The Listener’s Bible Commentary

Backstory and Overview of Numbers  

Numbers continues the story of Israel after the exodus out of Egypt. Israel has camped at Mt Sinai for about a year. God has made a covenant with them and they have agreed to it. They have received God’s instructions and laws and built a sacred royal tent for God. It’s now time to prepare Israel to move to the promised land. 

The book of Numb...

Leviticus, Holiness, and Using the Commentary for Discipleship | Fall 2026 Update

In this Listener's Commentary update, John talks about: 

• Leviticus and holiness - a status to be lived
• Selecting the Spanish language in the app
• Adding The Listener's Commentary to your churches app
• Using the Commentary for discipleship 

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Leviticus 25-27, pt. 2

The topic of chs. 25-27 can be thought of as “holiness in the land.” Israel has been camped at Mt. Sinai for about a year and it is almost time to march out. When they move into the land of promise, settle there, and build houses and have land to farm, what does it look like to live as God’s holy people then and there? That is the big theme of these chapters. 

In this recording, we surv...

Leviticus 25-27, pt. 1  

The topic of chs. 25-27 can be thought of as “holiness in the land.” Israel has been camped at Mt. Sinai for about a year and it's almost time to march out. When they move into the land of promise, settle there, and build houses and have land to farm, what does it look like to live as God’s holy people then and there? That is the big theme of these chapters. 

Leviticus 23-24  

Leviticus 23-24 continues the theme of ritual holiness. We have to be careful not to think of this as “mere rituals that don’t really matter.” Our modern instinctive dislike of rituals in the West prompts us to think like that. But the rituals and instructions of Leviticus 23-24 matter for Israel's overall life as a people distinct and different from the nations -- as God’s holy p...

Leviticus 21-22  

Leviticus 21-22 provided special instructions for the priests. Leviticus 18-20 were addressed to the entire congregation of Israel and dealt mostly with holiness in everyday life. Since Israel as a whole is set apart for the Lord (=holy) to be a holy nation, chapters 18-20 detailed some of the ways they had to be distinct and different from the nations personally, socially, and ritually. 

Special Study: How Do the Laws of Leviticus (and the rest of the Torah) Apply Today?  

Some of the Laws of the Torah seem easy to apply. For example, love your neighbor as yourself is found in Leviticus 19:18. Others feel foreign. The very next verse tells us not to wear a garment woven of two kinds of fabric (Leviticus 19:19). There are plenty of laws that seem strange or even impossible to keep in modern culture. So how...

Leviticus 18-20  

Leviticus 18-20 is usually called "The Holiness Code." It details God's instructions to Israel for holy living in routine matters of everyday life. Holiness mean different, distinct, set apart for God's purposes. If Israel is going to be a holy nation (cf. Exodus 19:6), then they need to be different from the nations around them. They must be holy as God is holy. 

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Why does the Bible say not to eat meat with blood in it? 

Leviticus 17 answers that question by focusing on the sacredness of blood. God gave animal blood for the purpose of atonement. Therefore, now that the tabernacle is operational, the only legitimate sacrifices are those offered at the tabernacle, and all meat must have blood drained from it. 

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Leviticus 16  

Leviticus 16 records the instructions for the Day of Atonement celebration. This annual day of fasting and worship provided atonement for the Tabernacle and for all the sins of Israel. It finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus whose death provided full and final cleansing from sin. 

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Leviticus 11-15, pt. 3

Leviticus 11-15 gives Israel instructions for ritual purity, so that they can honor God by drawing near to his sacred tent in a ritually pure state. These chapters make clear what causes ritual impurity and what they need to do in order to be clean again. All of this is part of God's covenant with Israel. 

This recording wraps up these instructions by looking at the instructions on ritually defiling infe...

Leviticus 11-15, pt. 2  

Leviticus 11-15 gives Israel instructions for ritual purity, so that they can honor God by drawing near to his sacred tent in a ritually pure state. These chapters make clear what causes ritual impurity and what they need to do in order to be clean again. All of this is part of God's covenant with Israel. 

This recording focuses on Leviticus 12-14 which deals with ritual purity in matters per...

Leviticus 11-15, pt. 1  

Why does the Bible say not to eat pork? What about all the food laws of the Bible? 

Leviticus 11-15 gives Israel instructions for ritual purity, so that they can honor God by drawing near to his sacred tent in a ritually pure state. These chapters make clear what causes ritual impurity and what they need to do in order to be clean again. 

This recording focuses on Leviticus chapter 11 wh...

Leviticus 8-10  

Leviticus 8-10 recounts the opening ceremonies for the Tabernacle, and it's important to remember where we’re at in the story of the Pentateuch (Torah). 

The Israelites have come out of Egypt and they’re camped at the foot of Mt. Sinai. God has instructed them to build a sacred tent for him, so he can dwell among them. They have now done that. They just got the tabernacle set up!

Leviticus 4-7   

In Leviticus 1-7, God is giving Moses instructions for the 5 main sacrifices for Israel's worship at the Tabernacle. Chapters 1-3 details the first three. Leviticus 4-6 detail the next two, the sin (or better, purification) offering and the guilt or restitution offering. 

These two offerings are very similar. It even says in these chapters “the guilt offering is like the sin offer...

Leviticus 1-3  

Leviticus opens like this: “Then the Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying…” This makes it clear that it is continuing the story revealed in Exodus. Exodus ended like this: 40:34 -35 - Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to ent...

Ritual Purity and Atonement in Leviticus 

Reading Leviticus can feel very foreign... we might even say it's weird. And a huge part of that is because all the rules about clean and unclean. These rules rules are addressing the state of ritual purity and ritual impurity. 

Ritual impurity in the Ancient Near East (ANE) was a status rendering a person temporarily unfit to enter sacred spaces (...

Introduction to Leviticus  

For most of us, Leviticus is a challenging read! If Exodus was more challenging than Genesis, Leviticus ramps it up even further. The first seven chapters are procedures for sacrifices. Later,  there’s all sorts of teaching about clean and unclean foods and about behaviors that lead to ritual impurity and what to do about all that. A lot of the material in Leviticus is ...

The Majesty of God, Leviticus, and Other News | Spring 2026 Update

When spending lots of time in Exodus and Leviticus you can't miss the majesty and holiness of God. But at the same time, there's the mercy and intimacy of God. Let's reflect on that. 

Here's a link to the sermon from Acts 5 that I mention in this update: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK7JrNb9Ays&pp=0gcJCQQLAYcqIYzv

Leviticus starts next week! So I share ...