PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Leviticus
Kellogg, Samuel H. (Samuel Henry) · 176,791 words · 253 reading sections
Third Series.
Transcriber's note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). Text enclosed by equal signs is n boldface (=bold=). Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals. Variations in spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been retained except in obvious cases of typographical error. The cover f…
308 wordsSECTION 2Seventh Series.
Ecclesiastes. By the Rev. SAMUEL COX, D.D. St. James and St. Jude. By the Rev. A. PLUMMER, D.D. Proverbs. By the Rev. R. F. HORTON, D.D. Leviticus. By the Rev. S. H. KELLOGG, D.D. The Gospel of St. John. By Prof. M. DODS, D.D. Vol. I. The Acts of the Apostles. By Prof. STOKES, D.D. Vol. I. The Psalms. By t…
257 wordsSECTION 3Chapter Vii.
Daniel. By the Very Rev. F. W. FARRAR, F.R.S. The Book of Jeremiah. By Prof. W. H. BENNETT, D.D., D.Lit. Deuteronomy. By Prof. ANDREW HARPER, B.D. The Song of Solomon and Lamentations. By Prof. W. F. ADENEY, M.A. Ezekiel. By Prof. JOHN SKINNER, M.A. The Books of the Twelve Prophets. By Prof. G. A. SMITH, D.D…
256 wordsSECTION 4Chapter Xxv.
THE GUILT-OFFERING (v. 14; vi. 7; vii. 1-7) 155 THE PRIESTS' PORTIONS (vi. 16-18, 26; vii. 6-10, 14, 31-36) 175 THE CONSECRATION OF AARON AND HIS SONS, AND OF THE TABERNACLE (viii. 1-36) 181 The Levitical Priesthood and Tabernacle as Types, 184.--The Washing with Water, 190.--The Investiture, 191.--The Anointing,…
263 wordsSECTION 5_Introductory._
THE SABBATIC YEAR AND THE JUBILEE (xxv. 1-55) 487 The Jubilee, 489.--The Jubilee and the Land, 491.--The Jubilee and Dwelling-houses, 494.--The Jubilee and Slavery, 497.--Practical Objects of the Sabbatic Year and the Jubilee, 502.--Typical Significance of the Sabbatic and Jubilee Years, 510. (LEV. xxvi., xxvii.)…
669 wordsSECTION 6The Origin And Authority Of Leviticus.
As to the origin and authority of this book, the first verse presents a very formal and explicit statement: "The Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him." These words evidently contain by necessary implication two affirmations: first, that the legislation which immediately follows is of Mosaic origin: "The Lord spak…
689 wordsSECTION 7The Origin And Authority Of Leviticus.
Now the average Christian, whether minister or layman, though intelligent enough in ordinary matters of human knowledge, or even a well-educated man, is not, and cannot be, a specialist in Hebrew and in the higher criticism. What is he then to do when such a theory is presented to him as endorsed by scholars of the hig…
740 wordsSECTION 8The Origin And Authority Of Leviticus.
But not only did our Lord thus endorse the Pentateuch in general, but also, on several occasions, the Mosaic origin and inspired authority of Leviticus in particular. Thus, when He healed the lepers (Matt. viii. 4) He sent them to the priests on the ground that Moses had commanded this in such cases. But such a command…
736 wordsSECTION 9The Origin And Authority Of Leviticus.
Neither, in the last place, do the words of our Lord, carefully weighed, of necessity exclude even the possibility that such persons, acting under Divine direction and inspiration, may have first reduced some parts of the law given by Moses to writing;[2] or even, as an extreme supposition, may have entered here and th…
887 wordsSECTION 10The Origin And Authority Of Leviticus.
Others, again, feeling the force of this, and yet sincerely and earnestly desiring to maintain above possible impeachment the perfect truthfulness of Christ, still assuming that the Jews were mistaken, and admitting that, if so, our Lord must have shared their error, take another line of argument. They remind us of wha…
756 wordsSECTION 11The Origin And Authority Of Leviticus.
The devout Christian, who through the grace of the crucified and risen Lord "of whom Moses, in the law, and the prophets did write," and who has "tasted the good word of God," will not long hesitate for an answer. He will not indeed, if wise, timidly or fanatically decry all literary investigation of the Scriptures; bu…
280 wordsSECTION 12The Occasion And Order Of Leviticus.
Before proceeding to the exposition of this book, a few words need to be said regarding its occasion and plan, and its object and present use. The opening words of the book, "And the Lord said," connect it in the closest manner with the preceding book of Exodus, at the contents of which we have therefore to glance for…
686 wordsSECTION 13The Purpose Of Leviticus.
What now was the purpose of Leviticus? In general, as regards Israel, it was given to direct them how they might live as a holy nation in fellowship with God. The key-note of the book is "Holiness to Jehovah." More particularly, the object of the book was to furnish for the theocracy set up in Israel a code of law whic…
778 wordsSECTION 14The Purpose Of Leviticus.
But the law of Leviticus was not only intended to prepare Israel for the Messiah by thus awakening a sense of sin and need, it was so ordered as to be in many ways directly typical and prophetic of Christ and His great redemption, in its future historical development. Modern rationalism, indeed, denies this; but it is …
502 wordsSECTION 15The Present-Day Use Of Leviticus.
This very naturally brings us to the answer to the frequent question: Of what use can the book of Leviticus be to believers now? We answer, first, that it is to us, just as much as to ancient Israel, a revelation of the character of God. It is even a clearer revelation of God's character to us than to them; for Christ …
671 wordsSECTION 16The Present-Day Use Of Leviticus.
No less instructive to modern law-makers and political economists is the bearing of the Levitical legislation on the social question, the relations of rich and poor, of employer and employed. It is a legislation which, with admirable impartiality, keeps the poor man and the rich man equally in view; a body of law which…
435 wordsSECTION 17_Sacrifice: The Burnt-Offering._
i. 2-4. The voice of Jehovah which had spoken not long before from Sinai, now speaks from out "the tent of meeting." There was a reason for the change. For Israel had since then entered into covenant with God; and Moses, as the mediator of the covenant, had sealed it by sprinkling with blood both the Book of the Coven…
787 wordsSECTION 18_Sacrifice: The Burnt-Offering._
And yet we must, on no account, hasten to the conclusion, as many do, that therefore the Levitical sacrifices were _only_ intended to express and symbolise the self-offering of the worshipper, and that this exhausts their significance. On the contrary, the need of infinite Love for this "bread of God" cannot be adequat…
695 wordsSECTION 19_Sacrifice: The Burnt-Offering._
What the New Testament teaches on this point is known to every one. Christ Jesus was the Antitype, to whose all-sufficient sacrifice each insufficient sacrifice of every Levitical victim pointed. John the Baptist struck the key-note of all New Testament teaching in this matter, when, beholding Jesus, he cried (John i. …
666 wordsSECTION 20The Ritual Of The Burnt-Offering.
Keeping this guiding thought steadily before us, it is now our work to discover, if we may, what special aspect of the one great sacrifice of Christ each of these offerings was intended especially to represent. Only, by way of caution, it needs to be added that we are not to imagine that every minute circumstance pert…
663 wordsSECTION 21The Ritual Of The Burnt-Offering.
The first specification in the law of the burnt-offering is this: "If his oblation be a burnt-offering of the herd, he shall offer it a male without blemish" (ver. 3). It must be a "male," as the stronger, the type of its kind; and "without blemish," that is, ideally perfect. The reasons for this law are manifest. The…
295 wordsSECTION 22The Presentation Of The Victim.
"He shall offer it at the door of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord" (ver. 3). In this it was ordered, first, that the offerer should bring the victim himself. There were parts of the ceremony in which the priest acted for him; but this he must do for himself. Even so, he who will have the …
528 wordsSECTION 23The Laying On Of The Hand.
It was ordered: "He shall lay his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him, to make atonement for him" (ver. 4). The laying on of the hand was not, as some have maintained, a mere declaration of the offerer's property in that which he offered, as showing his right to give it to God…
775 wordsSECTION 24The Laying On Of The Hand.
Such then was the significance of the laying on of hands. But the ceremony meant even more than this. For the Hebrew verb which is always used for this, as the Rabbis point out, does not merely mean to lay the hand upon, but so to lay the hand as to rest or lean heavily upon the victim. This force of the word is well i…
709 wordsSECTION 25_The Burnt-Offering (Concluded)._
This is most beautifully expressed in an ancient "Order for the Visitation of the Sick," attributed to Anselm of Canterbury, in which it is written:-- "The minister shall say to the sick man: Dost thou believe that thou canst not be saved but by the death of Christ? The sick man answereth, Yes. Then let it be said unt…
257 wordsSECTION 26The Killing Of The Victim.
"And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord" (ver. 5). In the light of what has been already said, the significance of this killing, in a typical way, will be quite clear. For with the first sin, and again and again thereafter, God had denounced death as the penalty of sin. But here is a sinner who, in accord with …
430 wordsSECTION 27The Sprinkling Of Blood.
"And Aaron's sons, the priests, shall present the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is at the door of the tent of meeting" (ver. 5). And now follows the fourth act in the ceremonial, the Sprinkling of the Blood. The offerer's part is now done, and herewith the work of the priest begins. E…
436 wordsSECTION 28The Sacrificial Burning.
i. 6-9, 12, 13, 17. "And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into its pieces. And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay wood in order upon the fire: and Aaron's sons, the priests, shall lay the pieces, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is…
870 wordsSECTION 29The Sacrificial Burning.
But this interpretation is nevertheless, in every form, to be rejected. As regards the use of fire as a symbol in Holy Scripture, while it is true that it often represents the punitive wrath of God, it is equally certain that it has not always this meaning. Quite as often it is the symbol of God's purifying energy and …
789 wordsSECTION 30The Sacrificial Burning.
Of these two things, the atoning death and the representative obedience, we think, and with reason, much of the former; but most Christians, though without reason, think less of the latter. And yet how much is made of this aspect of our Lord's work in the Gospels! The first words which we hear from His lips are to this…
740 wordsSECTION 31The Sacrificial Burning.
And so the burnt-offering teaches us to remember that Christ has not only died for our sins, but has also consecrated Himself for us to God in full self-surrender in our behalf. We are therefore to plead not only His atoning death, but also the transcendent merit of His life of full consecration to the Father's will. T…
622 wordsSECTION 32The Continual Burnt-Offering.
vi. 8-13. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering: the burnt offering shall be on the hearth upon the altar all night unto the morning; and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning thereon. And the priest shall put on his linen garment, a…
759 wordsSECTION 33The Continual Burnt-Offering.
But we must not forget that in this part of the law, as in all else, we are pointed to Christ. This ordinance of the continual burnt-offering reminds us that Christ, as our burnt-offering, _continually_ offers Himself to God in self-consecration in our behalf. Very significant it is that the burnt-offering stands in co…
304 wordsSECTION 34_The Meal-Offering._
LEV. ii. 1-16; vi. 14-23. The word which in the original uniformly stands for the English "meal-offering" (A.V. "meat-offering," _i.e._, "food-offering") primarily means simply "a present," and is often properly so translated in the Old Testament. It is, for example, the word which is used (Gen. xxxii. 13) when we are…
791 wordsSECTION 35_The Meal-Offering._
The meal-offering is no longer an ordinance of worship, but the duty which it signified remains in full obligation still. Not only, in general, are we to surrender our persons without reserve to the Lord, as in the burnt-offering, but unto Him must also be consecrated all our works. This is true, first of all, regardi…
696 wordsSECTION 36_The Meal-Offering._
But the teaching of the meal-offering reaches further than to what we call religious labours. For in that it was appointed that the offering should consist of man's daily food, Israel was reminded that God's claim for full consecration of all our activities covers everything, even to the very food we eat. There are man…
711 wordsSECTION 37_The Meal-Offering._
But in the meal-offering it was not the whole product of his labour that the Israelite was directed to bring, but only a small part. How could the consecration of this small part represent the consecration of all? The answer to this question is given by the Apostle Paul, who calls attention to the fact that in the Levi…
745 wordsSECTION 38_The Meal-Offering._
And the oil, too, which entered into every form of the meal-offering, has in Holy Scripture a constant and invariable symbolical meaning. It is the uniform symbol of the Holy Spirit of God. Isaiah lxi. 1 is decisive on this point, where in prophecy the Messiah speaks thus: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; becaus…
886 wordsSECTION 39_The Meal-Offering._
Herein we are taught, then, that by the consecration of our labours to God we recognise the relation between the believer and his Lord, as not occasional and temporary, but eternal and incorruptible. In all our consecration of our works to God, we are to keep this thought in mind: "I am a man with whom God has entered …
848 wordsSECTION 40_The Meal-Offering._
The remaining and larger portion of the meal-offering was given to the priest, as being the servant of God in the work of His house. To this service he was set apart from secular occupations, that he might give himself wholly to the duties of this office. In this he must needs be supported; and to this end it was ordai…
414 wordsSECTION 41The Daily Meal-Offering.
vi. 14-23. "And this is the law of the meal-offering: the sons of Aaron shall offer it before the Lord, before the altar. And he shall take up therefrom his handful, of the fine flour of the meal-offering and of the oil thereof, and all the frankincense which is upon the meal-offering, and shall burn it upon the a…
741 wordsSECTION 42_The Peace-Offering._
LEV. iii. 1-17; vii. 11-34; xix. 5-8; xxii. 21-25. In chap. iii. is given, though not with completeness, the law of the peace-offering. The alternative rendering of this term, "thank-offering" (marg. R.V.), precisely expresses only one variety of the peace-offering; and while it is probably impossible to find any one …
915 wordsSECTION 43_The Peace-Offering._
As before remarked, the ritual acts in the bloody sacrifices are, in all, six, each of which, in the peace-offering, has its proper place. Of these, the first four, namely, the presentation, the laying on of the hand, the killing of the victim, and the sprinkling of the blood, are precisely the same as in the burnt-off…
768 wordsSECTION 44_The Peace-Offering._
This eating of the sacrifice by the priests has thus not yet taken us beyond the conception of the meal-offering, with a part of which they, in like manner, by God's arrangement, were fed. Quite different, however, is the sacrificial eating by the offerer which follows. He had brought the appointed victim; it had been …
703 wordsSECTION 45_The Peace-Offering._
And because this symbolic meaning of a feast is as suitable and natural as it is universal, we find that in the symbolism of Holy Scripture, eating and drinking, and especially the feast, has been appropriated by the Holy Spirit to express precisely the same ideas of reconciliation, friendship, and intercommunion betwe…
673 wordsSECTION 46_The Peace-Offering._
And as if to make this clearer yet, while Esarhaddon, for example, gives his feast to the gods, not in their temples, but in his own palace, as himself the host and giver of the feast, the Israelite, on the contrary,--that he might not, like the heathen, complacently imagine himself to be feasting God,--is directed to …
786 wordsSECTION 47_The Peace-Offering._
And now we may well observe another circumstance of profound typical significance. When the Israelite came to God's house to eat before Jehovah, he was fed there with the flesh of the slain victim. The flesh of that very victim whose blood had been given for him on the altar, now becomes his food to sustain the life th…
977 wordsSECTION 48_The Peace-Offering._
Let us hold fast then to this deepest thought of the peace-offering, a truth too little understood even by many true believers. The very Christ who died for our sins, if we have by faith accepted His atonement and have been for His sake forgiven, is now given us by God for the sustenance of our purchased life. Let us m…
561 wordsSECTION 49The Prohibition Of Fat And Blood.
iii. 16, 17; vii. 22-27; xvii. 10-16. "And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire, for a sweet savour: all the fat is the Lord's. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings, that ye shall eat neither fat nor blood.... And the Lo…
651 wordsSECTION 50The Prohibition Of Fat And Blood.
From which it appears that this prohibition of the eating of fat referred only to the fat of such beasts as were used for sacrifice. With these, however, the law was absolute, whether the animal was presented for sacrifice, or only slain for food. It held good with regard to these animals, even when, because of the man…
745 wordsSECTION 51The Prohibition Of Fat And Blood.
Nothing, doubtless, seems to most Christians of our day more remote from practical religion than these regulations touching the fat and the blood, which are brought before us with such fulness in the law of the peace-offering and elsewhere. And yet nothing is of more present-day importance in this law than the principl…
526 wordsSECTION 52Thank-Offerings, Vows, And Freewill-Offerings.
vii. 11-21. "And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace-offerings which one shall offer unto the Lord. If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour s…
765 wordsSECTION 53Thank-Offerings, Vows, And Freewill-Offerings.
Two slight differences appear in the ritual for the different kinds of peace-offerings. First, in the case of the freewill-offering, a single exception is allowed to the general rule that the victim must be without blemish, in the permission to offer what, otherwise perfect, might have "anything superfluous or lacking"…
670 wordsSECTION 54_The Sin-Offering._
In such cases, he must first go and purify himself, as provided in the law; and then, and then only, presume to come to eat before the Lord. And so Israel was ever impressively reminded that he who would have fellowship with God, and eat in happy fellowship with Him at His table, must keep himself pure. So by the spiri…
740 wordsSECTION 55_The Sin-Offering._
All this must have brought before Israel, and is meant to bring before us, the absolute equity of God in dealing with His creatures. We think often of His stern justice in that He so unfailingly takes note of every sin. But here we may learn also to observe His equity in that He notes no less carefully every circumstan…
683 wordsSECTION 56_The Sin-Offering._
We may observe, in passing, the bearing of this teaching of the law on the question so much discussed in our day, as to the responsibility of the heathen for the sins which they commit through ignorance. In so far as their ignorance is not wilful and avoidable, it doubtless greatly diminishes their guilt; and the Lord …
659 wordsSECTION 57_The Sin-Offering._
What truths can be more momentous and vital than these! Can any one say, in the light of such a revelation, that all in this ancient law of the sin-offering is now obsolete, and of no concern to us? For how many there are who are resting all their hopes for the future on the fact that they have sinned, if at all, then …
809 wordsSECTION 58_The Sin-Offering._
Most instructive, too, were the circumstances under which this new offering, with such a special purpose, embodying such a revelation of the extent of human guilt and responsibility, was first ordained. For its appointment followed quickly upon the tremendous revelation of the consuming holiness of God upon Mount Sinai…
680 wordsSECTION 59_The Sin-Offering._
But, according to the epistle to the Hebrews, we are to regard David in these words, speaking by the Holy Ghost, as typifying Christ; for we thus read, x. 5-10: "When He cometh into the world He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body didst Thou prepare for Me; in whole burnt-offerings and sin-offer…
272 wordsSECTION 60Graded Responsibility.
iv. 3, 13, 14, 22, 23, 27, 28. "If the anointed priest shall sin so as to bring guilt on the people; then let him offer for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the Lord for a sin-offering.... And if the whole congregation of Israel shall err, and the thing be hid from the eyes of th…
702 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.