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Leviticus
A new commentary for today's world, The Story of God Bible Commentary explains and illuminates each passage of Scripture in light of the Bible's grand story.
The first commentary series to do so, SGBC offers a clear and compelling exposition of biblical texts, guiding everyday readers in how to creatively and faithfully live out the Bible in their own contexts. Its story-centric approach is ideal for pastors, students, Sunday school teachers, and laypeople alike.
Each volume employs three main, easy-to-use sections designed to help readers live out God's
LISTEN to the Includes complete NIV text with references to other texts at work in each passage, encouraging the reader to hear it within the Bible's grand story.
EXPLAIN the Explores and illuminates each text as embedded in its canonical and historical setting.
LIVE the Reflects on how each text can be lived today and includes contemporary stories and illustrations to aid preachers, teachers, and students.
--Leviticus--
In ancient times, Leviticus was the first biblical book with which Jewish children began their education. According to the rabbis, there are 613 laws in the Torah, and nearly half of them are contained in Leviticus. And yet it also contains narrative, making the book's genre something like an "instructional history" and indicating that the instruction cannot be separated or understood apart from its narrative setting.
Edited by Scot McKnight and Tremper Longman III, and written by a number of top-notch theologians, The Story of God Bible Commentary series will bring relevant, balanced, and clear-minded theological insight to any biblical education or ministry.
The first commentary series to do so, SGBC offers a clear and compelling exposition of biblical texts, guiding everyday readers in how to creatively and faithfully live out the Bible in their own contexts. Its story-centric approach is ideal for pastors, students, Sunday school teachers, and laypeople alike.
Each volume employs three main, easy-to-use sections designed to help readers live out God's
LISTEN to the Includes complete NIV text with references to other texts at work in each passage, encouraging the reader to hear it within the Bible's grand story.
EXPLAIN the Explores and illuminates each text as embedded in its canonical and historical setting.
LIVE the Reflects on how each text can be lived today and includes contemporary stories and illustrations to aid preachers, teachers, and students.
--Leviticus--
In ancient times, Leviticus was the first biblical book with which Jewish children began their education. According to the rabbis, there are 613 laws in the Torah, and nearly half of them are contained in Leviticus. And yet it also contains narrative, making the book's genre something like an "instructional history" and indicating that the instruction cannot be separated or understood apart from its narrative setting.
Edited by Scot McKnight and Tremper Longman III, and written by a number of top-notch theologians, The Story of God Bible Commentary series will bring relevant, balanced, and clear-minded theological insight to any biblical education or ministry.
409 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 6, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 17, 2023
A very good conservative commentary on the book of Leviticus. Shepherd's commentary has a strong scholarly foundation, but is highly accessible and especially thoughtful on current theological debates. While I disagree with some of Shepherd's theological positions I would recommend this commentary to anyone looking for one on Leviticus or to anyone studying the atonement where it is especially helpful.
May 14, 2023
See my longer review on SpoiledMilks (4/24/23).
Leviticus is not an easy book to understand on the surface. After you understand it’s theology, what are the connections to Jesus, the NT, and for the modern Christian? Jerry Shepherd, associate professor of Old Testament at Taylor Seminary, hit the mark with his connections from Leviticus to NT interpretation and then to modern day theology.
Introduction
The style of Leviticus is pretty boring. There is no literary artistry at the level of individual sentences. But at the macro-level, there are times when a word appears exactly 7x within a passage or that certain rituals consist of seven ritual acts/instructions. Sometimes a section can be divided into seven smaller sections (such as the curses of Lev 26:14-45). Leviticus also employs inclusio (or “bookends;” e.g., Lev 1-3 and 27 as presenting voluntary offerings) and chiasms (Lev 25-27) to make its points clearly.
In the event of Nadab, Abihu, and their use of “unauthorized fire” which resulted in their deaths (Lev 10), Aaron’s remaining sons were not allowed to participate in the customary mourning rites for Nadab and Abihu. (Lev 21 already didn’t allow the high priest to mourn over the deaths of close family members, but normal priests could.) By using Ezekiel 24:15-24 as a reference, Shepherd observes that both the high priest and the normal priests was to be “imitatio Dei, an imitation of the deity” (146). The priests physically mirror the character and actions of God. To display any outward emotions or actions of mourning could have indicated that they disagreed with what God had done.
He offers a possible chronology of actions by the priest in Leviticus 16, and helpfully explains how the term ‘aza’zel likely refers to a “wilderness-dwelling supernatural being,” a demon or sorts. The first goat is for the Lord, and the second goat is for ‘aza’zel. Why would a goat be sent to a demon? Shepherd writes,
“[T]he live [is] goat bearing the impurities and sins of the Israelites back to where they came from in the first place. Azazel is not being presented an offering, rather, he is being forced to receive back the impurities and sins for which he himself was responsible, reaping what he has sown. (213)
Shepherd connects the Day of Atonement with Isaiah 58 and Zechariah 3 and 13-14. As well, he connects this day to Jesus and his baptism and his time in the wilderness when he met Satan. On top of that, the book of Hebrews pulls heavily from the Day of Atonement to show what Jesus accomplished through his death outside the camp.
Shepherd doesn’t tone down the law. He emphasizes it’s importance in the lives of Christians. In the NT, Paul doesn’t say that we need the gospel, not the law. They serve two different purposes. He notes, “The gospel is the god news of redemption in Christ Jesus. The law, on the other hand, is the precious gift of God to assist the Christian in the process of sanctification and conforming to the image of Christ” (245).
Recommended?
Shepherd’s handling of Leviticus 25-27, especially the application and contextual sections, were really interesting. Leviticus is a text embedded in an ancient Near Eastern culture, and the Lord dealt with Israel as the ANE people that they were. At the same time, God’s word is eternal (Ps 119:89). It takes work to discern how this text applies to Christians in different cultural contexts today. Shepherd’s commentary succeeds at showing the main idea of each chapter and section and of showing how even a book like Leviticus can be applicable to Christians today.
In a work like this, not every stone can be turned. For further study, pair Shepherd’s work with folks like Sklar (TOTC, ZECOT forthcoming), Gane (NIVAC), Wenham (NICOT), and Wright (SGBC).
Leviticus is not an easy book to understand on the surface. After you understand it’s theology, what are the connections to Jesus, the NT, and for the modern Christian? Jerry Shepherd, associate professor of Old Testament at Taylor Seminary, hit the mark with his connections from Leviticus to NT interpretation and then to modern day theology.
Introduction
The style of Leviticus is pretty boring. There is no literary artistry at the level of individual sentences. But at the macro-level, there are times when a word appears exactly 7x within a passage or that certain rituals consist of seven ritual acts/instructions. Sometimes a section can be divided into seven smaller sections (such as the curses of Lev 26:14-45). Leviticus also employs inclusio (or “bookends;” e.g., Lev 1-3 and 27 as presenting voluntary offerings) and chiasms (Lev 25-27) to make its points clearly.
In the event of Nadab, Abihu, and their use of “unauthorized fire” which resulted in their deaths (Lev 10), Aaron’s remaining sons were not allowed to participate in the customary mourning rites for Nadab and Abihu. (Lev 21 already didn’t allow the high priest to mourn over the deaths of close family members, but normal priests could.) By using Ezekiel 24:15-24 as a reference, Shepherd observes that both the high priest and the normal priests was to be “imitatio Dei, an imitation of the deity” (146). The priests physically mirror the character and actions of God. To display any outward emotions or actions of mourning could have indicated that they disagreed with what God had done.
He offers a possible chronology of actions by the priest in Leviticus 16, and helpfully explains how the term ‘aza’zel likely refers to a “wilderness-dwelling supernatural being,” a demon or sorts. The first goat is for the Lord, and the second goat is for ‘aza’zel. Why would a goat be sent to a demon? Shepherd writes,
“[T]he live [is] goat bearing the impurities and sins of the Israelites back to where they came from in the first place. Azazel is not being presented an offering, rather, he is being forced to receive back the impurities and sins for which he himself was responsible, reaping what he has sown. (213)
Shepherd connects the Day of Atonement with Isaiah 58 and Zechariah 3 and 13-14. As well, he connects this day to Jesus and his baptism and his time in the wilderness when he met Satan. On top of that, the book of Hebrews pulls heavily from the Day of Atonement to show what Jesus accomplished through his death outside the camp.
Shepherd doesn’t tone down the law. He emphasizes it’s importance in the lives of Christians. In the NT, Paul doesn’t say that we need the gospel, not the law. They serve two different purposes. He notes, “The gospel is the god news of redemption in Christ Jesus. The law, on the other hand, is the precious gift of God to assist the Christian in the process of sanctification and conforming to the image of Christ” (245).
Recommended?
Shepherd’s handling of Leviticus 25-27, especially the application and contextual sections, were really interesting. Leviticus is a text embedded in an ancient Near Eastern culture, and the Lord dealt with Israel as the ANE people that they were. At the same time, God’s word is eternal (Ps 119:89). It takes work to discern how this text applies to Christians in different cultural contexts today. Shepherd’s commentary succeeds at showing the main idea of each chapter and section and of showing how even a book like Leviticus can be applicable to Christians today.
In a work like this, not every stone can be turned. For further study, pair Shepherd’s work with folks like Sklar (TOTC, ZECOT forthcoming), Gane (NIVAC), Wenham (NICOT), and Wright (SGBC).
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews