Leviticus 1
Sermon Bible
And the LORD called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying,


Leviticus 1:1-6


I. The very same voice which proclaimed the commandments on Sinai is here said to announce the nature of the sacrifices, and how, when, and by whom they are to be presented. The unseen King and Lawgiver is here, as everywhere, making known His will. Those sacrifices which it was supposed were to bend and determine His will themselves proceeded from it.

II. These words were spoken to the children of Israel out of the tabernacle. The tabernacle was the witness of God's abiding presence with His people, the pledge that they were to trust Him, and that He sought intercourse with them.

III. The tabernacle is represented as the tabernacle of the congregation. There, where God dwells, is the proper home of the whole people; there they may know that they are one.

IV. "Say to the children of Israel, If any of you bring an offering to the Lord." The desire for such sacrifice is presumed. Everything in the position of the Jew is awakening in him the sense of gratitude, of obligation, of dependence. He is to take of the herd and the flock for his offering. The lesson is a double one. The common things, the most ordinary part of his possessions, are those which he is to bring; that is one part of his teaching. The animals are subjects of man; he is to rule them and make use of them for his own higher objects; that is another.

V. The victim was taken to the door of the place at which all Israelites had an equal right to appear; but the man who brought it laid his own hand upon the head of it. He signified that the act was his, that it expressed thoughts in his mind which no one else could know of.

VI. The reconciliation which he seeks he shall find. God will meet him there. God accepts this sign of his submission. He restores him to his rights in the Divine society.

VII. Now it is that we first hear of the priests, Aaron's sons. If there was to be a congregation, if the individual Israelites were not to have their separate sacrifices and their separate gods, then there must be a representative of this unity. The priest was consecrated as a witness to the people of the actual relation which existed between them and God.

F. D. Maurice, The Doctrine of Sacrifice Deduced from the Scriptures, p. 67.

References: Leviticus 1:1.—Parker, vol. iii., p. 126. Leviticus 1:1-9.—Ibid., pp. 13, 21, 29. Leviticus 1:4.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 104. Leviticus 1:4, Leviticus 1:5.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxx., No. 1771. Leviticus 1:5.—Ibid., No. 1772; Parker, Christian Chronicle, Jan. 22nd, 1885. Leviticus 1:9.—J. Fleming, The Gospel in Leviticus, p. 46. Lev 1-7.—J. Monro Gibson, The Mosaic Era, p. 171; Preacher's Monthly, vol. ii., pp. 309, 311. Leviticus 2:1, Leviticus 2:2.—J. Fleming, The Gospel in Leviticus, p. 96. Leviticus 2:12-16.—Parker, vol. iii., p. 35. Lev 3—Ibid., pp. 42, 126. Lev 4—Ibid., p. 53. Leviticus 4:2, Leviticus 4:3.—J. Fleming, The Gospel in Leviticus, p. 107. Leviticus 4:3.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiii., No. 739; Parker, vol. iii., p. 46. Leviticus 4:6, Leviticus 4:7.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxx., No. 1780. Leviticus 4:27-31.—Ibid., vol. xviii., No. 1048. Leviticus 4:29.—Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes, p. 39. Lev 5—Parker, vol. iii., p. 59. Leviticus 5:15.—Ibid., p. 127. Leviticus 5:17, Leviticus 5:18.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiii., No. 1386. Leviticus 6:1-7.—Parker, vol. iii., p. 67. Leviticus 6:2, Leviticus 6:5.—J. Fleming, The Gospel in Leviticus, p. 114. Leviticus 6:9.—Parker, vol. iii., p. 128. Leviticus 6:12.—J. Fleming, The Gospel in Leviticus, p. 20. Leviticus 6:13.—W. Spensley, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xix., p. 344; Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 197; Parker, vol. iii., p. 74; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 120. Leviticus 7:1.—Parker, vol. iii., p. 128. Leviticus 7:11-18.—Preacher's Monthly, vol. ii., p. 313. Leviticus 7:27.—Parker, vol. iii., p. 130. Leviticus 7:29-31.—J. Fleming, Gospel in Leviticus, p. 74. Leviticus 7:37, Leviticus 7:38.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 529. Lev 7—Parker, Christian Chronicle, May 22nd, 1879.

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the LORD, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock.
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.
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 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.
And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces.
And the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire:
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:
But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water: and the priest shall burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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 wrung out at the side of the altar:
And he shall pluck away his crop with his feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, by the place of the ashes:
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, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.
William Robertson Nicoll's Sermon Bible

Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.

Bible Hub
Exodus 40
Top of Page
Top of Page