Leviticus 19 – There are many more “Holiness Rules.”

-       You must honor your parents and always keep the Sabbath

-       Turn aside from idols

-       Eat all peace offerings by the day following the sacrifice

-       Leave some grains after harvesting for the poor and alien

-       No stealing, lying or defrauding

-       No withholding wages overnight

-       No cursing the deaf or putting stumbling blocks in front of the…

Leviticus 18 – Chapters 18-26 are known as the “Holiness Code.” The Schocken Bible editor points out that beyond the “heightened moments” of perception that make human beings feel linked to the “primal powers of existence,” the Jews also longed for a perfection and completeness in behavior “in all areas of life, personal and communal (593).

The people are warned NOT to conform to the customs of the…

Leviticus 17  – Every sheep, goat or ox must be presented as an offering to the Lord in front of the Dwelling before it can be slaughtered for food.  The blood needs to be splashed on the altar and the fat burned. 

Offerings previously were made to “satyrs” [goat-demons] but this shall be no more (17:7).

This differs from Deut.12 where slaughter is permitted as long as the blood is poured out—scholars disagree which practice came first, Schocken says. …

Leviticus 16 - Day of Atonement—When Aaron goes into the sanctuary he needs to bring a young bullock for a sin offering and a ram for a holocaust.  From the community he shall receive two male goats to the entrance and cast lots to determine which one will be for the Lord and which one will be for “Azazal” - a name for Satan the note suggests—it translates the word as “escaping goat” hence “scapegoat”.  The one for the Lord shall be offered up as a sin offering…

Leviticus 14 – Purification after leprosy.  There are elaborate sacrifices to be made—of all kinds (holocausts, guilt offerings, sin offerings, wave, cereal). 

Everything, including the houses used by lepers, must undergo cleansing, both actual and ritual. Cleansing of the house involves a ceremony with two birds that are ceremonially clean.  One of the birds is sacrificed over an earthen jar of water.  Then the water and blood are sprinkled on some cedar wood,…

Leviticus 12 – Rules governing the “uncleanness” or ritual “pollution” surrounding childbirth.  For seven days after birth of a boy, the mother shall be deemed “unclean.”  After the circumcision on the 8^th day, 33 days must pass for her to be over the period of ritual pollution.  It is twice that time – sixty-six days – after the birth of a female child. 

At the end, she is to bring animals – a one-year-old lamb and a young pigeon or turtledove - for a…

Leviticus 11 – On clean and unclean foods at the ordinary Jews’ table. Schocken Bible note points out that the domestic table was considered an “altar in miniature” reflecting the fact that Israel was considered a “kingdom of priests.”

Debate continues over the rationale for the dietary constraints imposed by the Mosaic Law.  Schocken thinks the argument from ancient “hygiene” concepts is weak.  He thinks they relate more to simply setting “distinctions” and boundaries again. …

Leviticus 9 - On the eighth day, Aaron is to address the people, offering up a calf (hattat-sin) and a ram (holocaust–offering up) and encouraging the people also to offer up like offerings (he-goat sin offering, calf yearling and lamb yearling holocaust, an ox and ram for peace, and cereal offerings) “for today, YHWH will make-himself-seen by you!” (9:4)

When Moses and Aaron come out of the meeting tent at the end, “then the glory of the Lord was revealed to…

Leviticus 7 – Instructions for the Guilt Offering: The ceremony for making guilt offerings—the priests may eat of it as with cereal offerings and sin offerings.  The peace offering is different.  They are made in thanksgiving, and may include loaves of leavened bread along with unleavened cakes and an animal.  A portion of each shall be for the priest, but any “clean” or “unpolluted” person may eat of it too

The fat of ox, sheep or goat is not to be eaten…

Leviticus 6 – If you sin against an associate or cheat or commit fraud or hold lost property instead of returning it to its owner. If you lie under oath or commit any act of dishonesty, you must give back what you owe or withheld and add to it a penalty of 20% of its value (6:6:1-5).

Then you must also give a “guilt offering” of a ram.

With respect to the daily holocaust or “burnt offering,” it “must be left on top of the altar” all night and the…

Leviticus 5 – A number of sins that might be “inadvertent” are listed in this section:

“If you are called to testify about something you have seen or that you know about, it is sinful to refuse to testify and you will be punished for your sin” (5:1)

Or if you “unknowingly touch something that is ceremonially unclean” (5:2), or “unknowingly touch something that makes a person unclean” (5:3), or “make a foolish vow”…

Leviticus 4 – Sin offerings [“hattat”] Schocken Bible note says “sin offering” is not a good translation.  It is a “decontamination offering” for priests – for inadvertent sins. 

When these are committed by the high priest, he brings guilt on all the people.  He must offer a young, unblemished bull.  Its blood should be brought into the tent and sprinkled toward the sanctuary seven times.  Some of the blood should go on the horns of the altar of incense. …

Introduction to Leviticus:

Leviticus stands at the center of the five books Torah; and it all takes place at Sinai, so while there is much modern people find difficult about the book, we must admit that its place in Judaism must be central.  Schocken editors see Leviticus as the “Book of Separations, the book in which are set forth distinctions between a whole range of aspects of ancient Israelite experience and practice: holy and profane;…

Exodus 39 – The vestments made and the work presented to Moses for his blessing are here described. The colors of everything are specified including even the color of the thread to be used (gold).

The names of the twelve tribes are engraved on a dark reddish gem mounted into gold. All the various garments  are described in great detail and all are decorated with gems and gold. “The Israelites did all the work just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Moses…

Exodus 37 – The ark or “covenant box” is to be made out of acacia wood and the dimensions are to be 45” by 27” by 27.”

It is to be covered with gold inside and out and carried with poles of gold-covered acacia wood that are slipped through rings along the sides of the box. The top of the case is covered with a lid with hammered golden winged creatures facing each other and protecting the contents.

The table for the offered bread is made with similar precision and then the…

Exodus 34 - The Lord tells Moses to bring Him two new stones on which to re-write the “words” He gave him.  Moses climbs the mountain again alone, and the Lord passes before him, crying out, “The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity, continuing his kindness for a thousand generations, and forgiving wickedness and crime and sin; yet not declaring the guilty guiltless, but punishing children and grandchildren to the third…

Exodus 33 – The Lord promises to send the people into the land He swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and He will send His angel before them.  But He says He will not accompany them Himself because they “are a stiff-necked people; [and He] might exterminate [them] on the way” (33:4). In repentance, the Israelites lay aside their ornaments (33:6).

The Meeting Tent or “Tent of the Lord’s Presence,” is pitched outside of camp “at some distance.” When Moses entered the…

Exodus 32 – Moses takes a long time conferring with God on the mountain (40 days), and the people become restless and anxious.  Throughout the wilderness journey, they express the same anxieties. 

Back on earth, down the mountain, life is full of human frailty. So the people go to Aaron and ask him to “make us a god who will be our leader” (32:1). One of the commandments – the FIRST one by the Catholic count, is specifically NOT to make any such representation. …

Exodus 31 – Artisans are chosen to make everything, artisans “filled . . . with a divine spirit—or breath--of skill and understanding and knowledge in [their] craft[s]” (31:3).  And then they are admonished to keep the Sabbath sacred “as a token” of the covenant between God and his people. Schocken’s translation “for in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth, but on the seventh day he ceased and paused-for-breath” (31:17) is good, especially when we remember breath and…

Exodus 30 – The incense altar (not previously mentioned—possibly an addition) is 18” long and 18” wide and 36” high (using the Today’s English Version so as to get away from cubits). It has “projections,” rings and poles to make it moveable.  And it is placed “outside the curtain which hangs in front of the Covenant Box” (30:6).

There shall be incense burned morning and evening for all time to come.  No holocausts or cereal offerings or libations shall be made…