The Book of Leviticus

The Formation of a Holy People

When we finish reading Exodus, we would like to continue on with the story of the journey of the Hebrews through the wilderness after their halt at Sinai. Instead, we come upon a lengthy collection of laws.

Modern critics agree that during the Babylonian Exile some priests (of the tribe of Levi) collected and made part of their final text the liturgical books that had taken shape in the course of time: a ritual for sacrifices, another for the investiture of priests, a set of norms for distinguishing clean from unclean; at some later point, they added the “Law of Holiness” (chs. 17–26). It is this body of material that makes up the Book of Leviticus. The various components are not all from the same period: some prescriptions date from the time of Moses and even earlier; in other instances the editors adapt ancient rites to their own present religious concerns. The Law of Holiness, which probably dates from the last years of the monarchy (end of the seventh century) reflects the viewpoints of the Jerusalem priesthood and stands in contrast to the viewpoints found in Deuteronomy, which was published during the same period.

All the laws systematized in Leviticus are regarded as expressing God’s will. They impose on the chosen people a common religious behavior by which this people will show themselves to be the people of the Sinai covenant. The Lord has delivered his own from the land of Egypt and he now expects them to acknowledge his presence and render him the worship due to him.

Sacrifice, which takes numerous forms, is the essential act of worship. It signifies that the children of Israel hand over themselves and their possessions to him who is their supreme protector. It unites them to their God and, by winning his forgiveness, restores this union when sin has broken it. In short, through sacrifice God saves and sanctifies his people. Israel is a priestly people; the priests in their actions symbolize the worship of an entire people.

In addition to moral and liturgical precepts, Leviticus lists various, sometimes quite detailed regulations meant to decide which objects and things hinder a person from drawing near to what is sacred, even though no moral fault might be involved; it was thought that these objects had a baleful power. Like the neighboring peoples, the children of Israel had their prohibitions, but even through these taboos, which were standard in this ancient civilization, they came to know the holiness of God, which is so strongly asserted throughout this book and which came to pervade their entire existence.

In summary, despite the arid lists, the laws that make up Leviticus reveal in their own way that God wills to save the whole person; that nothing in human life is without relevance to holiness; and that holiness is wholly and entirely dependent on God’s initiative.

If readers will be patient enough to read all the pages of this book, tedious though these often are (especially due to the incessant repetition of the same formulas; but that was characteristic of Oriental legislation), they will be able to penetrate, by way of formulas and rites long since obsolete, to the heart of Israel’s religious consciousness. As Christians, these readers will also be able to better understand the value of the sacrifice through which Jesus Christ saved the human race by giving his life for it.

The Book of Leviticus may be divided as follows:

I: A Ritual for Sacrifices (1:1—7:38)

A: Regulations for the Children of Israel (1:1—6:7)

B: Regulations for the Priests (6:8—7:38)

II: Consecration of the Priesthood (8:1—10:20)

III: Norms Concerning Ritual Purity (11:1—16:34)

IV: The Law of Holiness (17:1—26:46)

V: Redemptive Offerings (27:1-34)