Commentary - Leviticus 1:1-9

Bird's-eye view

Here at the beginning of Leviticus, we are given the grammar of the gospel in the language of sacrifice. The book of Exodus concluded with the glorious presence of God descending and filling the tabernacle, so powerfully that Moses himself could not enter. The immediate question, then, is a practical one of immense importance: how can a sinful man approach and have fellowship with a holy God who dwells in his midst? Leviticus is the answer, and it begins not with a list of abstract rules, but with a gracious, divine summons to worship. This first chapter details the burnt offering, the foundational sacrifice that speaks of complete substitution and total consecration. It is a picture, drawn in blood and fire, of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every detail, from the unblemished male to the laying on of hands to the washing of the entrails, is a pointer to the one true offering that would permanently secure our acceptance before God. This is not a dusty manual for an ancient cult; it is the ABCs of our salvation.

The burnt offering, or olah in Hebrew, means "that which ascends." It was the only sacrifice in which the entire animal, apart from the hide, was turned to smoke on the altar. It represented the complete surrender of the substitute for the sinner. In this chapter, we see a beautiful interplay between the role of the individual worshiper and the role of the priest. The layman brings the animal, identifies with it, and slays it, acknowledging the cost of sin. The priest, as the authorized mediator, handles the blood and offers the sacrifice on the altar. This process is the heart of the Old Testament system and the necessary prelude to understanding the cross of Christ.

Outline

Context In Leviticus

Leviticus is the third book of the Pentateuch, and it logically follows the events of Exodus. In Exodus, God redeemed His people from Egypt, gave them His law at Sinai, and instructed them to build a tabernacle so He could dwell among them. Exodus ends with the glorious cloud of God's presence filling that tabernacle (Ex. 40:34-35). This creates a problem: God is holy, man is sinful, and now God is living next door. How can this arrangement possibly work without the Israelites being consumed? Leviticus is the divine instruction manual that answers this question. It details the system of sacrifices, the priesthood, and the laws of purity that make fellowship between a holy God and a sinful people possible. Chapter 1, with its instructions for the burnt offering, is the foundational starting point. Before any other interaction can happen, the issue of sin and consecration must be addressed through a substitutionary sacrifice.

Key Issues

The Foundation of Acceptable Worship

We live in a time when worship is often defined by our subjective feelings, our preferences in music, or the charisma of a speaker. But the book of Leviticus crashes into all that with the force of objective reality. Worship is not something we invent; it is something God prescribes. And the first thing He prescribes is the way of approach. You do not simply saunter into the presence of a holy God. You come His way, or you do not come at all. And God's way, from the very beginning, has always been the way of substitutionary sacrifice. The burnt offering is the first and most basic lesson in this divine pedagogy. It teaches us that to be accepted by God, there must be a perfect substitute, a transfer of guilt, the shedding of blood, and total consecration. This is the pattern that finds its ultimate fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ, and to miss this is to miss the central message of the entire Bible.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 Then Yahweh called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying,

The location is everything. In Exodus, God spoke to Moses from the terrifying heights of Mount Sinai, amidst thunder, lightning, and smoke. The people were warned not to even touch the mountain, lest they die. But now, something has fundamentally changed. God is no longer speaking from a distance. He is speaking from the tent of meeting, the tabernacle that was pitched in the very center of the Israelite camp. He is dwelling with them. This is a word of immense grace. The God who is utterly holy has made His home with His people, and from that place of intimate presence, He now calls to them. He is not shouting from afar; He is inviting them near. This is the context for all that follows. The laws of Leviticus are not the harsh regulations of a distant tyrant, but the gracious instructions of a Father teaching His children how to live with Him.

2 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When any man from among you brings an offering near to Yahweh, you shall bring your offering of animals from the herd or the flock.

Notice that this is not a command for every man to bring an offering, but rather instructions for when any man brings one. This particular offering is presented as voluntary, an act of devotion, not a mandated tax. It is a response of a heart that desires to draw near to God. The offering is to come "from among you," from their own possessions. It must be a domestic animal, one from the herd or the flock, not a wild animal they happened to catch. This means the offering costs the worshiper something. It is a real sacrifice from his own livelihood, representing the giving of his own substance to God.

3 If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall bring it near, a male without blemish; he shall bring it near to the doorway of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before Yahweh.

Now we get the specific requirements. If it is a burnt offering, it must be a male without blemish. The male represents headship and strength. The absence of any blemish, any spot, sickness, or deformity, is crucial. This is not because God needed a physically perfect animal, but because the animal was a type, a foreshadowing, of the Lord Jesus Christ, the truly perfect and spotless Lamb of God (1 Peter 1:19). You cannot represent the sinless Son of God with a lame or sickly goat. The purpose of bringing this perfect substitute is stated plainly: that he may be accepted before Yahweh. The worshiper's acceptance is not based on his own merit, but on the perfection of his offering. We are accepted by God not because of who we are, but because of who our Substitute is.

4 And he shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, that it may be accepted for him to make atonement on his behalf.

This is one of the most significant verses in the entire book. The act of laying a hand on the head of the animal was a formal, symbolic act of identification and transference. The worshiper was, in effect, saying, "This animal is now taking my place. My sin, my guilt, and my obligation to die are being transferred to it. Its perfection and its life are being counted for me." This is the doctrine of imputation in living color. This is what Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 5:21. And the result of this transfer is atonement. The Hebrew word, kaphar, means to cover. The blood of the animal did not remove sin, but it covered it, allowing God in His forbearance to pass over the sins of the Old Testament saints until the true and final payment was made by Christ.

5 Then he shall slaughter the young bull before Yahweh; and Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring near the blood and splash the blood around on the altar that is at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

The worshiper who laid his hand on the animal is the one who now cuts its throat. This was not a task delegated to the priest. The sinner had to see and feel the violent, bloody consequence of his sin. Atonement is not a neat and tidy affair. It is brutal. After the death of the substitute, the priest, the authorized mediator, steps in. The priests, Aaron's sons, collect the blood, which represents the life of the animal, and splash it against the sides of the altar. The life that was forfeit is now presented to God at the place of sacrifice, satisfying the demands of justice that the wages of sin is death.

6 And he shall then skin the burnt offering and cut it into its pieces.

The worshiper's work continues. He skins the animal and dismembers it. The skin would become the property of the officiating priest (Lev. 7:8), a picture of how God provides for His servants through the worship of His people. The act of cutting the animal into its prescribed pieces signifies that nothing is hidden from God. The entire substitute is exposed and offered up to Him. This is an act of careful, deliberate worship, not a hasty disposal.

7 And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire.

The priests are in charge of the altar itself. They maintain the divine fire, which was originally lit by God Himself (Lev. 9:24) and was never to be extinguished. They prepare the foundation of wood. This is God's altar, and it must be tended by God's ordained ministers in God's prescribed way. The fire represents the judgment and purifying presence of God. What is placed on that fire is consumed by Him.

8 Then Aaron’s sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, the head, and the suet over the wood which is on the fire that is on the altar.

The priests then take the dissected parts of the animal and arrange them thoughtfully on the wood. This is not a chaotic heap. It is an orderly presentation. The head represents the mind and thoughts. The suet, or the hard fat around the organs, was considered the richest and best part of the animal. Every part of the substitute, from its thoughts to its richest energies, is laid upon the altar to be consumed.

9 Its entrails, however, and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall offer up in smoke all of it on the altar for a burnt offering, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to Yahweh.

The final pieces are the entrails and the legs. The entrails represent the inner being, the affections and desires. The legs represent the creature's walk, its outward behavior. These are the parts most likely to be contaminated with filth. They must be washed with water before they can be placed on the altar. This points to the moral and spiritual purity required of our true substitute, Jesus Christ, who was perfectly clean both inwardly and outwardly. Once washed, the priest offers up all of it in smoke. The entire animal ascends to God. This total consumption is what distinguishes the burnt offering. And the result is a soothing aroma to Yahweh. This is an anthropomorphism, of course. God does not have a nose. It means that God is satisfied, pleased, and delighted with the offering. It is the smell of justice satisfied, of sin covered, and of a worshiper accepted. It is the smell of the gospel.

Application

We are not required to bring bulls or goats to a tabernacle today. To do so would be an act of profound unbelief, for it would imply that the one-time sacrifice of Jesus Christ was insufficient. He is the fulfillment of all these pictures. He is the unblemished male, our perfect substitute. By faith, we lay our hands on Him, and our sin is transferred to His account while His perfect righteousness is transferred to ours. His death on the cross was the one true atoning sacrifice, the presentation of His precious blood before the altar of God's justice.

So what is our response? Paul tells us in Romans 12:1, "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." Our worship now is to live as a continual burnt offering. Having been washed and accepted through Christ, we are to place our whole selves on the altar. We offer our heads, our thoughts. We offer our richest energies, our suet. We offer our inner man and our outward walk, our entrails and our legs. All of it is to be consecrated to Him, all of it ascending as a spiritual smoke. And when we do this, motivated by the gospel and empowered by the Spirit, our lives of grateful obedience become a soothing aroma to our God.