Leviticus (Lesson Nine: Holiness and the Priesthood [Chapters 21-22])

Holiness to the Lord: A Survey of Leviticus

Lesson Nine: Holiness and the Priesthood (Chapters 21-22)

1. The Priesthood and the Need for Holiness (Chapter 21)

Throughout these chapters, there is a graduated emphasis on personal holiness; the priests must be holier than the rest of the holy people of God, Israel; and the High Priest is to be holier than the priests. Note the similarities to the tabernacle: the Courtyard, into which ritually clean Israelites could enter; the Holy Place, into which only priests could enter; and the Most Holy Place, into which the High Priest alone could enter, once a year. So today, it is of utmost importance that we, who have been made a nation of priests, be markedly holier in heart and action than the world, lest we profane (make to appear unholy) the Name of our God (1 Pet. 2:9); there is an even severer standard of holiness for our elders and teachers (cf. James 3:1); but our great High Priest, Jesus Christ, is Most Holy, completely undefiled by sin (Heb. 7:26-28). Hence, the same threefold gradation is at work today.

Last week we saw the frequent refrain “I am the Lord your God”; in these two chapters, we see another frequent refrain: “I am the Lord who sanctifies you”. We must be holy for it is God who sets us apart to himself, and makes us holy. This means at least two things: if we are not pursuing holiness, we are resisting the will and work of God (cf. 1 Thes. 4:3); but if we are resisting God, our cause is hopeless (cf. Dan. 4:35)! Either we will submit, and his will of perfect holiness will be delightfully accomplished in our lives (cf. James 4:6-10), or we will be destroyed in our rebellion, and God will display his holiness in his just judgment of us (cf. Lev. 10:3; Isa. 5:15-16; Rev. 15:1-4). The second principle we may draw is that, since God is identifying us with himself, therefore, to the extent we are not holy, we are profaning God’s name, and making it appear unholy. When the first petition of the Lord’s prayer is for God’s name to be regarded as holy, and our own actions are uniquely able to make it appear unholy, how audacious a blow it is against God’s great purposes to allow unholiness to go unchecked in our lives!

First of all, we see holiness enjoined upon the priests in a twofold way: they must be separated from death, that most outstanding effect of sin, beyond the requirement of the rest of the people, and hence could not even show signs of mourning for the dead, except their immediate family; and second, they could not marry a prostitute or divorced woman (and they could not allow their daughters to go into prostitution, either). If we as Christians are all a nation of priests, we must keep holy by not entering into marriage with unbelievers (2 Cor. 6:14-18), and we must be separate from all that is actually tainted by sin (although we are no longer bound by ceremonial obligations to avoid dead bodies, etc.).

Second, we see even stricter commandments enjoined upon the High Priest: he could not show mourning over the death even of his father and mother (although it is implied he could for his wife, who is one flesh with him, cf. the striking nature of the sign of Ezekiel, himself a priest, Ezek. 24:15-19). Furthermore, he could only marry a virgin (not even a widow or rape victim) of his own family clan. As the High Priest is a type of Christ, this teaches that he became one of us, our own brother (Heb. 2:11-18), to take us as a pure and spotless “virgin” bride (Eph. 5:25-27, cf. Rev. 14:4-5); and that it was for us alone that he, who is Life itself and separated from all sin, “touched” death, became for us sin and all its effects, so that we might be made utterly holy to the Lord. The perfect fulfillment of our refrain “I am the Lord who sanctifies you,” is Jesus our Great High Priest, who in his High-Priestly prayer petitioned the Father, “And for them I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified by the truth” (John 17:19).

Finally, we are told that no man with any physical disfigurement could serve as a priest. This teaches us, primarily, that our greater High Priest, Jesus, was utterly perfect and free from all sin and stain of any kind whatsoever; but secondarily, it reminds us that we who have any disfigurement from sin may never come into God’s Holy Temple (cf. Rev. 21:7-8; 22:14-15). Let us apply to Christ now for true cleansing and healing; for he showed in his life of healing all diseases and cleansing all impurities that he is able to do an even greater work, and heal us from disfigurements of the spirit (Mat. 9:1-8); and unless we find healing and cleansing in him, we cannot dwell with him in the new heavens and the new earth, where he himself is the temple (Rev. 21:22).

2. The Sacrifices and the Need for Holiness (Chapter 22)

This chapter underscores the holiness of the sacrifices. God himself was conveyed to his people when they ate the sacrifices, so if the priests ate them when defiled by any disease or uncleanness, they would be cut off, not just from the people, as the phrase is usually employed, but from God’s own presence. Furthermore, no lay person could eat of the holy sacrifices. If even the holy, sacrificial flesh of bulls and goats was so sacred, what will become of us, if we approach the body and blood of the Lamb of God with irreverence or unholiness in our hearts, or if we dare to partake of the Lord’s table in unbelief (1 Cor. 11:27-31)? If the Lord truly nourishes our hearts and promises his very presence to guide and sustain us until we come into his Kingdom, when he gives us the bread and wine in remembrance of him, then what will become of us if we despise or mistreat this great gift?

A lay person (non-priest) could not eat of the holy things, yet David and his men ate of them and were guiltless (1 Sam. 21:5-6); this is because he was a type of Jesus who became the true Bread from heaven for his followers, who feed upon him. Think of Jesus’ line of argument in Mat. 12:1-9: the Temple [which was a type of Christ] is greater than strict observance of the Sabbath, so when there was a temple-demand to mark someone a covenant member of God’s family, it trumped Sabbath laws; so how much more could Jesus, the greater Temple, bring true healing and life on the Sabbath? In the same way, David [who was a type of Christ] gave holy bread to his followers, trumping the laws we find here in Lev.; so how much more could Christ, the greater David, fulfill this example and give us the true heavenly bread of his body, even though we were strangers and exiled from the covenant?

Because the typical flesh of these sacrifices was so holy, it is emphasized once again that the sacrificial animals had to be holy and utterly without blemish, with one exception for very minor defects in freewill (but not vow) peace offerings. Thus, we are taught of the utter perfection of Christ our true sacrificial lamb (1 Peter 1:19), but encouraged that, even though in this life our sacrificial service for him (cf. Rom. 12:1-2; Ecc. 9:7-8) will not always be utterly perfect, yet he will accept it for Christ’s sake. We must, however, be striving to offer God only our very best (cf. Mal. 1:8-14)!

Sacrificial animals had to be at least eight days old, perhaps because the symbolic significance of the number eight (the day of Christ’s resurrection) showed that they were pointing to a new era, that the true accomplishment of what they signified would usher in a new age.

3. Discussion Questions

Why the prohibition of sacrificing a mother and its young on the same day (cf. Ex 23:19; Deut. 22:6)? Why could a sacrifice of thanksgiving not be eaten even on the second day, whereas other peace offerings could not remain until the third day (cf. Theodoret)?

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