John Explained

Of all the books of the Bible, Leviticus is the one most readers intend to read and fewest actually finish. Where Genesis pulls readers forward with the momentum of origins and Exodus with the drama of liberation, Leviticus stops the narrative almost entirely and replaces it with legislation - sacrificial procedures, priestly regulations, purity codes, and a holiness code whose demands range from the structure of worship to the treatment of employees to the prohibition of revenge.

But Leviticus occupies this position in the Torah for a reason. Israel has just been liberated from Egypt. The tabernacle has been built. The glory of God has filled it. And now the most urgent practical question in the ancient world must be answered: how does a finite, mortal, sinful people live in the immediate proximity of a holy God without being consumed?

Leviticus Explained walks readers through the historical setting, literary structure, and major themes of the book - from the sacrificial system and the Day of Atonement to the Jubilee and the holiness code's sweeping social ethics. It examines what the book meant in its original context and why its most demanding claims still press on communities of faith today.

Part of The Bible for Modern Life Series.