UNROLL
The tabernacle at night seen from the edge of the camp: a long, low tent inside the pale linen court, a faint warm glow at its entrance, the dark tents of the camp in front, under a deep-blue sky.

The Book of

Leviticus 24

The lamps burn all night and the bread waits on the table. Then one man curses the Name.

23 verses≈ 4 min3 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

  1. 1–7The offeringsHow sinners draw near
  2. 8–10The priestsOrdained, and a warning
  3. 11–15Clean and uncleanLife before a holy God
  4. 16The Day of AtonementSins carried away
  5. 17–27A holy peopleBe holy, for I am holyChapter 24

The Oil for the Lamps

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually.

Leviticus 24:1–2

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Morning light in the camp: ripe olives crushed in a stone mortar, and clear golden oil running from a woven basket into a clay jar.
Inside the Holy Place of the tabernacle: the seven flames of the golden lampstand burning low before the dark inner curtain, the table of bread in shadow.

Outside the veil of the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, Aaron is to tend the lamps continually before the LORD from evening until morning. This is to be a permanent statute for the generations to come. He shall tend the lamps on the pure gold lampstand before the LORD continually.

0:16

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

The Showbread

The gold-covered table in the tabernacle with twelve flat loaves in two rows, lit by the warm light of the lampstand beside it.

Every Sabbath

The Bread of the Presence

  1. Twelve loaves of fine flour

    You are also to take fine flour and bake twelve loaves, using two-tenths of an ephah for each loaf,

  2. Two rows of six on the gold table

    and set them in two rows—six per row—on the table of pure gold before the LORD.

  3. Memorial

    Frankincense by each row

    And you are to place pure frankincense near each row, so that it may serve as a memorial portion for the bread, a food offering to the LORD.

  4. Covenant

    Set before the LORD for Israel

    Every Sabbath day the bread is to be set out before the LORD on behalf of the Israelites as a permanent covenant.

  5. Most holy

    Eaten by the priests in a holy place

    It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a holy place; for it is to him a most holy part of the food offerings to the LORD—his portion forever.”

Courtyard · 100 × 50 cubitsNGate · EastTent of MeetingBronze altarBasinThe tent, enlarged · 30 × 10 cubitsArkTableLampstandIncense altarVeilScreenMost Holy PlaceHoly Place

Plan to scale in cubits · north at the top

Where they stood

The Holy Place

The lampstand and the table stood in the tent’s outer room, just outside the veil: the gold lampstand on the south side and the table of bread opposite it on the north. Every evening the lamps were tended, and every Sabbath the bread was renewed, “before the LORD.” Only the priests went in, and only the high priest, once a year, went through the veil beyond.

Reflect

Kept before Him

The lamps burned “continually” and the bread lay on the table every Sabbath, “on behalf of the Israelites.” Every night and every week, God’s people were kept before Him, even while they slept. Through Jesus, you are never out of His sight or off His mind. Where do you most need to remember that this week? Write it down.

Punishment for Blasphemy

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and have all who heard him lay their hands on his head; then have the whole assembly stone him.

And you are to tell the Israelites, ‘If anyone curses his God, he shall bear the consequences of his sin. Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD must surely be put to death; the whole assembly must surely stone him, whether he is a foreign resident or native; if he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.

Pray

Your name be holy

In this chapter one man “blasphemed the Name with a curse,” and Israel learned how holy that Name is. Ask God to make His name holy in your own mouth: in how you speak of Him, in what you laugh at, in what you say when you’re angry. Confess the careless words. Then thank Him that in Jesus every sin of the tongue can be forgiven, and pray that your words would honor Him today.

An Eye for an Eye

A simple bronze balance hangs perfectly level at the elders’ place of judgment in the camp, a stone weight in each pan, plain stone seats behind.

The law

Life for life

  1. Life

    Taking a man’s life: death

    And if a man takes the life of anyone else, he must surely be put to death.

  2. Property

    Killing an animal: restitution

    Whoever kills an animal must make restitution—life for life.

  3. Justice

    An injury repaid in kind

    If anyone injures his neighbor, whatever he has done must be done to him:

  4. Fracture, eye, tooth

    fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth.

  5. As he injured, so for him

    Just as he injured the other person, the same must be inflicted on him.

  6. Life and property

    An animal repaid; a man, death

    Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a man must be put to death.

You are to have the same standard of law for the foreign resident and the native; for I am the LORD your God.’”

Leviticus 24:22

Then Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him. So the Israelites did as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Question

Quick question

A man in the camp cursed the Name, and the people brought him to Moses.

What did they do with him before he was judged?

You’ve experienced

Leviticus 24

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A verse to carry with you

Command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to keep the lamps burning continually.

Leviticus 24:2

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