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.

There are times where you just google it! Leviticus 6-9 is about eating the offerings described in Leviticus 1-5. AI:

Animal offerings in Leviticus were disposed of by burning them on the altar, giving portions to the priests to eat, or sharing them as a meal with the worshipper, depending on the specific type of sacrifice.

Here is how the five primary animal offerings described in Leviticus were handled:

1. Burnt Offering (Olah)

• God’s portion: The entire animal (bull, sheep, goat, dove, or pigeon) was completely burned on the altar into smoke.
• Disposal: Nothing was eaten by humans; the hide was given to the officiating priest as a fee, and the rest was consumed by fire overnight.

2. Peace Offering (Shelamim)

• God’s portion: The fatty portions surrounding the entrails, kidneys, and the long lobe of the liver were burned on the altar.
• Priest’s portion: The breast (wave offering) and the right thigh (contribution offering) went to the priests.
• Worshipper’s portion: The remaining meat was eaten in a sacred communal meal by the offerer and their family at the sanctuary, usually within one to two days.

3. Sin Offering (Chatat)

• For common people/laymen: The fatty parts were burned on the altar, and the remaining cooked meat was eaten by the male priests inside the Temple courtyard.
• For the High Priest or the whole congregation: The fat was burned on the altar, but the entire remainder of the animal (skin, flesh, entrails) was carried and burned completely outside the camp or city in a clean place. No human ate it.

4. Guilt or Trespass Offering (Asham)

• God’s portion: The fat portions were burned on the altar.
• Priest’s portion: The remaining meat was considered holy and was eaten exclusively by the male priests within the sanctuary area, similar to the standard sin offering.

5. Grain Offering (Minchah)

• Note: Though usually flour and oil, it accompanied animal drink offerings. A handful of the grain/flour mixture was burned on the altar as a memorial, and the remainder was baked and eaten by the priests.

THE REMAINS OF THE SIN OFFERING BURNED OUTSIDE THE CAMP One point about the remainder of the animal for the sin offering being carried and burned completely outside the camp.This was also the case on the Day of Atonement. Leviticus 16:²⁷ But the bull of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering, whose blood was brought in (by the high priest into the Most Holy Place and sprinkled on the mercy seat) to make atonement in the holy place, shall be taken outside the camp, and they shall burn their hides, their flesh, and their refuse in the fire. ²⁸ Then the one who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water, then afterward he shall come into the camp.” Hebrews 10:¹⁰ We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. ¹¹ For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp. ¹² Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. ¹³ So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.” These verses in Hebrews speak directly to the instructions in Leviticus. The Hebrew writer is writing to Jewish Christians who were leaving the Christian faith and going back to Judaism. The tabernacle and temple had a brazen altar that the sin offerings were burnt on in the courtyard of the tabernacle and temple. “We” Christians in the new covenant have an altar on which Jesus was offered and it is found outside of Judaism and the old covenant. Our altar Jesus was offered on is “outside the gates” of Judaism. Calvary where Jesus was crucified was outside the city gates of Jerusalem. Those leaving the faith have no right to eat from that Christian altar, i.e. eat the body and drink the blood of Jesus (John 6). The Hebrews writer is thus telling the Jewish Christians not to leave the faith and go back to the animal sacrifices of Judaism on the brazen altar of the temple. We must go outside the camp (i.e. Judaism) to find the altar Jesus was offered on. Jesus suffered on the cross at Calvary outside the city gates and we must be ready to suffer like He did. The faithful Jewish Christians being written to in Hebrews suffered much.

THE SIN OF NADAB AND ABIHU, AARON’S PRIESTLY SONS Leviticus 10:1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them. ² And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord.” AI: “They likely used ordinary or common fire instead of taking holy coals from the bronze altar of burnt offering where God’s fire burned. They acted on their own accord (“which he had not commanded them”), treating sacred rituals casually rather than with strict obedience. Their actions showed a failure to distinguish between what is holy and what is common, violating God’s standard that those who come near Him must treat Him as holy (Leviticus 10:3). Some biblical scholars suggest they may have acted carelessly or presumptuously under the influence of alcohol, which is linked to subsequent warnings about priests drinking before service (Leviticus 10:).”

This is a sad ending for Aaron’s 2 priest sons, Nadab and Abihu. These 2 sons had been given a special privilege of seeing, eating, and drinking with God at Mt Sinai. Exodus 24:⁹ Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, ¹⁰ and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. ¹¹ Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank.” In spite of that, they failed to obey God in using the correct fire offering. Can you imagine fire coming down out of heaven, striking them, and burning them to a crisp? Aaron probably watched his sons die in such a horrible way. Aaron was probably proud of his 2 son priests and now they are but ashes on the ground. We might wonder why God was so harsh over what some might call a careless mistake on their part. But God is setting an example of what happens when we disobey God and we Christians today need to take note of that. We are saved by grace so you don’t have to perfectly obey God so don’t’ use the sin of Nadab and Abihu to condemn instrumental music in worship as some have done in the past. But we should try to obey every command of God to the best of our ability. There is a lot of strange fire being offered today by Christians, fire that God did not command. The whole LGBTQ issue is a direct violation of clear commands in both the old and new covenant. The marriage bond between a man and a woman is sacred and holy and yet many are not treating it as holy. They are substituting unholy homosexual relationships and marriages that are strange fire.

THE SIN OF ELIAZAR AND ITHAMAR This is not of major importance but I never understand what Leviticus 10:12-20 was about, so I found this on gotquestions.org

“Due to the disobedience of Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu, the Lord caused those two men to die. Later that day, Aaron and his remaining sons allowed the sin offering to burn up. Moses was angry with Aaron’s other two sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, as a result. This situation is hard to understand until we take a closer look at the context and the Law in general.

For one thing, Moses had just commanded Aaron and his remaining sons to eat the offering (Leviticus 10:12–14). When he discovered they had let it burn up, he was understandably upset.

Also, the chapter opens with the death of two of Aaron’s sons: “Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu took their censers, put fire in them and added incense; and they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord, contrary to his command. So fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord” (Leviticus 10:1–2). Likely due to their grief over the deaths of Nadab and Abihu, Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar chose to let the sacrifice burn up rather than to eat it. Moses was upset because this was breaking the command God had given the priest to use this offering in part as their food.

Another reason Moses was upset was probably that he feared a fate similar to that of Nadab and Abihu would befall Aaron, Eleazar, and Ithamar. He confronted Aaron, saying, “Why didn’t you eat the sin offering in the sanctuary area? . . . You should have eaten the goat in the sanctuary area, as I commanded” (Leviticus 10:17–18).

Aaron’s response to Moses is full of pathos: “Today my sons presented both their sin offering and their burnt offering to the LORD. And yet this tragedy has happened to me. If I had eaten the people’s sin offering on such a tragic day as this, would the LORD have been pleased?” (Leviticus 10:19, NLT). These words satisfied Moses that Aaron was living in fear and obedience to God (verse 20).”

I’m sure Aaron was very concerned about possibly losing his 2 surviving sons, Eleazar and Ithamar b/c they had not obeyed Moses’ command to eat the priestly portions of the offering. Was God going to burn them up also? But Moses accepted Aaron’s explanation for them not eating the portions and they were not burned. I think this says a lot of motives. Nadab and Abihu had impure motives in what they did, possibly even drinking as they did it. Apparently Elezar and Ithamar just committed a careless but understandable (due to their grief over losing their 2 brothers) act of not obeying and God and Moses overlooked it. So maybe that is a note of hope for us knowing we often commit those sins of “omission and commission”.

You might be wondering what happened to Eleazar and Ithamar after this incident in Leviticus 10. Here’s a summary.

Background and Tragedy

• Four sons: Aaron and his wife Elisheba had four sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
• Fatal mistake: Nadab and Abihu offered unauthorized “strange fire” to God, and fire from the Lord consumed them.
• No public mourning: God told Aaron, Eleazar, and Ithamar not to mourn the deaths so they would not die themselves.

Eleazar

• Next high priest: Eleazar was chosen by God to succeed his father Aaron as the high priest of Israel.
• Leadership role: He served as chief over the leaders of the Levites and helped Moses and Joshua manage the camp and divide the Promised Land.
• Lineage: Most of the high priests in Israel’s history came from Eleazar’s family line, including Zadok.

Ithamar

• Tabernacle manager: Ithamar, the youngest son, was put in charge of the tabernacle’s construction resources, offerings, and inventories.
• Levite supervisor: He oversaw the Gershonite and Merarite Levites who carried the heavy parts and curtains of the tent of meeting.
• Lineage: Later high priests, including Eli, descended from Ithamar’s family line.