#185. What is the punishment for a man who lies with a menstruating women: he merely becomes impure himself OR he is “cut off” from the community? (Lev 15:24 vs Lev 20:18)

Ah, the menstruating woman… what is to be done with her? As we have already previewed (#175, #178, #183, #184), in the priestly sacred world, all bodily emissions are deemed impure—whether that be saliva, puss, urine, semen, or blood—and the “infected” individual must undergo a process of regaining his/her state of purity. In Leviticus this usually involved being quarantined off from the community for 7 days, a washing of one’s clothesRead More

#184. Who can declare an individual “pure/clean”: the Aaronid priest OR Jesus? (Lev 12-15, 18-20 vs Mark 1:21-28; Luke 4:31-37; Mark 1:40-45; Matthew 8:1-4; Luke 5:12-16, etc.)

“And the priest shall identify him/her as pure.” As previously noted (#183), the whole belief system, social organization, and worldview created by the Aaronid priests who wrote the scrolls that eventually became the book of Leviticus were intricately constructed upon categories of pure and impure, and these categories were woven into, according to this priestly guild and its god, the very fabric of the cosmos itself, of its metaphysics, at itsRead More

#183. Are certain foods impure/unclean and forbidden to eat OR not? (Lev 11; Deut 14 vs Mk 7:18-19; Rom 14:14; Acts 10:10-15)

I apologize for my rather long absence. It’s been a difficult time. But let us see if we can get back on track and finish up with the contradictions in Leviticus, and move into Numbers and Deuteronomy. In earlier posts, I discussed the sacrificial cult of the Aaronid priesthood as detailed throughout the book of Leviticus (#137-138, #148-149, #151, #152, #155, #174, #175, #178). In sum, sacrifices were necessitated (divinely decreedRead More

#181. What happens after the Tabernacle is set up and anointed: Moses anoints Aaron and his sons as Yahweh’s priests OR Israel’s tribes make dedication offerings? (Ex 40; Lev 8-9 vs Num 7)
#182. Where did Yahweh appear to the people: at Horeb/Sinai or at the Tent of Meeting? (Ex 19, 34 vs Lev 9:23-25)

That the Tabernacle and the cult are the central most important concerns to the Priestly writers is incontrovertible. Yet within this body of literature itself, there seems to be two different traditions about what transpires on the day that the Tabernacle is established. As previously noted, there is also a chronological discrepancy within the Priestly source (#170). Exodus 40:1, 40:17, Leviticus 1:1, and Numbers 7:1 indicate that all of the actionRead More

#180. Did Yahweh command Moses about sacrifices at Sinai OR from the Tent of Meeting? (Lev 7:38 vs Lev 1:1)

The book of Leviticus, although written by a single priestly guild—the Aaronides—does nonetheless exhibit editorial reworkings and insertions of texts most likely written at different periods. Two traditions seem to be intertwined in the opening chapters of Leviticus—one which acknowledges that the sacrificial law code was given at mount Sinai, and one which stipulates that it was given to Moses at the Tent of Meeting. Indeed one could argue that theRead More

#179. What is the portion due to the officiating priest: right thigh OR sholder, cheeks, and stomach? (Lev 7:32-34 vs Deut 18:3)

It’s been a while since I last posted, but this contradiction, like the previous ones, is best seen in the larger context of the differences between the Aaronid written text of Leviticus, where only descendants of Aaron are priests, and the Levite written text of Deuteronomy wherein all Levites are deemed priests. Here there seems to be a difference with respect to the meat portion allotted for the priests. In LeviticusRead More

#178. Only the pure are allowed to eat sacrificial meat OR both the pure and impure? (Lev 7:20-21 vs Deut 12:20-22)

The peace-offering is the sacrifice performed for the consumption of meat. But according to the Priestly writer’s strict ideology, any individual who has come into contact with an impurity (dead animal, corpse, bodily emission, illness, sexual taboos, or even has a tattoo, etc.) and is therefore impure himself, cannot eat of the sacrificial meat: “that person will be cut off from his people” (Lev 7:20). The Levitical scribes of Deuteronomy didRead More