Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about the start of the book of Leviticus, chapters 1 to 15, and Psalms 29 to 37.

There is a lot to talk about here, including the role Leviticus played in the lives of its original audience. While many have understood it to be the source of statute law, both modern scholarship and the rest of the Bible suggest that judges may have been more used to building common law through their use of wisdom.

The purpose of Leviticus may be mainly to draw Israel’s attention to their source of that wisdom, a powerful Lord who wanted to establish social order so that his presence would be recognised and his name respected.

A good source text on this is “The Lost World of the Torah” by John H. Walton and J. Harvey Walton.

Looking at Leviticus like this should make us question the approach of trying to glean it for moral principles that are meant to apply today. Instead, we can appreciate its purpose to begin building a people with God’s presence who could be a light to the world.

The Psalms illustrate the power of faith in God and how trusting him to be present can help people overcome in a wide range of conflicts from personal to international. 

The next part of our boxset will look at the end of Leviticus, chapters 16 to 27, as well as Proverbs chapters 1 to 9. Listen along at your own pace at severnvineyard.org/bible.