The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV

by John MacArthur

  9:23 the glory of the LORD appeared. The Bible speaks often of the glory of God—the visible appearance of His beauty and perfection reduced to blazing light. His glory appeared to Moses in a burning bush in Midian (Ex. 3:1–6), in a cloud on Mt. Sinai (Ex. 24:15–17), and in a rock on Mt. Sinai (Ex. 33:18–23). The glory of God also filled the tabernacle (Ex. 40:34), led the people as a pillar of fire and cloud (Ex. 40:35–38), and also filled the temple in Jerusalem (1 Kin. 8:10, 11). When Aaron made the first sacrifice in the wilderness, as a priest, the “glory of the Lord appeared to all the people.” In these manifestations, God was revealing His righteousness, holiness, truth, wisdom, and grace—the sum of all He is. However, nowhere has God’s glory been more perfectly expressed than in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:14). It will be seen on earth again when He returns (Matt. 24:29–31; 25:31).

  9:24 fire came out…consumed. This fire miraculously signified that God had accepted their offering (cf. 1 Kin. 18:38, 39), and the people shouted for joy because of that acceptance and worshiped God.

  Leviticus 10

  10:1 Nadab and Abihu. These were the two oldest sons of Aaron. censer. The vessel in which the incense was burned in the Holy Place (its features are unknown) was to be used only for holy purposes. profane fire. Though the exact infraction is not detailed, in some way they violated the prescription for offering incense (cf. Ex. 30:9, 34–38), probably because they were drunk (see vv. 8, 9). Instead of taking the incense fire from the brazen altar, they had some other source for the fire and thus perpetrated an act, which, considering the descent of the miraculous fire they had just seen and their solemn duty to do as God told them, betrayed carelessness, irreverence, and lack of consideration for God. Such a tendency had to be punished for all priests to see as a warning.

  10:2 fire went out. The same divine fire that accepted the sacrifices (9:24) consumed the errant priests. That was not unlike the later deaths of Uzzah (2 Sam. 6:6, 7) or Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:5, 10).

  10:3 regarded as holy…be glorified. Nadab and Abihu were guilty of violating both requirements of God’s absolute standard. The priests had received repeated and solemn warnings as to the necessity of reverence before God (see Ex. 19:22; 29:44). Aaron held his peace. In spite of losing his two sons, he did not complain, but submitted to the righteous judgment of God.

  10:4 Mishael…Elzaphan. See Ex. 6:22 for their lineage. This procedure prevented the priests from defiling themselves by handling the dead bodies (Lev. 21:1), and allowed the whole congregation to see the result of such disregard for the holiness of God. out of the camp. As this was done with the ashes of sacrificed animals (6:11), so it was done with the remains of these two priests who received God’s wrath.

  10:6 Eleazar and Ithamar. Aaron’s youngest sons who yet lived. Later, the line of Eleazar would be designated as the unique line of the High-Priest (cf. Num. 25:10–13).

  10:6, 7 This prohibition against the customary signs of mourning was usually reserved for the High-Priest only as prescribed in 21:10–12. Here, Moses applies it to Eleazar and Ithamar also.

  10:8, 9 not drink wine or intoxicating drink. Taken in its context, this prohibition suggests that intoxication led Nadab and Abihu to perform their blasphemous act. Cf. Prov. 23:20–35; 1 Tim. 3:3; Titus 1:7.

  10:11 that you may teach the children of Israel. It was essential that alcohol not hinder the clarity of their minds, since the priests were to teach God’s law to all of Israel. They were the expositors of the Scripture, alongside the prophets who generally received the Word directly from the Lord. Ezra would become the supreme example of a commendable priest (Ezra 7:10).

  10:12–15 See notes on the peace offering in 3:1–17; 7:11–36.

  10:16–20 The sin offering had not been eaten as prescribed in 6:26, but rather it was wholly burned. It was the duty of the priests to have eaten the meat after the blood was sprinkled on the altar, but instead of eating it in a sacred feast, they had burned it outside the camp. Moses discovered this disobedience, probably from a dread of some further judgment, and challenged, not Aaron, whose heart was too torn in the death of his sons, but the two surviving sons in the priesthood to explain their breach of ritual duty. Aaron, who heard the charge, however, and by whose direction the violation had occurred, gave the explanation. His reason was that they had done all the ritual sacrifice correctly up to the point of eating the meat, but omitted eating because he was too dejected for a feast in the face of the appalling judgments that had fallen. He was wrong, because God had specifically commanded the sin offering to be eaten in the Holy Place. God’s law was clear and it was sin to deviate from it at all. Moses sympathized with Aaron’s grief, however, and having made his point, dropped the issue.

  Leviticus 11

  11:1—16:34 Prescriptions for uncleanness are covered in this section. God used the tangible issues of life which He labeled clean/unclean to repeatedly impress upon Israel the difference between what was holy and unholy. “Clean” means acceptable to God; “unclean” means unacceptable to God. Leviticus 11–15 details the code of cleanness; Lev. 16 returns to sacrifices on the Day of Atonement.

  11:1–47 This section contains further legislation on the consumption of animals. Abel’s offering hints at a “post-Fall/pre-Flood” diet of animals (Gen. 4:4). After the Noahic flood, God specifically had granted man permission to eat meat (Gen. 9:1–4), but here spelled out the specifics as covenant legislation. All of the reasons for the prohibitions are not specified. The major points were: 1) that Israel was to obey God’s absolute standard, regardless of the reason for it, or the lack of understanding of it; and 2) such a unique diet was specified that Israel would find it difficult to eat with the idolatrous people around and among them. Their dietary laws served as a barrier to easy socialization with idolatrous peoples. Dietary and hygienic benefits were real, but only secondary to the divine purposes of obedience and separation.

  11:3–23 This section is repeated in Deut. 14:3–20 in almost exact wording. The subject matter includes animals (vv. 3–8), water life (vv. 9–12), birds (vv. 13–19), and insects (vv. 20–23).

  11:4 camel. The camel has a divided foot of two large parts, but the division is not complete and the two toes rest on an elastic pad.

  11:5, 6 rock hyrax…hare. While not true ruminating animals, the manner in which these animals processed their food gave the distinct appearance of “chewing the cud.”

  11:9 fins and scales. Much like the cud and hoof characteristics, the “no fin and scales” guidelines ruled out a segment of water life commonly consumed by ancient people.

  11:13 among the birds. Rather than unifying characteristics as in the hoof-cud and no fin-scales descriptions, the forbidden birds were simply named.

  11:21 This describes the locust (v. 22), which was allowed for food.

  11:24–43 This section deals with separation from other defiling things.

  11:26, 27 These prohibited animals would include horses and donkeys, which have a single hoof, and lion and tigers, which have paws.

  11:30 gecko. A type of lizard.

  11:36 a spring or a cistern. The movement and quantity of water determined the probability of actual contamination. Water was scarce also, and it would have been a threat to the water supply if all water touched by these prohibited carcasses were forbidden for drinking.

  11:44, 45 consecrate yourselves…be holy; for I am holy. In all of this, God is teaching His people to live antithetically. That is, He is using these clean and unclean distinctions to separate Israel from other idolatrous nations who have no such restrictions, and He is illustrating by these prescriptions that His people must learn to live His way. Through dietary laws and rituals, God is teaching them the reality of living His way in everything. They are being taught to obey God in every seemingly mundane area of life, so as to learn how crucial obedience is. Sacrifices, rituals, diet, and even clothing and cooking are all carefully ordered by God to teach them that they are to live differently from everyone else. Th
is is to be an external illustration for the separation from sin in their hearts. Because the Lord is their God, they are to be utterly distinct. In v. 44, for the first time the statement “I am the LORD your God” is made, as a reason for the required separation and holiness. After this verse, that phrase is mentioned about 50 more times in this book, along with the equally instructive claim, “I am holy.” Because God is holy and is their God, the people are to be holy in outward ceremonial behavior as an external expression of the greater necessity of heart holiness. The connection between ceremonial holiness carries over into personal holiness. The only motivation given for all these laws is to learn to be holy because God is holy. The holiness theme is central to Leviticus (see 10:3; 19:2; 20:7, 26; 21:6–8).

  Leviticus 12

  12:1–8 Uncleanness is related to the mother’s afterbirth, not the child.

  12:2 customary impurity. This refers to her monthly menstruation cycle (see 15:19–24).

  12:3 eighth day. Joseph and Mary followed these instructions at the birth of Christ (Luke 2:21). circumcised. The sign of the Abrahamic (Gen. 17:9–14) Covenant was incorporated into the laws of Mosaic cleanness. Cf. Rom. 4:11–13. (For a discussion on circumcision, see note on Jer. 4:4.)

  12:5 two weeks…sixty-six days. Apparently mothers were unclean twice as long (80 days) after the birth of a daughter as a son (40 days), which reflected the stigma on women for Eve’s part in the Fall. This stigma is removed in Christ (see notes on 1 Tim. 2:13–15).

  12:6 burnt offering…sin offering. Though the occasion was joyous, the sacrifices required were to impress upon the mind of the parent the reality of original sin and that the child had inherited a sin nature. The circumcision involved a cutting away of the male foreskin, which could carry infections and diseases in its folds. This cleansing of the physical organ so as not to pass on disease (Jewish women have historically had the lowest incidence of cervical cancer), was a picture of the deep need for cleansing from depravity, which is most clearly revealed by procreation, as men produce sinners and only sinners. Circumcision points to the fact that cleansing is needed at the very core of a human being, a cleansing God offers to the faithful and penitent through the sacrifice of Christ to come.

  12:8 turtledoves…pigeons. Cf. Lev. 1:14–17; 5:7–10. These were the offerings of Joseph and Mary after Christ’s birth (cf. Luke 2:24), when they presented Jesus as their firstborn to the Lord (Ex. 13:2; Luke 2:22). Birds, rather than livestock, indicated a low economic situation, though one who was in total poverty could offer flour (5:11–14).

  Leviticus 13

  13:1—14:57 This section covers laws pertaining to skin diseases.

  13:2 bright spot. This probably refers to inflammation. a leprous sore. This is a term referring to various ancient skin disorders that were sometimes superficial, sometimes serious. It may have included modern leprosy (Hansen’s disease). The symptoms described in vv. 2, 6, 10, 18, 30, and 39 are not sufficient for a diagnosis of the clinical condition. For the protection of the people, observation and isolation were demanded for all suspected cases of what could be a contagious disease. This biblical leprosy involved some whiteness (v. 3; Ex. 4:6), which disfigured its victim but did not disable him. Naaman was able to exercise his functions as general of Syria’s army, although a leper (2 Kin. 5:1, 27). Both OT and NT lepers went almost everywhere, indicating that this disease was not the leprosy of today that cripples. A victim of this scaly disease was unclean as long as the infection was partial. Once the body was covered with it, he was clean and could enter the place of worship (see vv. 12–17). Apparently the complete covering meant the contagious period was over. The allusion to a boil (vv. 18–28) with inflamed or raw areas and whitened hairs may refer to a related infection that was contagious. When lepers were cured by Christ, they were neither lame nor deformed. They were never brought on beds. Similar skin conditions are described in vv. 29–37 and vv. 38–44 (some inflammation from infection). The aim of these laws was to protect the people from disease, but more importantly, to inculcate into them by vivid object lessons how God desired purity, holiness, and cleanness among His people.

  13:45 ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ Here are the symbols of grief and isolation. This same cry is heard from the survivors of Jerusalem’s destruction (cf. Lam. 4:15).

  13:47–59 Deals with garments worn by infected persons.

  13:59 to pronounce it clean or…unclean. The primary purpose of this legislation was to assist the priest in determining the presence of contagious skin disease. The language of the passage indicates disease that affects the clothes as it did the person. This provided more illustrations of the devastating infection of sin and how essential cleansing was spiritually.

  Leviticus 14

  14:1–32 This section explains the cleansing ritual for healed persons.

  14:2 the law of the leper. The sense of this law is a prescription, not for healing from leprosy and other such diseases, but rather for the ceremonial cleansing, which needed to be performed after the person was declared clean.

  14:3 out of the camp. The leper was not allowed to return to society immediately. Before the person could enter the camp, some priest skilled in the diagnoses of disease needed to examine him and assist with the ritual of the two birds (vv. 4–7).

  14:4–7 The bundle of cedar and hyssop tied with scarlet included the living bird. It was all dipped 7 times into the blood of the killed bird mixed with water to symbolize purification. The bird was then set free to symbolize the leper’s release from quarantine.

  14:4 hyssop. See note on Ex. 12:22 (cf. Lev. 14:6, 49, 51).

  14:8 outside his tent. The movement was progressive until finally he could enter and dwell in his own tent, giving dramatic indication of the importance of thorough cleansing for fellowship with God’s people. This was a powerful lesson from God on the holiness He desired for those who lived among His people. This has not changed (see 2 Cor. 7:1).

  14:10–20 As part of the leper’s ceremonial cleansing ritual, trespass (5:14—6:7), sin (4:1–5:13), burnt (1:3–17), and grain (2:1–16) offerings were to be made.

  14:10 one log of oil. Less than one pint.

  14:12 wave offering. See note on 7:30–32.

  14:17 right ear…right hand…right foot. See note on 8:23, 24.

  14:18 put on the head. This would not have been understood as an anointing for entry into an office, but rather a symbolic gesture of cleansing and healing. There could be a connection with the NT directive to anoint the sick for healing (Mark 6:13; 16:18; James 5:14).

  14:33–57 This section covers contaminated houses which most likely involved some kinds of infectious bacteria, fungus, or mold.

  14:34 I put the leprous plague. God’s sovereign hand is acknowledged in the diseases that were in Canaan (cf. Ex. 4:11; Deut. 32:39). He had His purposes for these afflictions, as He always does. Uniquely, in Israel’s case, they allowed for object lessons on holiness.

  14:37 ingrained streaks, greenish or reddish. The disease would appear to be some sort of contagious mildew. Leprosy (Hansen’s disease), as we know it today, is not the problem here since it is a disease related to the human senses, i.e., the destruction of feeling due to the dysfunction of the nerves. It is not known to be contagious either, and it couldn’t be developed in a house. The matter of cleansing such houses is delineated in vv. 38–53.

  14:57 to teach when it is unclean and when it is clean. The priest needed instruction in identifying and prescribing the course for disease such as that described herein, to teach people the importance of distinguishing holy things.

  Leviticus 15

  15:1–33 This section deals with purification for bodily discharges. Several types of discharges by men (vv. 1–18) and women (vv. 19–30) are identified and given prescribed treatment.

  15:2–15 These verses describe secretions related to some disease of the male sexual organs. After he became well, he was required to make both a sin and a burnt offering (v. 15).

  15:16–18 These ver
ses refer to natural sexual gland secretions for which no offerings were required.

  15:19–24 These verses concern the natural menstrual discharge of a woman for which no offerings were required.

  15:25–30 These verses deal with some secretion of blood indicating disease, not menstruation, requiring a sin and burnt offering after she is well.

  15:31–33 In all these instructions, God was showing the Israelites that they must have a profound reverence for holy things; and nothing was more suited to that purpose than to bar from the tabernacle all who were polluted by any kind of uncleanness, ceremonial as well as natural, physical as well as spiritual. In order to mark out His people as dwelling before Him in holiness, He required of them complete purity and didn’t allow them to come before Him when defiled, even by involuntary or secret impurities. And when one considers that God was training a people to live in His presence, it becomes apparent that these rules for the maintenance of personal purity, pointing to the necessity of purity in the heart, were neither too stringent nor too minute.

  Leviticus 16

  16:1–34 This section covers the Day of Atonement (cf. Ex. 30:10; Lev. 23:26–32; Num. 29:7–11; Heb. 9:1–28), which was commanded to be observed annually (v. 34) to cover the sins of the nation, both corporately and individually (v. 17). Even with the most scrupulous observance of the required sacrifices, many sins and defilements still remained unacknowledged and, therefore, without specific expiation. This special inclusive sacrifice was designed to cover all that (v. 33). The atonement was provided, but only those who were genuine in faith and repentance received its benefit, the forgiveness of God. That forgiveness was not based on any animal sacrifice, but on the One all sacrifices pictured—the Lord Jesus Christ and His perfect sacrifice on the cross (cf. Heb. 10:1–10). This holiest of all Israel’s festivals occurred in Sept./Oct. on the tenth day of the seventh month (v. 29). It anticipated the ultimate High-Priest and the perfect sacrificial Lamb.