Information for the Book of
Leviticus
Significant sections:
I. AUTHOR--MOSES: Particular internal evidence argues that
Moses was the author of most of Deuteronomy. There was also
an editor who concluded the book after Moses' death
A. Moses was the author of most of Deuteronomy:
1. These are the words Moses spoke at the Transjordan
(1:1-5) across from the Jordan in the valley
opposite Beth-peor in the land of Sihon (4:44-49),
in the land of Moab (29:1)
2. "Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel
... I am 121 years old ... no longer able to come
and go ..." and not allowed to cross the Jordan
(31:1-2)
3. 40 years after what should have been an 11 day
journey Moses spoke to the children of Israel
according to all that YHWH had commanded him to
give to them 1:2-3
4. Moses says, "The LORD our God" 1:6
5. All throughout chapters 1-4 Moses refers to
himself as among the people: "we" (1:19; 2:1,8;
3:1,4,6,7,12), "I and you"
(1:9,13,15,16,20,24,29,43;
3:13,15,16,18,19,20,21,23; 4:1,2,5,8ff; 5:5; 6:2;
8:1,19; 9:9,15-21,25-26; 10:2-3,5,10; 12:32;
13:18; 30:15,18,19; 31:2 ),
"me"(1:14,17,22,23,37,41,42; 2:1,9 17; 3:2; 4:5;
6:1; 10:11; 18:15 ), "our" (1:6,19,20,25; 3:3;
5:2,3; 9:10), "us" (1:20,25; 3:1; 5:2), to this
day (8:18)
B. Someone beyond Moses concluded the book of Deuteronomy:
1. The parenthetical discussion of the need for
Israel not to take the land The Lord has given to
another just as the nation will take the land of
thier possession is presented in the past tense
indicating that it was written after Israel had
already taken the land and thus after Moses died:
"just as Israel did to the land of their
possession which the LORD gave to them" (2:10-12)
2. "As it is to this day" (3:14) seems to imply a
later editor.
3. The settings are written from a 3rd person
perspective "this is the ... which Moses ...."
(1:1-5; 4:41-43,44--5:1a; 27:1; 29:1; 31:1,30;
32:48; 33:1). This could have been done by Moses
as well as an "editor."
4. The final chapter is written in the the 3rd person
(except for 34:4 which is a direct discourse of
the Lord with Moses from Mt. Nebo). This could
have been added by Joshua with the Lord's words
communicated by Moses to him just before he died
or communicated by the Lord to him. However one
phrase, "since then no prophet has risen in Israel
like Moses" sounds as though it goes beyond Joshua
to a time when Israel was an established nation in
the land. Beyond that one can not be certain of
the timing of this last chapter
II. DATE: The internal record of the chronology from Egypt to
Moab is helpful in a reconstruction of the date of 1406 B.C.
(or following) for the writing of Deuteronomy:
A. The people departed from Egypt on the fifteenth day of
the first month--March/April [Nisan] 15, 1446 (Num
33:3; cf. Ex. 12:2 ,5)
B. The people reached the wilderness of Sinai on the first
day of the third month--May/June [Sivan] 1, 1446 (Ex
19:1)
C. The tabernacle was erected on the first day of the
first month of the second year--March/April [Nisan] 1,
1445 (Ex. 40:17)
D. Leviticus is given during the one month interval
immediately following the filling of the Tabernacle by
the glory of YHWH and before the people prepared to
leave Sinai for the promised land--March/April [Nisan]
1-30, 1445 (Num 1:1; cf. Ex 40:17)
E. Numbers opens with a census taken on the first day of
the second month in the second year--April/May [Iyyar
or Ziv] 1, 1445 (Num 1:1)
F. The cloud is taken up to begin to lead the people to
the promised land from the wilderness of Sinai on the
twentieth day of the second month of the second year--
April/May [Iyyar or Ziv] 20, 1445 (Num 10:11)
G. The people sin at Kadesh=Barnea (Num 13--14) and are
sentenced to wander 40 years in the wilderness (Num
14:33). Numbers covers 38 years and nine months (cf.
Num 1:1 with Deut 1:3)
H. Aaron dies on Mount Hor on the first day of the fifth
month in the fortieth year--July/August [Ab] 1, 1406
(Num 33:38)
I. Deuteronomy opens on the Transjordan on the first day
or the eleventh month of the fortieth year after what
should have been an eleven day journey--
January/February [Shebat] 1, 1406 (Deut 1:1-3
J. Therefore, a more precise date for the giving of the
book of Deuteronomy would be January or February 1,
1406 B.C.
III. AUDIENCE: The Audience was all of Israel
All
Israel
Across the
Hordan
in the
wilderness
in the Arabah
opposite Suph
between Paran and Tophel and
Leban and Hazeroth and
Dizahab 1:1
A. 40 years after what should have been and 11 day journey
Moses spoke to the children of Israel 1:2-3
B. Chapters 1-3 describe historical Israel from the
Exodus to their time at the Transjordan.
C. Chapter 4 is a charge to Israel (4:1) at Beth-peor
(3:29)
D. The nation is charged outside of the land (7:1)
E. Chapter 5 is a summons to Israel across form Beth-peor
(4:44-49; 5:1a)
F. The nation is about to cross the Jordan to possess the
land (11:31)
G. The nation is about to disposses the nations from the
land (12:2)
H. The nation has not yet come to the resting place and
the inheritance which the Lord is giving them (12:9)
I. The nation is told what to do "when you enter the land"
(17:14; 18:9)
J. God has not yet cut off the nations or had Israel
dispossess the nations and settle in their houses
(19:1)
K. Israel is told "when you enter the land" implying that
they are yet outside of it (26:1)
L. Israel is spoken to about the "day when you cross the
Jordan to the land" (27:2,4,12
M. The sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab
thirty days (34:8)
IV. INSTRUCTION / DESIGN:
A. rab in the piel has the sense of "making clear,
distinct, explaning or expounding (cf. Hab. 22; Deut.
27:8 cf. BDB, p. 91) This is what Moses was doing with
the Law which they had.
B. The purpose of Moses' exhortation is so that the nation
might live, possess the land, and obey God (4:1-2; 6:3,
17-19, 24-25; 8:1; 10:12--11:32)
C. Moses warns the nation so that they might not be judged
but blessed by the Lord in the land (6:15-19, 24-25;
7:4, 9-16; 15:4-6,10)
V. THE INTERNAL COMPONENT: GENRE (narrative, covenant, etc.)
A. Parenthetical discriptions are given to explain
Israel's actions (2:10-12, 20-23; 3:9-11; 21:23)
B. Historical setting 1:1-5; 3:29; 4:44--5:1a
C. A recounting of History with respect to Israel's
wanderings 1:6--3:28
D. Story or recounting of the event is employed (1:19-46;
2:1,8,13b,24-25, 26-30, 32--3:1,3-8,12-22,23,26,29;
4:41-43; 5:22-23, 28a)
E. Dialogue (or direct discourse) is employed (1:6-8, 9-
14, 16-18, 20-22, 27-31, 35-43; 2:2-7,9,13a,18-19,31;
3:2, 24-25, 26-28; 4:1-40; 5:1-5, 6-21, 24-27, 28b-31;
32-33)
F. A listing of commands -- legal literature (NB -- many
of these sections begin with an introduction concerning
"the statutes," or "commandments")
1. 10 commandments 5:6-21
2. To Love God 6:1-25
3. To destroy the nations 7:1-26
4. To remember their historical relationship with the
Lord (8--11)(This is developed through the
retelling the story of history with direct
discours from Moses and God to heighten its
effect. There is also a historical)
5. To not copy the practice of those in the land
whose places of worship Israel is to destroy but
to worship at a central location which the Lord
will reveal (12)
6. To destroy anyone who would attempt to lead the
nation away from YHWH to any false gods (13)
7. To separate themeselves from those in the land in
how they mourn for the dead and eat their food
(14:1-21)
8. To tithe of their produce each year before the
Lord except for every 3rd year where it goes to
the Levite in their city (14:22-29)
9. To remit all debt at the end of the seventh year
for those of Israel for the Lord to bless them
(15:1-18)
10. The first born are to be consecrated and then
offered in a sarifical meal before the Lord except
for those with defect (15:19-23)
11. Three times a year all of Israel's men are to
appear before the Lord with an offering: the
Feasts of: Unleavened bread, Weeks, and Booths
(16:1-17)
12. Israel is to appoint judges who rule uprightly and
execute the judgements of God in order to purge
the evil from the land (16:18--17:13)
13. Israel's king is to be appointed by God from among
the people andto not multiply horses, wives or
silver and gold, but is to obey the Lord for
continuity of his reign in the generations to come
(17:14-20)
14. The Levitical priests from the whole tribe of Levi
shall have no portion of the inheritance of the
land with Israel but shall be specifically
provided for, in addition to any of their own
assets, through the offerings to the Lord since He
is their inheritance (18:1-8)
15. When Israel enters into the land, the Lord does
not permit them to imitate the detestable
spiritual practices of the nations: child
sacrifices, divination, whtchcraft, interpreting
omens or sorcery, casting spells, or acting as a
medium or spiritist by calling up the dead so that
they will not be driven out of the land as the
nations before them are are being driven (18:9-14)
16. The Lord will raise up a prophet like Moses to
speak as a mediator between the people and the
Lord, as the people requested of Moses, bringing
judgement from the Lord upon all of those who do
not listen to him (18:15-19)
This is
developed by:
affirmation (18:15)
The recounting of the story of
history (16-19)
direct discourse (16-19)
17. Any "prophet" who speaks for another god or who
says that he speaks for the Lord but is proven to
be false since his words do not come true is to be
killed by the people (18:20-22)
18. Israel is to prepare at least three and upto six
cities of refuge (under God's blessing) so that
the nation might protect the unintentional
manslayer from an angry advenger but not to
protect the premeditated manslayer who must be
brought before his advenger so that the Lord will
continue to bless the land (19:1-13)
19. Israel is not to move his neighbor's boundary mark
from here the ancestors placed it to mark off the
inheritence of the Lord (19:14)
20. A matter against a man is never confirmed on the
witness of one person but on the evidence of two
or three witness with false witnesses receiving
the punishment they intended for their brother so
as to purge the evil from the land and to be a
deterent to others (19:15-21)
21. When Israel comes to battle against powerful
enemies they are to realize that it is the Lord
who is fighting for them, send home those who have
unfinished beginnings in the land and to either
wage a measured attack on distant cities or an
unmeasured destruction on those peoples near to
them (20:1-20)(This unit contains: commands (1-
20)which are often expressed through direct
discourse (20:3-4,5-9)
22. In the event of an undetected homicide in the open
country, the elders of the nearst city had to make
atonement by breaking the neck of a heifer and
then confessing their innocence before the priests
above the dead heifer whereupon God would remove
the bloodguiltness from upon the people (21:1-9)
23. Command with direct discourse by the elders (21:7-
8)
24. Laws concerning the family are expounded: marring
a captive woman, blessing the first born of an
unloved wife and stoning a rebellous son (21:10-
21)
25. Laws concerning community life in the land are
given: buryial of a crimminal, responsibility
toward neighbors, dress, animal life, building
codes, purity rather than mixture in all of life,
men who rape women, and children with stepmothers
(21:22--22:30)
26. Laws concerning congregational life are given:
whom to allow into the assembly, what to do with
bodily funcitons, how to deal with runaway slaves,
not to seek furtility from pagan gods (23:1-18)
27. Laws concerning the weak are given: charging
interest, vows, eating when hungry, divorce,
marriage taking pledges, kidnapers, leprosy,
paying wages, responsibility for sin, widows,
orphans and aliens, punishment of the wicked,
leverite marrage, talionic justice, measuring
weights, dealing with the ruthless Amalekites
(23:19--25:19)
28. When Israel enters the land they are to offer the
first fruits to the Lord at the place where He
chooses to dwell declaring the Lord's faithfulness
to him and on the third year he is to give it to
the Levite, stranger, orphan, and stranger in his
city asking for the Lord's blessing in obedience
(26:1-15)
Legal perscription (26:1-3a,4-5a,10b-11,12-
13a)
Story/direct discourse (26:3b,5b-10a,13b-15)
29. In a summary charge the Lord commands Israel to do
all of the statutes and ordinances given with all
of their heart and soul since they are in covenant
relationship with Him so that in their obedience
He may exalt the them as a people seperated unto
Him (26:16-19)
30. Moses, the elders, and the Levites, exhort Israel
to keep all of the commndments of the Lord and to
proclaim them to the nation by writing the curses
on Mt. Ebal where an alter and sacrifice are also
to be placed and by writting the blessings on Mt.
Gerizim by proclaiming them from each mountain as
they cross the Jordan to the people (27:1-26)
Narrative (27:1a; 9a, 11)
Commands/direct discourse (27:1b-8, 9b-10,
12-26
31. The Lord promises to either bless or curse Israel
in the land according to whether or not she
follows Him in deligent obedience (28:1-68)
32. Moses renews the covenant with Israel at Moab by
reviewing their historical relationship with the
Lord, presenting it before those present and a
future generation, telling of a future time when
the nation will remember this covenant and be
restored to its blessing, reminding them that
these words are reachable so that they might obey
the Lord, and reminding them that disobedience
will bring about judgement from the Lord so they
should choose obedience and life (29--30)
Narrative (29:1-2a)
The story of history (29:2b-8)
Legal exhortation (29:9--30)
Prophetic exhortation (29:16-28; 30:1-10
G. In a recounting of final charges Moses encouraged the
Nation and Joshua to not fear but enter to take the
Land, he gave the completed Law to be read to the
nation each Year of Remission before the Lord, he was
told by the Lord to write a song as a witness against
the nation when Joshua was commissioned by the Lord,
and he had the Law placed by the ark of the covenant as
a witness against the nation (31:1-27)
H. Gathering all of Israel together to procliam one last
time the need for obedience on their behalf for there
to be blessing, Moses proclaims in his song the Lord's
magnivicant character which Israel will rebell against,
and thus suffer judgment under the hand of the nations
and then be delivered after they realized that the Lord
alone is God (31:28--32:47)
Direct discourse (31:28-29; 32:46-47)
Narration (31:30, 44-45)
Poetry (32:1-43)
I. Before Moses goes to Mt. Nebo to see the land which he
may not enter due to his sin and then to be gathered to
his people in death, He prophetically blesses the
nation tribe by tribe (32:48--33:29)
narration (32:48a; 33:1)
direct discourse (32:49-52)
J. As the last days of Moses came, he was shown the land
from Mt. Nebo by the Lord, died and was buried in the
plains of Moab according to the word of the Lord,
mourned over by Israel, replaced in leadership by
Joshua, but not replaced in Israel as a supreme prophet
before the Lord (34:1-12)
Narration/story (34:1-3,5-12)
direct discourse (34:4)
VI.
Purposes of Deuteronomy:
A. THE PERMISSION OF EVIL
1. YHWH does permit the nation to grumble at Kadesh-
barnea (1:26-33)
2. YHWH does permit the defeat of his rebellious
people in the land (1:44)
B. THE JUDGMENT OF EVIL
1. The nation receives the Judgment of God for not
taking the land as commanded: the men and Moses
will not see the Land (1:34-40)
2. The nation is defeat by the Amorites when they go
to take the land against the command of YHWH (1:41-
44)
3. YHWH does not hear the nation's grief in their sin
(1:45)
4. YHWH commands that the nation goes into wandering
for 40 years 2:1
5. The Lord does warn the nation of judgment for
rebellion against their covenant (4:1-40)
6. YHWH Elohim will judge his people if they disobey
his law (5:8-10, 11,
C. THE DELIVERANCE OF THE ELECT
1. Promise is given by YHWH that even though Moses
and the men of the exodus will not see the land,
Caleb, Joshua and the nation's sons will see and
inherit the land (1:34-40)
2. YHWH commands the nation to go back toward the
Land after 40 years (2:3 cf. vs. 7)
3. Moses recounts the statutes and judgments in order
that the nation may live and possess the land
(sounds contingent) (4:1)
4. The Lord does promise to deliver his people from
judgment if (when) they turn again to him and
listen to Him (4:29-31)
D. THE BLESSING OF THE REDEEMED
1. YHWH intends to bless his people with the
possesion of the Land (1:6-8a)
2. YHWH Elohim intends to bless His people if they
will obey the Law (5:29, 32-33 "note under
administration 'Mosic covenant'")