Leviticus Twenty Questions

1. What questions do you have about this week’s reading?

2. Several times the Bible points out that sacrifices are to be animals “without defect.”  What’s wrong with offering defective animals to God?

3. What would be a modern-day equivalent of offering something defective to God?

4. That sacrifices produce “an aroma pleasing to the Lord” is mentioned several times in Leviticus.  Do you think God physically and/or literally takes pleasure in smelling the offering?

5. What provisions does Leviticus 5 make for the economically poor?

6. Leviticus commands a system of sacrificial animal offerings.  We say we are Bible-believers.  Why don’t we follow this practice today?

7. Based on Leviticus 10:1-3, why was it important to follow the rituals precisely as laid out?

8. What does Leviticus 12:8 imply about Joseph and Mary later in Luke 2:22-24?

9. Reading Leviticus 13:45-46, how difficult would it be to live with a long-term skin disease in Bible times?

10. In spite of the difficulty placed upon those with skin diseases, why was it mandated?

11. In Leviticus 16, what was the role of the scapegoat?

12. How often was the atonement ritual described in Leviticus 16 to be practiced?

13. How important was the prohibition against eating blood in Leviticus 17:10-14?  (Compare with Acts 15:19-21)

14. Christians do not consider the “kosher laws” of Leviticus 11 to be binding on us.  What about the sexual laws of Leviticus 18?  (Compare with I Corinthians 5:1-5)

15. What is the point of establishing a system of holy days to be observed throughout the year, as in Leviticus 23?

16. What would happen during the Year of Jubilee?

17. Reading Leviticus 25:44-46, would you say that the Bible endorses slavery?

18. What do you think are the best promises for obedience/worst threats for disobedience listed in Leviticus 26?

19. Leviticus 27:30-33 says that a tithe of everything from the land and from the flocks and herds belongs to the Lord.  What right does God have to a tithe?

20. How difficult would you find it to be an ancient Jew and be expected to practice all of Leviticus?  You may indicate which laws in particular would be hardest to follow.