In his first volume, Milgrom argued that Leviticus transforms the ancient sacrificial system by banishing demons and identifying man's choices as the major source of impurity. Sin generates impurity that pollutes the Tabernacle and the more serious the sin, the more polluted the Tabernacle. If the pollution goes unchecked, God will abandon the Tabernacle and the people. In this volume, Milgrom argues that the impurity system in chapters 1-16 has been expanded. The land of Canaan now functions like the Tabernacle in the wilderness.
Sin pollutes the land and pollution unchecked results in exile.
Just as the Canaanites were vomited from the land because of their immorality, so too Israel risks expulsion from the land if the people do not heed God's commands. Similarly, in these chapters, not only are the priests required to maintain their holiness, the average Israelite as well is called to strive toward it. The means of maintaining or achieving holiness are the same - obedience to the commandments. The commandment to love one's neighbor as oneself, Milgrom argues, is the literary apex of the structure of Leviticus while the following command to love the stranger as oneself is the ethical summit of the Torah. Just as in his first volume, Milgrom painstakingly comments on every verse, drawing upon and discussing extensively ancient, medieval and modern writers.