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Levi%cus Lesson #1 “And he said . . .” And he said . . . 1
Transcript of Levi%cuslogosdocs.s3.amazonaws.com/third-edition/005-leviticus/...These texts are essential reading...
Levi%cus!!
Lesson+#1++
“And+he+said+.+.+.”+
And!he!said!.!.!.!! 1!
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Levi)cus!sits!squarely!at!the!center!of!the!Torah,!the!middle!unit!of!God’s!
Law:!!!
! ! ! ! !A!(Genesis);!!
! ! ! ! ! !B!(Exodus);!!
! ! ! ! ! ! !C!(Levi)cus);!!
! ! ! ! ! !B’!(Numbers);!!
! ! ! ! !A’!(Deuteronomy)!!
SiIng!as!it!does!between!the!brilliant!narra)ves!of!Genesis!and!Exodus!
and!the!wilderness!tales!of!Numbers!and!Deuteronomy,!Levi)cus!seems!a!
moment!of!stasis,!a!pause!in!Scripture’s!forward!movement!that!dwells!
on!the!mechanics!of!sacrifice!and!the!minu)ae!of!ritual!law,!subjects!of!
liNle!interest!or!relevance!to!a!modern!audience.!!
In!truth,!most!readers!either!bog!down!in!Levi)cus!or!simply!skip!over!it.!!
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And!he!said!.!.!.!! 2!
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But+not+us!+++!
If!properly!understood,!
Levi)cus!is!a!thrilling!book,!one!
that!parts!the!paperRthin!veil!
separa)ng!heaven!and!earth,!
revealing!God’s!plan!of!
redemp)on!in!in)mate!detail!
and!taking!us!into!the!
innermost!sanctuary!of!the!
living!God.!
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And!he!said!.!.!.!! 3!
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And!he!said!.!.!.!!
Fair!enough,!but!
how!does!Levi)cus!
do!that!while!
fiIng!into!the!
overall!narra)ve!
shape!of!Scripture?!
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The!Hebrew!name!for!
Levi)cus!is!vyeek’rah,!the!first!word!of!the!Hebrew!
text,!and!it!means!“And+he+called.”!!!In!the!literary!structure!of!the!Bible,!
Levi)cus!con)nues!the!
book!of!Exodus,!sugges)ng!
that!we!study!Exodus!and!
Levi)cus!as!one!narra)ve!
unit.!+
And!he!said!.!.!.!! 5!
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Recall!that!when!we!
leY!Exodus,!God!had!
come!down!from!Mt.!
Sinai!to!manifest!
himself!in!the!
Tabernacle!built!by!his!
covenant!people,!
according!to!his!
detailed!instruc)ons:!+
And!he!said!.!.!.!! 6!
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!”Thus Moses finished all the work. Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled down upon it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.”
(Exodus 40: 33-35) !
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And!he!said!.!.!.!! 7!
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The!Tabernacle!!
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Pillar!of!Cloud!&!Fire!
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In!Exodus,!we!hear!God!
speak!to!his!people!from!the!
top!of!Mt.!Sinai!in!a!voice!of!
thunder;!in!Levi)cus,!he!
speaks!in)mately!from!
within!the!Tabernacle.!!In!
Exodus,!God!offers!the!
Israelites!a!unique!role!in!the!
plan!of!salva)on;!in!
Levi)cus,!they!learn!what!
that!role!entails.!
And!he!said!.!.!.!! 9!
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As!we!enter!Levi)cus!the!
Israelites!have!been!in!the!
wilderness!for!one!year!(Exodus!
40:!17);!Levi)cus!will!span!one!
month!(Numbers!1:!1);!and!
Numbers!through!Deuteronomy!
will!span!another!39!years,!for!a!
total!of!40!years!in!the!
wilderness,!or!one!genera)on.!!
Our!narra)ve!from!Genesis!
through!Deuteronomy—the!
Torah—is!thus!!linear+in!structure.!
And!he!said!.!.!.!! 10!
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11!And!he!said!.!.!.!!
Holiness is the theme of Leviticus. The Hebrew word for “holy” is kawdoshe, and it appears more often in Leviticus than in any other book of the Bible. In Leviticus 20: 26, God says to Israel, “To me, therefore, you shall be holy; for I, the Lord, am holy.”
A relationship with God can be based on nothing less..!
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And!he!said!.!.!.!!
But!wait!!!!As!we’ve!already!
learned!in!our!study!of!
Genesis!and!Exodus,!
humanity!is!not+holy;!we!are!steeped!in!sin!and!cut!off!
from!God.!!!
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Indeed,!that’s!right.!!As!far!
back!as!Genesis!6:!5!we!read:!!!
“When+the+Lord+saw+how+great+the+wickedness+of+human+beings+was+on+earth,+and+how+every+desire+that+their+heart+conceived+was+always+nothing+but+evil,+the+Lord+regreDed+making+human+beings+on+the+earth,+and+his+heart+was+grieved.”!!
And!he!said!.!.!.!! 13!
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14!And!he!said!.!.!.!!
And!in!Romans!3:!23,!Paul!tells!
us!that!nothing!had!changed!by!
his!day,!for!!
“all+have+sinned+and+are+deprived+of+the+glory+of+God.”++++
In!Paul’s!day,!as!in!Genesis!and!
Exodus,!sinful!man!is!a!moral!
pariah,!and!he!cannot!gain!
access!to!an!infinitely!!holy!God.!!
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But!in!Levi)cus,!
God!begins!to!
bridge!the!gap!
between!himself!
and!sinful!
humanity!!!
And!he!said!.!.!.!! 15!
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How!does!he!do!that?!
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Levi)cus!lays!out!two+great!pathways!to!a!
rela)onship!with!God:!!
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• the!1st!is!the!approach!to!God!through!sacrifice;!!
• the!2nd!is!the!walk!with!God!through!sanc)fica)on.!!
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And!he!said!.!.!.!! 17!
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18!And!he!said!.!.!.!!
Sacrifice chapters 1-10
Sanctification chapters 11-27
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19!And!he!said!.!.!.!!
The order is important:
1. the five great sacrifices made at the Tabernacle—the burnt offering, grain offering, peace offering, sin offering, and guilt offering—establish the basis for a relationship with God;
2. the laws that lead to sanctification operate within this sacrificial framework.
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In!the!New!Testament,!
the!epistle!to!the!
Hebrews!offers!a!
detailed!commentary!on!
Levi)cus,!seeing!in!the!
sacrifices!a!
foreshadowing!of!the!
person!and!work!of!
Christ.!
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And!he!said!.!.!.!! 20!
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21!And!he!said!.!.!.!!
“But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come to be, passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands, that is, not belonging to this creation, he entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer’s ashes can sanctify those who are defiled so that their flesh is cleansed, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.”
(Hebrews 9: 11-14)
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If!we!read!Levi)cus!through!
the!lens!of!the!New!
Testament,!we!see!in!the!five!
great!sacrifices—and!in!the!
Day!of!Atonement!(Yom+Kippur)!in!chapter!16—the!
most!perfect!portrait!of!
Christ!in!all!of!Scripture.!!In!
the!Gospels,!we!see!Christ!
through!men’s!eyes;!in!
Levi)cus,!we!see!him!through!
God’s!eyes.!
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Francisco!de!Zurbaran.!!Agnus+Dei+(oil!on!canvas),!1635R1640.!!Museo!Nacional!del!Prado,!Madrid.!
And!he!said!.!.!.!! 23!
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Levi)cus!is!a!thrilling!book!of!
tremendous!depth!and!
beauty.!!For!a!Jewish!reader,!
Levi)cus!rests!at!the!very!
heart!of!Torah,!God’s!most!
precious!giY!to!his!people;!
for!the!Chris)an!reader,!it!
sets!forth!the!inner!dynamics!
of!salva)on!and!of!our!
rela)onship!with!God.!
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And!he!said!.!.!.!! 24!
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And!he!said!.!.!.!! 25!
Book+of+Levi%cus+()tle!page),!!Warsaw!edi)on,!1860.!
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And!he!said!.!.!.!! 26!
A Note on Methodology
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As!we!begin!our!study!of!
Levi)cus,!we!need!to!lay!out!
some!guidelines!on!how!to!
proceed.!!In!scholarly!circles,!
this!is!called!hermeneu%cs,!strictly!defined!as!“the!study!
of!the!methodological!
principles!of!interpreta)on.”!
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28!And!he!said!.!.!.!!
When we began our verse-by-verse study through the Bible, we noted that the 73 books of the Septuagint canon were written over a period of at least 1,500 years by many different authors, and that nearly all the books had passed through the hands of editors and redactors to become the completed texts that we now have. Although ascribed to Moses within the context of our narrative, Leviticus, for example, didn’t flow directly from Moses’ pen, but developed over many centuries, incorporating rituals and laws from several different periods of Israelite history, reaching its final form sometime during the Persian Period, 538-332 B.C.
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29!And!he!said!.!.!.!!
We went on to insist, however, that the Bible has traditionally been read in its final, finished form as a unified literary work, and that it has influenced Western thought and imagination as a unified work. As Professor Northrop Frye argues in his seminal book, The Great Code: the Bible and Literature, the Bible has a beginning, middle and end; it has a body of consistent, concrete images; and its unifying principle is one of narrative shape. This is a foundational principle for anyone approaching Scripture as a literary work, and much of today’s most insightful and productive biblical scholarship approaches Scripture from this perspective.!
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This!approach!of!seeing!the!
Chris)an!canon!of!Scripture!
as!a!)ghtly!knit!fabric—the!
Old!Testament!preRfiguring!
the!New!and!the!New!
Testament!fulfilling!the!Old
—is!an!essen)al!element!of!
Roman!Catholic!exegesis,!
and!it!is!summarized!in!the!
Catechism+of+the+Catholic+Church.!
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31!And!he!said!.!.!.!!
“The Church, as early as apostolic times, and then constantly in her Tradition, has illuminated the unity of the divine plan in the two Testaments through typology, which discerns in God’s works of the Old Covenant pre-figurations of what he accomplished in the fullness of time in the person of his incarnate Son. Christians therefore read the Old Testament in the light of Christ crucified and risen. Such typological reading discloses the inexhaustible content of the Old Testament; but it must not make us forget that the Old Testament retains its own intrinsic value as Revelation reaffirmed by our Lord himself.” (Article III, par. 128-129)!
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In!addi)on!to!the!Catechism+of+the+Catholic+Church,!several!other!documents!are!
also!important!for!
establishing!a!solid!!
hermeneu)c!(or!“method”)!
for!a!“Catholic”!reading!
Scripture.!!They!are!
available!here:!!
CatholicMresources.org/ChurchDocs/++
32!And!he!said!.!.!.!!
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33!And!he!said!.!.!.!!
These texts are essential reading Documents of the Second Vatican Council
• Dei Verbum (1965)
Documents of the Pontifical Biblical Commission
• The Inspiration and Truth of Sacred Scripture (2014) • The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church (1993) • Instruction on the Historical Truth of the Gospels (1964)
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And!he!said!.!.!.!! 34!
Now, back to
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To!properly!engage!Levi)cus!
we!need!to!begin!with!an!
understanding!of!biblical!
cosmology,!of!the!tripar)te!
nature!of!God’s!crea)on!as!it!
was!viewed!in!the!ancient!
Near!East,!c.!1500R500!B.C.,!
and!as!it!is!mirrored!in!
Scripture.!!
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And!he!said!.!.!.!! 35!
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And!he!said!.!.!.!! 36!
“God!as!Architect!of!the!Universe”!(illumina)on!on!parchment),!Fron)spiece!of!the!Bible+Moralisee,![Codex!Vindobonensis!2554,!f.!1!verso],!c.!1220R1230.!
!Austrian!Na)onal!Library,!Vienna.!
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The!Hebrew!Scriptures!envision!a!
3Rpart!world,!with!the!heavens!
above,!the!earth!in!the!middle!
and!the!underworld!(sheol)!below.!!This!3Rpart!world!floated!
in!a!mythological!cosmic!ocean,!
which!encompassed!the!earth!
un)l!God!created!the!firmament!
to!divide!it!into!upper!and!lower!
por)ons,!revealing!dry!land.!!
According!to!biblical!cosmology,!
the!world!has!been!protected!
from!the!cosmic!ocean!ever!since!
by!the!solid!dome!of!the!
firmament.!
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38!And!he!said!.!.!.!!
As!Scripture!reads:!!
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“In+the+beginning,+when+God+created+the+heavens+and+the+earth—and+the+earth+was+without+form+or+shape,+with+darkness+over+the+abyss+and+a+mighty+wind+sweeping+over+the+waters—then+God+said:++Let+there+be+light,+and+there+was+light.++God+saw+that+the+light+was+good.++God+then+separated+the+light+from+the+darkness.++God+called+the+light+‘day,’+and+the+darkness+he+called+‘night.’++Evening+came,+and+morning+followed—the+first+day.++
Then+God+said:++‘Let+there+be+a+dome+in+the+middle+of+the+waters+,+to+separate+one+body+of+water+from+the+other.++God+made+the+dome,+and+it+separated+the+water+below+the+dome+from+the+water+above+the+dome.++And+so+it+happened.++God+called+the+dome+‘sky.’++Evening+came,+and+morning+followed—the+second+day.”+
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40!And!he!said!.!.!.!!
When!God!created!man!and!
woman!he!placed!them!in!the!
Garden!of!Eden!to!nurture!and!
care!for!it,!and!God!himself!
walked!with!them!in!the!
Garden!“at!the!breezy!)me!of!
the!day,”!sharing!in)macy!and!
fellowship.!!!
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And!he!said!.!.!.!! 41!
Hieronymus!Bosch.!!Garden+of+Earthly+Delights+[detail]!(oil!on!oak!panel),!c.!1490R1510.!Prado!Museum,!Madrid.!
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But!in!Genesis!3!conflict!enters!
our!story!when!Adam!and!Eve!sin,!
turning!their!backs!on!God!to!
follow!their!own!desires.!!
In!our!study!of!Genesis!3!we!
defined!sin!as:!!
“a+condi%on+of+aliena%on+and+separa%on+from+God+that+manifests+itself+in+outward,+sinful+ac%on.”+!
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And!he!said!.!.!.!! 43!
Michelangelo.!“!Face!of!God”!(fresco),!1511.!
Sis)ne!Chapel,!Va)can!City.!
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And!he!said!.!.!.!! 44!
William!Blake,!God+Judging+Adam+(color!relief!print!with!pen,!ink!and!water!color),!c.!1795.!The!Metropolitan!Museum!of!Art,!New!York.!
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45!And!he!said!.!.!.!!
God!evicts!Adam!and!Eve!from!the!
Garden,!and!once!outside,!Adam!
must!live!by!the!sweat!of!his!brow!
un)l!he!returns!to!the!ground!from!
which!he!was!taken,!and!Eve!must!
bear!children!in!pain!and!be!ruled!
over!by!her!husband.!!
AYer!the!fall,!God!seemingly!
disappears!from!the!scene,!only!to!
visit!humanity!occasionally!in!dreams!
or!in!a!theophany,!as!when!he!
appears!to!Abraham!in!the!form!of!a!
man,!or!to!Moses,!speaking!to!him!
from!within!a!burning!bush!in!the!
wilderness.!
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And!he!said!.!.!.!! 46!
Aert!de!Gelder.!!Abraham+and+the+Angels!(oil!on!convas),!c.!1680R1685.!!Museum!BoymansRvan!Beuningen,!RoNerdam.!
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Moses+and+the+Burning+Bush!(mosaic),!6th!cent.!
St.!Catherine’s!Monastery,!Mt.!Sinai,!Egypt.!
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Not!un)l!Exodus!does!God!
overtly!reenter!our!story!in!his!
theophany!at!Mt.!Sinai:!!
“On+the+morning+of+the+third+day+there+were+peals+of+thunder+and+lightning,+and+a+heavy+cloud+over+the+mountain,+and+a+very+loud+blast+of+the+shofar,+so+that+all+the+people+in+the+camp+trembled.++But+Moses+led+the+people+out+of+the+camp+to+meet+God,+and+they+sta%oned+themselves+at+the+foot+of+the+mountain.++Now+Mount+Sinai+was+completely+enveloped+in+smoke,+because+the+Lord+had+come+down+upon+it+in+fire.++The+smoke+rose+from+it+as+though+from+a+kiln,+and+the+whole+mountain+trembled+violently.++The+blast+of+the+shofar+grew+louder+and+louder,+while+Moses+was+speaking+and+God+was+answering+him+with+thunder.”+!
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Land!of!Goshen!
Rameses!!"!
Succoth!!"!
"!#!Marah!
"!#!Elim!
#!Mt.!Sinai!
"!#!Rephidim!
#!BiNer!Lakes!
#!Via!Maris!
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Photography+by+Ana+Maria+Vargas+
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And!he!said!.!.!.!! 51!
At!Mt.!Sinai!we!encounter!
no!cozy,!gentle!God!!!!!
“When+the+Lord+came+down+upon+Mount+Sinai,+to+the+top+of+the+mountain,+the+Lord+summoned+Moses+to+the+top+of+the+mountain,+and+Moses+went+up.++Then+the+Lord+told+Moses:++Go+down+and+warn+the+people+not+to+break+through+to+the+Lord+in+order+to+see+him;+otherwise+many+of+them+will+be+struck+down.++For+their+part+the+priests,+who+approach+the+Lord+must+sanc%fy+themselves;+else+the+Lord+will+break+out+in+anger+against+them.++But+Moses+said+to+the+Lord,+‘The+people+cannot+go+up+to+Mount+Sinai,+for+you+yourself+warned+us,+saying:++Set+limits+around+the+mountain+to+make+it+sacred.’”+!
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No)ce!how!our!story!at!Mt.!Sinai!
subtly!mirrors!the!tripar)te!
cosmology!of!the!ancient!biblical!
world.!!
As!we!have!God!in!his!heaven!and!
man!on!the!earth,!with!the!
firmament!and!the!sky!separa)ng!
the!two,!so!do!we!have!God!at!the!
top!of!Mt.!Sinai!and!the!people!at!
the!foot!of!the!mountain,!with!the!
towering!slopes!separa)ng!the!
two.!!!
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And!he!said!.!.!.!! 52!
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And!he!said!.!.!.!! 53!
God!in!Heaven!
Firmament!and!
Sky!
Man!on!Earth!
! ! ! ! ! !!!
! ! ! !!!
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Mt.!Sinai!
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!!
Photography+by+Ana+Maria+Vargas+
People!
Priests!
Moses/God!
!! !!! !!!!!
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In!the!postRlapsarian!world,!God!
no!longer!permits!sinful!humanity!
to!stand!before!him.!!!!
The!people!stay!at!the!foot!of!the!
mountain,!forbidden!from!even!
touching!it;!the!priests!(Nadab!&!
Abihu!and!70!of!the!elders),!aYer!
sanc)fying!themselves,!are!
permiNed!only!to!climb!the!lower!
slopes!of!the!mountain;!only!
Moses!may!go!to!the!top!of!the!
mountain!to!encounter!God!“face!
to!face.”!
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!And!he!said!.!.!.!! 55!
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When!God!gives!the!
blueprints!for!the!
Tabernacle!in!Exodus,!it!
too!mirrors!the!tripar)te!
cosmology!of!ancient!
Israel,!as!well!as!of!Mt.!
Sinai.!!
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And!he!said!.!.!.!! 56!
! ! ! ! ! !!!
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People! People!
People!
People!!accompanied!by!
Priests!
for!sacrifice!
#!!!!!Priests!
#!!!!!High!Priest/God!
Holy!Place!
Holy!of!Holies!
Courtyard!
!! !!! !!!!!
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!!
In!Levi%cus+as+Literature+(1999),!the!brilliant!anthropologist!Mary!Douglas!
suggests!that!Levi)cus!embodies!a!
mode!of!thought!that!she!calls!
“analogical,”!a!mode!en)rely!different!
from!Western!“analy)c”!thinking.!!
Douglass!suggests!that!Levi)cus!sees!
reality!as!an!elaborate!system!of!
correspondences!between!the!cosmos!
and!Mt.!Sinai,!on!one!hand,!and!Mt.!
Sinai!and!the!Tabernacle!on!the!other!
hand.!!!
With!this!general!scheme!in!view,!
Douglas!claims!that!Levi)cus!displays!a!
purposeful!literary!structure,!one!that!
follows!the!contours!of!this!tripar)te!
vision!of!the!cosmos.!!
58!And!he!said!.!.!.!!
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This!is!a!dazzling!insight,!
and!one!that!shines!an!
incandescent!light!on!our!
study!of!Levi)cus!!!
Although!we!have!discerned!a!clear!!
2Rpart!structure!to!Levi)cus—
Sacrifice+(1R10)!and!Sanc%fica%on+(11R27)—that!2Rpart!structure!is!
imbedded!deeply!within!the!
tripar)te!vision!of!the!cosmos!that!is!
mirrored!in!God’s!theophany!at!Mt.!
Sinai!and!in!the!structure!of!the!
Tabernacle!itself.!
59!And!he!said!.!.!.!!
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Consequently,!when!we!
examine!the!rituals!of!the!five!
great!sacrifices,!the!detailed!
func)oning!of!the!priesthood!
and!the!hundreds!of!laws!
concerning!food,!sex!and!
various!diseases,!we!do!well!to!
see!each!detail!in!the!context!
of!the!whole.!!
Levi)cus!is!like!a!3Rdimensional!
mosaic,!mirroring!reality!itself,!
with!each!individual!command!
a!single!)le!in!God’s!vision!of!
redemp)on.!!
60!And!he!said!.!.!.!!
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Oh,!this!is!going!to!
be!fun!!!
!
!
And!he!said!.!.!.!! 61!
Ques)ons!for!discussion!and!thought!++
1. Why!is!Levi)cus!so!seldom!read!and!
studied,!par)cularly!by!Chris)ans?!!!
2. What!is!the!rela)onship!between!Exodus!
and!Levi)cus?!
3. As!Chris)an!readers,!how!might!we!best!
approach!Levi)cus?!
4. Establishing!a!method!for!reading!Levi)cus!
is!called!what?!
5. What!book!in!the!New!Testament!is!a!
“gloss”!or!commentary!on!Levi)cus?!
!
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!
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And!he!said!.!.!.!! 62!
!!
Copyright!©!2015!by!William!C.!Creasy!
! All! rights! reserved.! No! part! of! this! course—audio,! video,!
photography,! maps,! )melines! or! other! media—may! be!
reproduced!or!transmiNed!in!any!form!by!any!means,!electronic!
or! mechanical,! including! photocopying,! recording! or! by! any!
informa)on! storage! or! retrieval! devices! without! permission! in!
wri)ng!or!a!licensing!agreement!from!the!copyright!holder.!
!
[All!Tabernacle!illustra)ons!in!these!lectures!are!taken!from:!!!
Paul!F.!Kiene.! !The+Tabernacle+of+God+in+the+Wilderness+of+Sinai,!trans.! by! John!S,! Crandall.!Grand!Rapids,!Michigan:! ! Zondervan!
Publishing!House,!1977.!!Used!by!permission.]!!
!
!!
And!he!said!.!.!.!! 63!
