The big picture
This chapter shifts from classes of people to particular liabilities: withheld testimony, unnoticed contact with uncleanness, careless oaths, misuse of holy things, and offenses whose full circumstances may remain uncertain. Confession is tied to the actual matter, not a vague admission that everyone is imperfect. The offerings then descend an economic ladder. A person unable to bring livestock may bring birds, and someone unable to afford even those may bring flour, with forgiveness stated just as plainly. Holy property adds another dimension: the loss must be restored with an additional fifth. Sacrifice does not swallow the debt. Leviticus keeps guilt, affordability, restitution, and atonement in the same frame without letting one erase the others. The result is a chapter where responsibility becomes more specific at the same time that access to remedy becomes wider.
Central truth
Leviticus 1 to 7 establishes distinct offerings for approach, tribute, fellowship, sin, and restitution, each handled under ordered priestly rules before the Lord.
The study notes have a page of their own
The movement by movement analysis, the words to trace, the verse by verse notes and where readers differ are written for someone studying alone. They are on the Deep Personal Reflections page for this chapter. This page is the lesson.
A chapter-specific teaching brief
These anchors come from this chapter itself. They help a teacher use the Level 1 overview, the Level 2 study, and the Scripture text as one lesson.
Open with the chapter’s first image
Leviticus 5:1: “And if a soul sin, and hear the voice of swearing, and is a witness, whether he hath seen or known of it; if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his…”
Slow down at the turning point
Leviticus 5:11: “But if he be not able to bring two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, then he that sinned shall bring for his offering the tenth part of an ephah of fine…”
Keep this word trail visible
offering, priest, LORD, trespass, atonement, guilty
What to explain, in order
Teach the passage in this order. Each step names the verses it rests on, so every point can be shown in the text before it is applied.
Leviticus 1:1-2
Begin at the tent, not the altar
Open with the first verse and its location: "the LORD called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation". Exodus ended with the glory filling that tent so that Moses could not go in, and Leviticus begins by answering the problem: how can a people live with a holy God in the middle of the camp. Teach the offerings as God's answer to that question, given by God himself, rather than a human scheme to win him over. Explain "offering" as something brought near; the Hebrew word shares a root with drawing near. Everything that follows is about approach.
Leviticus 1:3-17
The burnt offering: everything goes up
Read 1:3-4 slowly and point to the three conditions: a male, "without blemish", offered "of his own voluntary will". Then the hand on the head and the sentence that interprets it: "it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him". Explain that atonement here is first about acceptance, the worshiper being received. Note the scale of options, from bull to sheep to birds in 1:14, so that a poor Israelite can still bring a whole offering. Keep the butchery brief and factual. Put it first because chapters 2 and 3 assume its altar, its fire and its "sweet savour".
Leviticus 2:1-16
The grain offering: tribute from the field
Clear up the word at once: the King James "meat offering" means food in old English, and here it is flour, oil and frankincense. Then show the pattern of a handful burned as "the memorial of it" and the rest given to the priests as "most holy". Point to the two forbidden ingredients, leaven and honey (2:11), and the one required, "the salt of the covenant of thy God" (2:13). Do not assign meanings the text withholds; the one explanation given is covenant salt. This offering teaches that the harvest itself is brought back to the giver, which is why it follows the burnt offering.
Leviticus 3:1-17
The peace offering: a meal shared
Here, for the first time, the worshiper eats. Explain that the peace offering is divided: the fat and kidneys are burned, the priest receives his portion (spelled out later in 7:31-34), and the family eats the rest. That is why the chapter is so insistent about what belongs to whom, ending with "all the fat is the LORD's" and the ban on fat and blood in 3:17. Male or female animals are both allowed here, unlike chapter 1. Teach it third because it shows that approach to God is not only surrender but fellowship at his table.
Leviticus 4:1-5:13
The sin offering: cleansing scaled to responsibility
Read 4:2 and stress the phrase "through ignorance"; these are unintended sins, discovered afterwards. Then walk the four cases of chapter 4 in order: anointed priest, whole congregation, ruler, common person. Draw how far the blood travels in each. The higher the responsibility, the deeper into the tent the blood must go. In 5:1-13 point to the sliding scale ending in flour for the very poor (5:11), so that no one is shut out from forgiveness by poverty. Name the refrain "it shall be forgiven him" here, because this is where it is heard most often.
Leviticus 5:14-6:7
The trespass offering: repair what you damaged
Move to the offering that deals with loss. The ram comes "with thy estimation by shekels of silver" (5:15), so the wrong has a price. Then read 6:2-5 aloud: deposits lied about, goods taken by violence, lost property kept and denied under oath. Explain that the Book of Leviticus calls each of these "a trespass against the LORD" even though a neighbour was the one harmed. The order is restitution with a fifth added, then the ram. Teach this fifth because it shows that worship and honest dealing with people are one obedience.
Leviticus 6:8-7:38
The priests' manual and the summary
Finish by showing that the same five offerings are now addressed to Aaron and his sons. Read 6:13, "The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out", and the rules on who eats what and where. Point to the three-day limit on peace offering meat in 7:15-18 and the warning against eating while unclean in 7:20. Then read the summary in 7:37-38, which lists all the offerings and places them "in mount Sinai". Teach it last because it gathers the chapters into one law and shows the learners that they have seen the whole of it.
Where learners get stuck
The misreadings this passage tends to produce, and how to answer each from the text.
"The sacrifices were how Israelites earned God's favour."
The offerings were commanded by God from the tent where he already dwelt among his people (1:1), and they were given to a nation he had already redeemed from Egypt. The repeated promise "it shall be forgiven him" is God's own word attached to the rite. The worshiper brings what God has appointed, and God accepts and forgives. Grace comes first in Leviticus, as it does in Exodus.
"The meat offering is a meat sacrifice."
In the English of 1611, meat meant food of any kind. Leviticus 2 describes "fine flour" with oil and frankincense, cakes baked in an oven, pan or fryingpan, and roasted ears of grain. No animal is involved. Modern translations call it the grain offering. Settle this early, or learners will be confused in every chapter that mentions it.
"If you could afford a sacrifice, any sin could be paid off."
Chapters 4 and 5 deal with sins committed "through ignorance" or hidden at the time, and with specific wrongs requiring restitution. Numbers 15:30-31 makes clear that sin done presumptuously, in open defiance, was not covered by these offerings in the same way. And where harm was done, the guilty man paid back the principal and a fifth before the ram was offered (6:4-6). The system did not sell forgiveness.
"Christians can ignore these chapters because Jesus ended sacrifice."
Christians across traditions agree that Hebrews 9 and 10 read Christ's death as the fulfilment of these offerings, and that animal sacrifice is not continued in the church. They differ on how much of the pattern carries over into worship and sacrament, and you need not settle that. What all agree on is that the New Testament's language of atonement, offering and acceptance is unintelligible without Leviticus 1 to 7. These chapters are where that vocabulary is learned.
Learning objectives
- Distinguish the burnt, grain, peace, sin, and trespass offerings.
- Identify what each offering required from worshiper and priest.
- Trace repeated language about atonement, acceptance, and forgiveness.
- Explain why blood, fat, grain, and fire are handled differently.
- Locate restitution and the added fifth in the trespass laws.
- Describe how priestly instructions complete the worshiper-facing commands.
Teacher preparation
- Make a five-column chart for the offerings in chapters 1 to 5 before class.
- Mark every occurrence of 'without blemish,' 'atonement,' 'forgiven,' and 'most holy.'
- Review 6:8 to 7:38 so the priestly instructions are not treated as a second unrelated list.
- Be ready to explain that the KJV 'meat offering' is a grain offering, not animal meat.
- Do not let five offerings become one smoky blur; note what is burned, eaten, restored, or withheld.
Evidence and interpretation checks
Explicit
Leviticus 1:3-4 requires an unblemished burnt offering and says the laying on of the hand is connected with acceptance and atonement.
Scripture-supported
Leviticus 4 repeatedly ties prescribed sin offerings to forgiveness, while 5:16 adds restitution plus a fifth where holy things have been wronged.
Strong inference
Because the offerings differ in material, handling, and stated purpose, the chapters resist treating every sacrifice as interchangeable.
Possible or traditional reading
Teachers often assign one symbolic meaning to every ingredient or cutting action, but these chapters do not explain every ritual detail symbolically.
Limit
These chapters regulate Israel's offerings; they do not explain every ritual detail or every later biblical use of sacrificial imagery.
Discussion with answer guidance
1. What changes when the passage moves from the burnt offering in chapter 1 to the grain offering in chapter 2?
What a good answer contains
The material changes from animal to grain, and with it the handling. Chapter 1 burns the whole animal, "a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD" (1:9), and nothing is eaten. Chapter 2 burns only a handful, "the memorial of it" (2:2), and the remnant goes to Aaron's sons as "a thing most holy" (2:3). A good answer sees both: total surrender in one, a token burned and the rest given to the priests in the other. A weak answer hears "meat offering" and pictures animal flesh.
Show teacher guidance
Expect the group to notice animal versus grain, the memorial handful, the priestly remainder, and the repeated description of an offering made by fire.
2. Why does chapter 3 repeatedly reserve the fat for the Lord and prohibit eating blood?
What a good answer contains
Because the chapter says so in its own words: "all the fat is the LORD's" (3:16), and the next verse makes it "a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood" (3:17). The peace offering is shared, so the line between the Lord's portion and the worshiper's meal has to be drawn clearly. A strong answer stays with that sacred reason; a weak one turns the chapter into a lesson on cholesterol or hygiene, which the text never mentions.
Show teacher guidance
Anchor the answer in 3:16-17. The chapter gives a sacred rationale, not a health explanation.
3. How does chapter 4 vary the sin offering for the priest, congregation, ruler, and common person?
What a good answer contains
The rank of the sinner sets the animal and how far the blood goes. The anointed priest brings "a young bullock without blemish" (4:3), the whole congregation also brings a bullock (4:14), the ruler "a kid of the goats, a male" (4:23), and the common person a female goat or lamb (4:28, 4:32). For the priest and the congregation the blood is carried inside and sprinkled before the veil; for the others it goes on the altar of burnt offering. A good answer connects wider responsibility with blood carried nearer the holy place.
Show teacher guidance
Track animal and blood procedure. The priest's and congregation's cases carry blood farther into the sanctuary.
4. What does Leviticus 5 add when wrongdoing has caused measurable loss?
What a good answer contains
It adds repayment. Where the sin has damaged something, confession (5:5) and a sacrifice are not enough on their own: he "shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto" (5:16), and in 6:4-5 the same principle reaches a cheated neighbour, who receives the principal plus a fifth "in the day of his trespass offering". A good answer notices that the neighbour is repaid before or with the offering, not instead of it.
Show teacher guidance
Look for confession, repayment, the added fifth, and the ram of the trespass offering in 5:5-6 and 5:15-16.
5. What job does the repeated phrase 'it shall be forgiven him' perform across these laws?
What a good answer contains
It names the result of the prescribed procedure. After each case the formula returns, "the priest shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him" (4:26, 4:31, 4:35, 5:10, 5:13, 5:16, 5:18, 6:7). The repetition tells the worshiper that God has bound himself to a promise inside the ritual: the offering is not a bribe hoping for mercy. A strong answer gives at least two references and notes that it is the priest who makes atonement and God who forgives.
Show teacher guidance
Require verse references. The phrase makes forgiveness a stated result of the prescribed sacrificial procedure, not an idea imported from elsewhere.
6. What new perspective appears in 6:8 to 7:38 after the earlier instructions to worshipers?
What a good answer contains
The camera turns from the worshiper to the priest. "Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering" (6:9) opens a second pass through the same offerings, now covering the fire that must never go out (6:13), where the priests eat their portions, how long a peace offering may be kept (7:15-18), and the purity required to eat it (7:20-21). A good answer sees one system described twice; a weak one treats 6:8 to 7:38 as an unrelated appendix.
Show teacher guidance
Expect altar fire, eating locations, priestly portions, and purity rules. The viewpoint has shifted from worshiper to priest.
Responsible application
Heart and habits
Ask the class what disorder these chapters prevent in worship, then identify the concrete habits of preparation, confession, and restitution they require.
Relationships and community
Use 5:14 to 6:7 to distinguish apology from restitution. Let the group explain why restored relationships may require repayment rather than words alone.
Different offerings, different purposes
Have learners match each offering with its distinctive features and state one thing that is lost when all five are reduced to a single generic category.
Session plans
Two timings of the same lesson. The shorter keeps the reading, the central discussion and one response; the longer gives the confusions and the application their own time.
45 minutes
God speaks from the tent
Read 1:1-2 and the last verses of Exodus 40. Ask why the first word of Leviticus comes from inside the tabernacle.
Five offerings at a glance
Give the five-column chart. Read 1:3-4, 2:1-3 and 3:1-5, then take questions one and two. Deal with confusion two as soon as "meat offering" is read.
Sin, loss and forgiveness
Read 4:27-31, 5:5-6 and 6:1-7. Take questions three, four and five, and handle confusion three from 5:16 and 6:5.
The priests' side
Read 6:12-13 and 7:37-38. Ask question six and fill the bottom row of the chart with what the priests do.
Response and handout
Ask each learner to name one wrong that needs repair as well as an apology. Read the key verse together and close in prayer.
90 minutes
Why approach needs rules
Ask the room what it would mean to live next door to a holy God. Read 1:1-2 with Exodus 40:34-35.
Burnt and grain offerings
Read chapter 1 in parts and 2:1-13. Take questions one and two and confusion two, and fill the first two columns.
The shared meal
Read chapter 3 and 7:11-18. Explain what is burned, what the priest receives and what the family eats.
Sin offerings by rank
Read 4:1-3, 4:13-14, 4:22-23 and 4:27-28. Draw the path of the blood for each case and take question three. Then read 5:7 and 5:11 for the poor.
Restitution
Read 5:14-6:7. Take questions four and five, then confusion three, with Numbers 15:30-31 as the cross reference.
The priests' manual
Read 6:8-13 and 7:37-38 and take question six. Show that the same offerings are now seen from the altar.
Fulfilment and response
Read Hebrews 10:1-14 and take confusions one and four. Let each learner choose one application.
Handout and prayer
Read the key verse together, give the take-home line and pray with the words acceptance, forgiveness and restoration.
Adapting the lesson
Children
Use five picture cards: a fire for the whole offering, bread for the grain, a table for the shared meal, a washbasin for the sin offering and a coin for the repayment. Let children sort them and say what each is for. Speak of the animals simply as gifts given to God and leave out the details of killing, cutting and blood. Keep repayment concrete: if you break a friend's toy, you replace it and add something.
Youth
Hand out the chart blank and let them race to fill it from the text. Students like spotting rules, so ask which offering could a poor family still bring and where the answer is. Spend time on 6:1-7, because cheating, keeping lost property and lying under oath are live issues for teenagers. Let them argue whether an apology without repayment is enough, then read 6:5.
Adults
Adults can handle the structure: worshiper's instructions in 1:1 to 6:7 and the priests' in 6:8 to 7:38. Trace the path of the blood in chapter 4 and discuss corporate sin and the greater responsibility of leaders. Bring in Hebrews 9 and 10 and Romans 12:1 for how the New Testament uses this language, without settling how each tradition applies it to worship today.
One to one
Read 1:1-4 and 6:1-7 together rather than all seven chapters. Ask which offering the person finds hardest to understand and spend the time there. If they carry guilt for a wrong done to someone, let 6:4-5 show that restoration has a practical shape, and talk through what repair could look like before you speak of forgiveness from God.
Song and video learning lab
A song or video may interpret, compress, or dramatize the text. Its value becomes clearer when its choices are compared with Scripture.
- Before the media: the exact passage and its central movement.
- During the media: the words, people, events, and emotions the artist emphasizes.
- After the media: what it clarifies, what it leaves out, and what belongs back in the biblical text.
Handout
One page for learners to take home. The print button prints this section alone.
Leviticus 1:1–7:38
The passage in brief
Leviticus 1 to 7 sets out five offerings God gave Israel. The burnt offering was burned whole as a gift of acceptance. The grain offering brought flour and oil from the harvest. The peace offering was a meal shared between God, priest and family. The sin offering cleansed unintended sins, with cheaper options for the poor. The trespass offering came with repayment of what was taken and a fifth more. Chapters 6 and 7 tell the priests how to handle each one.
A verse to keep
And the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD: and it shall be forgiven him for any thing of all that he hath done in trespassing therein.
Leviticus 6:7 · King James Version
Questions to take home
Which offering in chapters 1 to 3 is the only one the worshiper eats from?
What did someone who cheated a neighbour have to do according to 6:4-5?
Why do you think God made a cheaper offering possible in 5:7 and 5:11?
This week
This week, put right one wrong you have done to someone, and give back a little more than you took.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
