Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• 1. Preparation for the Covenant ch. 19
  Moses revealed God's purpose for giving the Mosaic Covenant in this chapter.19:1-6 The Israelites arrived at the base of the mountain where God gave them the law about three months after they had left Egypt, in May-June (v. 1...
• Outline
  "At first sight the book of Leviticus might appear to be a haphazard, even repetitious arrangement of enactments involving the future life in Canaan of the Israelite people. Closer examination will reveal, however, that quite...
• I. The public worship of the Israelites chs. 1--16
  Leviticus continues revelation concerning the second of three elements necessary for any nation to exist, namely, a people (Gen. 12:10--Exod. 19), their law (Exod. 20--Num. 10:10), and their land (Num. 10:11--Josh. 24).Leviti...
• A. The laws of sacrifice chs. 1-7
  God designed the offerings to teach the Israelites as well as to enable them to worship Him. They taught the people what was necessary to maintain and restore the believer's communion with God."The servant, therefore, had to ...
• 1. The burnt offering ch. 1
  The burnt offering (in Greek, holokautoma, from which we get the word "holocaust") expressed the offerer's complete consecration to Yahweh (cf. Matt. 22:37; Rom. 12:1-2). However it also made atonement for the offerer. Some r...
• 3. The peace offering ch. 3
  The peace (fellowship, NIV) offering was the third sacrifice of worship. It represented the fellowship between God and man that resulted from the relationship that God had established with the redeemed individual. Peace and f...
• 5. The trespass offering 5:14-6:7
  The structure of 4:1-6:7 indicates that this offering has a close relationship to the sin offering. This offering removed the guilt of certain sins that involved trespassing against God. Trespassing means going beyond the lim...
• 6. Instructions for the priests concerning the offerings 6:8-7:38
  "The five basic sacrifices are . . . introduced twice, each sacrifice being treated both in the main section addressed to the people [1:1-6:7] and in the supplementary section addressed to the priests [6:8-7:38]."62The main t...
• The law of the meal offering 6:14-18
  God considered the meal, sin, and trespass offerings "most holy"(6:17, 25; 7:1, 6). This means that they were sacrifices that only the priests could eat.The "layman who touched these most holy things became holy through the c...
• The law of the peace (fellowship) offering 7:11-36
  This is the only offering that ordinary Israelites could eat, but the priests also ate a part. This pericope clarifies who could eat what and when. For many Israelites eating the peace offering was probably the main, and perh...
• Summary of the law of the offerings 7:37-38
  This section closes with a summary. This is a common feature of Leviticus (cf. 11:46-47; 13:59; 14:54-57; 15:32-33)."The sacrificial law, therefore, with the five species of sacrifices which it enjoins, embraces every aspect ...
• B. The institution of the Aaronic priesthood chs. 8-10
  The account of the consecration of the priests and the priesthood (chs. 8-10) follows the regulations concerning offerings. We have a change in literary genre here from legal to narrative material. The legal material in chapt...
• D. The Day of Atonement ch. 16
  The sacrifices and offerings that Moses described thus far in the law were not sufficient to cleanse all the defilement that the sins of the people created. Much sinfulness still needed covering. Therefore God appointed a yea...
• 1. Holiness of food ch. 17
  We move from public regulations in chapter 16 to intimate regulations in chapter 18 with chapter 17 providing the transition. In contrast to the first sixteen chapters, chapter 17 says very little about the role of the priest...
• Conclusion
  Genesis reveals how people can have a relationship with God. This comes through trust in God and obedience to Him. Faith is the key word in Genesis. God proves Himself faithful in this book.Exodus reveals that God is also sov...
• Bibliography
  Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. Revised ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1977.Albright, William Foxwell, The Archaeology of Palestine. 1949. Revised ed. Pelican Archaeology series. H...
• The plight of the Benjamites 21:1-4
  The "wife oath"that the Israelites had taken at Mizpah (20:8-11) may have had some connection with God's commands concerning Israel's treatment of the Canaanites (Lev. 7:1-3). Israel was to destroy these enemies utterly and n...
• 2. Confidence in God 54:4-7
  54:4-5 David was confident that God would help and sustain him. He also believed God would punish those who opposed him, and he asked God to do so. He could pray this way because what his adversaries were doing was contrary t...
• Obedience as opposed to mere sacrifice 7:21-28
  This seems to be a new message from the Lord. It is a good example of prophetic indictments of Israel's sacrificial institutions (cf. 6:20; 1 Sam. 15:22; Ps. 51:16-17; Isa. 1:4-15; Hos. 6:6; Amos 5:21-24; Mic. 6:6-8).7:21 Yah...
• Religious hypocrisy 4:4-5
  4:4 Ironically the Lord told these sinful Israelites to go to Bethel but to transgress, not to worship. Such a call parodied the summons of Israel's priests to come to the sanctuary to worship (cf. Ps. 95:6; 96:8-9; 100:2-4)....
• The parable of the yeast hidden in meal 13:33 (cf. Luke 13:20-21)
  This parable stresses the extensive ultimate consequences of the kingdom that would be out of all proportion to its insignificant beginnings."Whereas the parable of the mustard seed answers the question of whether the phase o...