Years back when attending a women’s Bible study at the church, I was surprised to find out that all the ladies in my group except me and two other ladies had read through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, not once but a couple of times. I couldn’t believe that I had been a Christian for decades and was much older than those ladies in my group hadn’t read through the entire Bible even once. Saddened and pricked by guilt, I challenged myself to read the entire Bible as my new year project.

Excited to read the entire Bible and catch up with the other ladies in my Bible study group, I wasted no time to get into my new project. Every morning with a hot cup of coffee beside me on the windowsill, I began to read my New International Bible seated on my comfy cushioned chair with great enthusiasm.

Even the familiar stories of Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and the exodus of Israelites came alive and shed more light and cleared some doubts as I daily read through the chapters. Then came the blockade. No sooner, I came to the book of Leviticus, my enthusiasm started to vane.

Being a book of rules, Leviticus was given to the Israelites in the early years of Bible history and this book played a vital role in bringing them to obey and walk closer to a Holy God. That’s why it was included in the Torah which was diligently studied and followed by the Israelites in the Biblical times. But now, at this day and age, the rules, rituals and sacrifices in the book of Leviticus didn’t pique my interest to continue reading the book.

When I thought of skipping the book and going to the next one, the book of Numbers too didn’t draw my interest to read it through. There came my plan of reading through the entire Bible to a stop. As always, I confined my Bible reading to the four gospels and the epistles in the New Testament of the Bible and gave up my plan of reading the entire Bible.

However, recently I came across a blog post where the writer had shared how the book of Leviticus she had always avoided to read had opened her eyes to see something vital when she chose to read it with an open mind. Inspired by her blog posting, I decided to give a try again with no bios nor preconception.

With an open mind and prayer for Holy Spirit’s guidance, I delved into the the Book of Leviticus. To my surprise, no more did I find the book uninteresting. Instead I found it as an eye opener to find things I had not known or understood before.

The name Leviticus derives from the tribe of Levi, whom God picked out as His priests and workers to serve in the Temple. Leviticus is a book of laws regulating the offerings and sacrifices, duties of priests, dietary guidelines and other issues pertaining to moral and festivals.

God chose Israelites as His own chosen people and when He led them to the promised land, He wanted them to be set apart from the rest of the nations, especially from the people of the land of Canaan(the promised land) who were idol worshippers. As such, He gave the Israelites a code to live and maintain holiness within the community so that God would continue to dwell among them. He made Moses to write down these rules and regulations and present them orally as well as in this book of Leviticus to Israelites to follow.

It is said that the book of Leviticus was the first book studied by a Jewish child; yet is often to be the last book of the Bible studied by a Chrsitian. Like me, many Christians are put off by the book’s laws and regulations regarding offerings, sacrifices, diet and moral behaviour. We hardly realize how many important facts we miss when we tend to avoid reading this book. That’s what I learned when delved into the study of this book after avoiding to read it for many decades.

Through the laws and regulations given in the book, I was able to see the love, mercy and faithfulness of God. Though His laws may have appeared harsh at times, but behind the law stands the Holy God who desires us to be holy in order that we could dwell continuously in His holy presence. Whether it applies to Israelites or to us in this modern times, the code is the same.

“‘Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy; and I have set you apart from the people to be Mine.” Leviticus 20:26

because it is written, “You shall be Holy, for I Am Holy!” 1 Peter 1:16

Leviticus is not only the book that speaks about the holiness of God, but it also reveals God’s care for the poor, vulnerable and outcastes.. Amidst the various laws given in chapter 19 of the book, I found God’s care for the poor and alien on verse 9 where it states;

‘Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I’m the Lord your God.” Leviticus 19: 9b.

When I read the above sentence, I wept. Wept knowing that the God I worship is a God of mercy and compassion. In Leviticus, we saw how God took care of Levites who devoted themselves as priests to serve at the temple by setting a portion of the offerings people brought to be given to Levites to eat as they didn’t have any inheritance of land like the other tribes. In order for the Levites to fully dedicate to temple duties, God took care of the provision and welfare of the priests. The Lord who took care of the priests took care of the poor and aliens too. And that is the God we bow down to worship. And just the thought of it made tears running down my face. What a God we love and follow. Enriched and enlightened, I finished reading the book of Leviticus for the first time.

Enthusiasm regained, I went onto read next the book of Numbers. The book begins with the second year after the Israelites left Egypt and camped at Mount Sinai and the story ends thirty -eight years later in the plains of Moab by the Jordan river opposite to the promised land. The book records the stages of their journey in the wilderness as well as census for all twelve tribes. It also documents priestly instruction for handling the Ark of the Covenant and the tabernacle. It also states the placement of the tribes when they camped.

I was amazed by the way God orchestrated and directed the Israelites by taking into account every detail where each tribe camped and how they needed to exit from the camp. In chapter 10, we read that God asked Moses to make two trumpets of hammered silver and to use them for calling the community together and for having the camps set out.

“When the trumpet blast is sounded, the tribes camping in the east are to set out. At the sounding of the second blast, the camps on the south are to set out. The blast will be the signal for setting out. To gather the assembly, blow the trumpets, but not with the same signal.” Numbers 10:6-7. Also, they were told to blast the trumpet when they went to battle in their own land against their enemies as well as in times of rejoicing at their feasts.

I remember the time in high school, how the class prefect/monitor struggled to get the whole class of 30 students in line on time and to make them march to the assembly hall for the morning worship when the school bell rang in the mornings. To get 30-40 students from each class lined up and get them march quietly with no disturbance was a big challenge for the class prefects every morning. And here we read how God devised a method for the vast number of Israelites about 603,550 to leave the camps in an orderly manner. The God of compassion and patience we saw in the book of Leviticus is also found to be a God of orderliness. Despite the continuous rebellion by the Israelites, God chose to forgive and led them to the promised land as He promised. The generation who grumbled and complained against God didn’t get to land in the promised land in His judgment.

How much I would have missed learning if I had not disciplined myself to read these two vital books in the Bible. If you’re someone who have put off reading these two books, I strongly advise you to study these two book prayerfully and get blessed as I am.

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