Mary Douglas (Leviticus as Literature) explains the connections between the qereb, the inner parts of the animal, and the inner sanctuary of the tabernacle: “The Bible locates the emotions and thought in the innermost parts of the body; the loins are wrung with remorse or grief; the innermost part is scrutinized by God; compassion resides in the bowels. The psalmist said: ‘Truth is in the inward being’ (Psalm 74: 8). The same interiorizing movement is seen in the space of... Read more
Mary Douglas (Leviticus as Literature) explains the connections between the qereb, the inner parts of the animal, and the inner sanctuary of the tabernacle: “The Bible locates the emotions and thought in the innermost parts of the body; the loins are wrung with remorse or grief; the innermost part is scrutinized by God; compassion resides in the bowels. The psalmist said: ‘Truth is in the inward being’ (Psalm 74: 8). The same interiorizing movement is seen in the space of... Read more
The peace offering is the one offering that a worshiper eats from. It is the offering of the marriage feast. But that’s not the thing that gets emphasized in chapter 3. What gets emphasized instead is the fat. The word is used 12 times in the chapter. These are the first twelve times that the word is used in Leviticus (the word for “suet” in 1:9 is different). The repetition indicates emphasis, of course, but the twelvefold use is more... Read more
The peace offering is the one offering that a worshiper eats from. It is the offering of the marriage feast. But that’s not the thing that gets emphasized in chapter 3. What gets emphasized instead is the fat. The word is used 12 times in the chapter. These are the first twelve times that the word is used in Leviticus (the word for “suet” in 1:9 is different). The repetition indicates emphasis, of course, but the twelvefold use is more... Read more
Leviticus 1:7-9 describes the arrangement of animal parts for an ‘olah, an “ascension” offering. It’s a double or triple layering of the animal: head, suet, and entrails-and-legs; or, as a double structure with the entrails and legs set off from head and suet by the water barrier. Mary Douglas (Leviticus as Literature) has suggested analogies between the animal-stack and the tabernacle and Mount Sinai. She thinks that the entrails and legs correspond with the Most Holy Place, but I think she has it backwards.... Read more
Leviticus 1:7-9 describes the arrangement of animal parts for an ‘olah, an “ascension” offering. It’s a double or triple layering of the animal: head, suet, and entrails-and-legs; or, as a double structure with the entrails and legs set off from head and suet by the water barrier. Mary Douglas (Leviticus as Literature) has suggested analogies between the animal-stack and the tabernacle and Mount Sinai. She thinks that the entrails and legs correspond with the Most Holy Place, but I think she has it backwards.... Read more
After the flood, Noah builds an altar (mizbeach) offers ascension offerings (ya’al ‘oloth). It’s the first altar and the first ascension offering in biblical history (Genesis 8:20). Noah is the first king, the first to be given authority to shed human blood, the first to drink wine, the first to send an animal up to Yahweh as a symbol of enthronement. Every clean animal and bird is included. There is not yet a distinction between sacrificial and non-sacrificial beasts, only... Read more
After the flood, Noah builds an altar (mizbeach) offers ascension offerings (ya’al ‘oloth). It’s the first altar and the first ascension offering in biblical history (Genesis 8:20). Noah is the first king, the first to be given authority to shed human blood, the first to drink wine, the first to send an animal up to Yahweh as a symbol of enthronement. Every clean animal and bird is included. There is not yet a distinction between sacrificial and non-sacrificial beasts, only... Read more
Ancient Israelites offered the inner organs of sacrificial animals – entrails, kidneys, a portion of the liver. The heart is never mentioned. In all of the complicated sacrificial instructions of Leviticus, the word leb never appears, even once. We learn what happens to the stomach (Deuteronomy 18:3) but not the heart. This is all the odder when we realize that the heart is often associated with one of the sacrificed organs – the kidneys (kilyah). Yahweh examines heart and kidneys (Psalm... Read more
Ancient Israelites offered the inner organs of sacrificial animals – entrails, kidneys, a portion of the liver. The heart is never mentioned. In all of the complicated sacrificial instructions of Leviticus, the word leb never appears, even once. We learn what happens to the stomach (Deuteronomy 18:3) but not the heart. This is all the odder when we realize that the heart is often associated with one of the sacrificed organs – the kidneys (kilyah). Yahweh examines heart and kidneys (Psalm... Read more
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