The Book of Leviticus
Title: The name ‘Leviticus’ was the name of the book in the Vulgate (Latin Bible) and it had derived from Greek title of the book ‘Levitikon’ in the Septuagint ( Greek Bible) and it means ‘ pertaining to the Levites.’ In the Hebrew Bible, its name is Wayyiqra and it is the first word of the Leviticus and it means ‘ And he called’. It is referred in Ezra 6:18 as the Book of Leviticus and the word ‘Levites’ is mentioned only one time in Lev.25:32-33. This is called as the manual for the levitical priests.
Authorship: Traditional authorship is Moses: supported by many direct statements of Moses in Leviticus.
Place of Writing : It would be written after the Exodus as Jews were wandering around in the wilderness.
Time of Writing:In this book, God revealed the contents of Leviticus to Moses on Mt. Sinai. So the time would be between during the fifty-day period after the Tabernacle was erected and before the Israelites departed from Mt. Sinai. It would around 1444-1440 B.C.
Key word: Holiness
Key Phrase: Let My people go … that they may worship me (7x)
Key Verse: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy (19:2b)
Key Lesson: God is holy and we should be holy.
Outlines of the Book of Leviticus:
- Sacrifices.1:1-7:38
- Priestly System. 8:1-10:20
- Laws of Purity. 11:1-17:16
- Laws of Morality.18:1-27:34