The Listener’s Bible Commentary

Leviticus, Holiness, and Using the Commentary for Discipleship | Fall 2026 Update In this Listener's Commentary update, John talks about:  Leviticus and holiness - a status to be lived Selecting the Spanish language in the app Adding The Listener's Commentary to your churches app Using the Commentary for discipleship  BIBLE READING GUIDE - FREE EBOOK - Get the free eBook, Bible in Life, to help you learn how to read and apply the Bible well: https://www.listenerscommentary.com   GIVE -  The Listener’s Commentary is a listener supported Bible teaching ministry made possible by the generosity of people like you. Thank you! Give here:  https://www.listenerscommentary.com/give   STUDY HUB - Want more than the audio? Join the study hub to access articles, maps, charts, pictures, and links to other resources to help you study the Bible for yourself. https://www.listenerscommentary.com/members-sign-up MORE TEACHING - For more resources and Bible teaching from John visit https://www.johnwhittaker.net  

Leviticus 25-27, pt. 2 The topic of chs. 25-27 can be thought of as “holiness in the land.” Israel has been camped at Mt. Sinai for about a year and it is almost time to march out. When they move into the land of promise, settle there, and build houses and have land to farm, what does it look like to live as God’s holy people then and there? That is the big theme of these chapters.  In this recording, we survey chapters 26-27. Leviticus 26 records the blessings for keeping the covenant and the curses for violating the covenant. Those blessings and curses are all tied to the land. Leviticus concludes in chapter 27 with instructions for worshipping and honoring God with their possessions by means of voluntary vows of people, animals, or property, required offering over to God of animals or people, and tithes.  And as we wrap up Leviticus, those of us in Christ need to remember that we are the ones who now the same identity and the same calling that Israel did.  Just like God said of Israel, Peter says “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet 2:9).  And he applies the very words of Leviticus to us in 1 Peter 1:15-16: but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written: “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”   BIBLE READING GUIDE - FREE EBOOK - Get the free eBook, Bible in Life, to help you learn how to read and apply the Bible well: https://www.listenerscommentary.com   GIVE -  The Listener’s Commentary is a listener supported Bible teaching ministry made possible by the generosity of people like you. Thank you! Give here:  https://www.listenerscommentary.com/give   STUDY HUB - Want more than the audio? Join the study hub to access articles, maps, charts, pictures, and links to other resources to help you study the Bible for yourself. https://www.listenerscommentary.com/members-sign-up MORE TEACHING - For more resources and Bible teaching from John visit https://www.johnwhittaker.net

Leviticus 25-27, pt. 1   The topic of chs. 25-27 can be thought of as “holiness in the land.” Israel has been camped at Mt. Sinai for about a year and it's almost time to march out. When they move into the land of promise, settle there, and build houses and have land to farm, what does it look like to live as God’s holy people then and there? That is the big theme of these chapters.  In this recording, we consider Leviticus 25, which deals with how to treat the land, workers, and deal with debt (the sabbatical year and the year of Jubilee).  BIBLE READING GUIDE - FREE EBOOK - Get the free eBook, Bible in Life, to help you learn how to read and apply the Bible well: https://www.listenerscommentary.com   GIVE -  The Listener’s Commentary is a listener supported Bible teaching ministry made possible by the generosity of people like you. Thank you! Give here:  https://www.listenerscommentary.com/give   STUDY HUB - Want more than the audio? Join the study hub to access articles, maps, charts, pictures, and links to other resources to help you study the Bible for yourself. https://www.listenerscommentary.com/members-sign-up MORE TEACHING - For more resources and Bible teaching from John visit https://www.johnwhittaker.net

Leviticus 23-24   Leviticus 23-24 continues the theme of ritual holiness. We have to be careful not to think of this as “mere rituals that don’t really matter.” Our modern instinctive dislike of rituals in the West prompts us to think like that. But the rituals and instructions of Leviticus 23-24 matter for Israel's overall life as a people distinct and different from the nations -- as God’s holy people, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.  So in the whole section of Leviticus 21-24 the main question is, what does it look like to respect the people, places, things, and times that belong to the Lord as holy? And in Leviticus 23-24 one of the main emphases is on time: what will Israel's weekly and annual calendar look like that will set them apart for the Lord? BIBLE READING GUIDE - FREE EBOOK - Get the free eBook, Bible in Life, to help you learn how to read and apply the Bible well: https://www.listenerscommentary.com     GIVE -  The Listener’s Commentary is a listener supported Bible teaching ministry made possible by the generosity of people like you. Thank you! Give here:  https://www.listenerscommentary.com/give     STUDY HUB - Want more than the audio? Join the study hub to access articles, maps, charts, pictures, and links to other resources to help you study the Bible for yourself. https://www.listenerscommentary.com/members-sign-up   MORE TEACHING - For more resources and Bible teaching from John visit https://www.johnwhittaker.net

Leviticus 21-22   Leviticus 21-22 provided special instructions for the priests. Leviticus 18-20 were addressed to the entire congregation of Israel and dealt mostly with holiness in everyday life. Since Israel as a whole is set apart for the Lord (=holy) to be a holy nation, chapters 18-20 detailed some of the ways they had to be distinct and different from the nations personally, socially, and ritually.  But here in Leviticus 21-22 we shift to the priests. Since they are set apart as a special holy class within the nation, these chapters describe some of the ways hey had to be distinct and different from the rest of Israel.  So these chapters record what might be called "priestly holiness."  BIBLE READING GUIDE - FREE EBOOK - Get the free eBook, Bible in Life, to help you learn how to read and apply the Bible well: https://www.listenerscommentary.com     GIVE -  The Listener’s Commentary is a listener supported Bible teaching ministry made possible by the generosity of people like you. Thank you! Give here:  https://www.listenerscommentary.com/give     STUDY HUB - Want more than the audio? Join the study hub to access articles, maps, charts, pictures, and links to other resources to help you study the Bible for yourself. https://www.listenerscommentary.com/members-sign-up   MORE TEACHING - For more resources and Bible teaching from John visit https://www.johnwhittaker.net

Special Study: How Do the Laws of Leviticus (and the rest of the Torah) Apply Today?   Some of the Laws of the Torah seem easy to apply. For example, love your neighbor as yourself is found in Leviticus 19:18. Others feel foreign. The very next verse tells us not to wear a garment woven of two kinds of fabric (Leviticus 19:19). There are plenty of laws that seem strange or even impossible to keep in modern culture. So how do such laws apply today? In this special study we show why one common approach--breaking the laws into civil, ceremonial, and moral-- isn't the best way to approach such laws.  Instead we recommend treating the laws as part of God's covenant with Israel and thus no longer our covenant in Christ. We are not under the Law. But at the same time, the Law is still Scripture for us and instructive to us as Paul says in 2 Timothy 3:16-17.  We end by recommending an approach for applying the values and wisdom of the laws to our life and world today.  BIBLE READING GUIDE - FREE EBOOK - Get the free eBook, Bible in Life, to help you learn how to read and apply the Bible well: https://www.listenerscommentary.com     GIVE -  The Listener’s Commentary is a listener supported Bible teaching ministry made possible by the generosity of people like you. Thank you! Give here:  https://www.listenerscommentary.com/give     STUDY HUB - Want more than the audio? Join the study hub to access articles, maps, charts, pictures, and links to other resources to help you study the Bible for yourself. https://www.listenerscommentary.com/members-sign-up   MORE TEACHING - For more resources and Bible teaching from John visit https://www.johnwhittaker.net

Leviticus 18-20   Leviticus 18-20 is usually called "The Holiness Code." It details God's instructions to Israel for holy living in routine matters of everyday life. Holiness mean different, distinct, set apart for God's purposes. If Israel is going to be a holy nation (cf. Exodus 19:6), then they need to be different from the nations around them. They must be holy as God is holy.  BIBLE READING GUIDE - FREE EBOOK - Get the free eBook, Bible in Life, to help you learn how to read and apply the Bible well: https://www.listenerscommentary.com   GIVE -  The Listener’s Commentary is a listener supported Bible teaching ministry made possible by the generosity of people like you. Thank you! Give here:  https://www.listenerscommentary.com/give   STUDY HUB - Want more than the audio? Join the study hub to access articles, maps, charts, pictures, and links to other resources to help you study the Bible for yourself. https://www.listenerscommentary.com/members-sign-up MORE TEACHING - For more resources and Bible teaching from John visit https://www.johnwhittaker.net

Why does the Bible say not to eat meat with blood in it?  Leviticus 17 answers that question by focusing on the sacredness of blood. God gave animal blood for the purpose of atonement. Therefore, now that the tabernacle is operational, the only legitimate sacrifices are those offered at the tabernacle, and all meat must have blood drained from it.    BIBLE READING GUIDE - FREE EBOOK - Get the free eBook, Bible in Life, to help you learn how to read and apply the Bible well: https://www.listenerscommentary.com     GIVE -  The Listener’s Commentary is a listener supported Bible teaching ministry made possible by the generosity of people like you. Thank you! Give here:  https://www.listenerscommentary.com/give     STUDY HUB - Want more than the audio? Join the study hub to access articles, maps, charts, pictures, and links to other resources to help you study the Bible for yourself. https://www.listenerscommentary.com/members-sign-up   MORE TEACHING - For more resources and Bible teaching from John visit https://www.johnwhittaker.net

Leviticus 16   Leviticus 16 records the instructions for the Day of Atonement celebration. This annual day of fasting and worship provided atonement for the Tabernacle and for all the sins of Israel. It finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus whose death provided full and final cleansing from sin.    BIBLE READING GUIDE - FREE EBOOK - Get the free eBook, Bible in Life, to help you learn how to read and apply the Bible well: https://www.listenerscommentary.com     GIVE -  The Listener’s Commentary is a listener supported Bible teaching ministry made possible by the generosity of people like you. Thank you! Give here:  https://www.listenerscommentary.com/give     STUDY HUB - Want more than the audio? Join the study hub to access articles, maps, charts, pictures, and links to other resources to help you study the Bible for yourself. https://www.listenerscommentary.com/members-sign-up   MORE TEACHING - For more resources and Bible teaching from John visit https://www.johnwhittaker.net

Leviticus 11-15, pt. 3 Leviticus 11-15 gives Israel instructions for ritual purity, so that they can honor God by drawing near to his sacred tent in a ritually pure state. These chapters make clear what causes ritual impurity and what they need to do in order to be clean again. All of this is part of God's covenant with Israel.  This recording wraps up these instructions by looking at the instructions on ritually defiling infestations in houses and bodily discharges. It these gives some theological reflections that helps us see why these laws matter and how they prepare the way for Christ.     BIBLE READING GUIDE - FREE EBOOK - Get the free eBook, Bible in Life, to help you learn how to read and apply the Bible well: https://www.listenerscommentary.com     GIVE -  The Listener’s Commentary is a listener supported Bible teaching ministry made possible by the generosity of people like you. Thank you! Give here:  https://www.listenerscommentary.com/give     STUDY HUB - Want more than the audio? Join the study hub to access articles, maps, charts, pictures, and links to other resources to help you study the Bible for yourself. https://www.listenerscommentary.com/members-sign-up   MORE TEACHING - For more resources and Bible teaching from John visit https://www.johnwhittaker.net