Last time, the opening chapters of Leviticus had a bunch of rules for ritual sacrificial offerings. Things pick up a bit more as we enter the middle of the Book of Leviticus.
CHAPTER 8
This just explains the ordination ceremony for Aaron and his
sons to become priests. It’s basically
what previous chapters said should be done, now actually being done. It’s a snooze. The one thing I always find striking is the use of blood in the
rituals itself. They are always
splashing of sprinkling or dabbing in blood.
Religion was different back then.
I’ll just note here that almost all of the Book of Leviticus
is supposed to have been written by the P source, who is called that because
he’s mostly interested in priestly functions. So yeah, I guess it makes sense
that he’d be right here. By and large
there is little heroic to hang onto, like Moses and the 10 plagues or Jacob
wrestling the Lord. Now it’s just rules
and regulations. Yeah, I can see what
it was put in, but I can also see why this book has a reputation for being
tough to read.
CHAPTER 9
More of the same – we’re still doing the ordination
ceremony. A few odd notes. The ceremony takes eight days. Eight days?
That strikes me as odd.
Everything else is six or seven days – that goes back to the LORD
creating the world in six then resting on the seventh. Is it really harder to create a priest than
to create the world?
Also, once again we see them burning animal fat for the
LORD. My initial reaction is – oh, yeah
– it’s just like Cain and Abel. The
LORD preferred’s Abel’s offerings of meat to Cain’s offering of vegetables and
now here they are making sure to offer meat.
Yeah, but disbeliever that I am, I can flip this around. They decided to offer meats to the LORD
because they thought it was more important, and then retroactively created the
Cain/Abel story. Or not. It could be the story came first – one of
those primordial stories like the flood or Tower of Babel that was in Sumeria
before Abraham left.
Oh, and the chapter has – believe it or not – a real
wham-bang finish. It’s the first lively
action of Leviticus. Once they’ve laid
out all the stuff for the LORD, “Then the glory of the LORD appears to all the
people. Fire came forth from the LORD’s
presence and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. Seeing this, all the people shouted with joy
and fell prostrate.” Dang! He consumed it with fire right after they
laid it out! I’ll bet they yelled and
fell prostrate. I’ll even bet most were
happy – “hey, the boss like it!” But
some had to be afraid. Man, that’s fire
coming out of nowhere.
CHAPTER 10
Well now, it turns up the big finish to Chapter 9 was just
to set us up for the even more impressive (and ghastly) start to Chapter
10. Aaron’s two sons (and, of course,
priests) Hadab and Abihu goof up. They
put something on the fire they weren’t supposed to and the Lord, being the
Lord, notices. And he ain’t happy. Not
at all. Fire comes down right away and
consumes them both. They die.
That’s a steep penalty.
I guess there’s no union to file a grievence. Yeah, it sure is steep, though we did see earlier that the higher
ranking the person, the more pressure on them to do well. The priests have to atone with a whole bull,
for instance, for accidental mistakes, while the people can just give a
she-goat of something. So I suppose
this error wasn’t intentional – but, hey – they’re dead, so we’ll never know.
You have to feel for Aaron here. He came off badly with the Golden Calf and hasn’t had much personality
aside from that, but here he just watched his two sons died – but as head
priest in the middle of the ceremony, he’s got to go on with the show. Maybe he could have Moses negotiate some
time off duty in the next round of covenant talks or something. Doesn’t sound like Moses would be willing to
do so, though. He tells Aaron to go on
with things or he’ll die.
Moses actually berates Aaron a little bit for not eating in
the holy place, but Aaron blasts him back and Moses understands.
Oh and here’ we’re told that by a “perpetual statute”
Aaron’s family is forbidden from drinking any win or strong drink “lest you
die.” Man, they’ll never get to have
any fun.
CHAPTER 11
This is the big chapter on Hebrew dietary laws. At 47 verses, it’s one of the longest
chapters in the Bible so far. There is
an attempt at some consistency – saying you can’t have these types of animals,
but you can have these. But what
purpose does it all serve? I can think
of two. First, it’s possible they
thought there was some sanitary value involved in avoiding some animals. The word used to denounce these meats is,
after all, “unclean.” And don’t we all
have certain things we try to avoid just because it seems icky to us? Why, for years I didn’t drink water from the
kitchen sink faucet because I associated it with dishwater. Mind you, it’s the same piping system coming
into the house.
At any rate, there’s a second reason to do this. It creates daily rituals and obligations –
things you have to do or avoid doing.
And by making religious obligations part of a vital aspect of life –
eating – you can reinforce the religion.
It’s not just something you say and then do whatever. Every time a person base’s their diet on
these laws, it’s a new commitment to their religion. It’s also a commitment to the community, as following these
dietary laws separates them from the rest around them. It marks them off as a separate people.
As for the laws themselves, the big blow is pig. You can’t have pig. Bummer for the Israelites. Also, they can’t have rabbit, shrimp,
lobster, crab, camel, various birds of prey, or bats, among other things. But don’t worry – grasshoppers and locusts
are fine.
CHAPTER 12
More rules on uncleanness – this time not about food, but
about childbirth. I guess this is a
sanitary issue. The birthing process
can be messy, especially back then when it could be fatal. And it could also give the new mother a
chance to recover.
There’s a difference based on gender of the newborn. If the mom gives birth to a boy, she’ll be
unclean seven days, just like it’s her period, then she will spend 33 days in a
state of “blood purity.” They don’t say
what that means – either in the book or in the footnotes? Wild guess: No sex? I really don’t know. At any rate, if it’s a girl, the period is
double: 14 days unclean and 66 days in this mysterious blood purity thing. Not sure why there’s a difference, so I’ll
just assume it’s the ancient Near East patriarchal culture at work.
Oh, and it’s in here we’re told that newborn boys are to be
circumcised eight days after their birth.
That’s the day after the mother comes through the unclean period.
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