Leviticus is a Manual for Priests

     The book of Leviticus, accordingly, is a manual or priests, detailing the religious rules and procedures which the priests had to observe and enforce for the covenant nation of Israel. Its historical setting is the two years Israel spent encamped at Mount Sinai; it contains no further account of Israel's journeys from Egypt to canaan.

     The fact that Moses,the author of Leviticus, devoted an entire book to priestly matters shows the importance that religious observances were to have ever afterwards for the Isrealites. Christians, under the terms of Christ's new covenant, do not regard these Levitical regulations as binding, but they do obey the same God, not in the letter of the law but in the spirit of Christ. The Name of this book gives a clue to its contents: Leviticus means "things pertaining to Levi". Levi was the third son of Jacob, and at Mount Sinai his descendants(through Aaron, Exodus 28:1) were appointed priests to be in charge of the tabernacle and the religious life of Israel.