Michael Morales's Enchanting Book on the Book of Leviticus

The best book I read in 2025 was Michael Morales’s Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord?: A Biblical Theology of the Book of Leviticus. Morales has taken a book of the Bible that many slog through in their Bible-reading plan and has turned it into really enchanting reading. Reading Morales’s book was pure delight and I’m looking forward to reading it again. It is a well-written, thoughtful work of biblical theology that helps the reader to savor the Word of God more. That, to me, is the best kind of book. Here is a sample from the “Prologue” which gives an idea of how illuminating this book is. Reflecting on the structure of the tabernacle and the Aaronic blessing in Numbers 6:23-27, Morales writes,

In summary, the light of the lampstand represents the life-giving Presence of God, his blessed glory, while the twelve loaves represent the twelve tribes of Israel. Aaron’s role of regularly arranging the lamps so that they shone upon the loaves summarizes the role and function of the priesthood to mediate God’s blessings to his people. One might say, in short, that these references to Numbers summarize the role of the cultus for Israel’s relationship with God, as it relates to the goal of the covenant. Numbers 6:23-27 and 8:1-4 present the blessing of God upon the people of God, mediated by the priesthood of God.

​The arrangement of the holy place of the tabernacle, therefore, portrayed the ideal of Israel basking in the light of the divine Presence in the house of God, abiding in the fires of his glory. As we will come to understand in the following chapters, this cultic symbolism depicted the Sabbath day in particular, as Israel entered the renewing Presence of YHWH through the Levitical way he had opened for them – a foretaste of life at the consummation of history. Indeed, this glimpse into the glory of the house of God may be more fully appreciated when we recall that the panelled walls of the holy place were overlaid with gold, a feature that, together with the golden lampstand and golden table, would have caused the light of the seven lamps to be reflected in a wondrous manner. And so this symbolic picture of Israel abiding in the blessed Sabbath-day Presence of YHWH is one that portrays life in the house of God, a prospect foretasted in Israel’s Sabbath day worship.

Life with God in the house of God – this was the original goal of the creation of the cosmos (which, as we will see, may be thought of as a house), and which then became the goal of redemption, the new creation.

Morales, L. Michael. Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord? A Biblical Theology of the Book of Leviticus. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2015, p. 17.