May 17, 2025
Leviticus is all about how Yahweh’s people are to live. They were to be a separate people - different from the nations that surrounded them. Why?
God is holy. His people were called to represent him and in order for them to be successful, they must also be holy – set apart – different.
Understanding the answer to that question is important – not only because of what God asked of Israel but also because of what He asks of us.
The 1st 10 chapters of Leviticus were devoted to things connected to the Tabernacle.
We learned that blood is the foundation of holiness. Being Justified and Set Apart begins with substitutionary sacrifice.
We also learned, through the consecration of the priests, that it is God who sets us apart for his service. He does the calling. He does the cleansing. He does the work of transformation.
Chapter 11 introduces a new section. What we will discover is that holiness did not end in the spiritual realm, i.e., the priesthood or things directly related to the Tabernacle. Holiness also had to do with how people related to God in their daily lives - beginning with what they put in their mouths (Also see Deut. 14:3-21 and the Jewish Kosher Food List):
Land:
Clean/Permitted
V 3 - You may eat any animal that has a split hoof completely divided and that chews the cud:
Ox --- Sheep --- Goat --- Deer --- Gazelle --- Roe Deer --- Wild Goat --- Mountain Goat --- Antelope --- Mountain Sheep
Unclean/Forbidden
V 4 & 27 - There are some that only chew the cud or only have a split hoof, but you must not eat them…. Of all the animals that walk on all fours, those that walk on their paws are unclean for you;
Camel ---- Horse ---- Rock Hyrax ---- Rabbit ---- Pig ---- Dogs ---- Cats ---- Wolves ---- Lions ---- Hyenas ---- Bears
Water:
Clean/Permitted
V 9 – Of all the creatures living in the water of the seas and the streams, you may eat any that have fins and scales:
Flounder ---- Cod ---- Haddock ---- Salmon
Unclean/Forbidden
V 10-11 – But all creatures in the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales-- whether among all the swarming things or among all the other living creatures in the water-- you are to detest. And since you are to detest them, you must not eat their meat and you must detest their carcasses.
Catfish ---- Sharks ---- Eels ---- Shrimp ---- Oysters ---- Lobster
Sky:
Clean/Permitted
Chicken ---- Duck ---- Geese ---- Turkey ---- Pigeon
Unclean/Forbidden
V 13 – These are the birds you are to detest and not eat because they are detestable:
Eagle ---- Vulture ---- Buzzard ---- Kite ---- Falcon (any kind) ---- Bat ---- Raven (any kind) ---- Ostrich ---- Owls (6 listed) Gull ---- Hawk (any kind) ---- Cormorant ---- Pelican ---- Osprey ---- Stork ---- Heron (any kind) ---- Hoopoe
Insects:
Clean/Permitted
V 21 – There are, however, some winged creatures that walk on all fours that you may eat: those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground.
Locust ---- Katydid ---- Cricket ---- Grasshopper
Unclean/Forbidden
V 20 – All flying insects that walk on all fours are to be detestable to you.
Creeping Things:
Unclean/Forbidden
V 29, 41-42, 44 – Of the animals that move about on the ground, these are unclean for you…. Every creature that moves about on the ground is detestable; it is not to be eaten. You are not to eat any creature that moves about on the ground, whether it moves on its belly or walks on all fours or on many feet; it is detestable…. I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves about on the ground.
Weasel --- Rat --- Mouse --- Great Lizard (any kind) --- Gecko --- Monitor Lizard --- Wall Lizard --- Skink --- Chameleon.
We could spend a lot of time discussing whether or not these dietary restrictions apply to us. Many people argue “no” because we understand germs, we cook our food more thoroughly and refrigeration keeps our food fresher longer.
However, these restrictions are not primarily about what you put in your mouth, so much as they are about holiness.
Leviticus 11:45-47 - I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy. "'These are the regulations concerning animals, birds, every living thing that moves in the water and every creature that moves about on the ground. You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between living creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten.'"
While there are health benefits related to these regulations, what God really wanted to reinforce was the truth that there must be separation between the common and the holy – and he gets to decide which is which.
We may not understand why He chose certain creatures as clean and others as unclean, but we are not called to understand, we called to obey.
1 Peter 1:14-17 - As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.
Leviticus 12-15 pertain to the regulations and purification processes surrounding a woman after she has given birth, skin diseases, mildew and bodily discharges.
Leviticus 17-20 were a part of Israel’s’ legal code. These laws were not just about justice, civil responsibility or ethical behavior, they were grounded in holiness.
God began by giving restrictions for where sacrifices could be made – only at the Tabernacle. Anyone who slaughtered their sacrifice at any other location would be cut off from among the people. Why?
Leviticus 17:11 - 'For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.'
As I have said before, everything associated with the Sanctuary System pointed to the ultimate atoning work of Jesus, including the blood sacrifices, THEREFORE the sacrifices were to be made within the context of that system - not any other system.
God also prohibited the eating of blood regardless of if it was for a sacrifice or not. Why?
• Eat/drink the blood of animals was a pagan practice
• Blood represented Atonement and belonged to God. It was not to be treated lightly or carelessly.
Leviticus 18:1-4 - Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'I am the LORD your God. You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you; you shall not walk in their statutes. 'You are to perform My judgments and keep My statutes, to live in accord with them; I am the LORD your God.’”
• No sex with a close relative including: your mother, your father’s wife, your sister, your father or mother’s daughter, your granddaughter, your father or mother’s sister, the wife of your uncle, daughter-in-law, your brother’s wife, both a woman and her daughter or her granddaughter.
• Do not take your wife's sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is living.
• No sex with a woman who is on her period
• No sex with your neighbor’s wife (death for both 20:10)
• Do not sacrifice your children to Molech (community shall stone them 20:2-5)
• No man on man sex
• No sex with animals
• A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it.
Leviticus 18:24-30 – “Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. Even the land was defiled; so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But you must keep my decrees and my laws. The native-born and the aliens living among you must not do any of these detestable things, for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you. Everyone who does any of these detestable things-- such persons must be cut off from their people. Keep my requirements and do not follow any of the detestable customs that were practiced before you came and do not defile yourselves with them. I am the LORD your God."
To make sure there is no doubt as to the foundation of these Laws, God repeats himself: Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. {Leviticus 19:2}
• Have reverence for your parents (20:9 - If you curse your parents, you should be put to death)
• Keep the Sabbath holy
• Don’t worship idols
• Care for the less fortunate
• Don’t steal
• Don’t deal falsely
• Don’t lie
• Don’t swear falsely by God’s name of profane God’s name
• Don’t oppress / rob your neighbor
• Don’t withhold wages
• Treat the disabled with respect
• Don’t be unjust in your judgments
• Don’t be partial to either the poor or the rich
• Judge fairly
• Don’t slander
• Don’t kill your neighbor
• Don’t hate your countryman in your heart
• Don’t seek vengeance
• Don’t bear a grudge
• LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF
• Don’t mate different kinds of animals
• Don’t plant your fields with 2 kinds of seeds
• Don’t wear clothing made with 2 kinds of material
• Don’t eat meat with the blood still in it
• Don’t cut the hair on the sides of your head or the edges of your beard
• Don’t practice soothsaying or divination (20:27 – must be stoned)
• Don’t cut yourself in mourning
• Don’t tattoo yourself
• Don’t turn your daughter into a prostitute
• Keep My Sabbath and revere My Sanctuary
• Don’t turn to mediums or spiritists (20:6 - My face is against him and he shall be cut off from the people)
• Honor your elders
• Treat the alien in your land with respect and love him as yourself (because you were aliens once in Egypt)
• Be fair and honest in your business dealings
Leviticus 20:7-8 - be holy, for I am the Lord your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am the LORD, who makes you holy.
Adultery…. Incest…. Homosexuality…. Bestiality…. All on the NO list with some pretty significant consequences.
Why?
Leviticus 20:23-26 - You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them. But I said to you, "You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey." I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the nations….. Thus, you are to be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.
Before we go down the very dangerous rabbit hole of thinking that all we need to do to be holy, then, is to create and adhere to a strict list of do’s and don’ts, let’s get this straight in our minds.
The laws of Leviticus didn’t MAKE Israel holy; they revealed what holiness looks like – the standard of God’s government.
The moral code of Leviticus separated Israel from the nations because it was designed to instill in the people God’s values = this is how God’s people live. They were to be holy because He is holy. They were to orient their lives to his moral principles, not to the principles of the idol-worshiping nations. It would be through that unique voluntary covenant relationship that the whole world would come into a saving knowledge of God. The nations would see, by example, what fidelity to God looked like (health, happiness, peace, security) and Israel would fulfil her mission to be a blessing to the whole earth.
That was then and this is now. In case we are tempted to think that those ancient laws no longer apply to us – Christians in the 21st century – think again.
Romans 12:1-2 - Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-- this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will.
1 Peter 2:9 - But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
• Ellen White {RH, May 16, 1907 par.4} - Holiness is constant agreement with God. Shall we not strive to be that which Christ so greatly desires us to be - Christians in deed and in truth - that the world may see in our lives a revelation of the saving power of truth? This world is our preparatory school. While here we shall meet with trials and difficulties. Continually the enemy of God will seek to draw us away from our allegiance. But while we cleave to him who gave himself for us, we are safe. The whole world was gathered into the embrace of Christ. He died on the cross to destroy him who had the power of death, and to take away the sin of every believing soul. He calls upon us to offer ourselves on the altar of service, a living, consuming sacrifice. We are to make an unreserved consecration to God of all that we have and are.
“When we abide in Christ, He produces obedience in us, not to be saved but because we are saved.”
Until Next Time…….
