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THERE is nothing historical in all this book of

Leviticus except the account which it gives us of the consecration of

the priesthood

(ch. viii.-ix.),

of the punishment of Nadab and Abihu, by the hand of God, for offering

strange fire

(ch. x),

and of Shelomith’s son, by the hand of the magistrate, for blasphemy

(ch. xxiv).

All the rest of the book is taken up with the laws, chiefly the

ecclesiastical laws, which God gave to Israel by Moses, concerning

their sacrifices and offerings, their meats and drinks, and divers

washings, and the other peculiarities by which God set that people

apart for himself, and distinguished them from other nations, all which

were shadows of good things to come, which are realized and superseded

by the gospel of Christ. We call the book Leviticus, from the

Septuagint, because it contains the laws and ordinances of the

levitical priesthood (as it is called,

Heb. vii. 11),

and the ministrations of it. The Levites were principally charged with

these institutions, both to do their part and to teach the people

theirs. We read, in the close of the foregoing book, of the setting up

of the tabernacle, which was to be the place of worship; and, as that

was framed according to the pattern, so must the ordinances of worship

be, which were there to be administered. In these the divine

appointment was as particular as in the former, and must be as

punctually observed. The remaining record of these abrogated laws is

of use to us, for the strengthening of our faith in Jesus Christ, as

the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and for the

increase of our thankfulness to God, that by him we are freed from the

yoke of the ceremonial law, and live in the times of reformation.