The rules and regulations regarding the conduct of the priests and people of Israel in approaching God, especially in worship. They were to be holy as God is holy. The perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross is seen by NT writers as fulfilling this demand for holiness and obedience.
The ritual law and the priesthood
The priests were to be careful to obey God's commandments
Leviticus 22:9 See also Leviticus 10:10, Leviticus 22:3
The priests must keep My charge, lest they bear the guilt and die because they profane it. I am the LORD who sanctifies them.
The priests had to avoid ceremonial uncleanness
Contact with the dead caused uncleanness and was forbidden to the high priest: Leviticus 21:1–3, Leviticus 21:11; Numbers 19:11, Numbers 19:14; Leviticus 21:16–23 No-one with a physical defect could serve as a priest; Leviticus 22:20–25 The sacrifices offered by the priests also had to be without defect.
The ritual law and the people of Israel
The people were called to holiness
Leviticus 19:2, Leviticus 20:26 See also Leviticus 11:44–45, Leviticus 20:7, Leviticus 21:8, Leviticus 22:32
“Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.
You are to be holy to Me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be My own.
The ritual law stipulated what they could eat
Leviticus 11:46–47 See also Genesis 7:2, Genesis 8:20; Leviticus 11:1–23 parallel Deuteronomy 14:3–20; Deuteronomy 14:21
This is the law regarding animals, birds, all living creatures that move in the water, and all creatures that crawl along the ground. You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between animals that may be eaten and those that may not.’”
The ritual law regarding childbirth
Leviticus 12:1–5; Luke 2:22–24
Jesus Christ's obedience and perfect sacrifice on the cross fulfilled the demands of the ritual law
Hebrews 10:8–10 See also Ephesians 2:15; Colossians 2:14; Hebrews 7:11, Hebrews 7:18, Hebrews 7:27, Hebrews 10:1–3, Hebrews 10:11–14
In the passage above He says, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not desire, nor did You delight in them” (although they are offered according to the law). Then He adds, “Here I am, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been sanctified through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Related themes
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Bible Aquifer. Formatted for this site, with Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.