1:1 The book of Leviticus, as part of the Pentateuch, has no general introduction. Leviticus 1:1 indicates that the tabernacle was fully operative, and this links Leviticus with the sequence of events described at the conclusion of the book of Exodus. The concept of a tabernacle or portable shrine existed in Egypt as early as the Amarna age (fifteenth and fourteenth centuries b.c.). The Egyptians normally took these tents on military campaigns and placed them at the center of their encampments.
1:2 Hebrew qorban, "offering," is a generic term for anything presented to God at the sanctuary. Archaeological excavations at various sites in Israel have uncovered objects inscribed with the term qorban. The term is transliterated also in the NT as Corban (Mk 7:11). The "herd" (Hb baqar) was the most valuable category of sacrificial animals; it is always listed first (e.g., in Nm 7:15-88; 28:11–29:38). The following laws deal with private offerings. The public national sacrifices offered each day are listed in Nm 28–29.
1:3 The characteristic feature of the burnt offering was that the whole animal (apart from its skin, 7:8, or crop, 1:16) was burned on the altar. The Hebrew term for burnt offering, 'olah, is related to the root 'lh which means, "to go up." This action may intend to refer to the smoke of the offering that ascends to God (cp. Jdg 13:20).
An "unblemished" animal would be an animal free from blindness, injury, maimed condition, irregular members, warts or festering sores, and damaged testicles (Lv 22:22-24). The Greek translation renders the Hebrew for "unblemished" as amomos. This adjective is applied to Jesus in the NT (Heb 9:14; 1 Pt 1:19).
1:4 Moses laid his hands on Joshua when appointing him leader of the Israelite people (Nm 27:18-23; Dt 34:9). In contexts that deal with sacrifices, the laying on of hands was a symbolic act in which an animal was to stand in the offender's place as a substitute. In Nm 8:10,12; 27:18,23 and Dt 34:9 it appears that the purpose of the laying on of hands was to transfer the spiritual qualities of the performer to a person or an animal. One may regard the sacrificial animal either as dying in the worshiper's place or as receiving the death penalty because of the sin transferred to it by the laying on of hands.
1:5 The Israelites understood the close connection between blood and life. The flowing away of one's blood is equivalent to the departure of life and the cessation of existence. The blood is the most holy element of the sacrifice and, as the means of atonement (cp. 17:11), could be handled only by the priest.
1:6 The exception to this sectioning of sacrificial animals was the Passover lamb, which was roasted whole (Ex 12:9).
1:9 The "pleasing aroma" of the burnt offering conveys the idea that God accepted the sacrifice.
1:14-17 The five kinds of animals specified for the burnt offering—bull, sheep, goat, turtledove, and pigeon—are exactly the five animals Abraham offered to God in Gn 15:9. As in that passage the birds were not split because they were much smaller animals.
1:15 According to rabbinic tradition, the priest applied his fingernail close to the nape of the neck to cut through the windpipe and gullet.
1:17 The burnt offering foreshadows the sacrifice of Christ on the cross (Heb 13:15-16; cp. Php 4:18; 1 Pt 2:5). Paul had the burnt offering in mind in Rm 12:1-2—the believer is to present himself entirely just as the burnt offering was entirely consumed on the altar.
2:1 The grain offering was appropriate for various occasions and often served as a less costly alternative to animal sacrifices. The grain offering was made of semolina, the choice part of wheat that was taken from the inner kernels. In non-sacrificial contexts the term for grain offering (minchah) designated a "tribute" or "gift" (cp. 2 Sm 8:2-6; 1 Kg 8:64; 2 Kg 8:8-9; 17:3-4; see also Gn 32:14; 43:11; 1 Kg 10:25; 2 Kg 17:4). Thus, this offering represented the duty of the worshiper to present gifts to God. In Gn 4:3-5 the different sacrifices of Cain and Abel, one consisting of grain offering and the other an animal sacrifice, are both called grain offerings (minchah). The grain offering normally accompanied every burnt offering, especially those in the prescribed sacred calendar (Nm 28–29). The Septuagint translation of grain offering (thusia) is the common word for sacrifice in the NT.
2:4 The oven was a cylindrical vessel with a large opening at the top, and frequently, a small hole at the base for air. Because of its tendency to ferment, leaven could never be placed on the altar. Fermentation would alter the nature of the grain. In addition, leaven was used in the offerings of various pagan religions.
2:9 In a few cases the grain offering sacrifice was completely consumed by the altar fire, but in most cases the priests were to eat the larger portion of the offering.
2:11 "Yeast in the dough" was a common rabbinic metaphor for man's evil inclinations (e.g., b. Ber 17a; see Mk 8:15; Lk 12:1; 1 Co 5:8) and was a symbol of fermentation, deterioration, and death. Bee honey was regularly offered to nearly all of the Greek gods, and was used in offerings of the Hittites and Mesopotamians. Therefore it was prohibited in Israelite worship.
2:13 The application of salt would remove whatever blood remained in the sacrificial meat after slaughter. Large quantities of salt were delivered to the postexilic temple of Jerusalem for use in the sacrificial ritual (Ezr 6:9; 7:22). Salt was the primary preservative in the ancient world. In the OT salt is associated with two covenants (Nm 18:19; 2 Chr 13:5).
3:1 The fellowship offering was an optional sacrifice that a man could bring when he so desired. It accompanied a confession offering as a freewill offering or in fulfillment of a vow (7:12-14). It afforded the worshipers the experience of joining together with the priests in a sacred meal. As a communal meal, therefore, it anticipated the Last Supper of Jesus with His disciples. It was also part of the public celebration of the Festival of Booths, or Pentecost. Whereas all other animal sacrifices were specified as to their sex, the fellowship offering could be either male of female.
3:3 The fatty portions were regarded as the choice parts of the animal.
3:4 The liver (Hb kaved) is literally the heavy (Hb kvd) organ; it weighs about three and a half pounds.
4:2 The sin offerings were efficacious only when offenses were inadvertent or unwitting; they were not applicable to defiant acts or premeditated crimes. When a voluntary sin is confessed, it falls into the category of involuntary sin for which there is sacrificial expiation. The deliberate sinner is not excluded from possible atonement if he repents, but the unrepentant sinner will receive no benefit from a sacrifice (Nm 5:6-8). No sacrifice could atone for sins of absolute defiance (Nm 15:30-31). Offenses requiring the death penalty fall into the category of sins for which sacrifices will not provide expiation. In general, these offenses can be classified as violations of the Ten Commandments. Paul identified the Messiah with the sin offering (Rm 8:3; 2 Co 5:21).
4:7 The horns of the altar are projections at each of its four corners and are part of the altar (Ex 27:2; 30:2). Altars with horns have been uncovered in Megiddo and Beer-sheba.
4:12 The portions of the priest's sin offering that could not be burned on the altar had to be burned at a special place "outside the camp." Such a designated dump for the sacrificial ashes existed outside Solomon's temple (Jr 31:39-40). In Heb 13:11-12, the death of Christ "outside the gate" is compared to the burning of the sin offering "outside the camp."
4:13 The Hebrew term 'edah ("community") was used in Aramaic papyri from Elephantine, in Upper Egypt (present-day Aswan). A Jewish community lived there through most of the fifth century b.c.
5:5 Indeed, there are only four passages where confession (Hb hitwaddah) is required, and each instance deals with deliberate sins (5:1-4; 16:21; 26:40; Nm 5:6-7). Through confession, deliberate sins are converted into inadvertent sins, thereby qualifying them for sacrificial expiation (see note on 4:2). Confession of sin is basic to the Yom Kippur ritual. Leviticus 16:21 explains the procedure to be followed.
5:10 The sin offering preceded the burnt offering because one was obliged to be in good standing before God before he could worship Him. Coming immediately after the sin offering, which atoned for sin, the burnt offering symbolized the restoration of the offender and represented his first act of worship after forgiveness.
5:15-16 The term "offends" (Hb ma'al) refers to a betrayal of trust, whether in regard to marital infidelity, deception, or to the violation of the covenant between God and Israel by the worship of foreign gods. In legal texts, the crime of ma'al involves actual loss of property to other persons. The story about Achan, preserved in Jos 7, is classified as ma'al (see 2 Ch 26:16-18; 28:19-25; 29:19; 36:14; Neh 1:8; Ezk 17:19-20; Dn 9:7).
The "restitution offering" was a specialized kind of sin offering (cp. v. 7) required in cases when someone had been denied his rightful due. The value of the amount of which he had been defrauded had to be restored to him, plus a fine of 20 percent (5:16; 6:5). The "restitution offering" was commanded whenever another party had suffered some deprivation (14:12-18).
6:4-5 Sin is treated as a debt and places the offender under debt (see Mt 18:21-35; Lk 7:41-42). In Is 53, the Servant of the Lord offered Himself as a restitution offering. That passage looks ahead to the death of Christ, Who made full and perfect compensation for the sins of the world.
6:10-11 The priestly vestments were to be worn only in the confines of the sanctuary (Ex 28:43). In some ancient Near Eastern religions the priest performed certain rituals in the nude, but in Israel this was considered an affront to the Lord (see note on Ex 20:26).
6:12 The sacrifices offered up at the inauguration of the priesthood were consumed miraculously by a divine fire (9:24). This fire was not to be extinguished to ensure that God might accept all subsequent sacrifices.
6:22-23 Every grain offering brought by a priest on his own behalf, whether for expiation or as a voluntary offering, was to be burned entirely on the altar. Priests could benefit only for services undertaken on behalf of other Israelites.
7:31 The sons of Eli, the priest of Shiloh, failed to observe this law (1 Sm 2:15-17).
7:34 The presentation offering (tenuphah) and the contribution offering (terumah) were usually distinguished as two movements performed with an offering, the tenuphah being a horizontal motion "extending and bringing back," and the terumah being a vertical motion "raising and lowering." Recent research, based on an Egyptian relief from Karnak, indicates that the so-called "wave offering" (tenuphah) should now be understood as an elevation offering, a ritual of elevating and lifting the offering in dedication to God. The "contribution" offering (terumah) is to be understood as a gift.
8:1 Nearly every verse in chapter 8 is an adaptation of commands given in Ex 29. The family of Aaron needed to maintain a level of purity and ceremonial cleanness beyond that of their fellow worshipers, although Israel as a whole was to be "My kingdom of priests and My holy nation" (Ex 19:6; cp. 1 Pt 2:9).
8:7 In Ex 3:5 and Jos 5:15, Moses and Joshua removed their sandals when standing on sacred ground. Islamic practice still requires removal of one's shoes upon entering a mosque or shrine. Aaron's tunic and sash were woven of fine linen and embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet woolen threads (Ex 28:39). These components correspond to the fabric of the tabernacle's lower curtains (Ex 26:36: 27:16).
8:8 The Urim and Thummim are mentioned in Scripture in only six other places (Ex 28:30; Nm 27:21; Dt 33:8; 1 Sm 28:6; Ezr 2:63; Neh 7:65). They may have been flat stones, similar to the puru used in Mesopotamia, and attested in Hebrew as purim ("lots") in Esther (Est 9:24-26). Archaeological excavations have recovered such objects from non-Israelite sanctuary sites. The Urim and Thummim may have functioned like dice in determining God's will. Rabbinic tradition dates the cessation of their use to the time of David and Solomon.
8:10 Scripture often connects the act of anointing with the receiving of God's Spirit (1 Sm 10:1-10; 16:13; Is 61:1).
8:24 These actions are analogous to what occurred at the enactment of the Sinaitic covenant (Ex 24:6-8).
9:2 The sin offering provides the foundation for all the other offerings, in that it offers both propitiation and expiation from all sin by the shedding of the blood of a substitute.
9:24 God appeared as fire in passages such as Ex 24:17 and Dt 4:12; 9:3. On four other occasions God sent fire to consume a burnt offering: (Jdg 13:15-20; 1 Kg 18:22-39; 1 Ch 21:26; 2 Ch 7:1-3).
10:1 Nadab and Abihu apparently took their fire from somewhere outside the altar area and placed it in their censers.
11:1-23 The main purpose of dietary laws was to separate Israel from the other nations. These laws had practical benefits. See the article "How Can Modern Medicine Relate to the Old Testament?" p. 233. In all four sources where the prohibited foods are enumerated (vv. 44-45; 20:25-26; Dt 14:21) the reason for such restrictions is the holiness of the Lord and His people. The handful of species fit for God's altar table was definitive for cleanness throughout the rest of the animal world. Interpreting this theologically, one might say that since God had limited His "diet" to these animals, His people must do so in imitation of their creator (Lv 11:44-45). Applying this standard, only those animals that specifically resembled the sacrificial model were allowed. These have in common cloven hoofs and rumination (chewing the cud). However, Israel alone is required to observe such special ceremonial cleanness, because they are the holy people; Dt 14:21 explicitly allows Israelites to sell carcasses to aliens and foreigners.
Looking at the larger arrangement of the chapter, note that it contains regulations concerning four major groups of animals: land animals, birds or flying creatures, water animals, and "small creeping things." This is the same general classification of animal life found in the Gn account of creation. In the text of the Torah, a generic distinction between pure and impure animals first occurs in the narrative of the flood (Gn 7:2). There is no evidence of a broad nutritional or health-related basis for the dietary classifications of the Torah. The greatest obstacle to the health being the primary reason for these laws is that the NT removes distinctions between clean and unclean foods; Jesus directed his hearers to a more fundamental distinction (Mk 7:14-23). Romans and Egyptians, also, did not eat fish without scales.
11:13-17 Carrion-eating birds of prey would be defiled by the dead carcasses of their victims as well as by the blood still present in the flesh.
11:47 The separation of the animal kingdom into the pure and the impure illustrates Israel's separation from the nations. The latter had defiled themselves by their idolatry and immorality. Israel must refrain from partaking in these practices to live a holy life founded on the way and nature of God. In the NT these laws were set aside as barriers between Jew and non-Jew.
12:1-5 Some have suggested that the longer waiting period of uncleanness upon the birth of a daughter reflects an Israelite view of the inferiority of women. Alternatively, the longer period of impurity after the birth of a daughter may reflect apprehension and anticipation about the infant daughter's ability to eventually become a mother in her own right. Ancient Near Eastern polytheism, related to the cycles of nature, placed great emphasis on fertility; the Israelite regulations governing a new mother may represent a reaction to this emphasis. It was the discharge of blood following birth that rendered a new mother unclean for one or two weeks, similar to the time of uncleanness for a woman during her menstrual period.
12:3 Other ancient cultures practiced circumcision (Jr 9:25). With the transfer of circumcision to infancy, it became a sign of the covenant, a rite of initiation into the religious bond between Israel and its God (Gn 17:1-27).
12:4-5 A longer period of defilement should not be construed as an indication of inferior social worth. For example, a human corpse defiles more than a dead pig. The sacrifices a mother was to offer were the same for either a girl or a boy, indicating that both genders were considered equal before God.
12:8 Mary the mother of Jesus followed this regulation after His birth. She offered up two birds, the offering of the poor, for her purification (Lk 2:22-24).
13:1-46 Typically, during the OT period, disease was regarded as a punishment from God for some wrongdoing. In the case of "skin disease" (tsara'at) specifically, there was a tradition that it represented a punishment from God for acts of malice, illustrated for example by what happened to Miriam when she criticized Moses (Nm 12:1-10). The term does not refer to a single type of skin disease, but is a broad descriptive term covering all kinds of disfiguring diseases of the skin or scalp. Older English versions translated it as "leprosy."
13:45 Tearing the clothes, messing the hair, and covering the moustache are signs of mourning for the dead (Ezk 24:17,22).
13:46 "Outside the camp" was the farthest place from God to which the sinner and the impure were banished (10:4-5; Nm 5:1-4; 12:14-15; 31:19-24). It was also the place where wrongdoers were executed (Nm 15:35-36). To live outside the camp was to be cut off from the blessings of the covenant. It is understandable that a person diagnosed as unclean would go into mourning (Lv 13:45).
13:48 The phrase "warp or woof" occurs only in this chapter in the Bible (vv. 48,49,51,53,56,57,58) and refers to the lengthwise and cross threads in a woven garment.
14:11 The phrase "the priest who performs the cleansing" probably indicates a specialization of priestly functions. Certain priests were specifically trained for such purifications and were routinely assigned to administer them (cp. Mk 1:44). Priests in Egypt and Mesopotamia followed a similar practice.
14:12-18 The restitution offering was offered to compensate God for loss. The person with "skin disease" fell into this category because the Lord was deprived of his sacrifices, tithes, and firstfruits as long as uncleanness kept the infected person outside the worshiping community.
14:33-53 The procedures for purifying the house that has "mildew contamination" are identical to those prescribed in verses 1-32 for purifying a diseased person.
14:57 In Scripture, disease is one of the images of sin (Ps 147:3; Is 1:5-6; Jr 8:2; 30:12; Mk 2:17). The OT records several instances of people who developed serious skin disease following sacrilegious behavior (e.g., Nm 12:9-10; 2 Kg 5:27; 2 Ch 26:17-21). The Levitical law provided no means of curing such conditions. The sufferer had to wait in hope of a cure from God, without human aid. Only then could he present himself to the priest. The banishment of the diseased person from human society and God's sanctuary was analogous to the fall when Adam and Eve were expelled from Eden (Gn 3).
15:1-33 All the impurities dealt with in this chapter threatened the purity of the sanctuary (v. 31). They are discharges resulting from illness or infection, in addition to menstruation and seminal emissions. While these regulations may have involved personal hygiene, their main concern is the holiness of the worshiper.
15:18 The rites of other ancient Near Eastern religions celebrated the fertility of the gods, even to the point of dramatizing it through human sexual intercourse. Israel's faith, in contrast, prohibited sexual intercourse within sacred precincts. The uncleanness resulting from normal sexual relations is of the mildest type. Emission of semen, in intercourse (v. 18) or at other times (vv. 16-17), causes pollution, but no sacrifice was required to purify a person from it. The man (and his wife when she was involved) had simply to wash and wait until evening (vv. 16,18). Though the couple might be ritually unclean, it was not a question of their having sinned. (See the article, "Is the Bible Sexually Oppressive?" p. 987.)
15:19 A woman's time of uncleanness was longer, since her menstrual discharge would last longer than an emission of semen. Egyptians, Persians, and Arabs also subscribed to the view that menstruation entailed ritual uncleanness.
15:32-33 Good sexual hygiene may increase the fertility of both males and females. The primary purpose of these laws, however, was to make Israel holy and to prevent intermarriage with groups who were not worshipers of Yahweh. In Heb 13:4 the laws of ritual purity are cited metaphorically and applied to personal integrity within marriage. In the NT, Mk 5:25-34 reveals Jesus' general attitude concerning the uncleanness regulations; his focus was on faith for healing the condition, rather than upon the ritual pollution of the afflicted person. Jesus pointed beyond the letter of the OT regulations to the moral principles that informed them, within God's greater purpose of revealing His kingdom.
16:2 The mercy seat, 44 by 26 inches, was the cover on the top of the ark of the covenant and was connected with the cherubim.
16:8 The meaning of Azazel has been explained three ways: (1) It is a proper name for the goat itself, meaning "the goat that departs," i.e., its traditional meaning of "scapegoat." (2) It was the particular desolate and rugged area into which the goat was released. (3) It refers to the leader of the evil spirits of the wilderness, possibly to be identified with "demons" (Dt 32:17; Ps 106:37) and "satyrs" (2 Ch 11:15). The NT does not explicitly state that the scapegoat was a type of Christ. Early in church history, however, as attested in the Epistle of Barnabas, written c. a.d. 200, Christians saw in the scapegoat a type of Christ. As the scapegoat was led out to die in the wilderness bearing the sins of the people, so Christ was crucified outside Jerusalem for the sins of His people.
16:21 The imposition of hands on the head of an animal is clearly explained as the symbolical transference of the people's sins to the animal victims.
16:22 A tradition in Jewish literature (Mishnah.Yoma 6:6) attests to the fact that the goat was led to a steep cliff and pushed over backward to kill it.
16:29 In biblical literature the idiom "practice self-denial" connotes fasting (Ps 35:13; Is 58:3,10). Subsequent Jewish literature elaborated on the practice. Mishnah Yoma 8:1 interprets self-denial as involving five abstentions: from food and drink, bathing, use of oil on the body, wearing leather shoes, and sexual intercourse. In Judaism the Day of Atonement continues to be the most important and solemn day of the year. Since, with no temple, it is not possible to offer sacrifice, Jews observe it by fasting, abstinence, and prayers of penance as they seek God for forgiveness. Most NT references to the Day of Atonement focus on the access now available into the most holy place. When Christ died, the curtain in the temple was torn in two (Mt 27:51). Christ as our High Priest "entered the holy of holies once for all . . . by His own blood" (Heb 9:12).
17:1 Here begins a section of Leviticus that many scholars refer to as the Holiness Code, continuing through chapter 26. It is especially concerned with the holiness of the Lord's people, as a reflection of His holiness.
17:4 This ordinance was to prevent sacrifices to the goat-demons who inhabited the wilderness. To offer sacrifices to demons was a flagrant breach of the first commandment to "not have other gods besides Me" (Ex 20:3; Dt 5:7). This law could be effective only when everyone lived near the sanctuary in the wilderness period.
17:11 Blood is considered efficacious because it represents life. Creatures cannot live without it, and killing is expressed as shedding blood (Gn 9:4). The blood of the sacrificial victim offered on the altar is its "life" and can stand in place of human life. Blood essentially signifies the life given up in death.
18:1–20:27 The sexual aberrations listed in these chapters refer to irregularities known in pagan religions.
18:3 Homosexuality and bestiality were apparently common in Canaanite culture. Homosexuality (v. 22) is mentioned with reference to the Canaanites (Gn 19:5-11; Jdg 19) and also attested in Mesopotamia. Bestiality (v. 23) is also known from Egyptian, Canaanite, and Hittite sources. In the Egyptian royal family brothers married sisters. In the laws of Hammurabi and in the Hittite law codes some of the incestuous relationships listed in 18:6-18 are prohibited.
18:4 Since marriages within the extended clan were encouraged there was a tendency toward endogamy—that is, marrying within one's own group. Marriages of this kind were essential to ensure that ancestral lands would be retained within the clan. These incest laws are meant to prevent excessive inbreeding within families that were otherwise bound together as socioeconomic units.
18:8 This was the sin of Reuben (Gn 35:22; 49:4).
18:9 What was acceptable during the Patriarchal period (Gn 20:12) is now forbidden. This change in what is permitted proves the antiquity of the patriarchal traditions.
18:21 The Molech cult involved the sacrifice of children (see 20:2-5; Dt 12:31; 18:10; 2 Kg 23:10; Jr 32:35). Remnants of Molech sacrifices have been found in North Africa, and there is evidence to suggest that these rites originated in Phoenicia. The book of Jubilees (part of the OT apocryphal literature) connects intermarriage, specifically the marrying of one's children to pagans, with the sin of Molech.
18:22 Many scholars maintain that pagan priests regularly engaged in homosexual acts (see Dt 23:18; 1 Kg 14:24). While lesbianism is not explicitly forbidden in the OT, the Jewish rabbis agreed that the same laws applied to women (Rm 1:27).
18:23 Hittite laws assign the death penalty to lying with some animals, but lying with a horse or a mule carried no penalty. In Israel, all bestiality was a capital offense.
18:24-25 God was evicting the Canaanites from the land because of their evil practices (18:24; 20:24). If the Israelites followed the Canaanites' customs and practices (which they later did), the same thing would happen to them. The incident of Baal of Peor (Nm 25:1-3) illustrates the relationship between sexual immorality and idolatry.
19:1-37 In this chapter we find the most concentrated occurrence of the phrase, "I am the Lord your God" in the Bible. This passage quotes, or alludes to, all the Ten Commandments; sometimes they are expounded or developed in a new way.
19:9 "Gleanings" refers to that which falls to the ground during reaping. It was the practice in ancient Israel to cut the stalks of grain with one hand while catching what was reaped with the other. Whatever the reaper failed to catch in his other hand fell to the ground and was known as "gleanings" (see Ru 2:3,7).
19:11-18 Concern for the poor, the widow, and the orphan is widespread throughout the ancient Near East and in the OT (Ex 22:21-22; 23:9; Lv 19:33-34; Dt 15:7-11; 24:14,17; 27:19; Jr 7:6; 22:3; Zch 7:10). Israelite law is unique however, in mandating kind treatment for the alien or stranger. But the motivation for such benevolence is not derived from its social value; it is based on the need to reflect the Lord's holiness.
19:13 The term "neighbor" (Hb rea') can also refer to a non-Israelite (cp. Gn 38:12,20 friend; Ex 11:2); that extended meaning is intended here.
19:18 According to the eminent Rabbi Akiba (c. a.d. 50–132), the expression "love your neighbor as yourself" is a central principle in the Torah.
19:19 Explanations of laws against mixtures include these: (1) Mixtures are a violation of the order God brought into the world by separating the species (Gn 1). (2) Mixtures are symbolic of mixtures of human beings; thus these laws prohibit intermarriage and assimilation. (3) Mixtures are to be avoided because they belong to the sacred sphere, namely the sanctuary, as do its officiants, the priests. The lower cover of the tabernacle and the curtain closing off the most holy place are a mixture of linen and wool (Ex 26:1,31). The high priest's ephod, breastpiece, and belt contain the same mixture (Ex 28:6,15; 39:29). Mixtures, then, characterize the holiness of the sacred sphere and those authorized to enter or serve it.
19:24-25 The Babylonians, also, regarded the fruit of the first four years as unfit for food.
19:26 The expression "with blood in it" (lit. "eating over blood") may signify a form of divination, involving the consultation of ancestral spirits. These practices existed in Greek and ancient Near Eastern societies.
19:27 Tearing out the hair of one's beard, as well as of the head, was a custom associated with mourning over the dead (cp. 21:5; Dt 14:1; Is 15:2; 22:12; Jr 16:6; Am 8:10).
19:28 Laceration was included in the rites of Baalistic fertility worship (cp. 1 Kg 18:28), and may have been a universal religious practice in the ancient Near East.
19:31 Spiritists were involved in necromancy, or purported communication with the dead (see 1 Sm 28:3-25; Is 29:4; cp. Lv 20:6; Dt 18:11; 2 Kg 21:6; 23:24; Is 8:19).
19:33 The "foreigner" (Hb. ger) in the Bible was most often a foreign merchant, craftsman, or mercenary soldier. This term never refers to the prior inhabitants of the land. Generous actions to foreigners were motivated by the memory of the Israelite sojourn in Egypt (Ex 23:9; Dt 5:14-15).
20:2 Crimes punishable by stoning in the OT include blasphemy (24:16; cp. 1 Kg 21:9-14), Sabbath violation (Nm 15:32-36), idolatry (Dt 13:10; 17:5), adultery with a betrothed virgin (Dt 22:24), and failure to restrain a dangerous ox (Ex 21:29). Stoning was also the penalty for incorrigible children (Dt 21:18-21) and a bride who was found not to be a virgin (Dt 22:21).
20:26 An exceptional feature of biblical law is the prominent focus on human values. In Israel, religious offenses and offenses against life tended to be punished more severely than in other ancient Near Eastern law, which regarded financial loss as more serious than loss of life. Punishment, in Israelite law, stands in marked contrast to the degrading brutality of many penalties under Assyrian law. Mutilation is demanded only once in the Pentateuch, in an extreme case (Dt 25:11-12), and there the penalty is mild compared with those in Assyrian laws. The OT demand for at least two witnesses (Dt 19:15) limited the application of penalties to flagrant violations.
21:14-15 In marrying a virgin, a priest would ensure that her children are his own. If a priest married a woman who was not a virgin, it would be possible that the first child (and therefore potential high priest) would not be of the Levitical line.
22:22-24 Many of the deformities that bar a priest from offering sacrifice (21:18-20) preclude animals from being offered as sacrifices.
23:3 The kinds of work not permitted on the Sabbath, according to the Pentateuch, included plowing and harvesting (Ex 34:21), preparing food by baking and boiling (Ex 16:23), making a fire (Ex 35:3) and gathering of wood (Nm 15:32-36). The Sabbath was to be a day of joy and praise (Ex 23:12; Dt 5:12-15; Is 58:13; Hs 2:11). It was a distinctive sign of the covenant (between Yahweh and Israel, Ex 31:13-17). As the first sacred assembly listed in the chapter, the Sabbath was the most celebrated assembly, observed every seven days. The recurrence of the Sabbath in a seven-day cycle seems to be a model for the rest of the other sacred assemblies. There are seven festivals in the year. During these festivals there are seven days of rest. Most of these festivals occur in the seventh month of the year. This elaborate system of festivals and sabbatical years underscored the importance of the Sabbath.
23:5 The orthodox Jewish view is that "twilight" means "between midday and sunset." In NT times the Passover sacrifice began around what would correspond to 3 p.m.
23:6 The Hebrew word for festival is chag. It is linguistically related to the Arabic expression hajj, a term that designates Muslim pilgrimages to Mecca. In Israel, all males were required to appear before the Lord at three feasts annually (Dt 16:16).
23:17-18 The giving of the law at Mount Sinai occurred on the occasion of the first Pentecost, or Festival of Booths (Ex 19:1). After the destruction of the second temple in a.d. 70, the Festival of Booths became a festival of the law. Several prophets use symbols from this feast when they allude to the coming reign of God (e.g., Is 52:7-13; Zch 14:16-19).
23:23-24 The seventh month (vv. 24,33) commemorated the end of the agricultural year. The festivals in this month had a more solemn character than those in the spring. Four extra Sabbaths are prescribed in the space of a month, including the most holy Day of Atonement (vv. 27-28).
23:37-44 The religious calendar was closely aligned with the agricultural year and its times of harvest. The Passover and Festival of Unleavened Bread came at the time of the barley harvest in the spring, and the Festival of Booths was celebrated during the wheat harvest in our June. The seventh month (our September–October) contained three festivals—the Festival of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Festival of Booths—and coincided with the ripening of grapes, figs and olives.
24:10-14 Blasphemy brings guilt on those who hear it as well as on the blasphemer. To rid themselves of this guilt the hearers had to lay their hands on the blasphemer's head.
24:13-23 On four other occasions Moses made a special inquiry of God about a legal decision (Nm 9:6-14; 15:32-36; 27:1-11). The death penalty was administered outside the area of settlement because of the impurity of a corpse (see Dt 17:5).
24:19-20 The principle known as lex talionis, or "law of such" (i.e. of corresponding retaliation) is found in other ancient law codes before the time of Moses. The laws of Eshnunna and the laws of Ur-Nammu, rediscovered through archaeology, predate the Code of Hammurabi (seventeenth century b.c.) by a few centuries. These codes, too, establish fines for personal injury.
The goal of the penal system in the Bible is compensation, or restitution. The phrase "eye for eye, tooth for tooth" was an illustration of the principle, not to be applied literally. The punishment must be proportionate to the offense (cp. Ex 21:23-25; Dt 19:21), not disproportionately severe. Only in the case of premeditated murder was such compensation forbidden (Nm 35:16-21). The principle of "life for life" must be literally enforced, because man bears the image of God (Gn 9:5-6). Jesus' statement, "Whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them" (Mt 7:12; Lk 6:31), is a reflection of the lex talionis in this broader sense (Dt 19:19).
25:4 Allowing the land to lie fallow every seventh year helped to reduce the amount of sodium in the soil due to irrigation. But it was also a way to recognize that the Lord is the ultimate owner of the land.
25:10 The Year of Jubilee, the fiftieth year, would follow the seventh sabbatical year. Thus, when the Jubilee was celebrated the land would remain uncultivated for two consecutive years.
25:10 This verse is inscribed on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This legislation has contributed to the Western ideal that every family has a right to own property. The Sabbath Year foreshadows the time when creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption (Rm 8:21).
25:26-28 An owner of land who had sold his land under economic stress could redeem it at any time, either through his own resources or those of a relative. The purchaser could not refuse the right of redemption.
25:39-55 These laws are designed to make slavery as humane as possible. Slavery in the OT was somewhat akin to imprisonment in the modern world, and served a roughly similar purpose, enabling a man who could not pay a debt to work it off directly. In some respects it was less degrading and demoralizing than the modern penitentiary; for one thing the man was not cut off from outside society as he would be in prison. Harshness characterized slavery in Egypt (Ex 1:13-14).
Debt could never force a family to sell its land. Faced with financial hardship, however, an Israelite landowner could lease his land for the number of years until the next Jubilee. Land was passed from father to son; the right of redemption that went with such a patrimony permitted the original owner to reclaim full control of his family lands whenever he met the debt of obligation. That is, the lessee could not refuse to return the land to the lessor. The lessor was able to redeem the land in any one of three ways: (1) A relative could pay off the debt. (2) Whenever the head of the family accumulated enough money, he could redeem it himself. (3) At the Year of Jubilee a patrimony was automatically returned to its original owner free of debt. In the last instance Yahweh Himself was acting as the next of kin, liberating His kinsman's property.
It is evident from 2 Ch 36:21, where it is said that the land lay desolate during the captivity for 70 years to make up for its Sabbath Years, that the celebration of the sabbatical year had been neglected during the last centuries before the captivity. If the number is taken exactly, the passage points to an omission of the Sabbath Year reaching back about 500 years, i.e. to the days of Solomon (Jr 34:8-10; Ezk 7:12). There is some evidence that both Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar (109–44 b.c.) reduced the annual tribute Jews had to pay every seventh year.
26:14-39 A list of curses occurs in nearly all ancient Near Eastern treaties that have been preserved, as sanctions that guarantee the observance of the agreement. The classic collections of biblical curses in 26:14-33 and Dt 28:15-68 resemble the epilogue of the Code of Hammurabi. But Leviticus and Deuteronomy are unique in holding out the hope of survival for those who experience even the most severe punishment, exile from the homeland. The presence of these curses underscores the character of the biblical covenant as a "treaty" between Yahweh and His people.
26:21-22 The curse of devouring animals is found in other treaties, particularly the eighth century Aramaic Sefire treaty (cp. Dt 28:38,39,42; Jr 8:17). The region of Samaria, after it fell to the Assyrians, experienced something of a fulfillment of this warning (2 Kg 17:25-26; cp. Ezk 14:15). Conversely, Is 11:6-9; 35:9, and Hs 2:18 speak of the future age when animals will live in harmony with humans.
26:46 The belief that God disciplines his people in order to keep them from continuing in their sinful paths is also expressed in Dt 8:5 and Pr 3:11-12 (see Heb 12:4-11). While the ultimate curse of exile would cause Israel to forfeit her occupation of the land of her inheritance for a period of time (cp. 18:24-28), it would not threaten the existence of Israel, the seed of Abraham (Rm 11). The NT seems to regard the principle of blessing and cursing as applying to the church, individually and corporately. As in the OT, those who accept God's grace will enjoy its privileges in doing God's will but will suffer if they do not (e.g., Rm 2:6-10). Many of the horrifying judgments described in Rv 6 find their original setting in the covenant curses of Lv 26 and Dt 28.
27:1-8 These figures may represent the price of slaves of different age and gender in ancient Israel. The average earning of an Israelite worker in biblical times was about one shekel per month.