Leviticus, Leviticus

In this view, Leviticus is about the outworking of God's covenant with Israel, set out in Genesis and Exodus - what is seen in the Torah as the consequences of entering into a special relationship with God. These consequences are spelt out in terms of community relationships and behaviour.

According to the documentary hypothesis, Leviticus derives almost entirely from the priestly source (P), marked by emphasis on priestly concerns, composed c 550-400 BC, and incorporated into the Torah c 400 BC.

Since Julius Wellhausen formulated the documentary hypothesis in the late 19th century, H. G. Mitchell, "Ezekiel and Leviticus" The Hebrew Student 2 5 - 6 (1983): 159 - 160 biblical scholars have regarded Leviticus as being almost entirely a product of the priestly source, originating amongst the Aaronid priesthood c 550-400 BC. Leviticus consists of several layers of laws. The base of this accretion is the Holiness Code, regarded as an early independent document with a faint relationship with the Covenant Code presented earlier in the bible.

A possible reason may be that, of all the books of the Torah, Leviticus is the closest to being purely devoted to mitzvot and its study thus is able to go hand-in-hand with their performance.

Most Christians consider 1 Corinthians 10:23-26, in which Paul directs followers to "eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience", to exempt them from following the dietary laws set forth in Leviticus.

The Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, not only obey the dietary restrictions but also understand Leviticus 17:10 as banning blood transfusions from person to person. Erhard S. Gerstenberger, Leviticus: A Commentary . Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press (2005): 244. "They reject not only the consumption of animal blood, but also any blood transfusion from person to person. In their opinion, one life may not be mixed with another, and for this reason a transfusion of the blood of another person allegedly cannot save an ill person, but rather can only affect that person in a deleterious fashion." (See Jehovah's Witnesses and blood transfusions).

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