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Numbers 3-10:

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Levite Census:
The total number of male Levites was “twenty-two thousand.”  They were now ordained to oversee the Sanctuary.  “Any layman who came near was to be put to death.” (Num. 3:38)  Then, a census was done of the “first-born males” who numbered “twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three.” Or, there were 273 more first-born males than the Levite tribe.  Men between the ages of 30-50 years old of the Kohathite, Gershonite, and Merarite tribes will have assigned duties in the Tabernacle as well to assist the Levites, and under their supervision.  The total number of registered men then was 8,580.

The Unclean Expelled:
Then the Lord told Moses to expel from the camp “every leper, and everyone suffering from discharge, and everyone who has become unclean by contact with a corpse.” (Num. 5:2)  Nothing associated with a loss of life can be permitted into the presence of God, who is life itself.

Confession, Penance and Restitution:
Similarly, with moral offenses, oral confession and the idea of penance and restitution are commanded. “If a man (or woman) commits a fault against his fellow man and wrongs him, thus breaking faith with the Lord, he shall confess the wrong he has done, restore his ill-gotten goods in full, and in addition give one fifth of their value to the one he has wronged.” (Num. 5:6-7)

The Law of the Nazirites:
The Nazirites were men or women who took solemn vows “to dedicate himself to the Lord” by means of abstaining from wine and strong drink, and not shaving his head or hair, and not coming into the presence of a dead person.  (Num. 6:1-6)  “Nazir” meant to set apart as sacred, or dedicated.  They could be temporary or permanent vows.  Lifelong Nazirites included Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist.

The Offerings from the Princes:
Then, each tribe had a “prince” from their tribe offer tribute to the Lord at His Dwelling. The offerings were done one per day for 12 days.

The Voice:
“When Moses entered the meeting tent to speak with him, he heard the voice addressing him from above the propitiatory on the ark of the commandments, from between the two cherubim; and it spoke to him.. ” (Num. 7:89)  The Lord speaks from the Mercy Seat above the Ark of the Covenant.  It is His “Throne Room” here on earth, inside the Tabernacle.  The Heavenly Throne Room is temporarily stationed in the Tabernacle, the Meeting Tent. God is once again among His people.

The Fiery Cloud over the Dwelling:
“ On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the testimony; and at evening it was over the tabernacle like the appearance of fire until morning. So it was continually; the cloud covered it by day and the appearance of fire by night. And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tent, after that the people of Israel set out; and in the place where the cloud settled down, there the people of Israel encamped.  At the command of the Lord the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the Lord they encamped; as long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they remained in camp.” (Num. 9:15-18)

Israelites Depart Mt. Sinai to the Desert of Paran:
“They move on from the mountain of the Lord, a three days journey, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord which was to seek out their resting place went the three days’ journey with them.”  They moved on in stages, until the Cloud came to rest in the desert of Paran, on the plains of Moab. Two Silver Trumpets: The Lord instructs Moses to use “two trumpets of beaten silver” to announce the assembling of the community and the breaking of camp.  Thus, when the Glory Cloud of the Lord lifts off the Dwelling Place (ie, the Tabernacle), the Levite priests blow the two silver trumpets, and then, all of Israel gets up to depart.  Israel finally sets off in battle array from Mount Sinai on its journey to the Promised Land.

Numbers 1-2:

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Israelites still at Mt. Sinai:
The Book of Numbers comes from the two “numberings” of the first and second generations of Israelites in the wilderness.  Numbers details the two generations wanderings, geographical and spiritual, in the wilderness of the Sinai.  The first part of the book (ch. 1-25) details the first generation in the wilderness, and the second part of the book (ch. 26-36) details the second generation in the wilderness.  The book ends (ie, the 40 years) with the Israelites at the plains of Moab at the doorstep to the Promised Land.

The Census:
The Book of Numbers opens up with a census of the people for “all the men in Israel of twenty years or more who are fit for military service.” (Num. 1:3)  Israelis arrayed in a war camp arrangement.  It is in the midst of the desert wilderness surrounded by enemies that want to kill them.  They will have to defeat enemies to take control of the Promised Land. Thus, a census is done in part to determine the number of fighting men to comprise the army of Israel.  After polling all twelve tribes of Israel: “The total number of the Israelites of twenty years or more who were fit for military service, registered by ancestral houses, was six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.” (Num. 1:45-46)  Or: 603,550 military age men.  This seems like a very large number, especially if including women and children, which would put the camp of Israel up into the 1-2 million. Scholars debate the veracity of this number and if it should be smaller or not.

The Levites Exempted:
Yet, the amount of attention paid to the Levites and the Levitical system, the change from the Covenant at Mt. Sinai to the Levitical system and law, due to the sin of the Golden Calf, suggests there is need for caution. The Levites camp directly around the Tabernacle acting as a buffer between the “lay tribes” and Yahweh.  The Levites mediate the interaction now between Israel and God.  After the Golden Calf incident, the firstborn sons of Israel were “laicized” and now the Levite men alone are the royal priesthood.  The Levites are exempted from the census and military service.  The Levites are in charge of the “Dwelling” with all “its equipment and all that belongs to it.” (Num. 1:50)  “They shall therefore camp around the Dwelling.” “Any layman who comes near it shall be put to death.”  Only the Levites are to approach to the Dwelling (the Meeting Tent).

The War Camp:
The Israelites are arrayed in a military style war camp, surrounding the Meeting Tent to the north, south, east and west.  Each tribe is camped “each in his own division, under the ensigns of their ancestral houses” surrounding the Meeting Tent. (Num. 2:2)  The Tabernacle is in the center.  Four groups of three tribes are at each cardinal point.  To the east are Judah, Isaachar, and Zebulum; to the south are Reuben, Simeon, and Gad; to the west are Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin; and to the north are Dan, Asher, and Naphtali.  The war camp of Israel is a similar array to the Egyptian war camp as the Egyptian army surrounded the tent of Pharaoh in the middle. There is a certain amount of optimism with the Israelites as they are arrayed in a military camp prepared for conquest.

Leviticus 26-27:

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The Abrahamic Covenant of the Land:
The Abrahamic Covenant is tied to the land.  The Israelites can choose a blessing or a curse dependent upon if they are obedient and loyal or disobedient and not loyal.  It is a conditional Covenant.  This is a traditional Near Eastern Suzerainty Lord-Vassal Covenant, full of blessings and curses.  If they remain loyal to Yahweh and reject other gods, then they will obey the rules of the Covenant.  It is their freewill choice to obey or not to obey.  Yet, even if they disobey, various “reset buttons” are built into the system, such as the various offerings, the Day of Atonement, the Sabbatical Year, the Year of Jubilee.  Disloyalty will (and did) result in exile from the land.  Humility, penance and confession of their iniquities could (and did) lead to Restoration.  Then, Yahweh “will remember the Covenant” and the land.

St. Paul and the Restoration:
St. Paul interprets the Restoration with the coming of the New Covenant and the embrace of the Gospel to Israel and all the nations.  Rom. 2:28 says a Jew is one inwardly by heart and spirit. Similarly, Gal. 3 speaks of the new Israel as the Church, “Abraham’s seed.”  The Church fulfills the promise to Israel.  St. Paul actually quotes Lev. 26:12 saying “I will live in them and move among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (2 Cor. 6:16)  St. Paul says this is fulfilled in the fact that Christians are a “temple of the living God.”  The Gentile Christians have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of them.  After the Exile, only two tribes of Israel returned. Not all 12 tribes returned to Israel. The Restoration is fulfilled in the coming of the Gospel to all Jews and Gentile nations.  The Exile ends with the Cross and Crucifixion.  The Church fulfills the Abrahamic Covenant of faith. Yet, there will be another fulfillment and Restoration too to Israel at the Second Coming.  Multifaceted levels of fulfillment are going on in prophecy and the Restoration.

Communion of the People with God:
Leviticus is all about the communion of God with His people through the lifestyle necessary to maintain that communion.  It was a type of liturgical worship.  In the living tradition of the Church, the liturgical holiness and cleanliness and worship of God developed in Leviticus was absorbed into the Church.  However, the great bulk of the law was added after the transgression of the Golden Calf Incident.  As St. Paul alludes, the law was added because of sin.  But, as St. Thomas Aquinas taught (ST, I-II, 98-105), there were delineations in various laws that the Israelites adopted: (1) Civil laws; (2) Ceremonial laws; and (3) Moral laws.  The civil law was applicable only to Israel’s culture and time; the ceremonial laws were foreshadows and types of Christ, and so, fulfilled in Christ. And, the moral laws alone were authoritative and so, continued into the New Testament and in perpetuity.  Morality does not change.

New Testament Dependence upon Leviticus:
Jesus quoted Leviticus and called one of its scriptures the second greatest commandment: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Lev. 19:18) The New Covenant is replete with Levitical quotes and is completely dependent upon the Old Testament and the inheritance of Leviticus.  Much of our vocabulary is directly from Leviticus.  For example: Jesus Christ is our “High Priest” who makes “atonement” for “sins” by the paschal “sacrifice” of Himself, by the result of the “blood of His sacrifice” we are “cleansed.”  Christ’s “blood” “consecrates” us, and the “priests” in His Church to convey His “holiness” onto us.  As the Book of Hebrews states as a matter of fact: “ He entered once for all into the Holy Place, takingnot the blood of goats and calves but His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” (Heb. 11:12)

The Baptism of the Gentiles:
As St. Peter in his vision in the Book of Acts realized that the Food Laws were no longer binding and that the Gospel should be preached to the Gentiles too.  St. Peter’s vision is directed at the Food Laws of Leviticus:  “In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “No, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call common.” This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.” (Acts 10:12-16) St. Peter then realized that the Gentiles were not to be excluded from the Gospel.  Originally the Church was only preached and spread among the Jews, but after this vision it incorporated all of humanity.  St. Peter said: “In truth, I see that God show no partiality.  Rather, in every nation whoever fears Him and acts uprightly is acceptable to Him.” (Acts 10:34-35)  Then, later: “The circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit should have been poured out on the Gentiles also, for they could hear them speaking in tongues and glorifying God.  Then Peter responded, ‘Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit even as we have?’  He ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.” (Acts 10:45-48) The New Testament undoes the Levitical prohibitions against the Gentiles, and begins to draw back in the exiled nations of the Tower of Babel. God expands “His portion” from just Israel to the whole portion of the whole world. It will be a universal redemption.

Leviticus 24-25:

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Perpetual Light and The Bread of the Presence:
The Bread of the Presence (“the Showbread”) figures prominently in the Tabernacle.  The holy bread is perpetually in the Lord’s presence.  It too is a prefigurement to the Eucharist. It consists of 12 loaves of bread in two piles as part of a food offering.  It shall be eaten by Aaron and his sons in the sacred space, as a type of prefiguring Communion.  Similarly, the light of the golden lampstand must be perpetually lit, reflecting the eternal light.  It is to use oil from “crushed olives.”  We too are to be crushed, just as Jesus sacrificed Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane among the olive trees, so too, are we to be crushed to ourselves and burn with zeal for the Lord.  We are to be lights for the world.

Lex Talionis (“Law of Retaliation”)::
These are the so-called “lex talionis” verses, or “eye for an eye, tooth for tooth!” (Lev. 24:20)  Many atheists and critics of the Judeo-Christian worldview use these verses as a criticism of the Bible.  However, these verses are not about barbaric literal, corresponding mutilation and revenge.  It is about proportionality.  It is about limiting revenge and giving matching compensation for an injury or action. There is a lot of latitude for handling judgment and restitution under the Mosaic system.  The one exception is murder, where the punishment is likewise the death penalty.

The Sabbatical Year:
Concerning holy years and holy seasons, every 7 years is the Sabbatical Year, that is, the seventh year is to be observed as a Sabbath, on which no agricultural work was to be done.  The Israelites were to take a solemn rest from their farming and tilling of the land every seventh year.  (Lev. 25:1-7)

The Year of Jubilee:
After every seven cycles of Sabbatical Years, or 49 years, was to be followed by a Jubilee Year, or the 50th year.  The same “rest” as the Sabbath was to be observed, but in addition, on the Day of Atonement, the ram’s horn trumpet blast was to be sounded to signal throughout the land that all debts were forgiven and all ancestral land was returned to the proper owner.  This was an effective “reset button” or “reboot” for the economy and all impoverished peoples.  All debts were forgiven and lands restored.  The land belonged to Yahweh, and the Israelites could not do with it what they wanted.  God is the real owner of the land.  Yahweh renewed the lease of the land to the Israelites every fifty years, but also forgave all debts and gave back property to the rightful owners. Israelites were not to be divided into haves and have-nots forever.  The Jubilee Year was meant to enforce this and break any cycle of poverty.  This is the land and economy resets.  Embedded in this Jubilee Year is the idea of the “kinsman-redeemer.”  “The fiftieth year you shall make sacred by proclaiming liberty in the land for all its inhabitants.  It shall be a jubilee for you, when every one of you shall return to his own property, every one to his own family estate.” (Lev. 25:10)

The Messianic Jubilee Liberator:
The Jubilee Year within priestly thought is linked to the Day of Atonement.  The reset button of the Jubilee Year is like going back in time to the Garden of Eden. Everything is made right and perfect. Every man now dwells in the land with God, just like in the days of Eden.  God again dwells with His people.  It is an “Edenic Reset” or Restoration.  Eden is back on Earth again.  This harmonious idea always lurks in the background of Salvation History. The Jubilee Year abolishes selling land and field and debts.  Corruption then is eliminated.  Thus, in Leviticus, God proclaims “liberty in the land.”  Liberty is given on the Day of Atonement in the Jubilee Year.  This is the same day that the Azazel goat carries away the sins of the people.  The nation is restored to the Edenic land.  In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus quotes Isaiah 61 saying: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Lk. 4:18-19)  Isaiah 61 reads in part: “to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prisonto those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Is. 61:1-2)  This language of “liberty” hearkens back to Leviticus 25 “proclaiming liberty in the land.”  Jesus is the eschatological fulfillment of the “year of the Lord’s favor” or the Jubilee Year of Liberty.

Jesus as the Jubilee Liberator:
What has Jesus the Messiah come to liberate us from? Sin. Satan is the strongman who binds the nations, holds all in bondage and extorts harsh debts upon all mankind. The demonic forces are humanity’s overlords. Jesus declares that He has come to liberate the nations and reclaim them from the demonic fallen angels. Christ announces that the liberation has begun. Now is the acceptable year of the Lord. The Jubilee Reset has begun for the whole world to break the bonds of sin and corruption enslaving the whole world. Jesus’ Cross and Crucifixion and Resurrection has set in motion the worldwide Jubilee cycle. The Reset has begun. Jesus declares the Jubilee cycle has been set in motion, and it cannot be stopped. The Restoration is moving inexorably and relentlessly forward. Nothing can stop it now. Jesus inaugurates the Kingdom of God and the gates of hell cannot stop it. The kingdom is “already, but not yet.” The final consummation and judgment will not happen until Christ’s Second Coming (linked to the Day of Atonement), when the liberation process will be completed. Then, the final bonds and enslavement to sin will be broken forever, in an eschatological climax to the Jubilee Year. In the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Jubilee cycle is linked to the coming Messiah, who in effect, as a priest-king Melchizadek, will judge Satan and the fallen angels. The Book of Hebrews in fact explicitly links Jesus to Melchizadek and a priest forever according to the order of Melchizadek. The Jews of the first century had linked the coming of the Messiah to the Jubilee Cycle. In Luke 4, Jesus is in effect saying that He is the eschatological “Jubilee Liberator.” After Jesus read Isaiah 61 about the Jubilee Liberator: “And He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And He began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Lk. 4:20-21) The Kingdom is “already, but not yet.” The final conquering of evil will come at Jesus’ Second Coming.

Leviticus 23:

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Feast Days / Festivals (Lev. 23):
Leviticus 23 deals with the Feast Days, Holy Days and the Festivals.  From the Holiness Code, we move to time itself is holy.  God’s calendar follows a liturgical cycle of holiness marked by Sabbaths and Feast Days, much like the Catholic liturgical calendar does today. The first is the Sabbath, the 7th day of the week when no work could be done.  A day of rest dedicated to the Lord.  There is no Near Eastern equivalent to the Sabbath in other cultures or religions.  It is unique to the Israelites.  Sabbath is originally in Genesis associated with God’s rest on the 7th day after creating everything.  Now, here in Moses it is also associated with deliverance from the bondage of Egypt. Israel is made a “new creation” and can now rest from its bondage and servitude in Egypt.  Next, Passover is the first Spring feast on the 14th of Nisan. Unleavened Bread is a 7-day festival associated with Passover, from 15th – 21st of Nisan.  First Fruits is a harvest festival from 16th of Nisan or the first Sunday after the Passover Sabbath.  Pentecost is the Grain Harvest Festival 7-weeks and one day (or, 50 days) after the First Fruits.  The First Fall Festival begins with Rosh HaShanah, or New Year’s Day.  This is the Feast of Trumpets or “Yom Teruah” on 1 Tishri.  This is followed by Yom Kippur, or the Day of Atonement, on 10 Tishri.  The final Fall Festival is the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles (“Sukkot”).  This is the final fall harvest festival from 15-22 Tishri.  Many associate the Spring Feasts as prophetic announcements and fulfillments about Jesus’ First Coming, already fulfilled.  Similarly, the Fall Feasts are considered by many to be prophetic announcements of Jesus’ Second Coming, yet to be fulfilled.  Thus, the Passover was fulfilled in Jesus’ death on the Cross.  Unleavened Bread was fulfilled in the Eucharist and the Mass.  The Jewish Pentecost was fulfilled in the Christian Pentecost with the Holy Spirit and the beginnings of the Church.  The Fall Feasts will then be fulfilled the Feast of Trumpets (Jesus’ Second Coming), the Day of Atonement (Final Judgment), and Tabernacles (a new heaven and new earth into eternity).

Leviticus 17-22:

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The Holiness Code:
This section of Leviticus repeatedly states the mantra: “Be holy as I the Lord your God is holy.”  All must bring sacrifices to the Meeting Tent, and sacrifice to Yahweh alone.  There must be no sacrifices outside in the wilderness to the “goat demons,” satyrs, and other such pagan practices.  For serious sins the person will receive a “kharat” severe punishment, that is, either: excommunication and cut-off from the camp, or the death penalty. Leviticus gives 19 different instances where kharat punishment is recommended.  These include things like missing the Sabbath, drinking blood, idolatry to Molech, illicit sexual relations, etc.  Some sins are so grave that they “defile the land,” and nothing else is left to be done than to wipe all inhabitants clean from the land. No incest, no adultery, no fornication, no homosexual relations, and no bestiality.  These are called abominations.  “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; such a thing is an abomination.” (Lev. 18:22) The Hebrews consider these contrary to Creation-order, or contrary to pro-creation.  They are contrary to the design the way the Creator intended them. The Hebrews were very pro-family and pro-life, and followed what Catholics call “Natural Law.” Our morality displayed in the design of nature.  For example, male and female are made with a complementary way for reproduction. Anything against that complementariness is against Natural Law, or against the created order of things.  It is against the way the Creator designed it.  Leviticus, like Genesis and other parts of the Bible, use the idiomatic phrase to “see the nakedness” or “uncover the nakedness of” someone, means essentially to have sex with that person.  So, when Ham “sees the nakedness” of Noah, he actually has incestuous sex with Noah’s wife, Ham’s own mother.  For that sin, Noah curses Canaan, the apparent offspring of Ham and his mother.  Hence, the cursed Canaanites are a troublesome people for the Israelites throughout their history.

Lev.19: the “Mini-Torah”:
This chapter mirrors the statements of the Ten Commandments and re-emphasizes them again.  “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Lev. 19:18) These words were quoted by Jesus as part of the summation of the Commandments, along with the Shema.  It also adds other admonitions: “Do not practice divination or soothsaying.” (v.26); “Do not go to mediums or consult fortune-tellers, for you will be defiled by them.” (v.31) These occult practices are to open oneself up to influence by other “gods” or demonic spirits.

Lev. 20: Prohibitions on Other Various Sins:
“Anyone . . who gives any of his offspring to Molech shall be put to death. Let his fellow citizens stone him.” (Lev. 20:2)  Then, a litany of sins and death penalties follow, particularly for breaking the Ten Commandments.  “Anyone who curses his father or mother shall be put to death.” (v.9)  “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives.” (v.13)  “If a man has carnal relations with an animal, the man shall be put to death, and the animal shall be slain.” (v.15)  Yahweh then warns them to observe all His statutes lest the land “will vomit you out.” (v.22)  “Do not conform, therefore, to the customs of the nations whom I am driving out of your way, because all these things that they have done have filled me with disgust for them.” (v.23)

Summing Up the Holiness Code:
“But I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the Lord your God, who have separated you from the peoples. You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean beast and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. You shall be holy to me; for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.” (Lev. 20:24-26) Holiness is about distinctiveness. Don’t do what the pagans do. Yahweh is about life, completeness, wholeness, perfection. If we want to share this living space with God, this sacred space, we must conform to His life, wholeness, completeness and perfection. God chooses to be in relation with us. He made a Covenant with the Israelites, and ultimately, with us. We must be holy as God is holy.

Leviticus 16:

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The Day of Atonement / Yom Kippur:
This is perhaps the most important chapter in Leviticus.  It is the most solemn day of the year in the Jewish calendar.  It is the only day mandated by Jewish law to fast.  The Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur is the “reset button” for the Jewish liturgical year.  Yom Kippur is the day to remove and destroy impurity for the nation for the year.  It is the reset button to get the Israelites back to square one in terms of ritual purity. This is the day to restore everyone and everything (people, priests and Tabernacle) to the original sanctification. It is the day when Yahweh allows the Israelites to, in effect, start over again.  This is the New Testament equivalent to the sacraments of Baptism and Reconciliation.  Once the Tabernacle was replaced by the Temple, and then later, the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, Yom Kippur morphed from ritual purification to the atonement of sins of the people. Yom Kippur became became associated with the forgiveness of sins rather than ritual purifications.  This is the only day of the year when someone could enter the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle.  In this case, is was the High Priest who could enter the Holy of Holies.  The blood of the sacrifice was applied to the people just as in the Theophany from Mt. Sinai (Ex. 19) to re-enact the Sinai Covenant (Ex. 24).  Yom Kippur was the yearly renewal of the Sinai Covenant.  The blood was applied to the people and sprinkled on the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant.

God Appears in Human Form?:
On Yom Kippur, Yahweh would “ra’ah” or appear in a cloud over the Mercy Seat.  Other instances of this Hebrew word (Gen. 12:7; 17:1; 18:1; etc.) that God would appear in human form on the Mercy Seat; that is, the High Priest Aaron would see God in human form echoing each year the face to face meeting on Mt. Sinai in the Theophany.

Ark of the Covenant / the Mercy Seat / God’s Throne Room:
The Ark of the Covenant had two cherubim with folded wings that acted as God’s footstool.  This is the Mercy Seat or the Purging Seat where God dwelt with Israel in the Meeting Tent.  On Yom Kippur, the one day of the year when the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, he would sprinkle blood seven times on the Mercy Seat.  This was a means of expiation and purgation; originally for making Israel ritually pure, but later, for the forgiveness of sins.  Jesus’ blood and His Cross, of course, are the ultimate fulfillment of Yom Kippur and the Day of Atonement, and the forgiveness of sins. With God in, visible form, sitting on His throne seat, this, in fact, is a kind of “throne room scene” of God here on earth. The Throne-room of God from Heaven is now making an appearance on earth; “on earth as it is in heaven.”

Reset Button:
Once a year, God would remove all impurities from the Israelites, but later, it is seen as forgiving all sin.  It is the true “reset button” to make all things new.  Each year, no matter what happened, Israel could start over again on Yom Kippur.  The merciful God from His “Mercy Seat,” or “purgation seat”, forgives all of Israel’s sins.  Everything would be restored to its original condition. This is a “statute forever,” perhaps foreshadowing Baptism and Reconciliation (which continued it into the New Covenant times).  In Levitical terms, the Day of Atonement restored equilibrium to the Israel nation and made them new again in ritualistic purity and cleanliness.  [In Baptism, Christians are washed clean of original sin and made anew in the Blood of Christ, new creations; similarly, in Reconciliation, we are forgiven our sins, and made anew in the forgiveness of Christ.]

The Two Goats / Azazel and the Sacrifice Goat:
On Yom Kippur, two goats were chosen: one would be sacrificed, and one would be sent off into the wilderness bearing the sins of the nation, this is the Azazel goat.  The Azazel goat is where the notion of a “scapegoat” comes from, ie, the goat that bears the sins of someone else.  The first goat is a sin offering for the Lord and is slain.  The second goat, the Azazel goat, is an expiation, a purging of the impurities, or later, the sins, of the nation of Israel. The High Priest, the representative of the nation, laid his hands on the goat, a symbolic transfer of impurities and guilt, and then, the Azazel goat was sent off into the wilderness, presumably to its death.  The wilderness and the desert were the place of the demonic, wildness chaos, sin and death. It was the opposite of the Tabernacle, God’s place, the new Eden.  Everything outside the Tabernacle was wilderness, desert, chaos, sin, and death. [When Jesus is about to begin His ministry, He immediately heads out into the desert for 40 days and 40 nights to be tempted by the devil.]  Here, the Azazel goat is banished into the desert to take away Israel’s impurities and sins from the camp of Yahweh and the nation.  The Azazel goat removes impurities out of the sacred space of the Temple into the place it belongs, the demonic geography of the wilderness.  The goat is the vehicle for the removal of those impurities.

Azazel:
As a matter of note, the term Azazel appears also in the Dead Sea Scrolls (4Q180), where Azazel is a demon; in fact, the leader of the fallen angels that sinned in Genesis 6:1-4 and 1 Enoch.  Thus, once a year, the High Priest would lay hands on the Azazel goat, and confess all the sins of the nation of Israel, symbolically transferring the sins of the nation to the Azazel goat.  The Azazel goat would then bear the sins (impurities) of Israel away from Yahweh’s sacred space of Israel and the Tabernacle, off into the godforsaken land of the desert wilderness.  The wilderness imagery is one of supernatural evil, non-holy ground; non-sacred space outside the Tabernacle.  It was a place spiritually sinister with forces of chaos and death, where the pagans offered sacrifice to goat-demons.  The Azazel goat would possibly be driven off a cliff too, in effect, the impurities and sins of the nation would never make it back.

Christianity and the Cross:
The first sacrificed goat would in the New Testament make Christians fit for God’s presence.  The second goat, the Azazel goat, would remove sins from Christians. In the New Testament, Christ fulfills the type of each goat.  Christ makes us fit to be in God’s presence, and removes sins from our lives.  Christ is the goat sacrificed for our sins on the Cross.  He is also the goat where our sins are laid upon His body and He bears them away from us. Christ becomes sin for us, by bearing our sins.  Azazel is the ultimate embodiment of evil, as the leader of the fallen angels/demons, who led the world astray.  This is reminiscent of Christ being foreshadowed by the bronze serpent raised upon the pole. The serpent (as the serpent from the Garden of Eden, who led mankind astray into Original Sin) was raised upon the pole, and all who looked upon it were healed.  Similarly, the demonic Azazel goat has the sins of the nation cast upon it.  It is Christ, who takes on sin for our sake, who is sacrificed and carried sin away from us.  This is the “suffering servant” of Isaiah, who is pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins, and by His “stripes” we are made whole.  Christ’s atoning death on the Cross is the ultimate fulfillment of the Day of Atonement. The goats of the Day of Atonement are just prefigurements of the real atoning death of the Messiah, the Son of God, to come.  Jesus is the true, sacrificial atonement.  Good Friday is the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement, which was just a prefigurement of the Cross. Jesus’ death on the Cross is the true “Reset Button” for all Christians and believers.  We are made new creations in Christ and His Cross. His sanctifying grace flowed forth as blood and water from His side, and perpetuated in perpetuity in through the Sacraments of the Catholic Church.

Leviticus 11-15:

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The Cleanliness Code:
Clean and Unclean is different from Holy and not Holy. Cleanliness is the measure of suitability of something to be in the presence of God.  Holiness is the measure of the presence of God itself.  Something can be “clean” and “common,” not necessarily “holy.”  If something is “unclean” then it is needs to be made “clean,” and then, it can be “holy.”  The state of cleanliness is the suitability of something to be in the presence of God.  To be “unclean” does not necessarily mean someone has sinned or committed immorality.  It is a ritual status, not a moral status.

The Food Laws:
At the beginning of the world, Adam and Eve were vegetarians.  After the Flood, God allows Noah to eat any kind of animal (except flesh with the blood in it – Gen. 9:3-4; “Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.” Jesus supersedes this injunction with His Body and Blood in the Eucharist).  Now, here in the Mosaic epoch, God further restricts what animals are to be eaten and not eaten. The so-called “food laws” tells the Israelites what are “clean” animals that you can eat, and “unclean” animals that you cannot eat.  God then tells Moses which animals are clean and which are not clean.  The first category is the ruminants, or beasts of the field, such as cows and sheep. There are three conditions to eat of a ruminant.  Those are: it has hooves, it is cloven-footed, and it chews cud.  If it does not meet all three requirements, then it is unclean.  Unclean ruminants include: the camel, the badger, the hare, the pig (which is one of the most well-known and most identifiable “non-kosher” Jewish foods, ie, no pork or pork products).  One of the archeological indicators of Israelite settlements was the distinct lack of swine or pig bones found. Then come the water animals, which must have fins and scales to be clean.  Any water creatures that lack fins and scales are deemed unclean and they may not eat them (“is loathsome for you”).  Next, are the birds and creatures of the air.  Basically, the birds of prey that eat dead flesh are considered unclean, such as the eagle, vulture, osprey, crows, gulls, hawks, owls, buzzards, storks, and bats, etc.  Next, are the unclean flying insects, only the grasshopper, locust or cricket is acceptable.  John the Baptist lived in the wilderness and ate locusts (Mt. 3:4)  Finally, “all creatures that swarm on the ground are loathsome and shall not be eaten.” (Lev. 11:41)

Why Food Laws?:
There are five or six main explanations for the food laws. None are comprehensive or totally persuasive in and of themselves.  It is probably a combination of these reasons that God issues the food laws.  (1) Hygenic theory.  This is theory that these unlcean animals are bad for humans and not healthy, such as pork for spreading trichinosis.  This theory is popular today, although is probably not very consistent.  Every species if not properly cooked could contain parasites.  (2) The Aesthetic theory: the animals are unclean because they’re repugnant to humans.  By way of analogy, if it is repugnant to humans it is probably repugnant to their deity. If it can be sacrificed and offered on our table, it can probably be offered to the deity.  If it is not on our table, then it cannot be food for God either.  (3) Ethical theory: God restricted eating animals as a means for the Israelites to grow in self-control and limit their violence and shedding of blood. (4) Anatomical theory: This suggests that these animals represent “anomalies” within their species.  They’re misfits, and as outliers, they are unclean.  Any animals that lack the specifications of their category or are a “mixing” of categories or species are deemed unclean.  (5) Cultural theory: There is a cultural aspect to this as well.  The Israelites are culturally, as a people in a particular place and time, repulsed by certain animals and practices.  This is incorporated into some of their food laws.

(6) Cultic or Liturgical theory:
This is probably the most persuasive and logical of all the explanations.  Animals deemed unclean were associated with pagan rituals and sacrifices.  They were prominent in pagan cults and the most common animals sacrificed in pagan rituals (ie, the pig in Canaanite sacrifices). Thus, a prohibition of killing and sacrificing certain animals would be a means to separate Israel out from the surrounding pagan populations.  A way of being “set apart” and holy, as much of Leviticus is concerned about the distinctiveness of Yahweh and His people, the Israelites.  On the other hand, acceptable animals to sacrifice, such as the bull and the ram, are representation of Egyptian gods like the bull-god Apis and the cow-god Hathor.  Yahweh commanding the Israelites to sacrifice bulls and rams is a means to distance the Israelites from the pagan idolatry that they were immersed in for 400 years in Egypt.  It is an attempt to de-Egyptianize the Israelites.  In a broader sense, it is an attempt to de-Canaanize and de-paganize the Israelites through regular, and daily, sacrifice of pagan-gods.  Similar prohibitions found in Leviticus against offering honey, and boiling a kid in his mother’s milk, ritual shavings and mutilations were all about distancing the Israelites from pagan practices.  The food laws are another aspect of being distinctive, set apart, and holy.

Ritual Purity and Impurity:
Ritual purity is not about sin.  It is about fitness to occupy sacred space.  A sin offering is about “decontamination” or “purification,” not sin.  A guilt offering is about making reparation.  For example, Mary making an offering after the birth of Jesus is not about sin, but about becoming ritually pure.  Something or someone becoming ritually impure has to do with (1) coming into contact with death; or (2) a loss of “life.”  These issues stem around: childbirth, leprosy, emission of semen, menstruation, and marital intercourse (loss of semen).  These focus on the loss of “life fluids,” such as blood, water and semen.  These are fluids that produce life.  To lose life, is to be less than “whole.”  God did not make us originally to not be whole, but to be whole and complete.  God is wholeness and completeness.  Thus, if someone loses their life fluid by one means or another, that renders them not whole, or in Levitical terms, ritually unclean, impure.  Sexual activity and the loss of bodily fluids then renders one ritually impure.  Having a baby, or menstruation and the loss of blood, also renders one ritually impure. This is not about sin, but about fitness for sacred space.  Anything outside of the “normative, creation natural order” renders one ritually impure.  A person must be “whole” to enter into the perfection of the sacred space of the Tabernacle.  The Tabernacle is the new Eden.  It is the perfection that God originally intended in the Garden of Eden.  It is God’s dwelling place.  God is perfection, and wholeness, and life itself.  For one to enter His space, one must be whole and in an “ideal form” of wholeness and completeness.  To have lost “life” fluids or to have touched death, is to be less than fully whole and fully full of life, or in a word, imperfect.

Skin Diseases:
Skin diseases and leprosy also render an individual ritually impure and unfit to enter the sacred space of the Tabernacle. General skin ailments, not just Hansen’s disease (ie, leprosy), renders one ritually impure. There is no sin in skin disease, but one is not “whole,” as God had originally designed humanity. Something in the body is amiss. It is not as the original creation order. God is not admonishing against any particular sin, but teaching an object lesson about the perfection of God. The Tabernacle is the new Garden of Eden; a place of perfection, and a place for man to be like God had originally intended; whole and complete; full of life, not death.

Cedar Wood, Scarlet Yarn, and Hyssop:
Leviticus repeatedly tells the Israelites to purify people and places by using “cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop.”  This purification and atonement is reminiscent of the wood of the Cross; scarlet yarn hearkens to red blood of Christ; and the hyssop branch that they used to annoint the Passover lamb’s blood to the door and the hyssop branch to give Jesus a taste of the “4th cup” of wine, or vinegar, on the Cross before He died.  In short, these have connotations of Jesus’ Cross.  We are made clean through the Cross of Christ.

God is Distinct, Set Apart, Holy:
Through the purity laws, God is reminded His people that He is perfect and holy.  He is set apart, distinct.  In contrast, humanity is imperfect.  God is wholeness, completeness, perfection, and life itself.  The ritual purity reminds humanity of reverence to creation-order, and reverence for life itself.  We are less than perfect, but should reverence the normative life as designed by the Creator.  The Tabernacle is not a place for incompleteness, death, less than ideal form or imperfection.  It is a place for the otherness of Yahweh. Man can prove his loyalty to Yahweh by adhering to His ritual purity regulations.  God comes to dwell with man again in the new perfect location of the Tabernacle, the new Eden.

Leviticus 8-10:

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Gradations of Holiness:
Only the priests could enter in beyond the altar.  Sacred space could not be polluted.  Leviticus offers many “object lessons” reflecting the holiness and distinctness of God.  The sanctity of the presence of God is reflected in the symbols and objects of the Tabernacle.  The farther one goes into the Tabernacle, the higher the gradation of holiness and sanctity of the sacred object and the sacred space.  Once the Tabernacle is consecrated it is no longer called the Tabernacle, but now the “Tent of Meeting” or the “Meeting Tent.” Now, God will meet with His people. The name change is due to the fact that it is now an active, sanctified and consecrated sacred space, where God will commune and fellowship with His people, Israel.

Consecration of Aaron as High Priest, and his sons:
The ordination ritual of the Levitical priesthood followed certain steps: (1) washing of water; (2) vesting of Aaron the High Priest; (3) Anointing with oil on the priests, Tabernacle, altar and sacred objects; (4) vesting of Aaron’s sons; (5) Sacrifices for ordination; (6) Ordination banquet of flesh and blood sacrifices.

Priestly Ordination:
Aaron is girded with a tunic, a sash, a robe; they placed an ephod on him; a breastpiece on him, with the “Urim and Thummim” in it; a mitre on his head, attaching a gold plate, a sacred diadem on the front of the mitre over the forehead.  To enter into sacred space requires sacred attire. Over his forehead was inscribed: “Holy to Yahweh”.  The High Priest was the representative of the whole nation of Israel.  You do not enter into the presence of God in shoddy attire, so God in fact instructed Moses and Aaron how the High Priest was to dress in His presence.  The High Priestly attire in fact sounds a lot like the attire worn, later by Bishops and the Pope.  This is not coincidental.  The priestly vestments of the Old Covenant Levites are carried over into the New Covenant episcopal garb.  In the rite of ordination, the High Priest was anointed with oil and consecrated from head to foot.  They threw blood on the altar (God), on the people (Israel), and on the priests. This harkens back to the Sinai Covenant (Ex. 24) where they performed similar rites.  At the end of the ordination and consecration rituals: “And fire came forth from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the fat upon the altar; and when all the people saw it, they shouted, and fell on their faces.” (Lev. 9:24)

Urim and Thummim:
These are mysterious stone objects placed in the breastpiece of the High Priest.  They were apparently used as a divination device to discern the will of God.  (ie, Thummim means “innocent” or “yes” and Urim means “curse” or “no.”  It was a subjective and imprecise process.  1 Samuel 14 shows Saul casting them down to try to discern God’s will. This was a time before there were any scriptures.  For 13 months they stayed at Mt. Sinai.  There was no Old Testament, Torah, and certainly no New Testament.  There were not yet any prophets or kings.  This was an early stage of God revealing Himself to His people and revealing His will.  The Thummim and Urim would progressively give way to more divine knowledge with the Scriptures, and the prophets, and eventually to the very Word of God’s Incarnation with Jesus Christ, who will be face to face with His people.

Banquet of Flesh and Bread:
This theme of “flesh and bread” is carried throughout the Old Covenant and into the New, preparing Israel for the arrival of the Eucharist, the flesh of Christ hidden under the appearance of bread.  “Boil the flesh at the door of the tent of meeting, and there eat it and the bread that is in the basket of ordination offerings, as I commanded, saying, ‘Aaron and his sons shall eat it’” (Lev. 8:31)

Deaths of Nadab and Abihu:
Two of Aaron’s sons offered “strange fire” or “profane fire” before the Lord that had not been authorized. Because they did not follow protocol, “fire therefore came forth from the Lord’s presence and consumed them, so that they died in His presence.” (Lev. 10:2)  Being in the presence of God is a fearful and dangerous thing, something we should not take lightly.  Church, in the presence of the Body and Blood of Christ, is a holy thing. It is the new sacred space.

Leviticus 6-7:

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Eating the Sacrifice: 
Most sacrifices were meant to be eaten. In fact, the sacrificial offering was not complete until it was eaten, generally by the priest.  The Levitical priests were the ones partaking in the sacred meals in the sacred space of the Sanctuary.  Most of the time, the common person, the laity, could not eat of the sacrificial offering.  [This is contrasted with the egalitarianism of the New Testament, where all believers are a part of the common priesthood of the faithful, and all can participate in the Eucharist sacrifice.  All can eat of the Body and Blood of Christ.]  The cereal offering is made with “fine flour and oil, together with all the frankincense . . but it must be eaten in the form of unleavened cakes and in a sacred space.” (Ex. 6:8-9)  Unleavened cakes foreshadows the Eucharistic hosts.  “The flesh of the thanksgiving sacrifice shall be eaten on the day it is offered; none of it may be kept till the next day.”  (Ex. 7:15)  This is reminiscent of the manna that may not be kept till the next day, and the Eucharist that is offered as “our daily bread.”  In these offerings again we see the motifs of “bread” and “flesh” coming together as one sacrifice.  Bread and flesh are sacrificial offerings for ritual purity and forgiveness, which must also be eaten.  The Eucharist is the bread of life, the manna from heaven, which is also the Body and Blood of Christ, the flesh of Jesus, that must also be eaten.  God insists that only those in a state of ritual purity may eat of the offerings. “All who are clean may partake of this flesh.  If, however, someone while in a state of uncleanness eats any of the flesh of a peace offering belonging to the Lord, that person shall be cut off from his people.” (Lev. 7:19-20)  This foreshadows the fact that Christians should not partake of the flesh of Christ unless they are without sin, that is, if necessary, unless they are made clean in the sacrament of Reconciliation.  In the Acts of the Apostles, all the believers and disciples come together in one house to “break bread together.”

Common Priesthood of the Believers:
There is not the same distinction as in the Old Covenant as to who can eat of the sacrifice (ie, the priests) and who cannot eat of the sacrifice (ie, the common Israelite).  In Christianity, priest and layman alike partake in the Lord’s Supper and Mass of the Eucharist.  [In the New Covenant, we are all priests of the priesthood of believers, all fit for sacred space, all fit for the sacred meal of Communion, all fit to be priests of Yahweh.  We are all the universal family of God.]

Daily Burnt Offering:  
This daily burn offering is done every morning and evening.  The priests are to never let the fire go out.  It is, in effect, the “house warming gift” to God’s house, the Tabernacle.  “The fire on the altar is to be kept burning; it must not go out.” (Ex. 6:5) The priest is to be dressed in “linen robe and wearing linen drawers on his body,” again to distinguish them from the pagan priests, who sometimes officiated their pagan ceremonies nude and performed sexual acts and orgies as part of the heathen rituals. Yahweh’s priests are covered, and the rituals are de-sexualized.

Drink No Blood, and Jesus’ Blood:
The Lord tells the Israelites that no one shall drink any blood. “Wherever you dwell, you shall not partake of any blood, be it of bird or of animal. Every person who partakes of any blood shall be cut off from his people.” (Lev. 7:26) With this mindset of the Israelite and the Jew, it is no wonder that many are shocked and dismayed when Jesus tells them that they must they must drink His blood. Consequently, many of Jesus’ disciples abandon Him at that point. [From the Bread of Life Discourse: “So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” (Jn. 6:53-56) Jesus’ Body and Blood contain the life of His resurrected flesh and blood. By consuming His resurrected flesh and blood, His life force, if you will, that supernatural, eternal life fills our bodies and souls. Christ’s life becomes our life. You are what you eat. By eating Christ’s resurrected flesh and drinking His resurrected Blood, His power of eternal life raises our lives to be one with His. As is described later in Leviticus, “life” resides in the blood: “Since the life of a living body is in its blood . . because it is the blood, as the seat of life, that makes atonement.” (Lev. 17:11) By drinking Christ’s Blood, we somehow mysteriously and supernaturally drink His eternal grace into our bodies and souls, transforming us.

Peace Offering:  
This is the Thanksgiving offering, or the “todah” offering, using unleavened cakes formed from cereals and grains.  It was used to express gratitude towards God.  Generally, when one had escaped great danger, and was extremely grateful to God, he would offer the thanksgiving offering.  This has Eucharistic connotations.  Many have even speculated the Last Supper was a Todah Offering.  Eucharist is derived from the word for “thanksgiving.”  The Offerer would wave the offering, a “wave offering” to the Lord as a gesture to show God your offering and present Him with something.  God gets the first portion, or first fruits, then, the priests.