the word here unintentional, it's uh it's an interesting uh interesting uh word for sure. Uh it's um it has to do with like uh to go astray, right? To to wander away or to go uh to go astray. Um you know, so you you're just you kind of got off course and you didn't know what you were doing. Maybe that's something like that. They but they tend to um translate it, all the translators, all the commentators tend to associate this word with you know with kind of unintentional. It's an unintentional sin. Um he commits any of the things which the Lord has commanded him not to be done, and uh any commits any of them. And if the anointed priest sins so as to bring guilt on the people, let him offer to the Lord a bull without defect as a sin offering for the sin he has committed. He shall bring the bull to the doorway to the tent of meeting before the Lord, he shall lay its hand on his head of the bull and shall slay the bull before the Lord. Then the anointed priest is to take some of the blood of the bull and bring it out to the tent of meeting, um, and the the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before the Lord in front of the veil of the sanctuary. The priest shall also put some of the blood on the horns of the altar, of fragrance uh of fragrant incense, uh which is before the Lord in the tent of meeting, and all the blood of the bull shall be poured out at the base of the altar, the burnt offering which is at the doorway, the tent of meeting. And he shall remove from it all the fat of the bull of the sin offering, just like he does for the rest, the fat of the entrals, and all the fat on the entrels and the kidneys and and the the the lobe of the liver, remove the kidneys. Um and uh just as he's removed the ox for the sacra the sacrifice for the peace offerings. Um and the priest is to offer them up in smoke on the altar of the burnt offering, verse 10, now verse eleven. Uh but the height of the bull and all of its flesh and all of its head and all of its legs and all of its entrels and all of its ret refuse, that is, all the rest of the bull, he is to bring out to a clean place outside of the camp where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on the wood uh w uh on uh wood with fire, where the ashes are poured out, it shall be burned. Now if the whole congregation of Israel commits error in the manner that escapes the notice of the assembly, and they commit any of the things which the Lord has commanded them not to be done, and they become guilty. Uh when the sin which they have commit, uh committed becomes known, they shall assemble they'll do the same thing, assemble uh the bull from the herd as a sin offering and bring it before the tenant meeting, and the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull, uh, and the bull shall be slain. The anointed priest shall bring it and do the uh do the same thing. Um twenty-two. When a leader sins and unintentionally does any of the things which the Lord his God has commanded them uh not to be done, and he becomes guilty if his son a sin has been committed, is made known to him, and this is the this is always how the unintentional sin becomes known. Um now this is going to intersect with our New Testament theology and also the the Great Commandments, right? You know, the Ten Commands and then the two Great Commands. Love the Lord you God with all of your heart. How do you do that? Well, you you know, one of the ways you do it is to approach him as he has required. A second is to love your neighbor as yourself uh as yourself, or um and so what happens if you see your brother sinning? Um what it would it look like to love your brother? Well what you don't say is, you know how do people say it today, you do you and I'll do me. Yeah, that's not acceptable. Um or to each his own, that's that's not acceptable. No, you because you love your brother, you are to go and to approach him and to make known to him right his unintentional sin. You know, he just doesn't know any better. Um you know, and and gosh, we could probably talk quite a bit about this in the church. I I don't uh think that for the most part, I mean generally speaking, I don't think people uh operate out of evil intent. I think more often in church and the way we approach the Lord um and what we do is out of just not knowing. They don't know the word of the Lord and they haven't been taught it. Um and so you know this is why it's so important that the leaders know the scriptures. Um and what do you do in the New Testament if your leader, if the elder is, you know committed some sin or some error, what do you do? Well, you go to him and then you take two or three. Uh and and so it's the same thing. It's it's uh uh it is uh make known to the leader or to the brother their unintentional sin so that they can address it because you're looking out for them, right? Then they know. And so um if you um you know if you confront your brother and you win him over, well that's a great thing, right? Uh so it's not okay just to ignore it. Um no more than it's okay to ignore your brother's ox that has gotten away. Um uh and so uh so I I find this to be really helpful. And it ties right to New Testament theology and really to the character of God and what the individual is called to do. When a leader sins and is unintentionally does any of the things which the Lord has commanded him not to be done, and he becomes guilty, and if his sin, which he has committed, is made known to him. Verse 23, he shall bring his offering and do the same thing. The priest will take some of the blood, and that we go through this same process. Verse 27, if anyone of the you know, they translate it of the common people, right? If anyone sins unintentionally in doing any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, and becomes guilty, and if his sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring his offering uh a goat, a female without defect, for the sin which he's committed, and they go through the same process. Uh and it talks about all the different things uh that um uh you know that that is repeated over and over and over, all of the same offerings. So there's the there's the the the peace offering, uh there's the uh the the unintentional sin, the the the offering uh for the unintentional sin, the sin offering. Uh, and then in chapter five, we just continue right on into chapter five, uh the guilt offering. Uh if any person sins after he hears, uh you know the you know, the judge uh renders a verdict. When he is a witness, whether he has uh seen or known, and he does not tell it, then he shall bear his guilt. Um uh you know, this is this appears to be uh in reference to uh let's say that uh uh you know some uh uh a judge evidence a case is heard and the the you know the the decree is made known and you violate it or you go against it, something like that. Or if a per a person touches any unclean thing, whether a carcass of an unclean beast or a carcass of any unclean cattle or carcass of any unclean swarming thing, the things that were prohibited for Israel to touch, the things that would make them unclean. And if you were unclean, then you could not enter the camp, um, and you certainly couldn't approach the Lord. Then they needed to have provision for that. Uh if any uh man touches uh human uncleanness, any sort of uncleanness which makes him unclean, and it is hidden from him, uh then he uh comes to know. it, he will be guilty. And if the person uh swears thoughtlessly is uh uh swears uh this is the the the word for to to to make a uh to uh to make a vow right uh um if any person uh swears thoughtlessly or maybe any person uh makes a vow thoughtly maybe that's it with his lips to do uh evil or to do good or whatever matter a man may speak thoughtlessly with an oath and it is hidden from him then it comes known to him he is uh he will be guilty of one of these so it shall be that when he becomes guilty of one of these he shall confess uh that which he has sinned and he shall bring the guilt offering to the Lord for his sin which he's committed and again this goes back to well how's he you know how is it made known to him or how does he come to realize it well this is the function of of the brother um so often we talk about our individual walk um and there's certainly a need for that um but there's also the need to walk with one another to hold one another accountable to you know you know people see things that we don't see right and so hey what are you doing you know yeah and that's that's helpful thank you I didn't see that right uh and so he's to bring his guilt offering uh verse six um of the female of the flock uh a lamb or a goat for a sin offering and the priest shall make atonement for uh on his behalf if he cannot afford a lamb then he shall bring uh the offering of his guilt offering uh the that which he has sent two turtle doves or two young pigeons one for a sin offering the other for a burnt offering uh this is uh interesting little uh detail here so that uh the authors I have a student uh who has said and I I I think this is right that that authors don't show you uh storytellers don't show you they they or they don't tell you they show you right so so um in the New

Guilt Offering And Hidden Uncleanness

Dr. David Klingler 24:15

Testament in the story Luke's story Luke is setting this contrast between the rich and the poor those who are rich physically and financially um and those who are poor physically financially um but they are rich spiritually right uh and so Mary is being presented as being poor poor of spirit blessed are the poor of spirit that type of thing um but um but in uh in chapter two eight days had passed before uh his circumcision talking about the circumcision of Jesus his name was called Jesus uh his name was given by the angel before she uh he was conceived in the womb this was recorded back in chapter one and when the days uh for the purification according to the law of Moses were completed they brought uh him up to Jerusalem to present him before the Lord as it is written in the law of the Lord every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy unto the Lord uh and uh to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the law of the Lord a pair of turt two uh turtle doves or two young pigeons now uh that was only to provision if someone was poor um which apparently Mary then was kind of doesn't bode well for the health and wealthy guys but but anyway um uh and so there was provision for if you know if you were poor then they were to bring uh you know to uh you know these these birds uh for the sacrifice uh and uh and the the instruction was then given so all the way down through here uh so the priest shall make atonement concerning his sin concerning the one he's committed and it shall be forgiven and the priest shall uh it shall become uh the priests like the grain offering so uh as we've said um all of these offerings were offered the part holy unto the Lord and then the rest of it was a provision uh and care for the priests um in their um in their service uh and so um then down in chapter five verse fourteen then the Lord spoke to Moses again saying if a person acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally against the Lord's holy things then he shall bring his guilt offering to the Lord the ram without defect um according to the valuation of the silver and shekels and the uh shekels in the sanctuary for a guilt offering and he shall make restitution for that which he has sinned against the holy thing and he shall add a fifth part of it and give it to the priest and the priest shall then make atonement uh for him and for the ram of the guilt offering all uh it will all be forgiven of him and if a person sins and does anything which the Lord has commanded him not to be done though he is unaware still he is guilty and shall bear his punishment. Now um this is so important um it's not sin because you're aware of it it's sin because it violates the character of God um whether you're aware of it or not um and so it is not sin because it's sinful to you it is sin because it's a sin in the eyes of the Lord so often what happens in our Bible interpretation is um we say well that's just not my view or I don't think that's such a bad deal or I don't have a problem with that and and that's not the point. You're not evaluated by your view your understanding your moral compass your view of right and wrong or good and evil or beauty and ugly or or you think how the world should go right um you don't determine what is good and right or evil and wrong it is the Lord uh and so um this is something that I think that we would do well to recognize in the church today we we don't get to just do what we want when we want to do it and say well I'm okay with it or more often well you know what used to be acceptable or what used to be sin isn't sin anymore. The culture has changed days have changed the time has changed come on man get with the times right quit being so um old-minded right um but if any person sins and does anything which the Lord has commanded him not to be done though he is still unaware he is guilty and shall bear his punishment right I didn't know isn't an excuse now um we talked about earlier um I think that people generally speaking don't open uh operate in high-handed I don't care what the Lord says open rebellion of sin. Certainly there are some who do right um but more generally I think uh people just operate out of ignorance not it it's not a statement on their mental capacities it's they don't know they don't know what they don't know and they haven't been taught they're untaught and untrained therefore unstable and are easily led astray by false teachers and by our culture right uh and they become calloused to or indifferent to what's good and right in the eyes of the Lord um uh and and so this isn't any new concept this is it goes back to Old Testament Israel this is part of the human condition we want to define good and evil right and wrong in our eyes not in the eyes of the Lord um and um so if this happens chapter five verse eighteen he is to bring to the priest a ram without an effect from the flock according to the valuation for the guilt offering so the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his heir which he sinned unintentionally and he did not know it and he will be forgiven him if his guilt offering uh if it is a guilt offering uh he certainly is guilty before the Lord so

God’s Standard And Christ’s Fulfillment

Dr. David Klingler 30:50

he was certainly guilty before the Lord so again how do you become aware of unintentional sin well this is why it was so important that these laws statutes ordinances be taught to the people so that they would know ignorance didn't excuse them from their sin. Yeah uh and so it is with us today right not knowing isn't a good excuse um the scriptures we have the scriptures they've been passed down to us they've been translated into all of our languages yeah um and um and unfortunately we're just not teaching the Bible anymore in so many of our churches um or we are watering down or arguing that well that was cultural that was then but the question comes back to does the character of the Lord change we talked about this last time it's this um attribute uh in you know in theology proper we would call this the attribute of of God's immutability his he's his unchanging character um the standard is the standard and it doesn't move uh with culture it doesn't move with the times uh he is the same today tomorrow and forevermore so so I think that this is a important concept that we lay hold of and uh and we remind our people of it again right um well I didn't know isn't an excuse no more than it's it was an excuse at my house when I was a kid growing up yeah or I didn't think you were serious about that rule okay well it turns out you know mom was yeah or whatever you know so uh there we're going through here and we're we're making provision for all of the sins of Israel so that they could encounter have the Lord in their midst that they could draw near to the Lord uh and that he would go with them they would be his people and he would be their God okay well um as we walk through this there are still some more uh chapters like next time we're still going to get into the Lord spoke to Moses saying and so remember that we're continuing right along um don't miss that uh this is not different sections in podcast we always say that all the time and in fact it's very important that you continue with it because he's instructing them and so uh you know and and like you said like you said earlier in podcast remember this was to Israel okay so don't put yourself in this thing and don't start raising cattle and doing all this stuff you know like this is not something there praise God that he sent his son that he was the once for all sacrifice yeah that that that's that's well said and and so when we look down at chapter sa the end of chapter seven right he christ is the provision for our burnt offering our sin offering our guilt offering our ordination our sac our you know our unintentional sins you know he has uh pay made the once for all payment past present and future um so sins are paid for through Christ's work but it's still sin we we don't just delete sin correct we acknowledge it right and it's only through acknowledgement of our sin and uh you know that we can uh draw near to the Lord through the sacrifice of his son uh and so uh some things you know the the manner of sacrifice uh you know has changed Christ has made the once for all sacrifice uh but the gravity of sin still needs to to affect us yeah and I think that was well said and in uh when you talked about it before just even just being aware that even even anyone that would say this may be older or this has been replaced or this isn't the way it is anymore those types of things should always be held almost to the fire against what does the word of the Lord say?

Phil Porter 35:10

What does his character say? And that would be that's a great understanding even application out of here for this podcast and even to evaluate in your own life uh measuring everything against the word of the Lord and uh against his word and um and I think that's just it's such a great reminder you know that sin isn't this light thing it's a very real thing. And uh and obviously we see here the Lord does not want it in his midst. Right. And um and praise the Lord that you know I'll praise God that he sent Christ to be that once for all uh not covering but payment. Yeah taking away yeah that's crazy. So um we're gonna continue in six and seven right along uh starting a next podcast this has been incredibly helpful and if you thought you were listening to Leviticus and thought you were gonna fall asleep well you you got another thing coming this is pretty cool and so thank you again for teaching today and again as always our mission is to help the people of God understand the word of God. So we'll see you next time. For more resources visit teachmethebible.com or download our app from any app store you can partner with Teach Me the Bible in helping the people of God understand the word of God by subscribing and sharing with others. Thank you for listening to Teach Me the Bible podcast