1 · Core Story & Meaning
Leviticus answers the question left hanging at the end of Exodus:
How can a holy God live in the middle of an unholy people? It
describes sacrifices, purity rhythms, and communal ethics that shape
Israel into a distinct people whose life circles around God's presence.
Core Sentence · Leviticus in One Line
The holy God teaches Israel how to live near His presence through
sacrifice, purity, and justice, so their everyday life becomes
worship.
God
├─ dwells in the midst of Israel
├─ gives a sacrificial system for atonement
├─ sets rhythms of purity and rest
└─ calls His people to mirror His holiness
└─ in relationships, work, and worship
Leviticus is less journey and more manual:
instructions for a community learning to be different because God
lives among them.
Four Major Movements
How the book actually flows:
1. SACRIFICES: Offerings for approach and atonement (1–7)
2. PRIESTS: Ordination, failure, and standards (8–10; 21–22)
3. PURITY: Clean/unclean, Day of Atonement (11–16)
4. HOLINESS LIFE: Ethics, festivals, land, vows (17–27)
The book circles around access to God and
imitation of God: drawing near and becoming holy
in the ways He is holy.
2 · Key Scenes & Emotional Gestures
Even in a book of laws, a few narrative moments flash bright. They show
the weight and the gift of living near a holy presence.
Scene · Sacrifices for Approach (Lev 1–7)
A structured way back toward God.
Subject: Israelite worshiper
Action: brings an offering
Worshiper
├─ brings animal or grain
├─ lays hands, identifies with offering
└─ watches as priest mediates
God
└─ accepts offerings as "pleasing"
└─ sin is dealt with, relationship tended
Emotionally: soberness (sin costs something), relief (forgiveness
is possible), and gratitude that there is a path home.
GRAVITY
RELIEF
GRATITUDE
Scene · Nadab & Abihu (Lev 10)
Casual worship meets holy fire.
Subject: Nadab & Abihu
Action: offer "unauthorized fire"
Priests
└─ bring unauthorized fire before the LORD
God
└─ sends fire that consumes them
└─ Moses: "Among those who are near me I will be sanctified"
Emotionally: shock, fear, and a sharpened sense that nearness to
God is not casual but weighty and real.
TERROR
AWE
REVERENCE
Scene · Day of Atonement (Lev 16)
A yearly deep clean for the community.
Subject: High priest
Actions: sacrifices, scapegoat
High priest
├─ enters Most Holy Place once a year
├─ offers blood for himself and the people
└─ sends scapegoat into the wilderness
└─ sins symbolically carried away
Emotionally: humility, corporate honesty about sin, and the quiet
relief of knowing the community has been cleansed.
HUMILITY
CLEANSING
RESET
Scene · "Be Holy as I Am Holy" (Lev 19)
Holiness translated into daily life.
Subject: Israel
Call: mirror God's character
God
└─ says
└─ "You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy"
Holiness in life
├─ leave gleanings for the poor
├─ no stealing, lying, or oppression
├─ fair treatment of workers and strangers
└─ "Love your neighbor as yourself"
Emotionally: the realization that holiness is not only ritual but
ethic—a way of treating others that reflects the
heart of God.
CALLING
JUSTICE
LOVE
3 · Timeline of Themes by Story Order
Leviticus is more topical than narrative, but you can still read it as
a sequence of movements from access, to cleansing, to everyday holiness.
The x-axis shows core themes; the y-axis follows the flow of the book.
| Story Order |
Section Block |
Creation / Goodness |
Fall / Fracture |
Covenant |
Promise / Hope |
Faithfulness / Providence |
Exile / Displacement |
| 1 · Lev 1–7 |
Offerings & Sacrifices |
ordered approach to God
|
sin acknowledged
|
covenant maintained by atonement
|
hope of forgiveness
|
God provides a way back
|
|
| 2 · Lev 8–10 |
Priest Ordination & Nadab/Abihu |
|
wrong worship, sudden judgment
|
priesthood set apart
|
|
God safeguards His nearness
|
|
| 3 · Lev 11–15 |
Clean & Unclean Rhythms |
life, death, and creation order
|
impurity as a constant reality
|
|
paths from unclean to clean
|
God makes room for restoration
|
|
| 4 · Lev 16 |
Day of Atonement |
|
all sins brought into view
|
central covenant ritual
|
annual reset for the people
|
God stays with them
|
|
| 5 · Lev 17–20 |
Holiness Code: Life & Relationships |
|
old patterns forbidden
|
"I am the LORD" refrains
|
blessing in obedience
|
God shapes a just society
|
warnings of being "vomited out"
|
| 6 · Lev 21–22 |
Priestly Holiness Standards |
|
defilement taken seriously
|
priests as covenant representatives
|
|
God honored in how leaders live
|
|
| 7 · Lev 23 |
Appointed Times & Festivals |
time structured as sacred
|
|
covenant memory days
|
hope rehearsed yearly
|
God's story retold on a calendar
|
|
| 8 · Lev 24 |
Lamps, Bread & Blasphemy Incident |
light & bread in God's house
|
weight of God's name
|
|
|
justice applied in community
|
|
| 9 · Lev 25 |
Sabbath Year & Jubilee |
land and time given rest
|
|
land belongs to God
|
hope of return and release
|
God as ultimate provider
|
|
| 10 · Lev 26 |
Blessings & Curses |
|
disobedience leads toward exile
|
covenant consequences
|
promise to remember the covenant
|
God does not forget His people
|
exile warned but not final
|
| 11 · Lev 27 |
Vows & Things Set Apart |
|
|
voluntary dedication within covenant
|
future-oriented commitments
|
God honors what is devoted
|
|
Leviticus may feel like a maze of regulations, but viewed as a timeline
of themes it becomes a training ground: a people learning, step by
step, how life, land, time, and relationships can all be made holy.