Book of Leviticus
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Leviticus is the third book of the Hebrew Bible, also the third book in the Torah (five books of Moses). Christians refer to the Hebrew Bible as the Old Testament. The English name is derived from the Latin Liber Leviticus which is from the Greek (το) Λευιτικόν (i.e., βιβλίον). In Jewish writings it is customary to cite the book by its first word, Vayikra ויקרא, "and He called". (Vayikra is also the name of the first weekly Torah reading or parshah in the book.) The main points of the book are concerned with legal rules, and priestly ritual. Despite the English title of the work, it is important to note that the book makes a very strong distinction between the priesthood, who are identified as being descended from Aaron, and mere Levites.
Summary
In contrast to the other books of the Pentateuch, Leviticus contains very little in the way of narrating the story of the Israelites.The book is generally considered to consist of two large sections, both of which contain a number mitzvot, or commandments. The second part, Leviticus 17-26, is known as the Holiness Code. It places particular emphasis on holiness that which is considered sacred. Although Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy also deal with religious regulations, Leviticus focuses almost entirely on this subject and thus constitutes a major source of Jewish law.
The priestly code
The first part Leviticus (chapters 1-16), together wih Leviticus 27, constitutes the main portion of what scholars call the Priestly Code, which describes the details of rituals, and of worship, as well as details of ritual cleanliness and uncleanliness. Within this section are:
Laws on sacrifice
- Burnt-offerings, meat-offerings, and thank-offerings (1-3)
- Sin-offerings, and trespass-offerings (4-5)
- Priestly duties and rights concerning the offering of sacrifices (Leviticus 6-7)
Narrative conerning Aaron and his sons
- Aaron's first offering for himself and the people (ch. 8)
- The incident in which "unauthorized fire" is brought to the Tabernacle by Nadab and Abihu, leading to their death directly at the hands of God. (9-10)
Purity and impurity
- Laws about clean and unclean animals(11)
- Laws concerning ritual cleanliness after childbirth (12)
- Laws concerning skin diseases, mildew on clothes and houses (13-14)
- Laws concerning bodily discharges (such as blood, pus, etc.) and purification (Leviticus 15)
- Laws regarding a day of national atonement, Yom Kippur (16)
Taking and fulfilling vows
(Leviticus 27)
The Bible contained insights regarding burying human waste and handling the dead. Many of which like quarantine and sanitation, had not been practised or understood until the late 1800s and were not recognized until 1865 by Joseph Lister. See also Ignaz Semmelweis.
The Holiness Code
The second part, Leviticus 17-26, is known as the Holiness Code, and places particular, and noticeable, emphasis on holiness, and the holy. It is notably more of a miscellany of laws. Within this section are:
- Laws concerning idolatry, the slaughter of animals, dead animals, and the consumption of blood (Leviticus 17)
- Laws concerning sexual conduct (including some that are often interpreted as referring to male homosexuality), sorcery, and moloch (Leviticus 18, and also Leviticus 20, in which penalties are given)
- Laws concerning molten gods, peace-offerings, scraps of the harvest, fraud, the deaf, blind, elderly, and poor, poisoning the well, hate, sex with slaves, self harm, shaving, prostitution, sabbaths, sorcery, familiars, strangers, and just weights and measure (Leviticus 19)
- Laws concerning priestly conduct, and prohibitions against the disabled, ill, and superfluously blemished, from becoming priests, or becoming sacrifices, for descendants of Aaron, and animals, respectively (Leviticus 21-22)
- Laws concerning the observation of the annual feasts, and the sabbath, (Leviticus 23)
- Laws concerning the altar of incense (Leviticus 24:1-9)
- The case law lesson of a blasphemer being stoned to death, and other applications of the death penalty (Leviticus 24:10-23), including anyone having "a familiar ghost or spirit", a child insulting its parents (Leviticus 20), and a special case for prostitution (burning them alive) (Leviticus 21)
- Laws concerning the Sabbath and Jubilee years (Leviticus 25)
- A hortatory conclusion to the section, giving promises regarding obedience to these commandments, and warnings and threats for those that might disobey them, including sending wild animals to devour their children. (Leviticus 26:22)
These ordinances, in the book, are said to have been delivered in the space of a month, specifically the first month of the second year after the exodus. A major Chiastic structure runs through practically all of this book. For more detailed information see the article on Chiastic structure.
Jewish and Christian views
Orthodox Jews believe that this entire book is the word of God, dictated by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. In Talmudic literature, there is evidence that Leviticus was first book of the Bible taught in the rabbinic system of education in Talmudic times. Although the sacrifices decreed in Leviticus were suspended after the destruction of Temple of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., other laws are considered still valid. Indeed, rabbinical tradtion in some ways goes beyond these laws. Talmudic debates often centered on how exactly to interpret varous regulations. One well known example is the commandment not to boil a kid in its mother's milk, which evolved into today's tradition of not mixing milk and meat dishes, and even having separate sets of place for the two types of food.
There are two main Midrashim on Leviticus - the halakhic one (Sifra) and a more aggadic one (Vayikra Rabbah).
Reform and secular Jews generally take the view that the Levitical laws are no longer binding for the most part.
Christians believe that Leviticus is the word of God, but generally hold that most of the non-ethical laws of the Hebrew Bible become obsolete as a result of the New Covenant initiated by Jesus. Sacfrices became unnecessary because Jesu himself brought atonement to believers through his death and resurrection. Paul's letters deal in detail with the need for Christians to realize that only faith in Jesus, and not obedience to the Jewish laws, brings salvation. As far as the dietary laws are concerned, some cite 1 Corinthians 10:23-26, in which Paul directs followers to "eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience."[1] to exempt them from following the dietary laws set forth in Leviticus. In addition, they cite Acts 10, in which God directs Saint Pater to "kill and eat" ritually unclean animals, declaring, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean."
Academic context
Many scholars of biblical criticism support the documentary hypothesis. In this, almost the entirety of Leviticus is identified as being from a single earlier document, the priestly source. While this source is said to originate amongst the Aaronid priesthood, Leviticus is nevertheless said to consist of several layers of accretion from earlier collections of laws. The base of this accretion is identified, in the hypothesis, as the Holiness Code, regarded as an early independent document, having a faint relationship with the Covenant Code presented earlier in the bible.
The priestly source is envisioned as a later, rival, version of the stories contained within JE, and the Holiness Code thus being the law code that the priestly source presented as being dictated to Moses at Sinai, in the place of the Covenant Code. On top of this, over time, different writers, of varying levels of narrative competence, ranging from repetitive tedium to case law, inserted laws, some from earlier independent collections. These additional laws, in critical scholarship, are those which subsequently formed the Priestly Code, and thus the other portion of Leviticus.
Structure
Chiastic structure is a literary structure used most notably in the Torah. The structure comprises concepts or ideas in an order ABC…CBA so that the first concept that comes up is also the last, the second is the second to last, and so on. A second chiastic structure can also be of the form ABBAABB…ABBA.
Chi is a Greek letter that is shaped like an X. Chi is made up of two lines crossing each other, so the line that starts leftmost on top comes down and is rightmost on the bottom, and vice versa. If one thinks of the lines as concepts, one sees that concept A , which comes first, is also last, and concept B, which comes after A, comes before A. If one adds in more lines representing other concepts, one gets a chiastic structure with more concepts.
The ABC…CBA chiastic structure
The ABC…CBA chiastic structure is used in many places in the Torah, including Levitics. This kind of chiastic structure is used to give emphasis to the central concept—"C." A notable example is the chiastic structure running from the middle of the Book of Exodus through the end of the Book of Leviticus. The structure begins with the covenant made between God and the Jewish People at Mount Sinai and ends with the admonition from God to the Jews if they will not keep this agreement. The main ideas are in the middle of Leviticus, from chapter 11 through chapter 20. Those chapters deal with the holiness in the Tabernacle and the holiness of the Jewish homeland in general.
The chiastic structure points the reader to the central idea, that of the expected holiness of the Jews in what they do. The idea behind the structure is that if the Jews keep the covenant and all the laws around the central concept, they will be blessed with a sense of holiness in their Tabernacle and in their land in general.
See also
- Torah
- The Bible and homosexuality
- Torah portions in Leviticus: Vayikra, Tzav, Shemini, Tazria, Metzora, Acharei, Kedoshim, Emor, Behar, and Bechukotai
External links
Online translations of Leviticus:
- Jewish translations:
- Leviticus at Mechon-Mamre (Jewish Publication Society translation)
- Leviticus (The Living Torah) Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan's translation and commentary at Ort.org
- Vayikra - Leviticus (Judaica Press) translation with Rashi's commentary at Chabad.org
- ויקרא Vayikra - Leviticus (Hebrew - English at Mechon-Mamre.org)
- Christian translations:
- Online Bible at GospelHall.org
- Leviticus at The Great Books (New Revised Standard Version)
- Translations identifying sources according to the documentary hypothesis:
- Leviticus with sources highlighted, at Wikisource
- The law code of Leviticus isolated, at wikisource
- The description of priestly ritual, in isolation, at wikisource
Related article:
- Book of Leviticus article (Jewish Encyclopedia)
- The Literary Structure of Leviticus (chaver.com)
Free Online Bibliography on Leviticus:
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- ↑ Paul's standard here seems to be contracted by the policy of the Jerusalem church in which the gentile Christinas were instructed to "abstain from food polluted by idols... from the meat of strangled animals and from blood." (Acts 15:20) Markets in major cities of the [[Roman Empire]] often sold meat ritually slaughtered by pagan priests.
