Leviticus
The cultic and priestly laws presented in Exodus are expanded to take up virtually the whole of Leviticus, the Latin Vulgate title for the third of the Five Books of Moses, which may be translated the Book (or Manual) of Priests. With one exception (chapters 8–10), the narrative portions are brief connective or introductory devices to give an ostensibly narrative framework for the detailed lists of precepts that provide the book’s content. The source of Leviticus, both for the legal and narrative passages, is definitely identified as P; it is the only book in the so-called Tetrateuch to which a single source is attributed. Apparently the book consists of materials from various periods, some of them going back to the time of Moses, which were put together at a later date, possibly during or after the Babylonian Exile. Recent scholarship tends to emphasize the ancient origin of much of the material, as opposed to the previous tendency to ascribe a late, even post-exilic date. Despite its content and its dry, repetitive style, many interpreters caution against taking Leviticus as merely a dull, spiritless manual of priestly ritual, holding that it is strictly inseparable from the ethical emphasis and spiritual fervour of the religion of ancient Israel. It is in Leviticus that the so-called law of love, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself,” first appears. The rituals set forth drily here probably presuppose an inward state in offering to God, as well as humanitarian and compassionate ethics.
The book may be divided thus: chapters 1–7, offerings and sacrifices; chapters 8–10, inauguration of priestly worship; chapters 11–16, purification laws; chapters 17–26, holiness code; chapter 27, commutation of vows and tithes.
Offerings, sacrifices, and priestly worship
The first verse attributes these regulations to YHWH, who speaks to Moses from the Tent of Meeting, beginning with the rules for offerings by the individual layman. These include burnt, cereal, peace, sin, and guilt offerings, all described in precise details. The prescription for priestly offerings is about the same, with some slight differences in the order of actions, and is presented much more briefly. In chapters 8–10 the narrative that was interrupted at the end of Exodus is resumed, and the ordination of Aaron and his sons by Moses, before the people assembled at the door of the Tent of Meeting is described, as are various animal sacrifices by Aaron and his sons under Moses’ direction and the subsequent appearance of God’s “glory” to the people. Aaron’s two older sons are burned to death by fire issuing forth from God because they have offered “unholy fire.” This story apparently emphasizes the importance of adherence to the precise cultic details, as does also the account (at the end of the chapter) of Moses’ anger at Aaron’s two remaining sons for not eating the sin offering. These stories were apparently used by the priestly authors to buttress the authority of the Aaronic priesthood.
Purification laws
With chapter 11 begin the regulations on ritual cleanness and uncleanness, starting with animals and other living things fit and unfit to eat—the basis of the famous Jewish dietary laws. Then come the uncleanness and required purification of women after childbirth, skin diseases, healed lepers, infected houses, and genital discharges. Chapter 16, which belongs in the narrative flow immediately after chapter 10, describes the priestly actions on the Day of Atonement, the culmination of ritual cleansing in Israel. It is a chapter rich in details on Israelite ritual and bound up with the salient religious theme of atonement.
The Holiness Code
Next (chapters 17–26) comes what has been designated the “Holiness Code,” or “Law of Holiness,” which scholars regard as a separate, distinctive unit within the P material (designated H). It calls upon the people to be holy as God is holy by carrying out his laws, both ritual and moral, and by avoiding the polluting practices of neighbouring peoples; and it proceeds to lay down laws, interspersed with exhortations, to attain this special holiness. Although many scholars tend to date its compilation in the exilic period, some see evidence that it was compiled in pre-exilic times; in any case, the consensus is that the laws themselves come from a much earlier time.
These—a most miscellaneous collection—begin with injunctions on the proper (kosher) slaughtering of animals for meat; go on to a list of precepts against outlawed sexual relations (incest, homosexuality) and an injunction against defiling the (holy) land; proceed to a list of ethical injunctions, including the law of love and kindness to resident aliens, all interspersed with agronomic instructions and warnings against witchcraft; and then, after an injunction against sacrificing children, return to the listing of illicit sexual relations and the warning that the land will spew the people out if they do not obey the divine norms and laws. There follow special requirements for preserving the special holiness of priests and assuring that only unblemished animals will be used in sacrifices; instructions on the observance of the holy days—the sabbath, feasts, and festivals; commands on the proper making of oil for the holy lamp in the Tent of Meeting and of the sacred shewbread, to which are appended the penalties for blasphemy and other crimes; and finally, rules for observance of the sabbatical (seventh) and jubilee (50th) years, in which the land is to lie fallow, followed by rules on the redemption of land and the treatment of poor debtors and Hebrew slaves.
This miscellany, presented in chapters 17–25, is followed by a final exhortation, in chapter 26, promising the people that if they follow these laws and precepts all will go well with them but warning that if they fail to do so all kinds of evil will befall them, including exile and the desolation of the Promised Land. Yet, if they confess their iniquity and atone for it, God will not destroy them utterly but will remember his Covenant with their forebears. Such a passage points to a later time but not necessarily to the exilic period, as some commentators have assumed. The chapter concludes: “These are the statutes and ordinances and laws which the Lord made between him and the people of Israel on Mt. Sinai by Moses,” connecting these precepts with the primal revelation in Exodus.
Commutation of vows and tithes
In the final chapter of Leviticus (27), the P material is resumed with a presentation of the rules for the commutation of votive gifts and tithes. It provides for the release from vows (of offerings of persons, animals, or lands to God) through specified money payments. Some commentators understand the vow to offer persons to refer originally to human sacrifice, others as pledging their liturgical employment in the sanctuary. Special provisions are made for the poor to relieve them from the stipulated payments. Only grain and fruit tithes, not animal tithes, are redeemable. This chapter and the book of Leviticus end, like chapter 26, with the verse, “These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai.”