LOOK | WHAT DOES IT SAY?
THINK | WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
A prompt to back up and look again. Today's reading seems to end in a weird place. We would expect the book to conclude with the words of Leviticus 26, with a recounting of blessings and curses, along with a promise to restore the people. But then Leviticus 27 seems to be a strange case of "business as usual." It's almost as if the writer had a great conclusion and then remembered a couple of important items right at the end that he had forgotten to address. But the organization of these books is often very clear, and very intentional. When we see a passage that doesn't make sense as far as how it relates to what came right before or right after, often the picture becomes much more clear when we back up and take a wide-angled view of the whole section or book. The book of Leviticus is not organized beginning --> middle --> end. Instead the book is organized as outer --> inner --> middle.
The Structure of Leviticus. As we head into this book, it will be important to keep the structure of the book in mind. As we sometimes see in other parts of the Bible (ex. Micah, Isaiah 56-66), Leviticus has a structure that works from the outer edges of the book inwards, towards the middle. So on the outer edges in Leviticus 1-7 and 23-27, we see laws related to ritual ceremonies involving offerings, festivals, and things related to the sanctuary. These all point forward to Christ as the offering on our behalf who cleanses us from sin and restores fellowship between us and God; or as the fulfillment of the theme of each feast, or the ultimate fulfillment of all the promises and warnings given to God's people. A little further in, in Leviticus 8-10 and 21-22, we have chapters devoted to the work of the priests. Jesus is, of course, our great High Priest. Towards the middle in Leviticus 11-15 and 17-20 we have laws related to personal ceremonial cleanliness and holiness, with the first section mostly dedicated to ceremonial cleanliness which had to do with one's acceptability in relation to coming to the sanctuary. The second part of this near-middle section (Leviticus 17-20) is related mostly to ethical holiness, most of which still carries over to believers today. Then right at the center in Leviticus 16 there are the instructions for the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. This is the center, the crescendo, of the book of Leviticus, which prefigures Christ as the true sacrifice of all Israel. Just as all the offerings every year merely participate in the sacrifice of the Day of Atonement, so also the Day of Atonement leads up to a true and better sacrifice given once for all of time.
It might seem like we are skipping over something important by backing up and looking at the big picture (and, we did look at the big picture at the beginning of our time in Leviticus as well). But this is an important point to make! The books of the Bible are books, and not just a haphazard collection of bits and pieces of stories and wisdom sayings. When something is placed somewhere, it's there for a reason. This is also why it's healthy to alternate how we approach the Bible: one year a Bible-in-a-year plan might be a great way to get a good broad look at Scripture. The next, though, it might be important to choose one or two books of the Bible and really take your time--focus on the structure, look at the background, dive in and then back up and dive in again, and look around from different angles. The following year it might be good to go through the whole Bible again, but with a different plan (I have one for 2026 that I am excited about going through). There's not just one way to do it. Maybe a good summary application would be this: to make time to back up and try to look at the big picture -of the Bible, or of our lives, or the world- from God's perspective.
PRAY | HOW DOES THIS BRING US CLOSER TO GOD?
Here is a suggested prayer prompt: "God, help me to take time to back up and reflect when things don't seem clear to me. There is so much that is amazing about how you have designed the world, and how you are leading me, and how you are working, that I will miss if just get stuck in random details. Cause me to back up and to reevaluate things so that I can see things more from your perspective."
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