Leviticus 21.1-22.33

The Holiness of Priests / The Use of Holy Offerings / Acceptable Offerings

You know that old saying "cleanliness is next to godliness?" Well that certainly applies to today's reading (and, in fact, many of the past readings as well). Holiness, as mentioned before, is a state of separation from the "other." One is not holy because one believes in God. Rather, one is holy because one carries out all of God's commandments correctly. That is why the law books are contained within the bible - to show how to be holy in the eyes of God.

In many cases holiness is separation from uncleanliness. Anything that can defile you physically or mentally is to be avoided. You are to have a clean mind and body. The priests (Aaron's sons) must be exceptionally clean, as they act between intermediaries between God - the most holy - and the people - who aren't as holy. Furthermore, the head priest must be the cleanest, most holy member of the priesthood, as he deals the most directly with God. Cleanliness here is quite literally next to godliness.

How do we read these commandments for cleanliness/holiness as literature? There are a number of ways, but today I will analyze the power structures within Israelite religion as the Israelites wander in the desert. These power structures are based on a hierarchy of holiness, which favors certain people over one another, but overall attempts to ensure that all the people of Israel are sufficiently acceptable (holy) in the eyes of God.

The Holiness of Priests: Leviticus 21.1-24

This chapter is comprised of commandments for the priests only.

Priests are to be kept away from death. They defile themselves for coming into contact with anyone but their immediate family: father, mother, brother, son, daughter, and virgin sister. The sister must be a virgin in accordance with a biblical "sex marriage economy," which treats women as property that drops in value with the loss of virginity. A virgin sister would not be married, and therefore is still the property of her father. Her priest brother may therefore bury her. As soon as she is married she becomes the property of another man, and she may no longer be buried by her priest brother.

The priest cannot bury his wife either, and I am inclined to believe this is because she is not necessarily from the same family. The head priest must marry a member of his family (though outside of the ring of incest), but the other priests have no such prohibition. In this case, the wife has roots elsewhere and therefore should be buried by her own family.

As in the last post, priests may not display mourning by cutting their hair, shaving their beards at the edges, or scaring their flesh.

The scripture continues:

They shall be holy to their God, and not profane the name of their God; for they offer the Lord’s offerings by fire, the food of their God; therefore they shall be holy. They shall not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been defiled; neither shall they marry a woman divorced from her husband. For they are holy to their God, and you shall treat them as holy, since they offer the food of your God; they shall be holy to you, for I the Lord, I who sanctify you, am holy. When the daughter of a priest profanes herself through prostitution, she profanes her father; she shall be burned to death.
(Lev. 21.6-9)

I am going to break this down into two parts. First, notice the two sections marked in red. They essentially say the same thing, right? This is referred to as an inclusio, a narrative unit in which the beginning and end are marked off by a key phrase. It's kind of like envelope structure, though envelope structure can span over many verses, even over a chapter. It might be difficult to tell from the analysis I have given, but actually this inclusio shifts the audience from Moses to Israel as a whole. The opening of the inclusio speaks generally of the priests, but the closing directly addresses the Israelites: "they shall be holy to you." That's some ancient editing you're seeing there. Pretty cool, right?

Second, notice the appearance of the biblical sex marriage economy. The value of a woman is not monetary, but symbolic. Women who have prostituted themselves or been married or raped are not suitable for priests - their previous sexual experience lowers their value in the economy. Her status as a virgin, however, is not explicated. Furthermore, a priest's daughter is to remain pure, and as the property of her father, she profanes her father through prostitution. The way to rectify this profanity is to completely remove all traces of the daughter through incineration, thereby removing the guilt and the potential for more guilt. No animal sacrifice is required, to expiate the sin that is brought on the priest father, and her death in imitation of sacrifice removes the guilt from him.

The high priest is not allowed to mourn at all for anyone. He shall not encounter a dead body, even that of his mother or father. He shall not leave the sanctuary as he will track in unholiness when he returns. He is to only marry a virgin, the most valuable object in the sex marriage economy. The woman must be of his own kin, presumably so that the priestly line remains pure.

Though Aaron's family receives the meat and grain of sacrifice, not everyone qualifies in making the actual sacrifice to God. Anyone who is blemished may not make a sacrifice to God. That is, these people are not holy enough - not far enough from the common people and not close enough to God. These people may eat the food - indeed, it is their only food source, but they may not approach the altar or make sacrifice. Doing so would profane the sanctuary. Here are the explicit blemishes that will prevent a member of Aaron's family from making sacrifice:

• Blindness
• Lameness
• Mutilated face
• Possessing a limb that is too long
• Broken foot
• Broken hand
• Hunchback
• Dwarfism
• Blemish in the eye
• Itching disease
• Scabs (skin disease)
• Crushed testicles

These conditions prevent a descendant of Aaron from making sacrifice in order to keep the altar, and therefore the people of Israel, pure.

The Use of Holy Offerings: Leviticus 22.1.16

In order to avoid profaning themselves, the priests must make offerings in a very specific manner. Any unclean person who encroaches upon the sacred donations will be cut off from God's presence. In addition to the prohibitions of sacrifice above, any of Aaron's relatives with a skin disease or a discharge may not eat sacrificed meat or grain until he is clean. Conditions which sully a person for a day - such as contact with a corpse, an emission of semen, or touching an unclean animal or human - require the person to wash himself and wait until the sun sets before eating, when he will be clean. Priests may not eat meat of animals that died of natural causes or that was killed by wild animals. Eating such meat is condoned for laypeople.

Only those in the priest's family may eat of the sacred donations. Laypeople may not eat of the sacred donations, except for purchased slaves. If a priest's daughter marries a layman, she may not eat of the sacrificed food. This is due to her becoming the property of a layperson by the sex marriage economy. Her status is lowered so that she may not partake of the sacrificed food. However, if she is widowed or divorced without offspring, she may again eat of the sacred donations, as she has returned to her original state of property of her father.

If a layperson does eat of the sacred donation unintentionally, he is to add one-fifth to its value and give the donation to the priest.

If a priest profanes the sacred donation, he is required to make a guilt offering.

Acceptable Offerings: Leviticus 22.17-33

The rigid requirements for sacrifices are nearly as stringent as for those who may make sacrifice. And in fact, many of the laws regarding sacrifice parallel laws governing humans.

An offering in payment of a vow or as a freewill offering that is taken and slaughtered and burnt by a priest must be a male without blemish. The animal may be cattle, a sheep, or a goat. It must be perfect. Here are some of the characteristics that would preclude a goat from being sacrificed. Those characteristics shared with humans that cannot make sacrifices are highlighted in red.

• Blind
• Injury
• Maiming
• Discharge
• Itching disease
• Scabs (Skin disease)
• Bruised or crushed or torn or cut testicles
• Animals from foreigners (blemished by their very nature)

An ox or lamb with a limb too long or too short is acceptable as a freewill offering, but not for a vow.

These prohibitions of the animals that can be sacrificed parallel the prohibitions of people that may offer sacrifice because the Lord requires a high level of holiness. These are apparently the ways in which unholiness manifests itself.

Another parallel is that an ox or sheep or goat should remain with its mother seven days after its birth. It may be burned on the eighth day. This plays off of the circumcision commandment, in which the child remains in a state of flux for seven days before its circumcision, when it officially joins the covenant that God has established with the Israelites. Likewise for livestock, it is only on the eighth day that the newborn animal may be sacrificed to God.

More rules: The mother may not be slaughtered on the same day as its offspring. Thanksgiving offerings must be eaten on the day of slaughter.

The chapter ends with a reminder to the Israelites of where they have come from and whose commandments they are obeying:

Thus you shall keep my commandments and observe them: I am the Lord. 32You shall not profane my holy name, that I may be sanctified among the people of Israel: I am the Lord; I sanctify you, 33I who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord.
(Lev 22.31-33)

Leviticus 19.1-20.27

Ritual and Moral Holiness / Penalties for Violations of Holiness

These commandments by today's standards are sexist, insensitive to other peoples, and anti-gay. The world was a different place back then. It was probably inhabited by the same sorts of people, though...

And yet, let me get philosophical here. I have been reading articles on ChristWire.org, at first because they are so gosh-darn ignorant, but then more because they horrify me and I desired to understand how people could actually believe these frequently racist and backward notions. I am no stranger to hate speech on the Internet - I wrote a semester-long paper on the politics of white supremacists and the "9/11 truth" movement back in my freshman year of college. But I am still taken aback every time I see the ignorant vitriol spewed on these web sites.

Some people have issues with the bible because of its commandments, and I know that I am getting bogged down in law. I would love to get to some narrative elements. But to me, this is important stuff to read in order to understand how the biblical authors thought and what was important to them. Yes, I am reading the book as literature, but it is very difficult, perhaps impossible, to read anything without bringing your own ideology into it.

Ritual and Moral Holiness: Leviticus 19.1-37

Here are some rules that Lord gives to Moses to give to the congregation of Israel. It all starts out with a recap of the guiding ideas of the ten commandments:

You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. You shall each revere your mother and father, and you shall keep my sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. Do not turn to idols or make cast images for yourselves: I am the Lord your God.
(Lev. 19.2-4)

"I am the Lord" and "I am the Lord your God" serve as a refrain for this section, demarcating rules. They shall henceforth be referred to as "IL" and "ILYG."

• Make your sacrifice of well-being acceptable. Eat it within two days or burn it on the third. Eating it on the third day profanes what is holy to the Lord and will cause you to be cut off.
• Do not reap to the edge of the field, or gather your cleanings, or strip the vineyard bare, or gather its fallen grapes. The fruits of these are for the poor and alien. ILYG. [Divine sanctioned welfare?]
• Do not steal, deal falsely, lie, or swear falsely by God's name. IL.
• Do not rob or defraud or neighbor or deny the wages of a laborer until morning. Do not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind [!]. Fear the Lord. IL.
• Be fair in your judgment. Don't be partial to the poor or defer to the great. Don't slander. Protect your neighbor if he is in trouble. IL.
• Don't hate your family members. Reprove your neighbor if he needs it. Don't take vengeance or bear grudges. Love your neighbor as yourself. IL.

The following lack a closing tag of IL or ILYG:

• Keep God's statutes. [The following cover holiness, or separateness] Don't let your animals breed with a different kind. Don't sow two types of seed in the same field. Don't wear a garment made of two different materials.
• If a man has sexual relations with a slave woman who is designated for another but is not free or ransomed, an inquiry will be held. Since she is not free, they will not be put to death. But the man should offer a ram as a guilt offering.

We again resume with the laws demarcated with IL and ILYG:

• Once in Canaan, the Israelites should regard the fruit trees of the foreign peoples "as their uncircumcision" for three years, which basically means "don't eat it."In the forth year it should be set apart for the Lord (again, don't eat it.) In the fifth year, you may eat the fruit, which will be more abundant. ILYG.
• Do not eat flesh with blood. Do not practice augury or witchcraft. Don't round off your hair at the temples or trim the edges of your beard. Do not mark yourself with tattoos or scars. [These last three keep the Israelites separate in appearance from their neighbors.] IL.
• Don't make your daughter a prostitute. Keep the sabbaths. Revere God's sanctuary. IL.
• Do not seek out mediums or wizards. ILYG.
• Defer to the old, and rise before them, and fear your God. IL.
• Do not oppress aliens residing in your land. Love the aliens as yourself as you were an alien in Egypt. ILYG.
• Keep your measurements, weights, and balances honest. IL ["who brought you out of Egypt"].

Penalties for Violations of Holiness: Leviticus 20.1-27

• If an Israelite or alien living with the Israelites gives his offspring to Moloch, that person should be stoned to death. God himself will further cut that person off from ("set my face against") the people, because that person has defiled the holy name. Those that turn a blind eye to child sacrifice will also be cut off, along with their families.
• God will set his face against those that turn to mediums and wizards. Therefore the Israelites should sanctify themselves and be holy. The Lord will sanctify the people if they obey the commandments.
• Those who curse their parents should be put to death.

Sexual situations in which both guilty parties will be put to death (it is assumed this applies to males):

• Adultery (man and the wife of his neighbor)
• Incest (man and his father's wife)
• Sex with a daughter-in-law (man and daughter-in-law)
• Male homosexual sex (both parties)
• Sex with both a woman and her mother (all three, by burning)
• Bestiality (applies to man and woman, raped animal dies as well)

Sexual situations in which both parties are cut off from the people but not killed:

• Incest (with sister or half-sister)
• Sex during a woman's menstruation or any other discharge

Other sexual situations:

• Sex with aunt by blood (punishment is not specified, but affects both parties)
• Sex with aunt by marriage (both guilty parties will die childless)
• Sex with a sister-in-law (both guilty parties will die childless)

These practices separate the Israelites from the nations that precede them in the land of Canaan. Observing these will keep the Israelites safe in the land "flowing with milk and honey."

And then we get a pretty good definition of what "holiness" is:

I am the Lord your God; I have separated you from the peoples. You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; you shall not bring abomination on yourselves by animal or by bird or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. You shall be holy to me; for I the Lord am holy, and I have separated you from the other peoples to be mine.
(Lev. 20.24-26)

It is separation that defines holiness.

Then appears a random commandment to close off the chapter: Wizards and mediums should be stoned to death.

Leviticus 17.1-18.30

Carnival: Perhaps from the Latin carne vale, or "farewell to flesh." The original connotation of flesh, according to the Oxford English Dictionary,  was meat. A carnival, which precedes Lent in the Catholic tradition, was originally for the eating of meat and other rich foods that were refrained from during Lent. Over time, the understanding of flesh was broadened to accommodate a sexual connotation. See also Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday").

In any case, the linking of animal and sensual human flesh has a long tradition. And while it might not have been the author's intention to put a passage concerning sexual relations directly after food preparation and dietary regulations, that is how it ended up. Actually, the section following sexual relations is ritual and moral holiness. It's like Freud wrote this section himself.

The Slaughtering of Animals: Leviticus 17.1-9

All oxen, lambs, and goats, whether slaughtered in the camp or outside, should be brought to the tent of meeting so that an offering can be made to the Lord. Anyone residing with the Israelites, whether Hebrew or alien, who fails to make an offering of a slaughtered animal, will be guilty of murder and cut off from Israel. There are two reasons for this. One is to prevent sacrifices to "goat-demons" or "satyrs," which was apparently a problem in the biblical authors' time. The other reason is explained in the next section.

Eating Blood Prohibited: Leviticus 17.10-16

God will cut off from the house of Israel (or the aliens residing with the Israelites) anyone who eats blood. The reason given is that "life of the flesh is in the blood," and that life must be atoned for on the altar with the dashing of blood (Lev. 17.11). In this way the animal is redeemed, and the "soul" or "life" (Hebrew: nefesh) of the animal that the Lord has given can be literally returned to the Lord. Hence the connotation of murder for slaughtering that is not atoned for.

Animals that may be hunted but do not require sacrifice, such as birds, should have their blood poured out and covered with earth. This is also an act of returning life to the Lord.

A person will not be cut of for consuming the flesh of an animal that dies on its own or is killed by wild animals (assuming there is no blood mingling with the flesh). However, this does incur guilt. the person must wash himself and his clothes and remain unclean until evening, at which time the person will again be clean.

The bible does not specify that the blood of these animals must be returned to the creator. Perhaps this is because the animal dies under "natural causes" (in the sense that these deaths occur in nature, outside of civilization). Because a person does not incur any guilt from killing the animal, it is okay to eat its blood-free flesh.

Sexual Relations: Leviticus 18.1-30

The Lord warns Moses that the people should not follow the statutes of the Egyptians whom they left or the residents of Canaan whom they are to settle near. The Israelites are only to follow the commandments and prohibitions of the Lord their God.

Here is a list of people that you - assuming you are the male Israelite this command is addressed towards - may not "uncover the nakedness of":

• Your mother (your father's possession)
• Your father's wife (your father's possession)
• Your sister (even a half-sister with whom you share no blood relation, as she is your father's and mother's daughter and therefore their possession)
• Your son's or daughter's daughter ("for their nakedness is your own nakedness")
• Your aunt by blood (for she is "of your father's/mothers flesh")
• Your aunt by marriage (who is the possession of your father's brother; nothing is said of the mother's brother's wife)
• Your daughter-in-law (your son's wife and possession)
• Your sister-in-law (your brother's wife and possession)
• The daughter of a woman you have already uncovered the nakedness of (including your own daughter, who is of your flesh)
• Your granddaughter (who is of your flesh)

Other prohibitions:

• No sex with a menstruating woman
• No sex with a neighbor's wife (corollary to commandment 10)
• No sacrificing your children to Molech, thereby profaning the name of your God (No child sacrifice: commandment 6 forbids murder. To Molech: commandment 1 requires keeping the Lord before all other gods.)
• No sleeping with another man, which is an abomination
• No bestiality. This goes for women as well. It is a peversion

God states that these prohibitions were made to prevent the Israelites from acting like the nations that God is to cast out of Canaan. The land, defiled by those living there, "vomited out its inhabitants" (Lev. 18.25). But the land will not vomit out the Israelites if they do as God commands.

Leviticus 16.1-34

The Day of Atonement: Leviticus 16.1-34

We now learn the proper way to offer incense - the one that does not get people killed.

Remember back in Leviticus 10 when Nadab and Abihu died for performing the incense offering incorrectly? Here the Lord tells Moses:

Tell your brother Aaron not to come just at any time into the sanctuary inside the curtain before the mercy seat that is upon the ark, or he will die; for I appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.
(Lev. 16.2)

God's appearance within a cloud suits God's character. God is approachable yet somehow distant, obscure. The Lord's ineffable God-ness is personified in the cloud. The Israelites know God is there because there is a cloud, but at the same time the face of God is obscured and one must perform proper rituals in order to approach God's throne. God-in-cloud serves as the embodiment of the less tangible idea that proper action brings you closer to this God whose existence you profess.

The Lord further gives instructions on how to approach the Lord so that Aaron may avoid dying: bathe, dress in holy vestments, bring a for himself a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, and bring for the congregation two male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.

The Scapegoat

Ever wonder where the phrase "scapegoat" came from? Now you don't have to! It comes from Leviticus 16. Having the two male goats for the congregation's sin offering, Aaron is to cast lots to determine the goats' fates. One goat will go to the Lord, the other to Azazel. The Lord's goat will be sacrificed, the other is presented to the Lord alive to be atoned for before being released into the wilderness to Azazel. What is Azalel? We don't know. Perhaps a demon. What we do know, however, is that Azazel is traditionally rendered in Christian scripture as "scapegoat." One goat goes to the Lord, but the scapegoat escapes into the wilderness, carrying with it the sins of Israel.

First Aaron must sacrifice the bull. Then he must enter the holy place. The Lord instructs Aaron on proper burning of incense, so that he may not be killed like his sons. Remember, Aaron is not allowed to look at God, so the purpose of the censer and incense is to obscure the ark of the covenant with smoke. After lighting the incense inside the tent of meeting, he is to sprinkle some of the blood of the bull seven times before the mercy seat.

The goat offering for the people is next sacrificed, and its blood sprinkled in the same fashion as the bull. This atones for the collective uncleanness of Israel. Aaron should then sprinkle some blood on the altar.

Aaron then should present the live goat. He should lay his hands on the goat's head, confess over it the iniquities and transgressions and sins over the goat, and have someone send it into the wilderness. The goat leaves carrying the collective sins of Israel into the wilderness, where they will no longer afflict the camp. The person who sets the goat free should wash his clothes and bathe before re-entering the camp, having touched the unholy goat.

Aaron should then bathe (for he has been defiled by the sins laid on the goat), leaving his clothes in a holy place (as they are filled with holiness). He should offer the burnt offerings to make atonement for himself and the congregation. The one who takes the bodies outside the camp for burning shall wash his clothes and body.

This is an annual occurrence. It is to happen on the tenth day of the seventh month. Everyone is to fast and do no work, citizen and alien alike. Everything on this day is atoned for and once again made holy.

Leviticus 15.1-33

Concerning Bodily Discharges: Leviticus 15.1-33


A good rule of thumb for personal discharges is if anything is discharged, blood, semen, or otherwise, you are unclean.

If you are a man with a non-seminal discharge, anything you lie or sit on is unclean. Anyone who touches your bed or body or anywhere you have sat should bathe and wash his clothes, remaining ritually unclean until evening. If you spit on someone or touch him, that person should bathe and wash his clothes, remaining ritually unclean until evening. The one exception is if you wash your hands. In this case you can touch people and things. However, your saddle, bed, etc. will still be considered unclean. If you touch an earthen vessel it should be broken, but a wooden one rinsed with water.

When the discharge has ended, you should wash your body and clothes and count seven days for the cleansing to take effect. On the eighth day you should appear before the entrance of the tent of meeting with two turtledoves or pigeons. The priest should offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. Atonement will be made on your behalf and you will be clean.

A woman with a discharge that is not the result of menstruation suffers the same stigma and requires the same purifying ritual.

If a man has an emission of semen, he is to bathe and remain unclean until evening. If it is with his wife they both should bathe. Anything the semen touches should be washed and will remain unclean until evening.

If you are a woman with your period, you will be unclean for seven days, and anyone who touches you will be unclean until  evening. Everything you sit or lie upon is unclean, and anyone who touches something uncelan is to bathe and wash his clothes, remaining unclean until evening. The impurity of menstruation of transferable. If a man has sex with you while you are menstruating, he will be unclean seven days, and he too will contaminate every bed he lies on.

Leviticus 13.1-14.57

Leprosy, Varieties and Symptom / Purification of Lepers and Leprous Houses

Leprosy, for the sake of this portion of the bible, could refer to any number of skin diseases. Leprous diseases are characterized by sores and/or discolored skin. And for the ancient Israelites, the disease is not confined to humans. Possessions, articles of clothing, and even houses can have leprosy. The biblical author seeks to instruct the priests as to how to deal with these matters.

Leprosy, Varieties and Symptoms: Leviticus 13.1-59

If you have a spot on you, a discoloration, you should see a priest. If the priest finds that the disease extends beyond the surface of the skin, it is deemed leprous and you are declared ceremonially unclean. If the spot is on the surface only, you are confined seven days and examined again. If the spot is still there, you must be inspected in another seven days. If it does not spread, you shall be pronounced clean after you wash your clothes (a literal removal of the perceived contagion [whether or not it actually exists, as well as a figurative removal of the stigma). If the eruptions spreads after the cleansing, you should appear again before the priest, whereupon you will be deemed unclean.

A leprous condition is characterized by a white swelling of the skin that has turned hair white, as well as "quick raw flesh" (Lev. 13.10). However, if the disease spreads from head to foot, you will be deemed clean, because you are all white. Perhaps you have succumbed completely to the disease, but you are not in a state of limbo. You are fully ill, but pure in your illness because the health, the normal color of your skin, has departed entirely. This says a lot about the concept of purity and holiness. Separation is meant to be complete. And the sign of the illness is important. If you turn all white, that is okay, but if you have lesions ("raw skin") you are considered unclean. In this case, your intact skin opposes your raw skin, whereas in the precious example your skin is intact entirely, simply a different shade. And if your lesions disappear and you return to whiteness, you are deemed clean.

Leprous diseases can break out on boils. If a healed boil leaves a white or reddish-white spot, it is to be examined. Again, if the discoloration features white hair and is more than skin deep, it is considered a leprous disease. If not, you will be confined seven days. If the spot remains and does not spread, it is a scar, and you are pronounced clean.

The same goes for burns and discolorations of the head or in the beard.

You will be confined seven days for an itching disease that appears no deeper than the skin and that has no black hair in it. If the itch does not spread or develop yellow hair or deepen into the body, you should shave, but not the part that itches. You will be confined seven more days. You are clean after that if the itch does not spread - and you must wash your clothes. Itches that spread cause you to be unclean.

Rashes do not make you unclean.

If you go bald, you are clean. If you are bald because of spots, you are leprous and unclean.

If you are leprous, you should wear torn clothes and keep your hair disheveled, both traditional signs of mourning. You shall cover your upper lip and cry out, "Unclean, unclean." This shouldn't cause any stigma at all because clean people love to be around unclean people. Just kidding. In fact, you will live alone outside the camp. So really, stigmatism puts you in a bad place, but clean people aren't looking down their noses at you.

Clothing
Clothing can be leprous as well. Yeah, really. Any piece of leather or linen or wool cloth that develops a greenish or reddish discoloration should be brought to the priest. It will be set aside for seven days and reexamined. If the "disease" spreads, the item is declared unclean and must be burned. If the disease does not spread, the article is to be washed and set aside another seven days. If the disease spreads, the article is deemed unclean and should be burned. If the disease abates after the washing, the spot should be torn out of the item and the item should be rewashed. If it appears again it is spreading, and the item should be burned.

Purification of Lepers and Leprous Houses: Leviticus 14.1-57

What follows are instructions for the priest regarding the ritual cleansing of a leprous person.

The priest should make an examination of the leprous person outside of the camp. If the person is healed, the priest should be brought two living clean birds, cedar wood, crimson yarn, and hyssop in order to carry out the ceremony. The priest should then command one of the birds be slaughtered over an earthen vessel containing fresh water. The water/blood mixture should be sprinkled seven times on the person to be cleansed, then pronounce him clean. The other bird he should let go. The cleansed person should wash his clothes, shave his hair, and bathe himself.

The sprinkling of the water/blood mixture seven times parallels the sprinkling of the sin offering, which purifies the area in front of the curtain. The lesser cleansing uses a bird sacrifice, rather than a bull, and the blood is diluted in water. The release of the second bird serves as a metaphor for the man who is now free of the bonds of illness.

The cleansed person is integrated back into the camp slowly. First he is to live outside his tent seven days, then shave all his hair (including eyebrows) and again wash his clothes and body.

On the eight day he is to bring a sacrifice to the entrance of the tent of meeting consisting of two unblemished male lambs, one ewe lamb less than a year old, a grain offering of 3/10 ephah flour mixed with oil, and one log of oil. The priest should sacrifice one of the lambs as a guilt offering, along with the oil. The lamb should be slaughtered in the spot where burnt and sin offerings are slaughtered. In another parallel to priestly ceremony, the priest should take some of the blood and put it on the right earlobe, thumb of the right hand, and big toe of the right foot of the person to be cleansed. The priest should pour the oil into the palm of his left hand, dip his right finger into the oil, and sprinkle some of the oil seven times before the Lord. Leftover oil should be put on the right ear lobe, thumb of the right hand, and big toe of the right foot. What is left should be put on the person's head. To make atonement on behalf of the person, the priest should offer a sin offering, burnt offering, and grain offering.

Better hope you don't get sick - that's an expensive ceremony. So if you are poor, you can make do with one male lamb for the guilt offering, one-tenth an ephah of flour mixed with oil, and two turtledoves or pigeons. Continuity error: A log of oil is not listed as a necessary item, though it is required for the ceremony. In any case, the ceremony follows the same as above, substituting the birds with lambs and using less grain.

One day the Israelites will settle in Canaan and they will all have houses. But these too are subject to diseases. Leprous diseases. Actually, it's probably more like mold, but it functions in a similar way; as mold affects a house, skin disease affects a human.

A priest should demand a house be emptied before he goes to examine it, otherwise everything in the house will become unclean. If the disease leaves reddish or greenish spots and appears to penetrate deeper than the surface, the house should be shut seven days. If the disease spreads, the affected stones should be removed and thrown in an unclean place outside the city. The inside of the house should be scraped thoroughly, and the plaster that scrapes off should be taken out with the stones. New stones and plaster should replace the affected ones in the house. If the disease breaks out again, the house itself is unclean, and it should be torn down and disposed of outside the city. All those who enter it will be unclean until evening. Those who sleep or eat in it shall wash their clothes.

If the disease does not spread, the house shall be pronounced clean. The house is cleansed in much the same way as a human leper, with the birds, cedar wood, crimson yarn, and hyssop.

Houses are an extension of the Israelite people. The gathering place of a family can fall ill just like individual members. Houses do not require the offerings of three lambs and grain and oil because they do not have to answer to God. They do not incur the guild of sickness, but only require cleanliness.

Leviticus 12.1-8

Purification of Women after Childbirth: Leviticus 12.1-8

The Lord instructs Moses to speak to the people of Israel...

If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be ceremonially unclean for seven days; as at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Her time of blood purification shall be thirty-three days; she shall not touch any holy thing, or come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purification are completed.
(Lev. 12.1-4)

There are many connections in this passage between dates. The blood of childbirth pollutes a woman for seven days, just like the blood of menstruation. However, as we will see, a women that menstruates does not need to make a sacrifice or wait 33 days for "blood purification." The ceremonial uncleanliness, during which time the woman may not have conjugal relations, coincides with the timing of a son's circumcision. On the eighth day the mother is free of ceremonial uncleanliness (though the blood pollution remains). This also happens to be the day of the boy's circumcision, the day he is brought into the covenant with God. The days are not necessarily related, but it is interesting how the timing lines up like that. Also notice that the total number of days the woman is unclean is 40, a symbolic number for the Israelites.

God continues:

If she bears a female child, she shall be unclean for two weeks, as in her menstruation; her time of blood purification shall be sixty-six days.
(Lev. 12.5)

Though the blood of menstruation and birth of a male cause a woman to be unclean for a week, the birth of a female results in two weeks of ceremonial uncleanliness, followed by 66 days of blood pollution. A woman is unclean twice as long for a female child as opposed to a male. Why is that? I have no idea.

When purification is complete, the woman is to bring to the temple a lamb less than a year old as a burnt offering and a pigeon or turtledove as a sin offering. The priest will offer these, make atonement for the woman, and the woman shall henceforth be clean from her "source" (or "flow") of blood. Blood that is not sacrificial is, well, dirty.

If the woman cannot afford a sheep, she is to bring two turtledoves or two pigeons, and offer one as the burnt offering and the other as the sin offering.

Leviticus 11.1-47

Clean and Unclean Foods / Unclean Animals

I worked in dining services for two years during my time at Ithaca. I don't think we ever served ostrich.

Dietary regulations help to distinguish between the holy and the not holy, which the author of Leviticus is very concerned with doing. We have already seen the death of Aaron's sons because of improper action directly in front of a holy God. Holy means separate, not necessarily divine, though a holy thing can be divine. Mixing the profane with the sacred brings guilt upon a person, so it is important to know the difference.

Clean and Unclean Foods: Leviticus 11.1-23

Land animals
Any edible land animal must have cleft hooves and chews cud. This pretty much limits the Israelites to goats, sheep, and cattle, which just happen to be the animals that are sacrificed.

Inedible land animals either do not have cleft hooves or chew cud. These specifically include: rock badger and hare (cud* but no hooves), pig (divided hooves but no cud).

*[hares and badgers are not ruminant animals, but must appear to be because of the motion they make while chewing.]

Seafood
Any sea or stream creature with fins and scales may be eaten.

In-flight meals
Abominations are specifically listed as: eagle, vulture, osprey, buzzard, kite, raven, ostrich, nighthawk, sea gull, hawk, little owl, cormorant, great owl, water hen, desert owl (or pelican), carrion vulture, stork, heron, hoopoe*, bat.

There is no list or specification for edible birds, so have at it!

*[Hoopoes, by the way, are birds with attitude. They're the ones with the greased-up feathers and leather jackets that shove other birds into lockers. These fowl specimens seem to get all the chicks.]

Insects
Of winged insects that walk on all fours, you may only eat those that have jointed legs and which can leap of the ground. So basically you can eat locusts, grasshoppers and crickets.

Unclean Animals: Leviticus 11.24-47

Land rovers
Touching the carcass of any of these will make you unclean, so that you must wash you clothes and remain unclean until evening. Animals include: animals with hooves but not cleft hooves or that do not chew cud, as well as anything that walks on its paws.

Swarming animals
Touching the carcass of any of these will make you unclean, so that you must wash you clothes and remain unclean until evening. Animals listed: weasel, mouse, great lizard, gecko, land crocodile, lizard, sand lizard, chameleon.

If the carcass of any of these touches wood or cloth or skin or sacking, the object should be dipped into water and will remain unclean until evening. If any fall into an earthen vessel, oven, or stove, the object should be broken into pieces. Any liquid or food in the vessel is deemed unclean. Water sources, however, such as springs and cisterns, will not become unclean through contact. If a carcass touches seed, it is still good. But a watered seed is no good if a carcass touches it.

Eating cattle that dies by natural causes
You may eat an animal that dies of natural causes, but anyone who touches the carcass is unclean until evening. Those who carry or eat it should wash their clothes and be unclean until evening.

Also, don't eat swarming animals


Follow these laws to stay holy like God.

Tomorrow: Blood!

Leviticus 8.1-10.20

The Rites of Ordination / Aaron's Priesthood Inaugurated / Nadab and Abihu

My two summer reads that have stood out so far are Richard Russo's Straight Man and Ernest Hemingway's Death in the Afternoon. I found the former to be more entertaining, the latter to be more informative. I might be heading to Spain in the next year and would like to catch a bullfight. Now that I know what I should look for, or at least what I should have looked for had I watched a bullfight in the 1930s.

The reason I tell you this is that both in some ways follow the same literary mode of Leviticus up until this point. Russo has a tendency in his books to spend many, many pages characterizing his characters. By the time a plot develops, the reader knows the characters well enough that actions can be anticipated and irony injected with ease. Russo is able to make a brief mention in the second half to an old joke or story from the first half that the reader will understand and appreciate. That is, he gives his reader a strong base to understand the narrative.

Hemingway takes a similar approach in Death in the Afternoon, though because the book is so long, large amounts of information appear interspersed with narratives that demonstrate the importance, legitimacy, or irony of the information and say something about it. It is Russo's technique repeated throughout the book, rather than characterizing all at once.

The bible's method of presenting information and narrative is similar to Hemingway's. The latter part of Exodus contained a large amount of instructions regarding the building of the tabernacle and the ordination of the priests. The first seven chapters of Leviticus are comprised of instructions regarding sacrifice. But here, in chapters eight, nine and ten, the narrative unfolds into a thrilling story of life and death (stories of sacrifice are usually about life and death, but not always thrilling). You have (or have not) put up with the lengthy factual sections. Here is some action for you.

The Rites of Ordination: Leviticus 8.1-36

The Lord tells Moses to gather Aaron, Aaron's sons, the vestments, anointing oil, a bull, two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread, and assemble the congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

Moses then carries out what the Lord has commanded in Exodus. He washes Aaron and his sons, dresses them, anoints them and the altar and utensils, and proceeds with the sacrifices.

The bull is sacrificed, as prescribed, as a sin offering. The first ram is sacrificed as a burnt offering. The second ram is offered as a sacrifice of ordination.

Moses then anoints the altar, Aaron, his sons, and their vestments, with oil and blood.

Aaron and his sons are instructed to boil the flesh at the entrance of the tent. They are to eat it and burn what is left. They are then to remain at the entrance of the tent of meeting for seven days before their ordination, not leaving during that week. This seems to be a test to prove their devotion to God. The week inside the tent of meeting puts them in a liminal state, between the world of the Israelites and the face of God. After the week is over, they will be able to serve as intermediaries between God and the people, a status that is symbolized in the week-long ceremony.

Aaron's Priesthood Inaugurated: Leviticus 9.1-24

On the eighth day Aaron and his sons make a sin offering and burnt offering themselves, as well as a sin offering, burnt offering, two offerings of well-being, and a grain offering for the people. The sacrifices are required to cleanse the priests and congregation before the Lord appears in the newly-created tabernacle, "For today the Lord will appear to you" (Lev. 9.4).

Aaron performs all these offerings, and then lifts his hands and blesses the people. Moses and Aaron then enter the tent of meeting and come out and bless the people, presumably imbued with holiness. The glory of the Lord then appears to all the people in the form of fire. In a brilliant display of pyrotechnics, fire "came out from the Lord" (or more likely where the Lord would sit, on the mercy seat) and consumes the burnt offering and fat sitting on the altar (Lev. 9.24). The presence of God legitimates the ceremony and serves as the climax of the story. The people shout and fall on their faces, just as Moses fell on his face when he first encountered the Lord.

Nadab and Abihu: Leviticus 10.1-20

Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, each take his censer, puts lit coals in it, and lays incense on top. They offer "unholy fire" (literally "unauthorized coals") before the Lord, in a way that has not been commanded.

For not following God's law, fire again shoots out from the ark of the covenant and consumes Nadab and Abihu, so that they die before the Lord. It is a grotesque irony. The purification of the sons and the congregation had just been completed, and now through an act of disobedience all of Israel has been polluted by the deaths. The more obvious gruesomeness, of course, is that the subversion of purifying effect of fire in sacrifice. Now fire does not purify but rather serves as retribution for sin. Through the second fire, everything is sullied.

The elements are rearranged and reversed. Priests performing sacrifice properly purify themselves and others through fire. Priests performing rituals incorrectly are themselves destroyed by fire as through a sacrifice.

There is a lesson in this Moses tells Aaron:

This is what the Lord meant when he said,
   “Through those who are near me
   I will show myself holy,
   and before all the people
   I will be glorified.”
(Lev. 10.3)

The Lord has certainly shown himself holy (read: apart from sin). The Lord has also certainly demonstrated the importance of proper glorification (as sacrifice is a form of glorification).

Aaron falls silent, further emphasizing the reversal of the scene. Whereas the first fire invokes the noise of the people, the second fire invokes silence.

Moses tells Mishael and Elzaphan, Aaron's cousins, to carry away Aaron's departed sons outside the camp. The two brother carry their dead cousins by their tunics out of the camp as commanded. Moses then warns Aaron's other two sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, against disheveling their hair and tearing their vestments, which are traditional signs of mourning. Otherwise they will die and wrath will strike the congregation. The brothers, after all, still have to aid their father as priests. The rest of Israel, however, may mourn. The sons further are warned that if they leave the entrance of the tent of meeting, they will die, for the anointing oil is upon them.

The Lord tells Aaron that he and his sons should not drink wine or strong drink when in the tent of meeting (which presumably means they may not be under the influence while there) or they will die. The reason for this is that the priests are to serve as an intermediary between the divine and mundane realms:

You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean; and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them through Moses.
(Lev. 10.10-11)

Moses tells Aaron and his sons that they are to eat of the grain offering in a holy place, as commanded. The elevated breast and thigh, however, may be consumed by Aaron's family in a clean place.

Moses then confronts Aaron about a purification offering that had been entirely burned, instead of offering a portion to God and keeping the rest to eat. After all, this offering, when eaten, makes atonement for the entire congregation. Aaron responds that he offered a sin and burnt offering earlier in the day, but that tragedy had befallen him nonetheless. Aaron is wary about eating the flesh of a sacrifice that led to such a disaster. Instead, he presented the entire sacrifice to God. Moses agrees with his assessment.

Today's reading is a perfect example of the dialectical tensions of the bible. For not following God's commands precisely, Nadab and Abihu lose their lives.

Leviticus 6.8-7.38

Instructions Concerning Sacrifices / Further Instructions

The first post in the laws of sacrifice dealt with spontaneous sacrifice. Yesterday's post covered sacrifice of expiation. Today's post lists sacrifices in their order of sanctity.

Instructions Concerning Sacrifices: Leviticus 6.8-7.10

The Lord instructs Moses to relay the following to Aaron and his sons:

Burnt Offering
When a burnt offering has been reduced to ashes, the priest, wearing the linen vestments and undergarments, should take the ashes and place them beside the altar. He should then change clothes and carry the ashes to a clean place outside the camp. [This keeps the garments from becoming sullied by the outside world.]

The fire on the altar should perpetually burn, with wood added every morning.

Grain Offering

As prescribed before, a priest should take a handful of the choice flour/oil/frankincense mixture and burn it. The priests will eat what is left in the form of unleavened cakes in a holy place, the court of the tent of meeting. No leaven should be added; it is a portion allotted by God and most holy. The holy bread makes the priests holy in turn, and anything that touches them becomes holy.

Offering of a priest's anointing

On the day a priest is anointed, he should offer one-tenth an ephah of choice flour, half in the morning and half at night. It shall be prepared with oil in a griddle. The entire grain offering should be burned - the priests cannot partake of it.

Sin Offering

 The sin offering should be slaughtered in the same place as the burnt offering. The priest who offers it shall eat it in the court of the tent of meeting. Anything that touches the flesh of the sacrifice will become holy, but if blood splatters on a garment, it is to be washed in a holy place. Likewise, an earthen vessel holding blood should be destroyed and a bronze basin holding blood should be scrubbed.

Every priest should eat the flesh of the sin offering. However, if blood its is brought into the tent of meeting to atone the place, the animal is to be entirely burned.

Here the dual nature of blood is evident. Sacrificed blood is a cleansing force for the altars, but outside the holy place contact with blood leads to ritual impurity.

Guilt Offering

The guilt offering should be slaughtered in the same place as the burnt offering. The blood should be dashed on the sides of the altar. The fat, broad tail, kidneys, and appendage of the liver should be removed. After these are burnt, the sacrificing priest is to eat the flesh it in a holy place.

Misc.

The priest that makes atonement with an animal is given the right to eat its flesh. Likewise, a priest who offers a grain offerings that baked or prepared in a pan or griddle eats the portion leftover after the sacrifice. All other grain offerings, though, those uncooked, are split among the priests.

Further Instructions: Leviticus 7.11-38

Thanksgiving Sacrifice
What follows is the ritual of the sacrifice of well-being.

If the sacrifice is offered in thanksgiving, it should be accompanied by a thank offering of unleavened cakes mixed with oil, unleavened wafers spread with oil, and cakes of choice flour well soaked in oil. Clearly two traditions are intertwined here, as the next instruction states a thanksgiving sacrifice should be accompanied by cakes of leavened bread. One cake will be sacrificed, and the rest will go to the priest who performs the sacrifice.

Next the accounts are clearly conflated. Here bread does not act as the thanksgiving aspect of a sacrifice of well-being. Rather, the text contradicts itself so that the thanksgivings sacrifice is the bread and meat.

In any case, the flesh of a thanksgiving sacrifice should not be left until morning.

Then the text refers to votive and freewill offerings, which have not even been introduced yet! (The Bible is not necessarily meant to be read through "front-to-back," though this is the method I have chosen because it is easy.) These two offerings may be eaten on the day after the sacrifice, but must be burned on the third day. Anyone who eats meat past its expiration date incurs guilt.

Eating Flesh
It's okay to eat flesh as long as it hasn't touched anything unclean and you yourself are clean. If you eat flesh from a sacrifice of well-being while in a state of uncleanliness, you will be cut of from your kin.

Fat and Blood
The people of Israel may not eat the fat of an ox, sheep or goat.

You can do what you want with the fat of an animal that dies or is torn apart by wild animals - except eat it. Otherwise you'll be cut off from your kin.

You may not eat the blood of anything. Don't you want to remain with your kin?


If you make a sacrifice of well being, you personally must bring the fat and breast to the fire. The breast will be raised as an elevation offering and then be given to the priests, along with the right thigh, which belongs specifically to the priest that dashes the blood.

Sacrifice is a perpetual due of the people, the priests perpetually there to ensure it is performed properly.

The bible wraps it up nicely:

This is the ritual of the burnt-offering, the grain-offering, the sin-offering, the guilt-offering, the offering of ordination, and the sacrifice of well-being, which the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai, when he commanded the people of Israel to bring their offerings to the Lord, in the wilderness of Sinai.
(Lev. 7.37-38)

Leviticus 4.1-6.7

Sin Offerings / Offerings With Restitution / Instructions Concerning Sacrifices

Leviticus 1-5 characterizes two types of sacrifices: spontaneous sacrifice (1-3), sacrifice of expiation (4-5). Chapters 6-7 restate these in order of sanctity.

Yesterday's post covered spontaneous sacrifice. Today's covers sacrifice of expiation. Guess what tomorrow's covers?

The Lord tells Moses to speak to the Israelites regarding unintentional sins "in any of the Lord's commandments about things not to be done" (Lev. 4.2). Sin offerings are made when a person realizes his or her mistake, which should seem obvious, but this emphasis causes the motivation for sin to be the sense of guilt at sinning, not the sinful act itself. Sins seem to be sins once they are known, not when they occur. Any philosophers out there care to comment?

Sins require sacrifice, and the biblical author lists these sacrifices not in order of egregiousness of the sin (after all, these are unintentional and apparently liable to be forgotten for a time), but rather in order of importance within the social hierarchy. The hierarchy goes like this:

Priest > Congregation of Israel > Tribal Chieftain > Ordinary Person

Priests make the greatest sacrifice (an unblemished bull), common people the least (a sheep or goat). The order makes perfect sense. Those in positions of leadership should know better so that they may better lead their people. The commoners make a lesser sacrifice of a sheep and if they are poor, a bird, and if they are poorer still, grain. 

This is a wonderful artifact of social hierarchy of ancient Israel. The system is merit-based, and each pays according to his social/religious standing. The entire congregation of Israel as a whole is more important than the leader, and one bull's body atones for the entire body Israel. Does this mean a priest is worth more than the entire population in God's eyes? Probably not. But it does nicely demonstrate the importance of priests in this culture. After all, when a priest sins, he brings into guilt the entire nation of Israel. And it is only priests that can make atonement for any given member of society. But enough about politics. Let's slaughter some animals.

Sin Offerings: Leviticus 4.1-5.13

Priest
An anointed priest who sins brings guilt on the people, and should offer a bull without blemish as a sin offering. He should bring the bull before the entrance of the tent of meeting, lay his hand on its head, and slaughter the bull. He should take some of the blood and bring it into the tent of meeting. He should dip a finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord in front of the curtain. Blood should also be put on the incense altar and the rest should be poured at the base of the altar of burnt offering. All the fat, the kidneys, the appendage of the liver should be removed and burnt on the altar. Everything else is to be brought to the ash heap outside the camp where it is to be burned on a wood fire.

Congregation of Israel
If the whole congregation sins unintentionally, they should make a sin offering when the sin is realized. The offering is a bull, though unlike the priest's offering, this bull (a lesser sacrifice) does not need to be unblemished. The elders of the congregation should lay their hands on the head of the bull and it should be slaughtered. From there a priest takes over to make atonement for the people. He is to proceed in the same manner with the blood, fat, and disposal of the body as he would for a sin offering for a priest.

Ruler (Tribal Chieftain)
A ruler who unintentionally sins should sacrifice a goat without blemish once his sin is realized. He shall lay his hand on the head of the goat, which will be slaughtered as a sin offering. A priest takes over, putting blood on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pouring the rest on the base of the altar. The fat is to be burned on the altar.

Note that the priest here does not have to go into the tent of meeting before God with an offering of blood. Nor is there any mention as to what is done with the body. Therefore perhaps the rest may be eaten.

Ordinary Person
An ordinary person who sins unintentionally should bring a female goat or sheep without blemish to be sacrificed once the sin is realized. The person is to lay his hand on the animal, which is then slaughtered. A priest then dabs some blood on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pours the rest out at the base. He is to remove all the fat and burn it.

As with the leader's offering, the priest does not enter the tent of meeting and there is no mention of the disposal of the body. But interestingly, an ordinary person offers a female animal. While female humans may be subjugated in society, female animals are more important to breeding than are males. Thus the sacrificer loses more with this sacrifice, even if the societal norms apply.

Specialty Sin Offerings
These offerings are made to atone for four conditions of sin:

1. A person refuses to testify upon being adjured in public
2. A person unintentionally touches an unclean thing (carcasses of unclean animals)
3. A person unintentionally touches human uncleanliness
4. A person unintentionally utters a rash oath for a good or bad purpose

There are three ways to make sacrifice, depending on your wealth.

1. If you are wealthy enough, you make a sin offering of a female sheep or goat. This goat does not have to be unblemished.

2. If you cannot afford the livestock, you may bring two turtledoves or two pigeons. One of these will act as a sin offering (see above) and the other a burnt offering (see yesterday's entry). A priest will take the first one, wring its head without severing it, sprinkle some of the blood on the side of the altar and drain the rest at the base. The second he will burn according to the regulations (see Lev. 1.15-17).

3. If you cannot afford the birds, you may bring one-tenth of an ephah of choice flour without oil or frankincense. The priest will scoop a handful as the token portion and turn it to smoke on the altar. The priest will keep the rest, just like a grain offering.

Offerings With Restitution: Leviticus 5.14-6.7

The Lord gives Moses instructions concerning sin as a result of trespass (seemingly literally or figuratively) on the Lord's holy things. The penalty for this is an unblemished ram plus the price of the desecrated object plus one-fifth the price of the desecrated object. The lamb is sacrificed by a priest as a guilt offering - therefore the sinner makes reparations to the physical sacred space and God. However, the ram is convertible to silver, meaning that the priest may purchase another unblemished lamb in its place.

If you think you have sinned (that is, if you feel guilty) you have incurred guilt and should bring an unblemished ram to be sacrificed as a guilt offering. Alternatively, you may bring the equivalent value in silver.

If you deceive a neighbor in monetary matters, or rob him, or find something lost an lie about it, or swear falsely, you must atone for your sin when you realize your guilt. First, restore what you took, adding one-fifth its value. Next, bring to a priest for sacrifice an unblemished lamb or its equivalent as a guilt offering.

Leviticus 1.1-3.17

Burnt Offerings / Grain Offerings / Offerings of Well-Being / On Leaven and Honey and Blood

Leviticus 1-5 characterizes two types of sacrifices: spontaneous sacrifice (1-3), sacrifice of expiation (4-5). Chapters 6-7 restate these in order of sanctity.

Today's post will cover spontaneous sacrifices. These aren't spontaneous in the sense that they just happen, but spontaneous in the sense that they are not motivated by purification from accidental sin. These are gifts.

Note: I am not an anthropologist or sociologist. I am not here to discover how sacrifice functioned for the Israelites. As the HarperCollins Study Bible points out, "[N]o single theory can encompass the sacrificial system of any society, even the most primitive" (152). But sacrifice is rife with symbolism and metaphor, something that I can examine as literature. Just as meals function as communion, sacrifice functions as...Well, we are about to find out!

Burnt Offerings: Leviticus 1.1-17

The Lord, speaking from the tent of meeting, tells Moses to tell the people that when any bring an offering of livestock to the Lord, it should be from the herd or flock.

A burnt offering should be a male without blemish. The one who offers it should bring it to the entrance of the tent a meeting and lay his hand on its  head "and it shall be acceptable in your behalf as atonement for you" (Lev. 1.4). What the offering is atoning for, exactly, is not mentioned. For this reason, it is not considered a sacrifice of expiation, which are made to atone for specific sins.

The animal (here "bull") is slaughtered, and Aaron's sons should dash the blood on all sides of the altar at the tent of meeting. The animal is to be flayed and cut into parts, which Aaron's sons arrange over a wood fire on the altar. The entrails and legs should be washed with water first, but the whole thing should be turned to smoke on the altar, offering a pleasing odor to the Lord.

The animal serves an important symbolic function within the sacrifice. First of all, it is property, coming from a herd or flock. One cannot hunt it. As a piece of property, it has a greater connection with the sacrificer. An unblemished animal stands juxtaposed to the human, who is so easily fouled by inadvertent sin. When the sacrificer places his hand on the animal's head, there is a deliberate juxtaposition of pure and sullied which acknowledges that this unblemished animal will come from the hands of a human into the hands of God. The sacrificed animal functions as an intermediary between man and God. Though owned by humans, the animal is pure, unblemished. Because of this binary property, it can pass from the profane/mundane to the sacred realm.

Burning is the method by which the animal passes from human to divine realm. The animal turns from a corporeal being into smoke, which floats away. Smoke is a strange, almost supernatural thing, present but always moving, shapeless, mysterious, not unlike the cloud that sits over the tent of meeting. Through fire, the animal is able to take on this state.

Burnt offerings of birds have their own process, this one blade-free. Turtledoves or pigeons are the acceptable bird burnt offerings. The priest wrings off its head, drains its blood against the side of the altar, removes the crop and throws it among the ashes at the east side of the altar, and tears it open by the wings. The priest then turns it to smoke on the altar, offering a pleasing odor to the Lord.

Birds are perhaps a bit less personal than cattle, but (presumably) not everyone can afford cattle

Grain Offerings: Leviticus 2.1-16

For a grain offering, the worshipper is to take choice flour, add oil and frankincense, and bring it to Aaron's sons. A priest takes a token handful and turns it to smoke on the altar, creating a pleasing odor to the Lord. What is left goes to Aaron and his sons.

Can't afford frankincense? You can have it your way. Just cook the grain in one of the following ways:

1. Offerings baked in an oven should be unleavened cakes of choice flour mixed with oil or wafers spread with oil.
2. Offerings prepared on a griddle should be choice flour mixed with oil, unleavened. The bread should be broken into pieces and have oil poured on it.
3. Offerings prepared in a pan should have choice flour in oil.

The priest should take the grain offering to the altar and turn the token portion into smoke. The rest goes to Aaron and his sons.

There is to be no leaven or honey (which promotes leavening with the addition of yeast) in grain offerings. These may be brought to the Lord as an offering of choice products, but not offered for a pleasing odor.

Grain offerings should be made with "salt of the covenant with your God" (Ex. 2.13).

Offerings of first fruits (barley) as grain offering should be from fresh ears, and parched with fire (roasted). Oil and frankincense should be added. The priest should turn a token portion into smoke.

Offerings of Well-Being: Leviticus 3.1-17

Offerings of well-being, like burnt offerings, should be an animal of the herd (like goats) without blemish. Unlike the burnt offerings, however, the animal can be male or female.

The offerer should lay his hand on the head of the animal and slaughter it at the entrance of the tent of meeting. The priest should dash the blood against the sides of the altar.

The sacrifice itself should consist of the fat covering the entrails, the kidneys with the fat on them, and the "appendage of the liver," which HarperCollins notes is "the caudate lobe of the liver" (Lev. 3.4). Aaron's sons will turn these into smoke, offering a pleasing odor to the Lord.

If you offer a sheep, the process is the same, except you shall offer the broad tail as well.

The section ends:

All fat is the Lord’s. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, in all your settlements: you must not eat any fat or any blood.
(Lev. 3.16-17)

The fat and blood of the animals are reserved for the Lord. The sacrificer may eat the rest. God gets a portion of all the meat that a person eats - the tastiest portion (fat) and the portion of life (blood).

On Leaven and Honey and Blood

Above I call blood a portion of life. I could also call it a symbol of life because it represents the life force that flows through many living things. But blood can also be a symbol of death. Contact with blood outside of this context results in impurity. Rather than being a positive force of life, in these contexts (including touching a dead body and menstruation) blood is a negative force of sin, perhaps even death.

Blood is therefore holy or not depending on where it is shed and who sheds it. The only instance of blood as a purifying entity seems to be as a sacrifice of an unblemished animal by a priest at the altar. In any other context contact with blood is a sin.

Blood has a dual nature. It is the circulating fluid that ensures life (though the ancient Israelites probably did not know about the circulatory system). The way we know this is empirical: when an animal bleeds out, it dies. Animals need blood to live. But blood outside the body is a force of death: dying animals bleed out. It is the context of the blood's appearance that determines the blood's sanctity and purifying power. Proper sacrifice at the altar creates the blood of life, holy and purifying. Any other context results in the blood of death, compounding sin on those who come into contact with it.

What about leaven (yeast) and honey? Isn't yeast living? Yes. But that is not how the ancient Israelites saw it. Leaven was a symbol of death and dying, and because the sugar from honey aided the process, it too was unfit for sacrifice. Bread is dead. You do not give life to bread by adding yeast to flour and sugar. Certainly, this activates the yeast, but yeast was not known to be living until very recently. So leaven really just added to the process of death - the bloating, if you will pardon the image.

This means that wine also could not be a burnt offering, because what is wine but grape juice that has been dead for a long time? Just think about that the next time you enjoy a Pinot Noir. Dead grapes. Delicious long-dead grapes.

Exodus 40.1-38 / Exodus Wrap-Up

The Tabernacle Erected and Its Equipment Installed / The Cloud and the Glory / Exodus Wrap-up

The Tabernacle Erected and Its Equipment Installed: Exodus 40.1-33

The completed construction of the tabernacle represents the beginning of a new era in the history of the Israelites. The tabernacle is to be set up on the first day of the first month (of the second year). The new year symbolizes a new beginning, a new iteration of life for the Israelites. Instead of the various altars before, they now have a single place from which to serve God. More importantly, God is always with them, his earthly dwelling always carried from one location to the next. Though they seek the promised land, they are continually in God's presence. This does not make them ritually holy, but it does set them apart from the other peoples inhabiting the wilderness and, in fact, the people of the past, who were not constantly in God's presence. To be constantly in the presence of God creates a different way of living that had never been seen. Yet the close proximity will not ensure an end to dialectical tensions. In fact, it will highlight them in chapters to come.

God commands Moses to set up and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it. Aaron and his sons shall then wash themselves and be dressed as prescribed.

Moses does all this apparently by himself, on the first day of the first month of the second year.

The Cloud and the Glory: Exodus 40.34-38

The cloud comes to cover the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord fills the tabernacle. This cloud is the same cloud that covered Mount Sinai, where it was for a time "homeless" until the construction of the tabernacle and the mercy seat, where the divine presence could reside. The divine presence is so strong, so holy, that even Moses is not able to enter the tent of meeting (the innermost tent) when the cloud settles upon it.

The cloud is related to the pillar of cloud and fire that initially led the Israelites out of Egypt; just as the pillar of cloud becomes a pillar of fire at night, the cloud is filled with fire at night. Also, the Israelites follow signs from the cloud, just as they followed the pillar. The cloud leaving the tabernacle is a sign that the Israelites should be moving on. This is the angel of the Lord that God has promised would lead them.

Exodus Wrap-up

Exodus ends with movement, a suitable (and almost cinematic) ending to a story of escape and preparation to be led through the wilderness. We are in year two of the forty year wandering.

The dialectical tensions between the Lord and the Israelites are brought into the foreground in this chapter more than in Genesis. Genesis does contain the greatest of all dialectical tensions, the first display of human desire defying God's commandments. And there is no doubt that many people die in Genesis because of their actions contrary to God's will. Exodus, however, narrows the focus to God's own people, and the situation becomes more complicated. It is one thing for Abram to plead for the salvation of Lot's family in Sodom and quite another thing for Moses to plead with God to continue leading God's people to the promised land. The Israelites will not survive without God, but they lack faith in God. More troubling is the golden calf incident, in which another god replaces the true God so quickly after their leader disappears, seemingly taking his god with him. Here the Israelites seem to want their own God, rather than the one they were born with. But without faith in God, the Israelites will struggle.

Isn't that interesting? The more the Israelites need God, the more they need to trust in God, but the less likely they are to have that trust because they are in need. That is the scene played over and over throughout Exodus - one of its strongest themes.

The next book, Leviticus is a book largely comprised of instructions for the priests - its early rabbinic name was "Priest's Manual." It is an instruction manual stuck in the middle of a story. But there is literature in it yet!

Ex. 35.1-39.43

We return now to more laws and instructions. Actually, the laws and instructions are nearly the same as the ones that God gave to Moses - Moses is just reiterating them for the Israelites and Bezalel is building the tabernacle as instructed. I am just going to go over these briefly because I am really itching to get to Leviticus, which, of course, will be filled with more laws and instructions. So here, in brief, are the laws and Bezalel's construction of the tabernacle. They are rather formulaic, and I attempt to echo this with my own style.

Sabbath Regulations / Preparations for Making the Tabernacle / Offerings of the Tabernacle / Bezalel and Oholiab / Construction of the Tabernacle / Making the Ark of the Covenant / Making the Table for the Bread of the Presence / Making the Lampstand / Making the Altar of Incense / Making the Anointing Oil and the Incense / Making Altar of Burnt Offering (and Basin) / Making the Court of the Tabernacle / Materials for the Tabernacle / Making the Vestments for the Priesthood / The Work Completed

Moses assembles the congregation of the Israelites and tells them...

Sabbath Regulations: Exodus 35.1-3

Keep the sabbath on the seventh day. Those who work should be put to death. Do not kindle fire in your house on the sabbath.

Preparations for Making the Tabernacle: Exodus 35.4-19

Moses collects an offering of essential materials for the tabernacle. The skillful are called to construct all its elements.

Offerings of the Tabernacle: Exodus 35.20-29

The people withdraw to collect their offerings, spin yarns for the curtains, etc. Everyone who feels compelled to do so makes this freewill offering to the Lord.

Building the Tabernacle

Bezalel and Oholiab: Exodus 35.30-36.7

[For more on these two character, see the post on Exodus 31.] Moses tells the Israelites that God has filled Bezalel and Oholiab with the divine spirit, making them skilled craftsmen in every craft.

Moses then calls the two men and "every skillful one to whom the Lord has given skill and understanding" to construct the sanctuary (Ex. 36.1). Moses gives them the materials he has collected, but every morning people bring more, so much so that the workers tell Moses that the Israelites are bringing too much. Moses actually has to command that no one else is to make an offering - what they had already brought it enough.

Construction of the Tabernacle: Exodus 36.8-38

The tabernacle is made in accordance with God's instructions [see Exodus 26 for the specifics, or click on "Exodus 36.8-38 above]. The biblical author does not explicate exactly who constructs it. Exodus 36.8-9 indicates that many skilled workers participate, but Exodus 36.10 onwards simply uses the pronoun "he." Since the narrative seems to focus on Bezalel, I would venture to say the pronoun refers to him. The next chapter seems to confirm this.

Making the Ark of the Covenant: Exodus 37.1-9

Bezalel makes the ark of the covenant and mercy seat, complete with cherubim, according to the divine instructions.

Making the Table for the Bread of the Presence: Exodus 37.10-16

Bezalel makes the table for the bread of the presence as well as its vessels, plates, dishes, bowls, and flagons of pure gold.

Making the Lampstand: Exodus 37.17-24

Bezalel makes the lampstand according to the divine instructions.

Making the Altar of Incense: Exodus 37.25-28

Bezalel makes the altar of incense according to the divine instructions.

Making the Anointing Oil and the Incense: Exodus 37.29

Bezalel makes the anointing oil and incense according to the divine instructions.

Making Altar of Burnt Offering (and Basin): Exodus 38.1-8

Bezalel makes the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils according to the divine instructions. And then something different:

He made the basin of bronze, with its stand of bronze, from the mirrors of the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
(Ex. 38.8)

Making the Court of the Tabernacle: Exodus 38.9-20

Bezalel makes the court of the tabernacle according to the divine instructions.

An Inventory

Yes, the bible is much more than stories. It is also comprised of building instructions, laws, history, and apparently inventories. One of these inventories appear here.

Materials for the Tabernacle: Exodus 38.21-31
The inventory is introduced:

These are the records of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the covenant, which were drawn up at the commandment of Moses, the work of the Levites being under the direction of Ithamar son of the priest Aaron. Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord commanded Moses; and with him was Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, engraver, designer, and embroiderer in blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and in fine linen.
(Ex. 38.21-23)

Ithamar is introduced here, and Oholiab is given a greater emphasis. Before Oholiab was simply a man who helped Bezalel. Here his resume is given.

Here is the inventory of materials used:
Gold: 29 talents, 730 shekels
Silver: 100 talents, 1,775 shekels

This is half a shekel for everyone counted in the census (which, actually, has not taken place yet): 603,550 men. A talent of silver was used for each of the hundred bases of the curtain. The 1,775 shekels of silver were used to make hooks.

Bronze: 70 talents, 2,400 shekels

The bronze was used to make the bases for the entrance of the tent of meeting, the bronze altar and grating and utensils, the bases around the court, the bases of the gat, the pegs of the court, and the pegs of the tabernacle.

Making the Vestments for the Priesthood: Exodus 39.1-31
The making of the vestments is described, alternating between the pronouns "he" (presumably Bezalel) and "they" (presumably Bezalel and Oholiab) in referring to the craftsmen.

The Work Completed: Exodus 39.32-43
The Israelites, having completed the construction of the tabernacle and all its parts and adornments as the Lord commanded, present their work to Moses. When Moses sees that the Israelites did their work just as God commanded, he blesses them.

Exodus 34.1-35

Moses Makes New Tablets / The Covenant Renewed / The Shining Face of Moses

Moses Makes New Tablets: Exodus 34.1-9

The Lord tells Moses to cut two new tablets on which the Lord will write the words on the destroyed tablets. Moses should come up the mountain the next day with the cut tablets, after ensuring that neither people nor flocks are on the mountain.

The next day the Lord comes down on Mount Sinai in a cloud and reveals himself in a scene that parallels yesterday's revelation. The Lord proclaims the name YHWH and passees before Moses, proclaiming:

The Lord, the Lord,
a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,
yet by no means clearing the guilty,
but visiting the iniquity of the parents
upon the children
and the children’s children,
to the third and the fourth generation.
(Ex. 34.6-7)

The poem echoes Commandment Two (Ex. 20.5-6).

Moses bows his head to the earth and worships, praying for the Lord to go with the stiff-necked Israelites and pardon their iniquity.

The Covenant Renewed: Exodus 34.10-28

God creates a covenant with Israel that echoes a lot of what God has already told Moses. The Lord first promises wonders (the same noun from Ex. 3.20) that have never seen before - which is impressive, because the marvels in Egypt were quite marvelous.

The Lord the commands that Moses listens to a new decalogue, a new set of ten commandments. This is a different version of the Ten Commandments. Ten is a very convenient, round number for laws. The commandments come from a hodgepodge of other commandments in Exodus. At least half of these appear in Exodus 23.

The Commandments:
One: Destroy foreign gods to prevent intermarriage.

God will drive out the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. This is the third iteration of such a promise, nearly identical to the first. The Israelites should not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land. They should tear down the altars, pillars, and sacred poles, as the Israelites will only worship the Lord, "whose name is Jealous" (a pun) (Ex. 34.14).

Making a covenant with the inhabitants is the first step down a slippery slope. The Israelites will be invited to the sacrifices, eat of the sacrifices, and take wives from them who will convert their sons.

Two: Don't make false idols.

Three: Keep the festival of unleavened bread in the month of Abib.

Four: All the firstborn animals belong to God, though the firstborn sons may be redeemed. No one shall appear before God empty-handed.

Five: Keep the sabbath, even in plowing and harvest time.

Six: Observe the festival of weeks, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the festival of ingathering.

Seven: Three times a year all the males shall appear before God, for God will give Israel Land and cast out the enemies.

Eight: Do not offer the sacrifice with leaven, and destroy the passover sacrifice leftovers before morning.

Nine: The best of the first fruits should be brought to God.

Ten: Do not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

One of these things is not like the others. 



Can you guess which one it is? The first nine commandments concern ritual practice and the obedience of God, and are at least related to God. Commandment Ten...Not so much. No explanation is given, and no explanation was given either in Ex.23.19. The problem is the mixing of a fluid of life (milk) with death. Purity was very important to the Israelites. But this command still has nothing to do with God directly. Rather, it is about ritual observance for the sanctity of purity.

The Lord tells Moses to write these words, which are part of the covenant between God and Moses and Israel. Moses is with the Lord on the mountain for forty days and forty nights [a symbolic formula meaning"a long time"], and does not eat (bread) or drink (water) during this time. He spends this time writing the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

But wait! The text would seem to indicate that what Moses writes down isn't THE Ten Commandments with the "Thou shall not kill" and "Honor thy mother and father." Well, yes. That is what Moses does. The original ten commandments were probably shattered when Moses threw the original stones. So what the heck are we doing following the new ones? And who wrote down the old ones anyway? [The answer used to be "Moses" but this is not a belief held by many biblical scholars today]. Well, don't ask me that. Ask your religious leader or a professor. Then let me know what that person says.

The Shining Face of Moses: Exodus 34.29-35

Moses comes down the mountain one last time to correct the botched entrance earlier in the golden calf debacle. He returns, tablets in hand, not knowing that his face shines with the shine that one can only get talking to God. Aaron and the Israelites fear Moses at first, but Moses calls them near and gives them the all the commandments the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai. Whether this includes his first commandment-receiving journey the author does not say.

Moses puts a veil on his face that he removes before speaking to the Lord (in the proto-tent of meeting - see yesterday's post). When Moses exits with commandments, the skin on his face shines, and Moses again puts on his veil.

Tomorrow: More laws. Sorry?