The word Leviticus is from the Hebrew word "vayyikra", meaning "And He called", because it pertains to the Levites, and the relationship of the priests and worship, for only those that God calls, who seek to worship Him. Though this book approaches the aspect of the flesh, we are going to look at the spiritual side, for it is Christ that is represented in the spiritual types, or "antitypes", which are those things that are foreshadowed to come in the future. Those things are of course, Jesus Christ's coming that are foreshadowed in the various types throughout the book of Leviticus.

YHVH is holy and He was calling His people to worship him and be holy. We know from Genesis 6:7 that God repented that He made man in the flesh; Why? because it seemed that man always fell short, and sinned against God. So here in the book of Leviticus we see that God is giving man the means to come back to him, and atoning themselves for the sins that they have committed. God is setting the method at that time in history for His people to approach him. Lets try to focus on the spiritual aspect on the book of Leviticus, even though much as it is pertaining to the flesh and man. Even though we will take a close look at the slaughter of animals, and much blood shed and burned for sacrifice, we will still see how they were types of that time when Jesus Christ would come, and be our sacrifice for one and all times.

The first seven chapters of Leviticus deals with offerings, sacrifices and the Law. Then Leviticus chapters 8 - 11 will take a close look at the priesthood of Aaron and his sons. the Ceremonial laws are covered in chapters eleven through fifteen, with the Day of Atonement covered in the sixteenth chapter.

The second part of the book of Leviticus will look at the offerings and their requirements in the seventeenth chapter, and ceremonial laws and their penalties in chapters eighteen through twenty. The Priesthood will be covered again in Leviticus twenty one and twenty two, ending with YHVH's feasts and the offerer and their charges to the end of the book. This, of course is given in detail in the index of the book, which allows us to be more specific to the individual verses. Even though we will view the physical aspects of this book, try to focus on the spiritual side as we see the types that are presented to us. These are the "antitypes" which are things that are foreshadowed of other things that will come in the future. Of course we are talking of the coming of the Messiah, Jesus the Christ, to be offered as the perfect sacrificed for one and all times.

Leviticus 1:1 "And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying,"

The starting of this book of Leviticus with the word "And", ties this book to the book of Exodus. So this goes back to Exodus 25:22 where God said; "And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel." Keep in mind that the tabernacle was not built yet, but what it is referring to is the tent of the assembly. So this will be the place where God would reside with the people, and talk with them from this location.

Leviticus 1:2 " "Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, `If any man of your bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock."

By flock, it means either sheep or goats. The word for "offering" that is used here is "Korban" in the Hebrew text. The Korban is a gift that is given for the sake of gaining admittance, or the attention of the person that you are trying to get a favor from. We see this type of offering in politics and industry today, when an industry tries to get the attention of a politician to gain a favor from the that person's position in government. Here in Leviticus, this offering of Korban is gift to cover the sins of man while they are in the presence of YHVH, our Heavenly Father.

Leviticus 1:3 "If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord."

"Burnt Offerings" (Olah, in the Hebrew text) from the Companion Bible, Appendix 43 I, ii: Jehovah begins with the burnt offering and ends with the sin offering: we, in our approach, begin with the sin offering, and end with the burnt offering. The Burnt sacrifice, or " `olah", is the male that is sacrificed, even though the female animal is used in some cases, but not here because of the type; for Christ is not the sin bearer here. The offering did ascend to God when it was wholly burnt as the sacrifice.

Just as Noah was the "tamim", or without blemish as to pedigree of blood; so also the sacrifice must also be "without blemish", for this animal to be an acceptable sacrifice before the Lord, "i.e. in his stead." When it states, "of his own voluntary will", this is not the same as a freewill offering. The burnt offering is not a freewill offering, for there is a double transfer: the unworthiness of the offerer was transferred to the victim; and the acceptableness of the offering was transferred to the offerer. This is confined to the burnt offerings and peace offering; yet it is never with the sin offerings.

Notice that this is a voluntary offering that is given at the door of the tabernacle. Many of the offering that come later, such as the sin offering were not voluntary. Notice that this requires "a male without blemish"; a type of the Messiah to come.

Hebrews 9:13 "For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth [to make clean] to the purifying of the flesh:" [13] "How much more shall the blood of Christ, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Him-self without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living ?" [14]

Jesus offered Himself to be sacrificed, when He was without fault (spot) for those things that He was accused of. Jesus' life was without blemish, without sin, and that made him the perfect sacrifice for one and all times. We are to purge our moral conscience from dead works to serve the Living God. Our heavenly Father doesn't want our dead sacrifices, but He wants our love and service to Him. So here in verse three we can see this type; ["a male without blemish"] however the male only was to be used for the brunt offering. So of all the offerings, the animal had to be of a clean nature, which gets to what makes an animal clean or unclean. This will be studied later in this book.

Leviticus 1:4 "And He shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him."

"And He shall put his hand upon the head..." Notice that God required the person making the burnt offering to lean, place or press his hand on the head of the burnt offering animal that will be killed. Why? It could not be done by proxy, for this was all that the sinner could do. This gets to the point of whether that sacrifice was accepted to satisfy the debt of the person's sin or not, and was completely up to YHVH our heavenly Father. So this is why the Korban offering was given first, so that the sinner could gain admittance to the presence of God through this burnt offering.

"Make atonement", in the Hebrew text is "kaphar", and it means to "cover both the sin and the sinner, so that neither can be seen" in his unclean state while in the presence of God. This is not the same as "justification", which is talked about in the book of Romans, which is a righteousness by acquittal, through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. This is pointed out in Strong's Greek Bible dictionary #'s 1344, and 1347. We will see later in chapter ten when Aaron's son went in before God without the protection from the sin that is over him, and God smote him dead.

Leviticus 1:5 "And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation."

He, the offer shall kill the bullock on the north side of the altar: then the priest is the one to receive the blood. These priests are the sons of Aaron, of the Levitical priesthood, are the ones to collect the blood in a container and bring the blood into the tabernacle of the congregation, and actually sprinkle or splash the blood round about the altar within the tabernacle. Again this is talking about the burnt offering that is being rendered to the Lord. The reason that it was required that the priest bring the blood to the altar of sacrifices, is that this blood that was shed was considered holy unto the Lord. The person that the sacrifice was shed for was not considered sanctified enough that it would have defiled the very offering that was presented to God. Though it says, "upon the altar"; it was actually splashed on the sides of the altar.

Leviticus 1:6 "And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces."

The offerer shall be the one to flay or skin the animal that was to be the burnt offering, and prepare it by cutting it into pieces. Remember that this is talking about the burnt offering, and the skin was only offered in sin offerings. We will see in Leviticus 7:8 that; "...the priest shall have to himself the skin of the burnt offering which he hat offered." This skin would be partial payment for his services in offering the burnt offering.

Leviticus 1:7 "And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire:"

Only the sons of Aaron had the right to put fire upon the altar, and prepare the wood for the sacrifices to be given. The fire on the alter was to be kept continually burning, so preparation and transfer of fire was something to carry on continually. When Aaron's sons allowed it to go out, we are told in Leviticus 10:1; "And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, too either of them his censer, and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord which He commanded them not." God specified the manner and order that the fire on the altar of God would be used, and that it was not to be mixed with strange or heathen [common] fire.

Leviticus 10:2 "And there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord."

God used this as a warning to Aaron, and to the children of Israel not to mess around with His holy things, which these sacrifices and the fire was. These offerings were offered to God every morning and evening, and the wood would be placed on the fire in intervals so that it would continue to burn.

Leviticus 1:8 "And the priests, Aaron's sons, shall lay the parts, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar:"

Notice that what ever God commands of us, must be done with order, and in order. The priest that took the parts of the animal to be sacrificed laid those parts, the head and fat on the wood that was set up on the altar for the sacrifice, on top and the fire that was already burning. So this is another type of Christ here. The wood that was used on the altar of sacrifice, had to be only wood, and not a mixture of other things. It was the smoke from this wood that was the "Olah" that would ascend up to God. Whereas the in the sin offering the smoke went down to the ground and out away from the altar and people. So in the sin offering there could be something else that could be used in the place of wood. However in that this offering went up to YHVH it had to be only wood.

Leviticus 1:9 "But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in the water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of the sweet savour unto the Lord."

The bowels and legs of the animal had to be washed in water. When the animal was burned on the altar, it had to be the savour of satisfaction to God. This washing with water does not relate in any way to baptism, but the whole type given here is to make this sacrifice much like Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:26, 27 says, "That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish."

So the type used here is to render the animal like Jesus Christ, by the use of the Living Word of God.

Leviticus 1:10 "And if His offering be of the flocks, namely, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice; he shall bring it a male without blemish."

Again, notice that the sacrifice must be a male without spot or blemish. This burnt offering could only use a male sacrifice because of the vigorous manner that it was made.

Leviticus 1:11 "And he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the Lord: and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar."

Again the splashing of the blood was around the side of the altar by the priest, because this blood was considered holy by God. If the offerer would have sprinkled the blood at the altar, he would have defiled the sanctity of the altar.

Leviticus 1:12 "And he shall cut it into his pieces, with his head and his fat: and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar:"

Every part of the sacrifice had to be done as God commanded, and in the order that God gave to Aaron through Moses.

Leviticus 1:13 "But he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water: and the priest shall bring it all, and burn it upon the altar: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord."

This offering sacrifice was a offering of satisfaction to God. By washing the filth and dung from off the animal kept the foul smells away from the sacrifice.

Leviticus 1:14 "And if the burnt sacrifice for his offering to the Lord be of fowls, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves, or of young pigeons."

Up to this point, the burnt offerings were only given with respect to the herd or the flock: The Sheep and the goats. Now we get into the use of turtledoves, and young pigeons." The use of birds or fowls was used in those times when the person could not afford the larger animals for their sacrifices.

Leviticus 1:15 "And the priest shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off his head, and burn it on the altar; and the blood thereof shall be wrong out at the side of the altar:"

In the prior sacrifices using the sheep and goats, the offerer or one making the sacrifice was the one that slay the animal and parted its parts; but using these turtledoves or pigeons, it is the priest that slays the bird, and sprinkles the blood around the altar. This shows the humbleness that is required to use this gift to the Lord.

Leviticus 1:16 "And he shall pluck away his crop with his feathers, and cast it beside the the altar on the east part, by the place of the ashes:"

The priest is the one that is killing the sacrifice, and it is the priest that wrings off the head, and plucks off the feathers from the body. This is symbolic of the filth of the animal that is used in the sacrifice. On the east side of the altar is the place where the fat and ashes of other sacrifices were piled up, that were discarded.

Leviticus 1:17 "And he shall cleave it with the wings thereof, but shall not divide it asunder: and the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire: it is a burnt sacrifice, and offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord."

The "burnt offerings" are also know as whole offerings, because they are wholly burnt. Remember that it was a requirement that the one making the offering sacrifice put his hand on the head of the animal to be sacrificed. This symbolized, and many bible teachers believe, that this places him in the place of the animal. However remember that this animal was not capable of sin, it did not have free will or the right to chose anything on its own. However in a way, the offerer is placing the animal in his place on the altar of sacrifice. This burnt offering is a offering for atonement, and the one making the offering is paying a spiritual debt. The blood of the animal, which is the soul of the animal becomes symbolic of the washing away of the spiritual debt of sin.

All the animal was burned in the burnt offering, where as we will see in the other offerings, parts of the animal will be removed from the tabernacle, and taken outside the camp and disposed of. We will also see that in some of the offerings the priest will be responsible for eating of the sacrifice offering. So now we move to another type of offering, the "Meal Offering" in Leviticus 2.