1:1
God speaks to Moses from the tent of meeting, Numbers 1:1 is the only other reference to God doing this, this “bookends” Leviticus from Exodus and Numbers. In Exodus we had the instructions for the construction of the tent of meeting. In Leviticus we get the operational instructions.
1:2
“Speak to the people of Israel”. The instructions were to be made known to all the people. This is in contrast to the religious rituals of Mesopotamia and Egypt, where only the priests knew details of the ceremonies. Indeed this is a common distinction between Christianity and other religions and sects. A hallmark of a sect is that there will be secret things, in the gospel the mystery is made known.
1:3-9
We get instructions for various types of offerings, starting with bulls, then sheep and then birds. This section deals with bulls, offerings from the herd. The type of offering depended upon the wealth of the giver. The offering was to be male and without defect. Without defect is a matter of not offering faulty goods to the Lord! The male part has two aspects. One is that the male was probably of greater value, however, in a herd the females were of importance because they gave birth to the next generation. The laying on of hands signified you were offering the bull on your behalf. The preparation details such as the cutting and washing may seem strange to us, but it was like offering the animal as a meal to the Lord. At the Last Supper the Lord essentially presented Himself as the sacrifice and the meal.
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