Leviticus · chapter 1 of 27
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Leviticus 1 opens the book with the Lord calling Moses from the tent of meeting to teach the burnt offering. The worshiper brings a bull, a sheep, a goat or birds, without blemish, lays a hand on the animal, and it is accepted in his place. The whole offering is burned on the altar as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
Leviticus begins where Exodus ends: the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle and Moses could not enter. Now God himself speaks from that tent to teach Israel how to approach a holy God. The first sacrifice he describes is the burnt offering, the offering of total surrender, and so this chapter sets the tone for the whole book.
The Lord calls Moses and speaks to him from the tent of meeting. He tells him to instruct the Israelites about what to do when someone wants to bring an offering from the herd or the flock. The whole chapter describes the burnt offering, which is burned completely on the altar.
If the offering is from the herd, it must be a male bull without blemish, brought to the entrance of the tent so that it may be accepted. The worshiper lays his hand on the animal's head, and it is accepted to make atonement for him. He then slaughters the bull, the priests, the sons of Aaron, splash the blood around the altar, and the worshiper skins and cuts up the animal. The priests arrange the pieces on the fire, and the entrails and legs are washed with water.
The same pattern holds for someone who offers a sheep or a goat from the flock, slaughtered on the north side of the altar, and for someone with fewer means: turtledoves or young pigeons. The priest wrings off the bird's head, burns it and removes the crop and feathers. In all three cases the closing phrase is the same: it is an offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The animal must be a male without blemish, brought to the entrance of the tent so the worshiper may be accepted before the Lord. God asks for the best, not leftovers, and the offering is presented willingly in his presence.
The worshiper lays a hand on the animal's head, and it is accepted on his behalf to make atonement. The gesture identifies the person with the victim: the animal takes his place. This is the idea of substitution that Scripture develops all the way to Christ.
The entire animal is burned on the altar and rises as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. The burnt offering has no shared portions: it pictures complete surrender. God delights in a people who give themselves wholly, not in part.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: From the tent of meeting. — Leviticus 1:1
Answer: It had to be a male without blemish. — Leviticus 1:3
Answer: He laid it on the animal's head, and the animal was accepted to make atonement for him. — Leviticus 1:4
Answer: The priests, the sons of Aaron. — Leviticus 1:5
Answer: Turtledoves or young pigeons. — Leviticus 1:14
Answer: As an offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. — Leviticus 1:9
Leviticus 1 reminds us that approaching God is no casual matter: he himself sets the way. The burnt offering teaches that true worship involves surrender, not just words. In a Sunday school class you can ask which part of life we keep holding back, and what it would mean to give it wholly to him.
At the same time, the chapter shows the grace of a God who adapts: someone without a bull could bring a bird. God does not measure the offering by its price but by the surrender of the heart. For the believer all this points to Christ, who gave himself completely in our place, as the letter to the Hebrews explains.
Leviticus 1 makes clear that the fullest offering is the one given entirely to God in the sinner's place. Leviticus 2 continues with a different offering, the grain offering, which expresses gratitude and dependence on the daily fruit of work.
The sacrifices showed how serious sin is and how much atonement is needed, and they taught that someone had to take the guilty person's place. According to Hebrews, the blood of animals could not finally remove sin, but pointed ahead to the perfect sacrifice of Christ.
It was a gesture of identification: the worshiper declared that the animal stood in his place. The text adds that the offering was then accepted on his behalf to make atonement. It is a picture of substitution that helps us understand the work of Christ.
It is a figure of speech showing that God accepts with delight an offering given in obedience and surrender. It does not mean God needs food, but that he is pleased by the faith and consecration of the worshiper.