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Introduction to Leviticus
Leviticus derives its name from the Septuagint, where the book is titled as such because its main concern is worship practices officiated by the high priest Aaron and his descendants, belonging to the tribe of Levi. The early rabbinic title, "The Priests' Instruction" is perhaps more fitting, as Levites not belonging to Aaron's line are mentioned only briefly.
The two main compositional strata in Leviticus are known as P ("Priestly"), which comprises most of chs 1-16; and H ("Holiness"), which includes the "Holiness Collection" (chs 17-26; so named because of its repeated exhortation to the Israelites to be holy), the addendum on vows, dedications, and tithes in ch 27, and brief interpolations in chs 1-16. These two strata are distinguishable on the basis of ideological and stylistic differences as well as narrative characteristics.
The H source was likely composed to supplement, revise and complete the Priestly source's earlier P stratum, which is responsible for the source's overall narrative structure and plot; Many of H's innovations over P are mediating positions between P and non-Priestly pentateuchal legislation. For example: in P the only Israelites who are holy are priests. In the Deuteronomical source, all of Israel is holy.
Strong evidence suggests that at least the core of Deuteronomy originated in the late seventh century BCE. Because H appears to revise this Deuteronomic core, it must postdate Deuteronomy. The P portions of Leviticus, which predate H, exhibit little or no correspondence with Deuteronomy and thus may be contemporary with or older than Deuteronomy.
Leviticus can be divided into five major sections:
1. Sacrifice (chs 1-7).
2. The dedication of the tabernacle and priests and the transgression of Aaron's sons (chs 8-10).
3. Ritual purity (chs 11-16).
4. The Holiness Collection (chs 17-26).
5. Addendum concerning vows, dedications, and tithes (ch 27).a
Leviticus is difficult to understand and appreciate because it is highly technical and regularly assumes knowledge of its ritual system. Its sparse narrative structure is also easily obscured due to the large blocks of laws that comprise the book. In addition, its authors' approaches to the issues they treat and their assumptions about them are often far removed from modern Western views.
Leviticus
Lev 1.1-7.38: Sacrificial prescriptions: In Priestly thought, sacrifice, a ritualized meal for the deity at times shared with its offerers, is the basic mode of interaction with God. To be accepted, sacrifices must be performed according to the divine instructions.
Lev 1.9: The imagery of smoke rising from the altar suggests that the deity is in the heavens.
Lev 2.1-16: This verse on grain offering interrups the animal food gift offerings; it was likely inserted later to provide a still more affordable alternative to the burnt offering. It is uniquely placed here in that it utilises second-person address rather than the usual third-person of surrounding chapters.
Lev 2.1: Frankincense, an aromatic resin from shrubs found in Arabia and East Africa.
Lev 3.1-17: The well-being offering.
Lev 4.1-6.7: Instructions for purification and reparation offerings. In H's view, the accumulation of sin and impurity in the tabernacle threatens the abiding presence of the deity. If God should depart, Israel will lose all divine protection and benefaction (Lev 26.30-33; cf. Ezek 8-11). P, however, appears not to countenance divine abandonment. It instead expects Israel to perform the requisite purgation, which elminates any cause that might be posited for the deity's departure. In P, God's presence among the Israelites is wholly for his own benefit. The threat of divine abandonment, which is meant to motivate humans to serve the deity and in so doing preserve the benefits they enjoy from God's presence in their midst, is thus inconsistent with P's claims.
Lev 4.1-35: The purification offering.
Lev 4.6: Sprinkling of blood seven times.
Lev 5.1-13: Purification offerings for specific offenses.
Lev 6.8-7.38: Elaborations on the sacrificial instructions. These speeches are likely derived from a subsource, incorporated here for extra detail.
Lev 6.14-23: The grain offerings.
Lev 6.18: "Become holy"; holiness is conceptualized as an invisible divine essence that is communicable through physical contact (cf. v. 27; Ex 29.37; 30.29; Ezek 44.19).
Lev 6.24-30: The purification offering.
Lev 7.1-10: The reparation offering.
Lev 7.11-38: The well-being offerings.
Lev 8.1-10.20: The dedication of the tabernacle priests and the transgression of Aaron's sons.
Lev 8.10-12,30: Annointing with oil was a common transition rite for persons and objects in the ancient Near East (cf. 14.15-18,26-29) and was therefore also used in Israel to change the status of a commoner to king (e.g., 1 Sam 10.1; 16.13).
Lev 9.1-10.20: The inauguration of priestly service and the transgression of Nadab and Abihu. Divine glory appears to the people with fire, confirming the deity's presence and approval of the priests' ritual activities. Immediately following this joyous occasion, however, Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, commit sacrilege by making an unauthorized incense offering, which prompts the divine fire to emerge once more to consume them. The deaths of Nadan and Abihu occasion further instructions for the priests.
Lev 10.1-20: The transgression of Nadab and Abihu.
Lev 10.1-2: Unholy fire; unauthorized incense offering that God had not instructed, as such, the fire that would have consumed the offering instead consumes the sons. The Korah rebellion ends similarly with divine fire consuming the offerers of illicit incense (Num 16.35).
Lev 10.3: "When he said," likely referencing a text now lost.
Lev 10.8: Something I noticed: it mentions specifically that one should not drink wine or alcohol in the tent of meeting, this contrasts quite nicely with the later christian sacrament.
Lev 10.10: Holy, common, unclean, and clean, can be used in multiple permutations: holy and clean, common and clean, common and unclean, and rarely, holy and unclean. It all depends on how an individual or item is used and how they interact with impurities.
Lev 11.1-16.34: Ritual impurity and purification. Impurity is seen as a real, though invisible, film that adheres to persons and objects and is attracted to the tabernacle. Impurity is fundamentally different from sin: impurity is contracted in the course of normal, daily activities and carries no moral stigma, however, impurity is contagious and vexes the deity, so to fail to purify is considered sinful, and thus has consequences.
Lev 12.1-8: Childbirth. Considered impure due to postpartum blood; period of impurity varies depending on sex of child but is a multiple of forty regardless, a common biblical number representing completion.
Lev 13.1-14.57: Surface afflictions. Though the specific conditions are unknown to us (one theory posits vitiligo), conditions that alter the surface of the skin would be assessed by a priest to determine whether or not the person was clean or unclean; if unclean, the indiviudal would be dressed in mourner's clothes and be set outside of the camp so as to ensure their uncleanliness did not contaminate others. Once again, this is not a form of sin, and speaks nothing to the moral character or fate of the individuals in question.
Lev 14.1-32: Purification after surface affliction.
Lev 14.33-53: Surface affliction in houses. "When you come into the land:" In the narrative, the Israelites are living in the wilderness camp; they therefore do nto currently live in houses. "I put," in non-Priestly texts, surface affliction is viewed as divine punishment; however, in the Priestly view, all natural occurrences ultimately stem from the deity's command. P thus attributes outbreaks of surface affliction to God even when they are not divine punishments.
Lev 15.1-33: Sexual discharges. Once more, sex is not sinful, rather it merely engenders impurity that should be cleansed, as is the case with discharges, normal or abnormal.
Lev 15.19-24: The requirement to bathe in a ritual bath (Hebrew: "mikveh") is a later institution commonplace in the late second temple period at the earliest.
Lev 16.1-34: The day of purgations. The holy of holies is purged once a year to clean it of intentional sins; it is considered a deeply important act, but also one that is secondary to the routine, daily cleaning of unintentional sin and impurities that are considered much more common due to the priests' optimism that those who know God would not be prone to commit sin intentionally.
Lev 16.8: Azazel. Lots to read into about this one, but ultimately it's simply worth saying that it was unlikely that Azazel was intended to be a literal demonic figure in opposition to Yahweh at the time of writing, the Priestly source being monotheistic and focused on Yahweh's preeminence as it is; though scholars used to think that Azazel literally meant 'scapegoat', the language does seem to imply Azazel is a literal name for something, just what that something is is up for debate. I did some googling, it's been argued that Azazel may have been a generic term for the 'boogeyman' representative of the evil of the wilds to which the scapegoat was sent. All too vague still, however.
Lev 17.1-26.46: The holiness collection. Has redundancies and contradictions, not organized, incomplete; can't be said to be a unified, structured code.
Lev 17.7: Goat demons, likely a reference to Satyr and goat worship of the Ugaritic peoples; it is likely that the Israelites saw such entities, "demons", as being terrestrial beings of the wilds (see note on Azazel).
Lev 18.1-30: Foreign abominations. Sins of foreigners, mainly Canaanites, used as narrative justification for God's expelling of them from their lands so that Israel may live there.
Lev 18.21: Molech, a Canaanite deity associated with child sacrifice.
Lev 18.22: Out of all biblical legal corpora, only H contains a prohibition against same-sex intercourse, likely due to its nonreproductive nature.
Lev 19.1-37: Holiness of Israelite laypersons.
Lev 19.9-10: Incitement to charity?
Lev 19.19: Mixtures of fabrics are prohibited so as to keep the Israelite laity distinct both from other nations, as well as the Priests, for whom mixed fabrics are acceptable.
Lev 19.25: Lifted straight from the Laws of Hammurabi.
Lev 20.1-27: Various prohibitions. Likely a separate source of compiled laws; absolute prohibitions rendered here have been instead forumlated as legal cases with stated penalties.
Lev 20.2-3: Worth pointing out that Molech as a deity of literal child sacrifice is also up for debate, could well be the case that this is mirroring Exodus language in 'sacrificing' children to the deity in a symbolic sense. Haven't looked deeply into this, however.
Lev 20.27: Tactless later insertion.
Lev 21.1-22.33: Priestly restrictions and sacrificial rules.
Lev 22.1-16: Rules for avoiding defilement of offerings.
Lev 23.1-44: Calendar of sacred occasions.
Lev 23.42: Booths? What booths? There is no prior mention of booths, may relate somehow to the tent sanctuary.
Lev 24.1-9: Ritual lamps and bread.
Lev 24.10-23: The case of the blasphemer and laws arising from it. Likely an originally separate composition, these verses exist to settle a case of blasphemy in the case of a half-Israelite; the answer being that any indiviudal regardless of status shall be put to death for such a sin.
Lev 25.1-26.2: The sabbaical and jubilee years and their social implications. Slaves may only come from the nations around the Israelites. We all know this one.
Lev 26.3-46: Inducements for obedience.
Lev 26.11-12: The ultimate reward for obedience is the divine presence in Israel.
Lev 26.18: "Sevenfold," likely not a literal accounting but a reference to full/extensive punishment.
Lev 26.33-45: These verses address exile, indicating that this chapter may have been written or edited after Babylonian conquest of Judah in 586BCE. Those who remain and repent will be restored, for God's commitment to Israel is unmoved. This was likely a particularly meaningful promise to the exiles.
Lev 27.1-34: Vows, dedications, and tithes. A later addition.
Leviticus down. Very dry, much repetition. Fascinating in a narrative sense though, how all these laws were worked naturally into the story of Exodus and eventual conquest; God placing himself among the people so as to afford his divine commandments immediate legitimacy—this is of course recognizing much of this was compiled later to justify temple arrangements, but that only makes it all the more interesting. Onto Numbers.
Slaughter, bleed, dash all that seeps
Upon my cold, earthen stone,
consuming all, rife with breath
Upon my rule, my promise
and my nightmare, living fear
Upon all hearts, and all minds
this bloodsoaked word knows no creed
Upon the knowledge of life
and of death, there is no doubt
Let there be no transgression
Introduction to Leviticus
Leviticus derives its name from the Septuagint, where the book is titled as such because its main concern is worship practices officiated by the high priest Aaron and his descendants, belonging to the tribe of Levi. The early rabbinic title, "The Priests' Instruction" is perhaps more fitting, as Levites not belonging to Aaron's line are mentioned only briefly.
The two main compositional strata in Leviticus are known as P ("Priestly"), which comprises most of chs 1-16; and H ("Holiness"), which includes the "Holiness Collection" (chs 17-26; so named because of its repeated exhortation to the Israelites to be holy), the addendum on vows, dedications, and tithes in ch 27, and brief interpolations in chs 1-16. These two strata are distinguishable on the basis of ideological and stylistic differences as well as narrative characteristics.
The H source was likely composed to supplement, revise and complete the Priestly source's earlier P stratum, which is responsible for the source's overall narrative structure and plot; Many of H's innovations over P are mediating positions between P and non-Priestly pentateuchal legislation. For example: in P the only Israelites who are holy are priests. In the Deuteronomical source, all of Israel is holy.
Strong evidence suggests that at least the core of Deuteronomy originated in the late seventh century BCE. Because H appears to revise this Deuteronomic core, it must postdate Deuteronomy. The P portions of Leviticus, which predate H, exhibit little or no correspondence with Deuteronomy and thus may be contemporary with or older than Deuteronomy.
Leviticus can be divided into five major sections:
1. Sacrifice (chs 1-7).
2. The dedication of the tabernacle and priests and the transgression of Aaron's sons (chs 8-10).
3. Ritual purity (chs 11-16).
4. The Holiness Collection (chs 17-26).
5. Addendum concerning vows, dedications, and tithes (ch 27).a
Leviticus is difficult to understand and appreciate because it is highly technical and regularly assumes knowledge of its ritual system. Its sparse narrative structure is also easily obscured due to the large blocks of laws that comprise the book. In addition, its authors' approaches to the issues they treat and their assumptions about them are often far removed from modern Western views.
Leviticus
Lev 1.1-7.38: Sacrificial prescriptions: In Priestly thought, sacrifice, a ritualized meal for the deity at times shared with its offerers, is the basic mode of interaction with God. To be accepted, sacrifices must be performed according to the divine instructions.
Lev 1.9: The imagery of smoke rising from the altar suggests that the deity is in the heavens.
Lev 2.1-16: This verse on grain offering interrups the animal food gift offerings; it was likely inserted later to provide a still more affordable alternative to the burnt offering. It is uniquely placed here in that it utilises second-person address rather than the usual third-person of surrounding chapters.
Lev 2.1: Frankincense, an aromatic resin from shrubs found in Arabia and East Africa.
Lev 3.1-17: The well-being offering.
Lev 4.1-6.7: Instructions for purification and reparation offerings. In H's view, the accumulation of sin and impurity in the tabernacle threatens the abiding presence of the deity. If God should depart, Israel will lose all divine protection and benefaction (Lev 26.30-33; cf. Ezek 8-11). P, however, appears not to countenance divine abandonment. It instead expects Israel to perform the requisite purgation, which elminates any cause that might be posited for the deity's departure. In P, God's presence among the Israelites is wholly for his own benefit. The threat of divine abandonment, which is meant to motivate humans to serve the deity and in so doing preserve the benefits they enjoy from God's presence in their midst, is thus inconsistent with P's claims.
Lev 4.1-35: The purification offering.
Lev 4.6: Sprinkling of blood seven times.
Lev 5.1-13: Purification offerings for specific offenses.
Lev 6.8-7.38: Elaborations on the sacrificial instructions. These speeches are likely derived from a subsource, incorporated here for extra detail.
Lev 6.14-23: The grain offerings.
Lev 6.18: "Become holy"; holiness is conceptualized as an invisible divine essence that is communicable through physical contact (cf. v. 27; Ex 29.37; 30.29; Ezek 44.19).
Lev 6.24-30: The purification offering.
Lev 7.1-10: The reparation offering.
Lev 7.11-38: The well-being offerings.
Lev 8.1-10.20: The dedication of the tabernacle priests and the transgression of Aaron's sons.
Lev 8.10-12,30: Annointing with oil was a common transition rite for persons and objects in the ancient Near East (cf. 14.15-18,26-29) and was therefore also used in Israel to change the status of a commoner to king (e.g., 1 Sam 10.1; 16.13).
Lev 9.1-10.20: The inauguration of priestly service and the transgression of Nadab and Abihu. Divine glory appears to the people with fire, confirming the deity's presence and approval of the priests' ritual activities. Immediately following this joyous occasion, however, Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, commit sacrilege by making an unauthorized incense offering, which prompts the divine fire to emerge once more to consume them. The deaths of Nadan and Abihu occasion further instructions for the priests.
Lev 10.1-20: The transgression of Nadab and Abihu.
Lev 10.1-2: Unholy fire; unauthorized incense offering that God had not instructed, as such, the fire that would have consumed the offering instead consumes the sons. The Korah rebellion ends similarly with divine fire consuming the offerers of illicit incense (Num 16.35).
Lev 10.3: "When he said," likely referencing a text now lost.
Lev 10.8: Something I noticed: it mentions specifically that one should not drink wine or alcohol in the tent of meeting, this contrasts quite nicely with the later christian sacrament.
Lev 10.10: Holy, common, unclean, and clean, can be used in multiple permutations: holy and clean, common and clean, common and unclean, and rarely, holy and unclean. It all depends on how an individual or item is used and how they interact with impurities.
Lev 11.1-16.34: Ritual impurity and purification. Impurity is seen as a real, though invisible, film that adheres to persons and objects and is attracted to the tabernacle. Impurity is fundamentally different from sin: impurity is contracted in the course of normal, daily activities and carries no moral stigma, however, impurity is contagious and vexes the deity, so to fail to purify is considered sinful, and thus has consequences.
Lev 12.1-8: Childbirth. Considered impure due to postpartum blood; period of impurity varies depending on sex of child but is a multiple of forty regardless, a common biblical number representing completion.
Lev 13.1-14.57: Surface afflictions. Though the specific conditions are unknown to us (one theory posits vitiligo), conditions that alter the surface of the skin would be assessed by a priest to determine whether or not the person was clean or unclean; if unclean, the indiviudal would be dressed in mourner's clothes and be set outside of the camp so as to ensure their uncleanliness did not contaminate others. Once again, this is not a form of sin, and speaks nothing to the moral character or fate of the individuals in question.
Lev 14.1-32: Purification after surface affliction.
Lev 14.33-53: Surface affliction in houses. "When you come into the land:" In the narrative, the Israelites are living in the wilderness camp; they therefore do nto currently live in houses. "I put," in non-Priestly texts, surface affliction is viewed as divine punishment; however, in the Priestly view, all natural occurrences ultimately stem from the deity's command. P thus attributes outbreaks of surface affliction to God even when they are not divine punishments.
Lev 15.1-33: Sexual discharges. Once more, sex is not sinful, rather it merely engenders impurity that should be cleansed, as is the case with discharges, normal or abnormal.
Lev 15.19-24: The requirement to bathe in a ritual bath (Hebrew: "mikveh") is a later institution commonplace in the late second temple period at the earliest.
Lev 16.1-34: The day of purgations. The holy of holies is purged once a year to clean it of intentional sins; it is considered a deeply important act, but also one that is secondary to the routine, daily cleaning of unintentional sin and impurities that are considered much more common due to the priests' optimism that those who know God would not be prone to commit sin intentionally.
Lev 16.8: Azazel. Lots to read into about this one, but ultimately it's simply worth saying that it was unlikely that Azazel was intended to be a literal demonic figure in opposition to Yahweh at the time of writing, the Priestly source being monotheistic and focused on Yahweh's preeminence as it is; though scholars used to think that Azazel literally meant 'scapegoat', the language does seem to imply Azazel is a literal name for something, just what that something is is up for debate. I did some googling, it's been argued that Azazel may have been a generic term for the 'boogeyman' representative of the evil of the wilds to which the scapegoat was sent. All too vague still, however.
Lev 17.1-26.46: The holiness collection. Has redundancies and contradictions, not organized, incomplete; can't be said to be a unified, structured code.
Lev 17.7: Goat demons, likely a reference to Satyr and goat worship of the Ugaritic peoples; it is likely that the Israelites saw such entities, "demons", as being terrestrial beings of the wilds (see note on Azazel).
Lev 18.1-30: Foreign abominations. Sins of foreigners, mainly Canaanites, used as narrative justification for God's expelling of them from their lands so that Israel may live there.
Lev 18.21: Molech, a Canaanite deity associated with child sacrifice.
Lev 18.22: Out of all biblical legal corpora, only H contains a prohibition against same-sex intercourse, likely due to its nonreproductive nature.
Lev 19.1-37: Holiness of Israelite laypersons.
Lev 19.9-10: Incitement to charity?
Lev 19.19: Mixtures of fabrics are prohibited so as to keep the Israelite laity distinct both from other nations, as well as the Priests, for whom mixed fabrics are acceptable.
Lev 19.25: Lifted straight from the Laws of Hammurabi.
Lev 20.1-27: Various prohibitions. Likely a separate source of compiled laws; absolute prohibitions rendered here have been instead forumlated as legal cases with stated penalties.
Lev 20.2-3: Worth pointing out that Molech as a deity of literal child sacrifice is also up for debate, could well be the case that this is mirroring Exodus language in 'sacrificing' children to the deity in a symbolic sense. Haven't looked deeply into this, however.
Lev 20.27: Tactless later insertion.
Lev 21.1-22.33: Priestly restrictions and sacrificial rules.
Lev 22.1-16: Rules for avoiding defilement of offerings.
Lev 23.1-44: Calendar of sacred occasions.
Lev 23.42: Booths? What booths? There is no prior mention of booths, may relate somehow to the tent sanctuary.
Lev 24.1-9: Ritual lamps and bread.
Lev 24.10-23: The case of the blasphemer and laws arising from it. Likely an originally separate composition, these verses exist to settle a case of blasphemy in the case of a half-Israelite; the answer being that any indiviudal regardless of status shall be put to death for such a sin.
Lev 25.1-26.2: The sabbaical and jubilee years and their social implications. Slaves may only come from the nations around the Israelites. We all know this one.
Lev 26.3-46: Inducements for obedience.
Lev 26.11-12: The ultimate reward for obedience is the divine presence in Israel.
Lev 26.18: "Sevenfold," likely not a literal accounting but a reference to full/extensive punishment.
Lev 26.33-45: These verses address exile, indicating that this chapter may have been written or edited after Babylonian conquest of Judah in 586BCE. Those who remain and repent will be restored, for God's commitment to Israel is unmoved. This was likely a particularly meaningful promise to the exiles.
Lev 27.1-34: Vows, dedications, and tithes. A later addition.
Leviticus down. Very dry, much repetition. Fascinating in a narrative sense though, how all these laws were worked naturally into the story of Exodus and eventual conquest; God placing himself among the people so as to afford his divine commandments immediate legitimacy—this is of course recognizing much of this was compiled later to justify temple arrangements, but that only makes it all the more interesting. Onto Numbers.
Slaughter, bleed, dash all that seeps
Upon my cold, earthen stone,
consuming all, rife with breath
Upon my rule, my promise
and my nightmare, living fear
Upon all hearts, and all minds
this bloodsoaked word knows no creed
Upon the knowledge of life
and of death, there is no doubt
Let there be no transgression