Leviticus 16: The Day of Atonement. Yom Kippur, the holies day of the year for Jews. Only the high priest entered the Most Holy Place (Holy of Holies), and only once per year on the Day of Atonement. He enters twice, sprinkling blood on the mercy seat where God dwelt the first trip for his own sins, and then sprinkling blood for the sins of the people for the past year. The sins of the people are put on a goat and the goat is driven off into the wilderness to never come back. That’s where we get “scapegoat” from, an innocent person who takes the blame for a guilty person. Better watched than read:

The typology for the Day of Atonement is found in Hebrews 9:²³ Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; ²⁵ nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. ²⁶ Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. ²⁷ And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,” Under the new covenant, Jesus is our High Priest. The tabernacle was a “copy” of the real dwelling place of God in heaven. The blood of animals sprinkled on the mercy seat forgave sins, but only b/c God would use the blood of Jesus to forgive sins in the old covenant. Hebrews 9:¹⁵ For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.” The blood of animal sacrifices could not on its own forgive sins. The yearly Day of Atonement could not permanently remove sins. Hebrews 10:1 For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very ^[z]form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. ² Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? ³ But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. ⁴ For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” Jesus entered the real Most Holy Place in heaven where God dwelt, offered his blood, not he blood of animals, for the forgiveness of sins. He only needed to make one trip, not two like the Levitical high priests, since he did not need to offer blood for his own sins. He only needed to enter one time, not every year like the Levitical priests. His offering was “once for all time”. Hebrews 10:¹¹ Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; ¹² but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. ¹⁴ For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” 

Chapter 17: Warning about eating blood. Also a command to make all sacrifices at the tabernacle and not outside the camp. Why? Leviticus 17:⁷ They shall no longer sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat demons (goat-like or satyr-like wilderness deities) with which they play the harlot.” A satyr is a mythical creature portrayed as half-man and half-beast. Commentators note that the Israelites likely picked up these worship practices during their time enslaved in Egypt, where goat idols and gods symbolizing fertility for herds and crops were common in desert regions.

Chapter 18: Warnings against committing sins of the Egyptians or Canaanites. Leviticus 18:³ 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. That would include sex or marriage with blood relatives or even bestiality. Also a condemnation of homosexuality: Leviticus 18:22: “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination”.

Chapter 19: Various laws.

Rules for holy living, social justice, and personal behavior based on the command, “Be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy”. (19:2)

Core Command

• Be Holy: God tells the people of Israel to copy His holiness in their daily lives.
• Parents and Sabbaths: Everyone must respect their mother and father and keep the Sabbath holy.
• No Idols: People must not turn to false gods or make metal idols.

Helping the Poor and Strangers

• Leave Food: Farmers must leave the edges of their fields and fallen grapes for the poor and foreigners.
• Fair Pay: Bosses must pay hired workers before the morning comes.
• Help the Vulnerable: Do not curse a deaf person or trip a blind person.
• Love Foreigners: Treat foreigners living among you like your own people and love them as yourself.

Honesty and Fairness

• No Stealing or Lying: Do not steal, lie, or trick your neighbor.
• Fair Courts: Judges must be fair. They must not favor the poor or the rich.
• No Gossip: Do not spread rumors or gossip about others.
• Love Your Neighbor: Do not hold a grudge. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Daily and Purity Rules

• No Mixed Items: Do not plant two types of seeds in one field, breed two different kinds of animals, or wear clothes made of mixed threads.
• Body Marks: Do not cut your skin or get tattoos for the dead.
• Honest Weights: Use honest scales and honest measures for buying and selling.

Leviticus 20: Strict laws and punishments to keep the ancient Israelites holy and separate from neighboring nations.

Idolatry and the Occult

• Child sacrifice: Anyone who gave their child to the idol Molech faced death by stoning. It is hard to fathom that King Manasseh of Judah offered his child to Molech but he did.
• Spiritualism: Turning to mediums, wizards, or spiritists resulted in being cut off from the community.

Family and Respect

• Disrespecting parents: Anyone who cursed their father or mother was put to death.

Sexual Laws and Incest

Bestiality: Having sex with an animal was forbidden, and both the person and the animal were put to death.

Adultery: Having sex with a neighbor’s or another man’s wife resulted in the death penalty for both people.

Incest: Having sex with close relatives, such as a father’s wife, a daughter-in-law, or a sister, was strictly forbidden under punishment of death or being childless.

Marrying a mother and daughter: Marrying both a woman and her mother was considered a depraved act, punished by burning.

Same-sex relations: Men having sex with men as they would with a woman were put to death. Leviticus 20:¹³ If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Some pro LGBTQ advocates have said that we can’t use these Law of Moses verses to condemn homosexuality today. They say that we say that verses that condemn wearing a shirt of both polyester and cotton don’t apply to us today, but that we say verses condemning homosexuality do apply and that we are inconsistent. Maybe so. But I would argue that a sin against the unnatural sin of homosexuality is an eternal principle but shirts are not. The sin of homosexuality goes back to the very beginning when God joined a man and a woman in marriage and the two would become one flesh (the sex act). I usually just go to Romans 1 where Paul clearly condemns homosexuality. Romans 1:²⁶ For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, ²⁷ and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.” Those verses in Romans should settle the debate once for all.

Conclusion: As you can see, the book of Leviticus has many commands that apply to us today along with all those commands about animal sacrifices and feast days that don’t apply to us as Gentile Christians.