Leviticus

1
Leviticus!!

• Yippee! Priestly law of Ancient Israel!

2
Whats in a name?

• Hebrew title, vayikrah And he called
• Leviticus based on LXX
• deals with priestly matters and priests are from
  the tribe of Levi

3
New Tabernacle, New People

• After giving of law, Exod is focused on the
  construction of the tabernacle
• chs. 25-31 instructions for tabernacle
• chs. 35-40 completion of the tabernacle

4
Tabernacle Layout
5
Tabernacle at the Center

• Exod set on development of a free nation, law and
  cult
• In Leviticus, the tabernacle becomes operational
• four main sections
• laws of sacrifice (1-7)
• priestly consecration (8-16)
• Holiness Code or Collection (17-26)
• appendix vows and dedications (27)

6
Leviticus at the Center

• Center of Pentateuch conveys the centrality of
  worship and atonement
• God has been active in history
• now God will be active in worship
• God has delivered from slavery outwardly
• now God will remove the slavery of sin inwardly
• Lev 923-25

7
Priestly Manual

• How do we worship this Yahweh?
• not a secret manual for private rituals but a
  very public document
• Some texts are for priests (68-721)
• most are directed to all Israel (12 2646)
• Provisions for the poor (1421, 32 199f)
• democratizing laity given ownership with
  respect to priestly matters (Exod 196)

8
Mt. Sinai

• all Leviticus given on Mt. Sinai (2734)
• Exod 191 Num 1011 at the mountain
• Sacrifices of 1-7 continue Gods response to the
  apostasy of the Golden Calf
• in form law but in spirit grace to prevent such
  apostasy from reoccurring.
• tell how a gracious God provides a visible means
  whereby people can be forgiven.

9
Exodus and Leviticus

• Exod tells of deliverance from the sins of others
• Leviticus - deliverance for ones own sins
• how we function as a kingdom of priests?
• 2342-43 dramatized festivals like sukkot tell
  how Exodus-type salvation is still available to
  all Israel
• Lev. enables relation to Yahweh as a witness to
  the world.

10
Types of Sacrifices

• 11-17 The burnt offering of three types
• a bull (v 3-9)
• male sheep or goat (10-13)
• birds (14-17)
• brought for vows and freewill offerings
  (2218-20)
• entrance of the tent of meeting? (v. 3)
• Exod 337 tent of meeting used as an oracle
  tent before tabernacle was built

11
Types of Sacrifices

• burned offerings completely burned turned into
  smoke (19)
• LXX translates it holocaust which became
  associated with WWII
• Hebrew word is Hashoah or
• full name is ??? ??????? ????? ???????
• Day of Remembrance for the Holocaust and for
  Heroism

12
Grain Offerings

• 21-6 The grain offering
• another free-will offering of lesser value?
• oil and frankincense poured on it
• portion turned into smoke as a pleasing odor to
  the Lord (v. 2)
• a portion given to the priests
• v. 11 no leaven or honey allowed!

13
Offering of Well-Being

• 31-17 Shelamim based on word Shalom
• translations possible peace covenant or
  communion
• expressions of gratitude for covenant blessing
• Israelites not to eat a domesticated animal
  unless it was first sacrificed (173-4)
• mostly it goes to the owner, some went to priests
• God receives visceral fat and organs (39-10)
  which are turned to smoke

14
Sin Offering (41-35)

• inadvertent transgressions brings pollution
• blood of this sacrifice brings solution (v 6f)
• it is a purification offering
• for priests a bull (v 3f),
• for congregation a bull (v 13f),
• a ruler (clan leader) a male goat (v 22)
• for ordinary people a female goat or lamb (v 27)
• suet and entrails burned but the rest burned
  outside of camp (vv 8-12)

15
Food laws (111-47)

• rules against eating certain land, water, and air
  animals
• permitted diet is limited to land animals with
  split hooves and chew the cud
• fish must have fins and scales (9f)
• flying insects must have jumping legs (20f)
• all birds other than those expressly forbidden
  (13f)
• why are some animals clean and others unclean?

16
Holy and Common (111-1533)

• this section interrupts the narrative flow
  between chs 10 and 16 (similar to Num 19)
• provide legislation about impurity
• deals with natural, tolerated impurities
• basic sources are human and certain animal dead
  bodies (ch. 11)
• normal/abnormal genital discharges (chs 12 and
  15)
• skin disorders (mistranslated leprosy - chs
  13-14)

17
Clean and Unclean?

• Read Lev. 1010
• Three Categories
• Holy,
• Common Clean
• Common Unclean

18
Uncleanness

• ch. 11 unclean foods
• ch 12 childbirth (a week for a male, two weeks
  for a female!)
• ch. 13-14 skin afflictions, fabrics and walls
  of houses!
• must be deep and have white hair
• not leprosy (Hansens disease)
• psoriasis, eczema and fungal infections

19
Appropriate Boundaries

• holy that which is related to God
• Common (ordinary) related to everyday life
• unclean (anomalous) that which is icky or
  out-of-place
• appropriate boundaries between these three
  factors (holy, clean, unclean)
• to protect purity of body, homes, clothes, times,
  places, persons, acts

20
The Point??

• Common Suggestions
• purity of separation from others (182, 24)
• hygiene issues of life and death (1711)
• correlation of social order to cosmic order
• Anthropological Approach
• factors of community identity
• whole animals make a whole people
• protection of life-giving ways
• Did God really want this stuff?

21
Day of Atonement (ch 16)

• focused on cleansing of people as a whole (vs.
  16)
• sin is not simply an individual reality
• sin has a corporate dimension
• communal ritual to deal with sins potential
  communal destructiveness
• Goat sent into wilderness for the sins of all the
  people
• Christian understanding Atonement of Christ

22
Understanding Sacrifice

• Today sacrifice means to give up something of
  value for a greater good.
• In ANE, sacrifice was a religious rite something
  offered to ones god/gods/God
• ANE sacrifice involved
• food for deity
• union with deity
• persuasion of deity to reciprocate
• assimilation of the life force of the animal

23
Sacrifice

• technical distinction Israelite sacrifice is
  unique in that parts of the animal are burned on
  the altar
• How similar was Israelite sacrifice to ANE
  sacrifice?
• emphasized intentionality
• to be effective, it must be matched by proper
  interior feeling and lifestyle
• Pro 158 The sacrifice of the wicked is
  destestable.

24
Sacrifice is . . .

• Sacrifice is a gift to God
• recognition that everything comes from God
• it is a means of achieving unity with God
• sharing of a meal together with God
• a means of expiating sin
• life of the animal and its blood dies expiates
  sin of the worshipper
• a response of a conscience motivated by a desire
  to obey and fear God

25
Those Pesky Prophets

• Some prophetic passages seem to condemn the
  practice of sacrifice outright
• Isa 111-17, Amos 52, Jer 721-23
• Didnt Moses command sacrifice?
• The prophetic critique
• What use is sacrifice without a proper heart
  relationship as the basis for offering it?
• The opposed the formalism and mere external
  religious practice without corresponding
  repentance.

26
Righteous Behavior in OT?

• What counts for righteous behavior in OT?
• the act or the disposition of the heart?
• Intentionality of the heart is a unique Israelite
  idea a major factor in OT.
• Sacrifice ended when Romans destroyed the temple
  in 70 AD
• synagogue and talmud Torah
• Christ and the atonement

27
Holiness Code (chs 17-26)

• Section of code that may have had an independent
  status
• centers on behavior and rituals that promote
  holiness
• lay-oriented and hortatory (as opposed to
  priestly and technical)
• 192 You shall be holy for I the Lord your God
  am holy.

28
Holiness

• Holiness is more than a static state of
  God-relatedness
• Holiness is relational
• faithful to God in worship and life
• a holistic faithfulness to righteous love of God
  and others
• You shall love your neighbor as yourself
  (1918, 34)
• Israel Knohl Sanctuary of Silence

29
Leviticus and the Christian

• traditional designation of OT laws
• moral laws 10 Commandments
• civil laws applicable to ancient Israel (BOC)
• sacrificial laws
• Only Moral laws apply to us
• civil laws designed for ancient Israel
• civil laws are obviated by the cross

30
Problems and Solutions

• NT doesnt make this distinction
• differences between them are not always clear
  civil laws have moral implications
• A better approach?

31
Levitical Law today

• basic themes have common ground
• Love the Lord Your God with all your heart . . .
  (Deut 65 and Mark 123ff)
• Be ye holy for I am holy (Lev 1918 I Peter)
• You are a kingdom of priests, a holy nation
• Jesus gives his seal of approval to the spirit of
  the OT Laws (Mark 1230)
• NT quotes the 10 Commandments (I Pet 116)

32
Two Parallels

• OT Covenants are based on grace
• God called and initiated relationship with
  Abraham/Moses
• Law expresses what God has already done
• Not how do I achieve Gods favor but How do I
  express my gratitude for Gods grace.
• NT Covenant also involves Law
• ethical requirements in Pauls letters
• proper responses to Christs sacrifice

33
Covenantal Theology

• NT accepts not only the moral law of the OT but
  builds on understanding of covenant
• underlying principles of OT law apply in NT also
  in spirit
• Lev. 199ff (Peah) allowing poor to harvest
  grain from corners of the field
• what spiritual principle underlies this law?
• this question can be asked for all OT laws.

34
Christ and Sacrifice

• Christ is the ultimate sacrifice (according to
  Hebrews) who fulfills all others
• his sacrifice is superior because it need not be
  repeated
• it is the substance for which the others were the
  shadow
• Sacrifice of OT forms the background by which we
  understand the cross
• Easter and Passover connection
• Day of Atonement (blowing of shofar)