Leviticus: How much is still relevant?

When I was in seminary (Dallas Theological Seminary), I had a class assignment to outline the book of Leviticus. Once, I taught a unit on Leviticus and Numbers to one of my Sunday School classes. And I've also dug into passages of Leviticus as part of a study on the Jewish feasts.

Every time I've taken the time to carefully study Leviticus, armed with good commentaries, it has been a pleasurable and enlightening experience. I know a woman who was advised by her spiritual mentor to actually write out all of Leviticus, word by word. It took her some months, but she reported that it was a transformational experience. No doubt.

For this read-through, I didn't do any of these thorough, thoughtful ways of absorbing Leviticus. Instead, I did what many people do who end up abandoning their read-through-the-Bible goals. I just read through it straight. As it happened, my husband, John, and I were on a road trip, so I read it out loud to him.

I can't say I recommend this method, but we did have some interesting thoughts and discussions. So much of what's in Leviticus is completely arcane. For example, no one has actually slaughtered animals at the Tent of Meeting or the Temple since the first century A.D. when the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.

We read long passages about how priests are to deal with skin diseases or "infections" ("mildew" in some translations) in a house or on fabric or leather. We happened to be at my mother-in-law's home when we got to chapter 18 about unlawful sexual relations. Believe me--reading those passages out loud was deeply uncomfortable!

This is the book that goes on and on about clean and unclean animals: You can eat locusts, but you can't eat shell fish. You're not supposed to plant your field with two kinds of seed or wear clothing with two kinds of material.

"Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard. Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD" (Lev. 19:18-19)

"If a man commits adultery with another man's wife...both the adulterer and the adulteress must be put to death" (Lev. 20:10). And of course, everyone's favorite, "If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death" (Lev. 20:13). NB: "Put to death." Really?

So reading through Leviticus--for the thoughtful, Bible-revering believer--makes you stop and think hard. Which of these laws should still be observed, and which are too outmoded? Why? How do you decide? Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets: I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished" (Matthew 5:17-18). What does that mean?

All of this raises more questions than it answers. In my humble opinion, I don't think anyone should be very dogmatic about interpreting and applying Leviticus. It's too easy to start cherry-picking what to observe and what to ignore, based on one's own preferences (or sinful choices).

I think we can, however, agree on a couple of principles. First, God did and does care about the minutiae of our lives. We honor or disobey Him in even the smallest details of what we do or don't do. Second, God has high and sometimes unfathomable standards for His people. We may not always understand His commands; we don't necessarily have to understand.

Third, there is no way anyone then or now could observe and obey all of God's standards, although we are obliged to do our best. The sacrifices described in Leviticus were the means for the ancient Jews to atone for their sins--intentional or unintentional. Humans simply are unable to live up to God's standards for holiness.

And that, friends, is why we need our Savior. The book of Hebrews speaks directly to Leviticus when it explains how Christ died once and for all to take away the sins of many people. "We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all" (Hebrews 10:10).

If you're reading Leviticus, I hope you have a good commentary and some time on your hands to ruminate on the meaning and intention of this book for the people of ancient Israel and for modern people today.