Leviticus....

Though I would share a recent study I did on Leviticus, please bear in mind when reading that this is just me expressing my opinion, and as such is just my personal interpretation of this book. :) 

In this study I looked at Leviticus 19, and more specifically trying to ascertain whether the rules and laws that were set out in the chapter are still relevant in today’s society or can we discount them as not applicable to modern Christianity.

So to start this study I suppose the first question should be, where does the book of Leviticus get its name from? In the original Hebrew text the book has the name  “Wayyiqra” taken from the first word in the book, which when literally translated to English means “and he called” or more specifically “and he (THE LORD) called.” Leviticus is also the third book of the Torah. The original Hebrew scriptures or Pentateuch as they are commonly known were then translated into Ancient Greek. This Greek translation of the original text was called the Septuagint, a name that is believed to have originated from the number of translators that were used to convert the original Hebrew text. The name being taken from Septuaginta that is Latin for seventy. The Septuagint is believed to date from the third century during the reign of Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Alexandria, Egypt and contains a mixture of the original Hebrew texts with added material. In the Septuagint the name given to the book was “biblion to Levitikon”. The books in the Septuagint were all named after their subject matter, and this was no exception with “biblion to Levitikon” meaning book of the Levites.  Later about second Century AD, the Septuagint was then translated into a Latin version called the Vulgate where the book was named “Liber Leviticus” which is where the English name is derived. This name again means “of the Levites” which is a little misleading due to it not only being specifically about the Levite tribe but also the Priesthood who were descended from Aaron.

Leviticus, is according to tradition, believed to have been the word of God (Yahweh) that was dictated to Moses in a communion tent at the foot of the mountain of Sinai. It was credited to Moses but is often referred to as Mosaic authorship, which basically means that although Moses was the fundamental author he himself may not have necessarily written every word. An example of this would be Jesus being the author of the Sermon on the Mount, but he did not write it himself so that would be described as Jesus authorship. We assume that Moses was the author of Leviticus quite simply because of the extensive references to Moses throughout the entire book. In the 27 chapters of Leviticus references to Moses are made no less than 56 times. It is also believed that Moses may have used parts of existing written documents. However as with all scripture it was led by God as reaffirmed later in 2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:20-21. The specific time period that Leviticus is believed to have been written is around 1450 to 1400 years before Christ, shortly after the Israelites left Egypt. With the laws included being delivered over the space of one month, more specifically the first month in the second year after the Exodus.

To understand the passage of Leviticus 19 it is important to examine it fully and understand the context in which it was written. The Israelites had previously been slaves in Egypt for generations.

“Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years.” (Exodus 12:40 NIV)

During their time in slavery they had mostly forgotten their previous belief system that had been given to them long ago. They had intermarried with many other tribes, which had resulted in them adapting their religious beliefs, or in other words adopting new beliefs, and principles based on the society they now lived in, or the beliefs of the tribes into which they had married. The most popular being Ba’al worship. They never actually abandoned worshiping God, they still cried out to God (Yahweh) during times of difficulty but also worshiped the gods of Ba’al to honour the more mundane aspects of life such as rain, crops and livestock. By the time Moses and Aaron had been given authorization by Pharaoh to lead the Israelites out of Egypt there was very little of their original belief system still remaining, and what did remain was inconsistent and flawed. It was during this journey that God, through Moses, taught them how to be Godly once again. The Israelites had also fallen into the ways and beliefs of paganism while in Egypt, for example a practice learnt from the Hittites who used blood of sacrificed animals to attract the spirits of the dead, or the Canaanites practice of cutting their hair to propitiate the spirits of the dead, all of which were common practice during Pagan rituals. So the result was rules and laws had to be put in place to protect them from bad habits and practices they may pick up from settling in a new land that they would be sharing with the Canaanites who were profoundly Ba’al worshippers.

They were also practicing other Pagan rituals such as marking their bodies in memory of the dead, which is suggestive of cultic practices. The laws listed in Leviticus were delivered by God through Moses in an attempt to crush these Pagan beliefs because the pagan rituals that the acts referred to were forbidden under Jewish law due to the idolatry that they represented. The Jews had learnt the custom of tattooing while they were in Egypt where as slaves they would have been branded with the name of a god or Pharaoh and although they had been weaned off theses practices so to speak they would all too easily relapse once again into Paganism and Ba’al worship. This was demonstrated by the Israelite nation, in that while they were waiting for Moses to return from the mountain, they made the golden calf that was used for idol worship.

On dissecting the chapter it becomes apparent that there are a number of factors that may cause the reader to dismiss this whole book, concluding that it is irrelevant to modern day Christianity. Firstly because some of the commands are difficult to understand, such as the rules regarding harvesting the corners of the fields, not eating shellfish and wearing clothing of mixed materials. Even when you try to put them in the context of the Israelites they are still confusing. The second factor pertains to commands that appear to be clearly non-applicable to modern day, for example the law in verse nineteen that outlines rules pertaining to the treatment of slaves. In today’s society where slavery has been abolished in most modern cultural societies this law should in theory be irrelevant now. Thirdly again on the face of it, there appears to be no real structure to the passage, appearing to just be a list of miscellaneous laws in no real order. But this is not the case.

The passage appears to be split up into sixteen sections outlining the various laws with each section ending in “I am the Lord” or “I am the Lord your God” indicating that the teachings came directly from God. I also believe that the chapter was set out in this particular way to also emphasise the importance of each command to the Israelites. It seems on the face of it that every law outlined that was to be actioned, in the life of the Israelites was a constant reminder of “whom they belonged to” and “whom they served”. This was because as a stubborn nation they needed constant reminding.

In the same way though, even today we also have opportunities to do likewise. For instance wearing a ‘what would Jesus do’ bracelet, or putting a fridge magnet with a bible verse on it in a prominent position allows us to remember whom we belong to. Setting up constant reminders around ourselves is good practice and is a great witness to those around us. It also demonstrates the how much God hated sin and how much of a burden sin was. In fact one so large that only the death and resurrection of Jesus could pay for it. The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus is still a powerful event that can penetrate every area of life regardless of what time period we are in. The moral laws listed in Leviticus are as relevant today as they were at the time of writing. Knowing the full context of the passage allows you to differentiate between which laws were moral codes and which were designed to cast out bad habits.

So are the rules and laws set out in the chapter still relevant today? Are the rules stated there in Leviticus actual laws to live by? The questions that needs to be asked regarding the chapter are:

Is Leviticus:

• A moral code that applies to everyone outlining the boundaries for what is right or wrong?
• Or a civil code outlining how the nation should be run?
• Or is it a Holiness or Priestly code outlining the correct way to worship.

I believe the answer is that this chapter is a mixture of all three codes, and that only by understanding the full context can you implement the book into today’s society. For instance, the laws regarding morality such as honouring your mother and father, having no idols and remembering to keep the Sabbath are as relevant now as they were then and are an important lesson to pass onto our young people as important moral values. Whereas the rules such as the ones outlined in verse twenty-eight regarding tattoos were civil code’s outlining that the nation should not revert back to pagan rituals.

So are these civil codes still relevant today? Taking Verse 28 as an example, the Levites at the time of writing were practicing pagan traditions such as marking their skin to signify each year of their life, because they believed that this was the only means possible to allow the soul to escape the body to wander the earth for an eternity. They would also cut and mark themselves on their arms, legs and face at times of bereavement as a sign of respect for those who had passed away, and as an offering to the deities who presided over the death and graves of their friends and loved ones. This combined with the act of tattooing images of different god’s on their bodies were all a part of their Pagan beliefs. By comparison tattooing in today’s society is no longer classed as solely as Pagan traditions, with many people including the younger generation using tattoos as a declaration of faith so in complete contrast to how the Israelites were using the act of tattooing. So this interpretation of this civil code can therefore be discounted. In the same way the law against cutting the sides of your hair in verse 27could in theory also be discounted depending on the reasoning behind it. If you were cutting the sides of your hair as a pagan ritual then the law would still be relevant, but getting a haircut for no reason other than wanting it cut should not be classed as displeasing to God. I have come into contact with many people who have expressed an interest in getting a tattoo for themselves and have asked my opinion on that. The trouble is many people will take Leviticus 19:28 literally resulting in them creating a negative frame of mind from the start, then when it comes to engaging with people who are considering getting a tattoo, the result is a tendency to condemn them for the act, but surely it would be far better to take the opportunity to converse with them, taking the opportunity to share the context of the passage and allow them to decide for themselves what they believe to be the right choice for them. I think the important thing to bear in mind is taking into account the laws set out in nineteen, is that anything that could endanger or damage your relationship with God can be classified as a sin, and anything you do that has the resulting action of causing others to question or effect their relationship with God is also classified as a sin.

I personally think that of the three codes that appear to be set out in the chapter, only one is relevant in today’s society. The worship or holiness code has now been surpassed due to that fact that we now have Jesus, who surpasses all former methods of worship. Jesus is now the connecting bridge between God and us. We now worship through the Son, which is obviously different to what was expected from the nations at the time of writing. Many will use this to totally discount all of the Old Testament, but we have to be mindful of the fact that Jesus himself said that he had come to fulfill the laws not to replace them. The civil codes were quite specific to the Israelites addressing cultural issues regarding Ba’al and Pagan worship, which I believe to be relevent/irrelevant in today’s society, dependant upon wether the individual is still practicing paganistic rituals, but can appreciate that many others may see these civil codes in a different way leading to much debate on the subject. In fact Leviticus 19:28 is probably the most quoted verse in the whole chapter with many referring to that particular verse in defense of their opinion towards the act of tattooing, often taking the verse completely out of context. The final moral code, on the other hand, I believe to be as relevant today as it was at the time of the Israelites, and with that in mind we can still learn a great deal from the book of Leviticus.