ESV Scripture Journal: Leviticus

Bible #3

by Anonymous

Take extended notes alongside passages of Scripture, with lined blank pages interspersed throughout complete books of the Bible.

"An excellent set for notes, thoughts, prayers, and even just reading." --Randy A. Brown, Bible Buying Guide

ESV Scripture Journals pair the entirety of individual books of the Bible with lightly lined blank pages opposite each page of Bible text, allowing readers to take extended notes or record insights and prayers directly beside corresponding passages of Scripture.

These thin, portable notebooks are great for personal Bible reading and reflection, small-group study, or taking notes through a sermon series.





Thick, opaque, cream-colored paper Full, lightly ruled blank pages opposite each page of Bible text Wide margins Lay-flat binding Single-column format Cover stamped with gold foil 5.75 x 8.00 11.75-point Trinit� type Packaging: Belly band

Genres: Religion, Christian, Nonfiction, Christianity, Classics, History, Scripture

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 501

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[Jodie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't expect to enjoy reading this (a book of rules basically?!) but it gave me a lot of context for the New Testament and Jesus's death on the cross. A common thing I've wondered is, "What makes Jesus dying for us so special that it absolves all our sins?" Of course, there are simplistic answers, but reading this book really helped me understand all of the ways that Jesus coming was foreshadowed by this book and how his role as high priest absolves us of our responsibility to make ourselves holy.

[Arman]

ده فرمان:

اگر‌چه فرای، گذر اسرائیلیان از روی دریا رو بزرگ‌ترین و مهم‌ترین قسمتِ کتاب خروج و حتی عهدین می‌داند، خانم «هایس» معتقد است که اتفاقاً نقطه‌ی اوج کتاب خروج، «عهد برفراز کوه سینا»ست.

بعد از صعود موسی از کوه سینا و مواجهه‌اش با یهوه و صدور ده فرمان، عملا وضعیت قوم یهود برای همیشه تغییر می کند.
در این‌جا، به سبک قردادهای ارباب-رعیتیِ رایج در بین‌النهرین، بین یهوه و اسرائیلیان هم پیمانی بسته می شود.
به موجب این پیمان‌(ده فرمان)، یهودیان مکلف می‌شوند که در قبال وعده‌های یهوه، قوانینی را رعایت کنند (برخلاف دوران پدرسالارها که این وعده‌های یهوه، بدون هیچ چشمداشتی بودند).
یهودیان می پذیرند که فقط یک ارباب (يهوه) داشته باشند، و ارباب‌شان در عوض نسبت به آن‌ها غیرت نشان می‌دهد.

لاویان:

در کتاب خروج، یهوه تنها به موسی اجازه‌ی صعود از کوه سینا را می‌دهد. اسرائیلیان نیز تنها اجازه داشتند که تا پای کوه او را مشایعت کنند، و برای این کار می‌بایستی خود را پاک می‌کردند.

اما در کتاب لاویان، یهوه، کوه سینا را ترک کرده و در میان اردوگاه اسرائیلیان، در «مَقْدَس» سکنی می‌گزیند. برای همین، اسرائیلیان هرچه به کانون مُقدسِ اردوگاه‌شان نزدیک‌تر می‌شوند، باید پاک‌تر از پیش باشند.

کاهنان و اسرائیلیان عادی باید با رعایت وسواس‌گونه‌ی قوانینِ مفصل کتاب لاویان، از پاک بودنِ خود و محل سکونت‌شان اطمینان حاصل کنند.
کتاب لاویان علاوه بر تعیین مکانِ مقدس و پاک و قوانینی که موجب پاک شدنِ افراد می شوند (و بین اشیاء و اماکنِ پاک و ناپاک تمایز قائل شوند)، زمان‌های مقدس و اعیاد را نیز تشریح می‌کند (زمان‌هایی که اسرائیلیان باید در آن‌ها، حرمت ذات مقدس را رعایت کنند).


پ‌ن: خوشبختانه برخلاف نگرانی‌های قبلی‌مان، این کتاب را
توانستیم خیلی سریع به پایان برسانیم.... پیش بسوی کتاب اعداد

[Katja Labonté · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I started Leviticus this year I mentioned to my sister, “I wonder why God thought it was important for us to read all about that stuff.” Well, it didn’t take very long for the book to remind me how beautiful and full of truth it was. <3

The book of Leviticus shows how serious and costly sin is. The most everyday, “normal” sin TOOK A LIFE. And not just any old animal either. A GOOD animal. Nowadays Christians tend to forget the cost of sin because we don’t see immediately how expensive sin is… which is why we have to keep reading Leviticus.

“Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the Lord your God. After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances. Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the Lord your God. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord.”

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Let’s face it, there are just some books of the Bible that aren’t the most exciting to read. On the surface, it’s a whole lot of laws and words with rules, names, places and things that seem worth skimming. Every time I come to one of these books I dread it in a way -but in the end, walk away with so much more than I thought. It is Gods word after all- it’s “alive and active sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)

I always seem to forget this.

Leviticus is one of those books that’s dense, but can teach so much. Chapters 1-7 talks about offering sacrifices, it’s warning over and over again- sin brings death! Nothing but blood of the innocent can pay for it. I don’t know about you, but for me, it makes me “consider and remember the cost.” It makes my heart incredibly grateful for Jesus. It would be so hard to live in OT, I feel like I personally, would be constantly sacrificing 🫣Then there is the clean and unclean. (11-15) It’s a lot to process, but as you study- you can see the cause and effect of what makes one clean or unclean. How things aren’t the way they were meant to be in the beginning in the garden. Through reading the laws it brings a whole new perspective of if we are unclean, we can be made clean by the blood of an acceptable sacrifice- again pointing us right to Jesus. Ultimately- that’s the point when studying right? At least for me- seeing Jesus in it all. It’s like a neon sign flashing “all signs point to me- I am the way, the truth and the life- follow me.” It’s a hard book but an important one and such a great reminder of the price that was paid. ❤️

[Loraine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The purpose of Leviticus is to awaken people to sin as God sees it; and according to the covenant relationship between the Lord and their tribes. Moses is to teach them how to follow the paths of righteousness in formal patterns of worship and how to make sacrifices of atonement to cover their iniquities. (Wesley Study Bible)

I found this Bible book full of rules and regulations that are oft repeated to be more difficult to read.

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite possibly the origins of OCD.

[Ryan Jung · Rating 1 out of 5]

Leviticus is a book with almost no value whatsoever. It can only be used as an anthropological curiosity, and even then it's hard to see any value beyond the purely factual nature of it - that people at some point in time thought this had value. Look at all the batshit crazy things we now know better than to believe, like how gay people are abominations... Oh, people still believe that? And use this book to support their bigotry? Oh, nevermind. Let's take a quick stroll down Leviticus Lane and see all the other backwards, archaic things we hold to the same standard...

The first several chapters concern the various animal sacrifices we should make on the regular to God, describing in depth where the animal should be slaughtered, what to do with its blood (like "sprinkle it seven times before the LORD" and "[wring it] out at the bottom of the altar"). There are all sorts of offerings, like "wave" offerings and sin offerings and trespass offerings and cooked meat offerings and live animal executions. There are rules about who can prepare the offerings, who can eat the meat, what meat can be eaten, and what must be left to burn for God.

God also reinforces how if these procedures are not done in 100% exactly the right way, he'll kill you. Nadab and Abihu, two of Aaron's sons, are "devoured" by "fire from the LORD" for "offer[ing] strange fire before the LORD, which he commanded them not."

By about ten chapters in - with nothing resembling plot or story, mind you; this entire book is just a listing of rules and consequences for breaking them - we arrive at the menu. What you're allowed to eat and not eat. You're allowed to eat grasshoppers, by the way, just not pork.

In chapter 12 can be found an absurd grievance against women. I mean, the entire Bible thus far has been a grievance against humanity, but in Leviticus 12, it's noted that childbirth is "unclean" (I think we all know it's messy business, but this is the same language used to describe lepers). If it's a boy child, don't forget to circumcise it on Day Eight, and the mother is "unclean" for seven days. If it's a girl child, though, the mother is "unclean" for a full thirty days. Women are icky, amirite guys? This also seems to me to contradict God's previous decree to be fruitful and multiply. Women are damned if they do and damned if they don't. God is the ultimate incel.

There are a few entire chapters on how to deal with the very unmedical notion of leprosy. It's interesting that this population knew how leprosy spreads, but not why. Obviously, microbiology wasn't a developed field of study for many centuries to come, and the Bible's methods of dealing with it are not very precise. The tactic (described painfully over more copy/paste language for page on page on page) is basically isolate and destroy. Oh, and also you can try this: You can take two clean birds and kill one in an earthenware vase over running water. Then you can take the bird that's still alive along with some cedar wood, and some scarlet and hyssop, and you can dip those things in the blood of the dead bird. And then you can sprinkle that on yourself. You could try that. But otherwise, isolate and destroy.

The number of procedures written out here is pretty ridiculous, and every one of them contains almost identical language. It's like a cookbook where every recipe re-explains how to slice an onion. Every page of this book contains the same text over and over again. "And the priest shall put of the oil that is in his hand upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the place of the blood of the trespass offering..." It's the most redundant thing I've ever read.

There's a laundry list of uncleanliness rules, "uncleanliness" referring not to a general state of hygiene, but to a state of presence before God. That reading of the text suggests that things like male ejaculate and female menstrual blood are perhaps not exactly sinful, but highly inappropriate. Another reading - the anthropological one that somewhat fascinates me - is that these things are "unclean" to God as a way of controlling the spread of disease and such. Now, that might be effective, but it sure isn't honest. It's hard to be honest about medical issues when you're pre-scientific. But at the same time, this is the kind of thing that makes it hard for me to think that modern people have belief in this stuff. I see great hypocrisy in how this content is handled by modern believers. Gays are still gross, and we'll quote Leviticus 18:22 about it, but our MAGA hats are "mingled of linen" and we'll sometimes get tattoos. And we'll ignore all these passages where Our God talks about how there exist Other Gods (like Molech/Moloch, to whom Our God says we should not sacrifice children, as one does). When you have a list of laws like the ones in Leviticus, you almost have to be selective about the ones you follow.

Some of these are even contradictory to other laws God has given and actions God has taken. For example, many of these laws require killing people. Like if you have sex with a woman but she's married to someone else, or if she's a slave (because owning people as property is cool in the eyes of the LORD), you have to "scourge" the woman (but the man gets a chance at redemption, Lev. 19:20-22). Or how "Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people" but God will hold the iniquities of the father against the third and fourth generation of his sons.

There are even multiple cases of laws that Moses and his kin are in violation of. For instance, Lev. 20:20 says, "if a man shall lie with his uncle's wife, he hath uncovered his uncle's nakedness: they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless." But Exodus 6:20 tells us, "And Amram took him Jochebed his father's sister to wife; and she bare him Aaron and Moses." So, in direct contradiction to this law, Amram laid with his uncle's wife, uncovered his uncle's nakedness, but did not die childless. No, they birthed Moses and Aaron, who played a significant, important role in God's plans.

The anthropological view eventually breaks down under all of these laws, too. If we begin with the hypothesis that gods don't exist and these laws are human laws written to deter certain behaviors in a population, then we can explain away things like "Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith" and maybe even all the circumcision stuff (I can't imagine bronze age hygiene being very hygienic, so maybe it's just easier to not have foreskin to clean around, but at the same time, the circumcision technique involves sharp stones, so that's probably not very hygienic either), and *maybe, just maybe* all this stuff about having sex under certain conditions. Gay sex does not result in reproduction, which was kind of important for a group of people bent on outnumbering and killing other tribes of people, so I can understand casting aspersions on that to the effect of increasing reproduction and focusing people's minds on the murder of others. I don't think it's right, but I can at least justify it from the perspective of writing laws to get people to act toward a certain collective goal.

But where is the value in killing your own kind? Executing slaves? Killing women in scores for crimes men commit? These things don't make sense to me. These laws are barbaric, and apparently for a pretty barbaric people. This is the third book in the Bible that has cautioned against sex with animals. I think you don't write laws like that unless you have an animal-fucking problem. How many of these people are having sex with animals, and why? Is it because if they have sex with women they have to take them as wives? Is it because executing the slave you just raped isn't worth the trouble?

Now, I haven't gotten around to the New Testament yet, but I seem to recall from my religious childhood all these stories about Jesus and how he didn't turn away anybody. Specifically, he healed the blind and leprous and hung out with the dregs of society to spread a message of inclusivity. But here toward the end of Leviticus, we see a completely opposite sentiment expressed. Lev. 21:18-21 tells us that these kinds of people are unfit for the duties of making offerings to God:

For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous, Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded, Or crookbackt, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken; No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the LORD made by fire; he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God

That's a pretty explicit list of things which are often just genetic features (like having a flat nose). God makes sure to point out all of these flaws (in people he created in this way?) and decry them. He also, in his infinite narcissism, makes sure to repeat, "I am the LORD" over and over and over again, like a threat.

God's justice system is a terrible one, too, and one that is also contradictory to what he says in the form of Jesus later on. We've all seen this famous phrase before: "If a man cause a blemish in his neighbor; as he hath done, so shall it be done to him; Breach for breach, eye for eye, tooth for tooth: as he hath caused a blemish in a man, so shall it be done to him again." As Ghandi pointed out, an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind. Doling out punishment gets us nowhere.

You can see this notion in two ways, I think, maybe both ways at once in traditional Christian cognitive dissonance. In one sense, the laws and punishments explicitly laid out don't really create this equality in punishment. Men who commit acts of rape are not raped in return; they are either gifted human chattel, or their victim is executed while they go free. In another sense, the punishment described for various crimes are crimes themselves. God's demands for violence beget more violence. When you must "scourge" a woman for being raped, you must commit a crime ("Thou shalt not kill") to punish the first crime.

I can't stress enough how bad this notion of justice is. Perhaps the entirety of the Bible, including the change of heart God seems to have in New Testament times, serves to underscore the leftist political mantra of "socialism or barbarism". Good luck getting an American Christian to agree with that, though.

Leviticus ends with a threat. A lot of threats, actually. If you do what God says, he will do good things to you in return. "If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them; Then I will give you rain in due season, and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit." (Lev. 26:3)

But if you don't do those things, God will do an entire chapter's worth of horrible things to you. It's really quite an exhaustive list. It's so exhaustive that I couldn't possibly do it justice here without just copying most of an entire chapter into this review. So just open up your Bible to Lev. 26:14 and read on from there. He doesn't stop telling you about how he's going to raze your cities to the ground and let other tribes destroy you and make it so that you can eat as much as you like but never feel satisfied and send pestilence among your people and send wild beasts to kill you and refuse your sin offerings and on and on and on through 26:44.

By any modern perspective, Leviticus is a completely disgusting book, full of rules that are sure to bring out the worst in people. Even when trying to take it in historical context, there's no way this legal code could be seen as positive or having positive effects. In reality, it winds up serving as a buffet from which modern religious types can select their hatreds of choice. It is certainly telling that the gods of humanity always seem to share the bigotries of their followers.

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of you may be surprised that, as a longtime Christian, I would give any book of the Bible anything less than a perfect score.

However, though this may be part of God's Word, much of it has been made obsolete since Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection.

For example, the restrictions about "clean" and "unclean" foods no longer apply, because the Gospels state that Jesus declared all food clean.

While there are modern-day truths that can be gathered from this third book of Moses, it can be hard to read, especially for those who are new to the Bible. If you're planning on reading through the Word entirely, I would suggest either skimming this book or, if you're listening to an audio Bible, using the speed-up function on the Apple Books app (or whatever audiobook app you use) to get through this more quickly. Otherwise, you may get disillusioned with reading the entire Good Book, which wouldn't be good; there's tons of great stories and fabulous truths contained within its pages!

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rated it 4/5 because frankly Leviticus is not as interesting to lay Gentiles as most of the other books in the Bible. It would be if you were going to be a priest or clergyman, but to the general reader you can only compare Leviticus to similar works such as you find in the Koran which has for Muslims behavioral and canonical laws, too.

I have studied some Arabic, which is a Semitic language like Hebrew and Aramaic. Both Leviticus and the Koran reveal strict dietary laws, rules to follow for purification, and a general focus on how to honor the Deity. I venture to suppose that language and climate influence how these religions developed. Also, the surrounding powers at the time: Sumerians, Akkadians, and most of all the Egyptians, at least in the societal sphere.

It's evident that I'm no scholar of the languages or of the civilizations at that time, but reading Leviticus slowly gives you a sense of what the people of the time were going through in the eyes of their leaders who struggled to keep them together as they made their escape from Egypt.

[Sol Harris · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unlike Genesis and Exodus, there is essentially no narrative in Leviticus whatsoever. The book is essentially a series of transcripts of God talking to Moses which means that it essentially just boils down to a whole series of rules.


We tend to think of sacrifices being Pagan if not completely Satanic. It’s certainly not something I think most people associate with Christianity. And yet a huge amount of Leviticus is taken up with detailed instructions on how to make sacrifices to God.

This is some pretty gnarly stuff. If you sacrifice a goat, you must lay your hand on its head while on the tabernacle, then sprinkle its blood around the altar, then burn it, remove the fatty portions from its entrails, remove the kidneys, and then burn it them as well.

The much more mundane sacrifice of flour must have hot oil poured on it and frankincense burned alongside. Most importantly, the flour must be salted because God hates bland flavours?

God loves a sacrifice of flour, lambs, goats, bulls, turtle doves, pigeons and bulls.


Leviticus also gets into what we’re allowed to eat.

You can’t eat fat or blood. As well as black pudding, this means that Christians can’t eat any meat or avocados or butter because all of those things contain fat to some extent. I am informed that subsequent books of The Bible retcon this however — but I’m pretty sure it means a lot more things should be considered non kosher than actually are.


The rules for what animals are allowed are laid out in the most arbitrary, confusing way, but essentially you can eat:

- animals that chew cud and have cloven hooves except for camels, rock hyraxes, hares, swine

- sea animals that have with fins and scales

- birds except for eagles, vultures, buzzards, kites, falcons, ravens, ostriches, short-eared owls, sea gulls, hawks, little owls, fisher owls, screech owls, white owls, jackdaws, carrion vultures (arbitrarily listed separately given that vultures were already off the table), storks, herons and bats (God thinks bats are a type of bird because he’s a fucking dipshit)

- You’re not allowed to eat “flying insects that creep on all fours” which is fine, God, because there’s no such thing, mate. By definition, insects have six legs you fucking moron. But for some reason you are actually allowed to eat flying insects that creep on all fours if they have jointed legs above their feet with which to leap on the Earth — so that’s locusts, destroying locusts (listed separately), crickets and grasshoppers. Despite being all-knowing and infallible, God thinks these animals have four legs.

- No eating animals on paws on all fours


Anything in the sea without fins and scales is an abomination as well so it can’t be eaten. That technically includes both seaweed and sea salt. I’m going to assume this is why kosher salt is a thing.


There are loads of rules about what makes you “unclean”. To be unclean would mean that you’d be excluded from various social gatherings and so forth. In each instance, if you’re unclean then you’ll remain unclean until evening (which was considered the start of a new day in Biblical times). This is really handy if you make yourself unclean at 4:59pm.

Things that make you unclean include touching most carcasses and touching animals like creepy crawlies.

Actually they’re mad about carcasses. If your stove touches a dead bug — like a gnat dies on it — then you’re not allowed to just give it a wipe; you have to break the whole stove down.

Bad news, ladies: you’re unclean for seven days every time you have your period. And if you’re a bloke who shags a woman on her period then you’re just as bad — unclean for seven days. But also, this is punishable by exile.

If you, a woman, have a male child then you’re unclean for seven days (and you have to mutilate his genitals on the eighth day). But fuck, if you have a female child then you’re unclean for two entire weeks. You’re not allowed to touch any hallowed thing or be allowed in the sanctuary.

Once you’re done having a kid, you have to bring a priest a lamb as a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtle dove as a sin offering.

Because having a child is a sin?

This is offered to God for your atonement and then you’ll be clean. Can’t afford a lamb? Fine. He’ll accept two turtle doves or two pigeons instead.


There’s a whole chunk about nudity. Essentially nudity is bad and letting people see you naked is a sin. This seems completely at odds with the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis. By the way, you’re allowed to look at a naked woman but you’re not allowed to look at a naked woman if she’s on her period.


Leviticus is probably most famous for being the homophobic bit of The Bible. It’s pretty clear about this: you shall not lie with a male as you would a woman because it’s an abomination.

However it does go on to say that “You shall not hate your brother in your heart” and that you must love a stranger as if he were yourself, which surely means you still have to be nice to gay people. Except that 20:13 says gay people need to be put to death. If that seems harsh, bear in mind that this book also says you should be put to death if you curse your parents or cheat on someone.


God says “You shall not take vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people” which seems pretty rich given that he killed the firstborn child of everyone in Egypt as revenge for their treatment of the Israelites.


Other rules include no sleeping with someone else’s sex slave, no tattoos and no shaving the edge of your head or disfiguring the edges of your beard (so shaving is a sin basically).


21:17 can be summarised as “No freaks at the altar, PLEASE”. If you’re disfigured or diseased or anything of that nature then basically The Bible tells you to fuck off. Sorry, God afflicted you with dwarfism? Too bad. You’re going to be punished for it.


While running through all these rules, God has this weird habit of yelling “I am the Lord!” at the end of each one. It’s really funny. It’s like he’s super insecure and trying to fake it till he makes it. By the end of the book, it’s basically his catchphrase.


There’s more stuff about slavery in this one too. Israelites are immune from being slaves but everyone else can be one. 25:45 specifies that you can buy children and they’ll become your property too.


Starting with 26:16, it’s like God got really hangry or something because he just starts going on this huge Dennis Reynolds-esque rant for several pages. He’s basically threatening you in increasingly unhinged ways with what he’ll do if you don’t follow his rules.

26:26 is a particularly convoluted threat about how you’ll be hungry from not having enough food but he words it by saying “Ten women shall bake your bread in one oven and they shall bring back your bread by weight and you shall eat and not be satisfied”. It then completely unhinged in 26:29 when he says that you’ll get so hungry that “You shall eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters”. God is a fucking maniac.


Leviticus also mentions demons at one point. It’s the first time they come up in The Bible and I was expecting a bit of spiel about them, but they’re just dropped in like everyone already knows what these are. I guess people just believed in demons in Biblical times. Explaining it would be like explaining what an apple is at the start of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.


Anyway, it’s a PARTICULARLY bigoted part of the book so there’s no real redeeming qualities to this one.

1/10

[F · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been reading the Bible through every year since 1974 and I can testify it is fresh every time. I was amazed, once again, at the details the Holy Spirit included. Every year I find more reason to believe that Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is the very Word of the living God. I understand more each year and yet have so much more to take in [it can never, this side of glory, be exhausted]. If you find something in the Bible you don't understand don't assume the Bible is wrong, assume that YOU don't understand ... yet.
On a side note: the idea of having individual copies of each book of the Bible is a good one... kinda of pricy but good nonetheless. [this review only refers to the Bible text - NOT any preface, comment or additional information.]

[Simone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wouldn't recommend. Very repetitive. "And the Lord spake unto Moses..."
Lord, can you please be concise and limit your speeches to 1000 words or less?

(Spoilers below)

These were the interesting bits:
God had a lot of rules about what the Levites could and couldn't eat. Pork of course, we know that one, but also don't eat camel, rabbit or hare! And lots of other animals too, including eagles and owls. Too many to list here, but God lists them in Leviticus.

Leviticus 13 and 14 were about how to deal with leprosy.

The rest was a list of other things you can do that will make you "unclean" - some were very specific, like having sex on your period. That's not on, apparently.

The chapter ends with God making a lot of threats to the Levites if they do these things. The God character really went on quite extensively about the threats and I think it made him a bit unlikeable.

After reading Leviticus I'm looking forward to chapters where the plot advances more.

[Sarita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a favourite with all the laws etc but still important.

[Lizzy (Elizabeth) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This took me over a month to finish. 😂
It was great! I love reading the Bible. Since I’ve started reading the Bible more often, I feel like my relationship with God has been growing.

Book 5/73 for my challenge of reading the whole Bible this year.

[Tanner · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't really need 23 chapters of detailed blood sacrifice rituals, 2 chapters of all the sex we can't have and 2 chapters of all the slavery we can.

[Jerome Ramcharitar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved reading Vayikra/Leviticus. For years I wanted to read it, and for years I simply didn't have the courage.

It was a challenge to crack the stone but the gold within was more than worth it.

Some glimmers of joy:

1 - Sacrifices to Azazel (which are good, because he's good-bad) and sacrifices to Moloch (which are bad, because he's bad-bad);

2 - Abominations galore (thanks, Canaanites!);

3 - Many wonderful discussions of incest, the subject everyone loves to touch on in detail, even The Lord!

4 - Good advice, like, don't forget to leave some fruit in your vineyards so you can feed the hobos and foreigners (Lev 19:10);

5 - Good warnings, like, "... if you ... disobey me ... you shall eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters. I will destroy your cult places and cut down your incense stands, and I will heap your carcasses upon your lifeless fetishes." (Lev 26:27)

Big Guy, you are one badass mothermaker.

[elisa ੈ✩‧₊˚ &#x1fa85; (hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars because, you know, it's the Bible 🧍🏻‍♀️

[Natalie Lerner · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was obviously written by priests. Very dry and vengeful.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

The laws!

[R.J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm surprised at how interested I was as I read Leviticus. This is usually the book that I stop in the middle of, however, this time, reading in the context of chronological order gave me a LOT more understanding as to what was going on. Even though there are many things that I didn't understand and other things that I'd like to dig into deeper to understand more fully, I can say that I walked away with better knowledge and that I actually enjoyed reading Leviticus.

[Books Of The Way · Rating 5 out of 5]

God's instructions and demands for a Holy people.

[Autumn (Nerdy Silly Goose) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm slowly making my way through all the books of The Bible! I didn't actually read it in one day, I just don't remember when I started and finished it, and I need it for my reading challenge...

[Bumbles · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay. Some of the rulings were strange, but very similar to Islam.

[Gesa]

i forgor

[Jules · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of my READ THE BIBLE WITHIN A YEAR challenge.

Wish me luck, as I've got a long way to go!

This book is not the most thrilling of reads. I think I've just been reminded of why I never got beyond completing Exodus last time I attempted to read the whole Bible quite a few years ago!

The main focus of this book appears to be an almost endless list of laws, rules & regulations for both priests & the rest of humankind to abide by in order to remain alive & not be rejected by God.

This book left me feeling somewhat detached from emotion, as all its regulations seemed so cold and matter of fact in their delivery. I do feel like I'm a bit of an expert on clean & unclean animals now though.

Main Subjects:

Laws on animal sacrificial offerings - sometimes the animal must be male and should never have a defect.

Laws on grain offerings - they must be without yeast.

One must not eat the fat or blood of an animal.

A long list of the animals one can or cannot eat:
- It's okay to eat animals with a split hoof and that chews cud.
- Water and sea animals must have fins and scales.
- Long list of birds that are detestable, e.g. eagle, vulture, some owls, etc.
- All flying insects that walk on all fours are detestable, but it is okay to eat insects that have jointed legs for hopping, e.g. locust and grasshopper.
- Of all the animals that walk on all fours, those that walk on their paws are unclean.

Details about women being unclean during their period and after the birth of a child. If a person touches a woman during her period, they will become unclean too.

Laws on how a priest must deal with mildew on clothing. For instance, if mildew has spread after seven days, the clothing must be burnt instead of just washed.

Laws on how a priest must deal with infectious skin diseases.

Lots of rules regarding sexual relations. The basic rules being that you should not have sexual relations with anyone you are related to, someone of the same sex, or animals.

This book ends with "These are the commands the LORD gave Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites."


Questions it has left me asking:

Why is that that if a woman gives birth to a son, she is only 'unclean' for 7 days, with a further 33 days required for purification, yet if she gives birth to a daughter she is 'unclean' for 2 weeks, with a further 66 days required for purification?

I also thought it was somewhat extreme that those with infectious skin diseases must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt, and cover the lower part of their face and cry out 'Unclean! Unclean! Although, at the same time, I did consider that if we did that nowadays with people who have flu/colds/viruses, there would be a lot less of us catching such infections, as we would know in advance that they were 'unclean' before they coughed on us in the Post Office queue, for instance.

[Catie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It may be a book filled with some obscure and overly-detailed laws, but I actually like the book of Leviticus. It makes clear what God values and holds in high esteem. For starters, Himself. I lost count of how many times He reminded the people “I am the LORD your God.” He values human life, obedience, liberty, and justice. All these laws are not in place because He’s a mean old fussy-duddy in the cosmos. These are in place because He is a holy God who desires relationship with His people, but they are dirty rotten sinners and they need boundaries and rules to live by in order to make them tolerable. (Most of the descriptions of various offerings include some reference to a pleasing aroma before the LORD…our sin stinks, but our repentance is as perfume) I am thankful for the NEW covenant in Jesus, through which I am made permanently righteous before this Holy God!

[Faye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Throughout His Word, God never asks permission for anything! I haven't found evidence that He has ever asked anyone to agree with Him or asked counsel of anyone. I have found, however, that God sets forth His Will, His precepts, His statues, and commands obedience. There is no asking, no pleading, no suggestions, etc. Only obey or suffer the consequences. Sometimes the consequences come swiftly (as in the case with Nadab and Abihu when they offered strange fire, or unauthorized fire) and sometimes it may be delayed. But rest assured, God commands obedience.

God commands of all people to repent and believe.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

He is holy!

[Brooke Lawrence]

not vegan-friendly

[Mroki Baroku · Rating 2 out of 5]

And I thought the second part of Exodus was hard to get through...