Don't Know Much About the Bible - Kenneth C. Davis [63]
While Genesis and Exodus were primarily “story books,” Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy read more like the “fine print” in a contract that most folks try to avoid reading.
Leviticus
Leviticus (in Hebrew, Vayikra, “and he called”) is primarily concerned with the laws given by God on a range of ritual and other religious matters. The English title, derived from the Greek and Latin versions of the Hebrew Bible, refers to the tribe of the Levites who were set apart as a priestly order. With little of the great narrative drive of the earlier books, Leviticus also lacks their memorable poetry and dramatic sweep. However, it is the book in which the biblical version of the “Golden Rule” first appears.
The elaborate laws outlined in Leviticus cover sacrifices and burnt offerings; the consecration of priests; the distinction between what is clean and unclean, including elaborate discussions of dietary laws; skin diseases such as leprosy; how to get rid of mold on your tents; rules regarding purification rites after childbirth and menstruation; the ceremony for the the annual Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, which was not celebrated before the sixth century BCE; and laws governing Israel’s life as a holy people and the holy calendar.
It is now widely believed that Leviticus was compiled by priests of the Jerusalem Temple in the fifth century BCE. Composed as a training manual for the priesthood, the book painstakingly details how to sacrifice animals and the appropriate ceremonies for ordaining priests. The ancient Jewish practice of animal sacrifice, described in precise and elaborate detail in these books, was the centerpiece of Jewish worship for centuries. That practice ended with the destruction of the rebuilt Jerusalem Temple, the only place such sacrifices could be made, in 70 CE by the Romans. Then the discussion moves into the realm of the clean and unclean, focusing on which animals may or may not be eaten.
What is “kosher”?
Once every year, many supermarkets, particularly in metropolitan areas, clear off shelves to make room for foods that are “Kosher for Passover.” Many non-Jews believe that “kosher” poultry and meat are cleaner, safer, and even better-tasting than nonkosher. And many people, Jew and Gentile alike, commonly ask if something is “kosher,” loosely using the term to mean is it permissible or “okay.” Kosher is a Yiddish word for “proper” that derives from the Hebrew word kashrut. Although the modern sense commonly associates “kosher” only with dietary laws, the notion of what is “proper” covers a broad range of items that must be done accordance with the law. The dietary laws, found in Leviticus and the following Torah books, not only specify which animals are proper to eat but also describe the precise methods by which the animals must be slaughtered and prepared. While many people think that kosher laws somehow relate to health issues—such as the notion that the pig was forbidden because it was responsible for diseases—most of the distinctions regarding “proper” foods relate to a more elusive and even subjective notion of “holiness” and “purity.”
Okay to Eat:
• “any animal that has divided hoofs and is cleft-footed and chews the cud” except the camel, the rock badger, the hare, the pig
• “all that are in the waters” if they have fins and scales
• poultry, except for those below
Not Okay:
• eagle, vulture, osprey, buzzard, kite, raven, ostrich, nighthawk, seagull, hawk, little owl, cormorant, great owl, water hen, desert owl, the carrion vulture, the stork, the heron, the hoopoe, and the bat (not a bird of course, but this is the Bible, not a zoology text)
• shellfish
• all winged insects, unless they have “four legs and walk on the ground”
• all that walk on their “paws”: the weasel, the mouse, the great lizard, the gecko, the land crocodile, the lizard, the sand lizard, and the chameleon
• all