Exodus 39:21 provides a case in point about how
errors have crept into the Bible over time. Friedman notes,
A major sentence is missing from the Masoretic Text (and
the Septuagint) here. A Dead Sea scroll and the Samaritan text add it: “And
they made the Urim and Tummim, as YHWH had commanded Moses.” Presumably it was
omitted from the MT because the scribe’s eye jumped from the first occurrence
of the phrase “as YHWH had commanded Moses” to the second. This is another case
of the scribal phenomenon known as haplography, and it shows that even
important matters can be lost by scribal errors of copying.[1]
The conclusion of the account of the construction
of the Tabernacle at the end of Exodus 39 and the beginning of Exodus 40
mirrors the language about God’s completion of the creation of the universe in
Genesis 1:31-2:3. This reminds us of the role of the Tabernacle in divine-human
communication, but it also reveals that God’s creation, the universe, as described
in Genesis 1, is like the Tabernacle.
Exodus 40:3 mentions a pavilion cover over the
Ark of the Covenant. This is a pavilion cover, not a curtain. Psalm 27 talks
about this. The pavilion cover became a curtain in the second Temple when there
was no longer an ark to place under it. (The second Temple is the one Jesus
would have known.) The people of the Second Temple period mistakenly thought that there was always a curtain between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies
where the Ark stood. However, this was not the case. Originally, there was this
pavilion cover not a curtain.[2]
The words describing Moses’ obedience in Exodus
40:16 are the same words used to describe the obedience of Noah. There are
other parallels between Moses and Noah. For example, both of them floated in
arks (Genesis 6:14 and Exodus 2:3).[3]
Exodus ends as it began, with a focus on the
Israelites and their relationship with God. Moses is simply a case in point of
this larger dynamic.[4]
Leviticus is the place where most people give up
on trying to read through the Bible. Admittedly, this is because Leviticus is a
boring book to most readers today. It is boring because it contains very little
story and many laws all about rituals that are no longer practiced.
However, Leviticus is still an important book for
a number of reasons. In this book, we have YHWH speaking to his people through
Moses. The setting is the foot of Mount Sinai. Much of life in Exodus is in
disarray. Here we have order, careful arrangement. This book is all about the
formation of the identity of the people of Israel through the Law. We have laws
about how the Israelites are to behave toward one another and toward other
people in general, as well as laws about how they are to behave toward God. The
laws are not merely listed; they are narrated by YHWH to the people through
Moses. However, unlike Exodus, this book is not about Moses; it is about the
law. The only stories in Leviticus are about Aaron and his sons.[5]
It is also important to note that what we have in
Leviticus is priestly legislation. However, these are not religious customs
that can be dated historically to the time of Israel’s wandering in the desert.
Leviticus presents a code of conduct for priests and Levites serving in the
Temple in Jerusalem many years later. The sacrifices and offerings required in
this book could not possibly have been instituted in the desert. The size and
type of offerings presuppose a large population raising many herds and crops, settled in Palestine.
Leviticus alternates between legal and narrative
passages:
Chapters 1-7: Types
of sacrifices
Chapters 8-10: Ordination
of priests and sacrifices
Chapters 11-15: Purity
laws on clean and unclean food and disease
Chapter 16: The
Day of Atonement established
Chapters 17-26: Holiness
Code with ethical and ritual demands
Chapter 27: Appendix
on vow requirements[6]
The beginning of Leviticus will certainly be a
turn off to anyone who is a vegetarian. The description of the killing of
animals for sacrifice is very explicit, and at points, gruesome. I am not a
vegetarian, but if I was asked to perform these animal sacrifices, I could not
do it. Still, Friedman makes an important point in this regard:
And so the word order here subtly reminds us that, when
we take animals’ lives in order to support our own, we should remember that
both their lives and ours are part of a common creation, and that both are
treated in the Torah as sacred.[7]
It is important to note that from this time on
there is only one place on earth where an Israelite may legitimately perform a
sacrifice; that is at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Of course, this Tent
of Meeting was mobile during the wilderness wanderings of the Israelites. Then
it was set up in Shiloh (Joshua 18:1), and later Gibeah (2 Chronicles 1:3) and
then finally in Jerusalem (1 Kings 8:4; 1 Chronicles 5:5). The one
extraordinary exception to this limitation of the location for sacrifice is when the prophet Elijah makes a sacrifice on
Mount Carmel in his battle with the priests of Baal (1 Kings 18). Thus, up to
this point we have seen various characters in the biblical narrative offering
sacrifices in various locations. Now, Israel’s worship becomes centralised.
There is one God and one altar.[8]
Two key questions we need to ask and seek answers
for as we read through Leviticus are: Given that this book is about ritual that
is no longer practiced, what practical application might there be for us still
today? What overall principles can we learn from this book about human
interaction with God and with others?
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