Leviticus 22 Summary: A Short Breakdown in 5 Minutes

Leviticus 22 Summary - A Quick Overview

WHEN:

• Leviticus picks up where Exodus left off. The children of Israel are on their way through the wilderness to the Canaan land.

• According to Leviticus 8, the Tabernacle had already been erected, which would place the year at approximately 1490 B.C. (one year after the Israelites left Egypt).

DEFINITIONS:

• Holy Food – Certain portions of the Israelites’ sacrifices were given to the priests for food. This included meat from the animals being offered and bread/flour from the grain offerings. This food was special and could only be eaten by certain people who had a connection to the priesthood.

TABERNACLE DIAGRAM

OUTLINE:

• THE HOLY FOOD FROM THE TABERNACLE (22:1-16):

  • No priest was allowed to eat of the contributions and holy food from the Tabernacle while they were unclean.

  • If a priest was unclean as a result of touching an unclean thing, he had to wash himself with water in the evening before being permitted to eat the of the holy things again.

  • The common Israelite people were not allowed to eat the holy things, unless they were a person born in the priest’s house or a slave bought with the priest’s money.

  • If a person accidently ate some of the holy food, they were to restore what they ate to the priest with 1/5 of the value added to the total.

• ANIMALS FIT FOR SACRIFICE (22:17-33):

  • The Israelites were not allowed to bring blemished animals as burnt offerings or as piece offerings.

  • Any animal affected by blindness, mutilation, a disability, an itch, a scab, damaged testicles, or other ailments were not permitted to be offered.

  • An animal had to be at least 8 days old before it was eligible to be used as a sacrifice.

  • A cow or sheep and its offspring were not to be killed together at the same time.  

  • If an animal was offered as a sacrifice of thanksgiving, the entire animal was to be eaten the same day (7:15).

APPLICATION:

• God expects more than our leftovers.

• God didn’t accept offerings from the leftover animals of the Israelite flocks. It would have been no real sacrifice to offer a sick animal to the Lord, and it certainly wouldn’t have been a blessing to the priests.

• While we don’t offer animal sacrifices, we all offer something.

• Do you give God the best of your time, money, brainpower, physical energy, attention, affection, and service?

• We don’t want to offer God the leftovers of all these things after we’ve nearly exhausted them on selfish and worldly pursuits.

• God deserves the best of us, and His Kingdom is the best place to expend the balance of our resources.