Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc
Subject: Re: Leviticus study (was sin of shaving?)
From: adams@spss.com (Steve Adams)
Date: 28 Jul 92 19:47:18 GMT
Organization: SPSS Inc.

lung@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Terence Lung) writes:

>Let's look at it critically.  Apparently, you, Norman and Lawrence
>and others have read Leviticus.  Let's begin with some basic
>investigations.  Who wrote it?  When was it written?  What is the 
>purpose of the book?  How does its contents support its thesis?

Well, here's what the NIV Study Bible has to say about it...remember NIV is
conservative in its outlook.
(I'll grab my Oxford NRSV tonite & put it in my briefcase, and I'll grab my
Biblical commentaries, too)

[Taken from New Internation Version - see copyright notice below]

Author:

   (From Genesis intro)  Historically, Jews and Christians alike have held
that Moses was the author/compiler of the first five books of the OT.
These books, known also as the Pentateuch (meaning "five-volumed book"),
were referred to in Jewish tradition as the five fifths of the law (of
Moses).  The Bible itself suggests Mosaic authroship of Genesis, since Acts
15:1 refers to circumcision as "the custom taught by Moses," an allusion to
Genesis 17.  However, a certain amount of later editorial updating does
appear to be indicated  (see notes on 14:14,36:31,47:11 [these verses use
later names or references]).

   The historical period during which Moses lived seems to be fixed with a
fair degree of accuracy by 1 Kings.  We are told that "the fourth year of
Solomon's reign over Israel" was the same as "the four hundred and
eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of Egypt" (1 Ki 6:1).
Since the formerwas ca 966BC, the latter - and thus the date of the exodus
- was ca 1446 (asuming that the 480 in 1 Ki 6:1 is to be taken literally;
see Introduction to Judges: Background).  The 40-year periodof Israel's
wanderings in the desert, which laster from ca 1446 to ca 1406, would have
been the most likely time for Moses to write the bulk of what is today
known as the Pentateuch.

   During the last two centuries some scholars have claimed to find in the
Pentateuch four underlying sources.  The presumed documents, alledgedly
dating from the tenth to the fifth centuries BC, are called J (for Jahweh/
Yahweh, the personal OT name for God), E (for Elohim, a generic name for
God), D (for Deuteronomic) and P for Priestly.  Each of these documents is
claimed to have its own characteristics and its own theology, which often
contradicts that of the other documents.  The Pentateuch is thus depicted
as a patchwork of stories, poems and laws.  However, this view is not
suported by conclusive evidence and intesive archaeological and literary 
research has undercut many of the arguments used to challenge Mosaic 
authorship.

[Basically, the rest of the J/E/D/P theory states that the J,E and D
documents existed by themsleves, and were combined with the P documents by
the redactor of P during the Babylonian captivity.  This places the
compelte Pentateuch at around 500BC, with the earliest writings being the J
documents from around 1000BC, and oral tradition stretching back obviously
to the time of Moses and before.  NIV fails to note this.]


Themes:

   The key though of Leviticus is holiness (see note on 11:44 [...the word
'holy' appears more in Leviticus that the rest of the Bible...]) - the
holiness of God and man (man must rever God in "holiness").  IN Leviticus
spiritual holiness is symbolized by physical perfection.  Therefore the
book demands perfect animals for its many sacrifices (ch 1-7) and requires
priests without deformity (ch 8-10).  A woman's hemorrhaging after giving
birth (ch 12); sores, burns or baldness (ch 13-14); a man's bodily
discharge (15:1-18); specific activities during a woman's monthly period
(15:19-33) - all may be signs of blemish (a lack of perfection) and may
symbolize man's spiritual defects, which break his spiritual wholeness.
The person with visible skin disease must be banished from the camp, the
place of God's special presence, just as Adam and Eve were banished from
the Garden of Eden.  Such a person can return to the camp (and therefore to
God's presence) when he is pronounced whole again by the examining priests.
Before he can reenter the camp, however, he has to offer the prescribed,
perfect sacrifices (symbolizing the perfect, whole sacrifice of Christ).

   After the covenant at Sinai, Israel was the earthly representation of
God's kingdom (the theocracy), and, as her King, the Lord established his
administration over all of Israel's life.  Her religious, communal and
personal life was so regulated as to establish her as God's holy people and
to instruct her in holiness.  Special attention was given to Israel's
religious ritual.  The sacrifices were to be offered at an approved
sanctuary, which would symbolize both God's holiness and his compassion.
They were to be controlled by the priests, who by care and instruction
would preserve them in purity and carefully teach their meaning to the
people.  Each particular sacrifice was to have meaning for the people of
Isreal but would also have spiritual and symbolic import.

   For more information on the meaning of sacrifice in general see the
solemn ritual of the Day of Atonement (ch 16).  For the meaning of the
blood offering see 17:11; Gen 9:4.  For the emphesis on substitution see
16:21.

   Some suppose that the OT sacrifices were remains of old agricultural
offerings - a human desire to offer part of one's posessions as a love gift
to the deity.  But the OT sacrifices were specifically prescribed by God
and received their meaning from the Lord's covenant relationship with
Israel - whatever their superficial resemblences to pagan sacrifices.  They
indeed include the idea of a gift, but this is accompanied by such other
values as dedication, communion, propiation (appeasing God's judcial wrath
against sin) and retitution.  The various offerings have differing
functions, the primary onces being atonement (see note on Ex 25:17 [divine
act of Grace == atonement]) and worship.

[The NIV assumes God-breathed (ie directly inspired) Scripture, and
therefore discounts any possibility that local rituals were adopted and
shaped into Hewbrew Law.  We'll get to this when we discuss the text
itself.]

All above information not contained in brackets "[]" is Copyright International
Bible Society, used with permission of Zondervan Publishing House.

   -Steve
--
 The opinions expressed above are those of the author and not SPSS, Inc.
                        -------------------
     adams@spss.com                           Phone: (312) 329-3522
     Steve Adams                              Fax:   (312) 329-3558
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc