Leviticus: Location and Date

Location & Date:
Leviticus opens and closes at the same spot – Mount Sinai (Leviticus 27:34), but God does not speak from the Mount. He has moved into the Tabernacle and speaks to all Israel from it (Leviticus 1:1, 2; 4:2; 11:2). There are special sections for priests and Levites (Leviticus 9:1-2; 13:1-2; 16:1-2; 17:1-2). God loves His people so much that He desires to dwell among His people, not at a distance. This is a picture of the last day, when Christ Jesus comes and sets up His throne on earth to dwell with His people.

The content of Leviticus falls between the erection of the Tabernacle (Exodus 40:17) and the Israelites’ departure of Sinai (Numbers 10:11). The events of Leviticus may have occurred during April 1461 BC, as the LORD spoke from the Tent of Meeting on the plains of Mount Sinai. According to Reese, the Lord spoke April 1-13, 1461 BC, followed by the first commemoration of Passover on Thursday, April 14, 1461 BC. After Passover, Israel prepared to leave Sinai (Numbers 1:1) beginning May 1, 1461 BC, and departed on May 20, 1461 BC.

According to J. Vernon McGee, the humanist, socialist, and anti-war pacifist Dr. John Haynes Holmes (1879–1964), said that Leviticus was “not fit to be in the Bible.” He was also pastor of Unitarian Community Church in New York and a founder the NAACP and founder and later chair of the ACLU. Dr. S.H. Kellogg, (1885-1892), a former missionary to India, on the other hand, said Leviticus is the “greatest book in the Bible.” Dr. Albert C. Dudley called it the “most important book in the Bible.” Dr. Parker said, “Considered as embracing the history of one month only, this may claim to be the most remarkable book in the Old Testament.”