The first 20 chapters of Leviticus lay out rules and regulations on how the people of Israel, God's chosen people, should celebrate and honor Him. It describes how to prepare different offerings for God, what to offer Him, how to prepare their food, how to sow their fields, what animals are clean and unclean for eating or touching, when and with whom the faithful shall lie with, and most specifically how they should wear their fabrics.
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"neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee."-Leviticus 19:19
That is a lot of stuff to remember and is no wonder why most of these regulations fell out of habit. The spreading of Judaism far and wide as well as well as Christian and Islamic interpretation and spreading must have contributed to the downfall to the adherence of these traditions. The scripture did not change but the significance of the scripture changed in the lives of the people of these three faiths. From the archaic practices in Leviticus one can see how the interpretation of scripture changes depending on the people using it and the time those people are in. The guide to sacrifice and purity did not leave Leviticus but different populations concern for ritual purity changed over history.
An example of how rituals change is most evident in the Roman Catholic tradition. Where one is ritually pure after absolving your sins in a confession with a priest and receiving holy communion, the body and blood of Christ. Leviticus tells us we cannot drink animal blood; this restriction is nicely explained in Back to the Sources Reading the Classic Jewish Texts, by Barry W. Holtz, because blood is the paramount symbol of life and according to the Israelites life is supreme and cannot be treated as commodity. So why is it that the wine of communion symbolizes the blood of Christ when clearly animal blood is not to be eaten and humans are animals. Perhaps the perception of humans as animals did not exist when this tradition was formulated as the symbol of Christianity, and thus the restriction presented in Leviticus would have no bearing on this new tradition of ritual cleansing. This tradition is the reason for attending church and connects the faithful to Jesus the son of God by mimicking his actions at the last super. This example shows how the rituals connected to animal slaughtering, ritual purification and cleanliness changes in the lives of the faithful.
Popeyes interpretation of Leviticus...
I was wondering the same thing about these many traditions laid out in Leviticus. Since most of these traditions have fallen out of favor, why is the text still considered so sacred as well as meaningful? If much of these teachings seem to have become antiquated and forgotten, what’s the point of continuing them?
ReplyDeleteThey haven't entirely fallen out of favor, Matt or "habit," Serafina. It's more that the practice of large scale public animal (and vegetable) sacrifices have fallen out of favor, but not the _language_ of sacrifice or its symbolism. We still worship God or "the gods" through eating, and make "offerings" or donations and prayers all using the language and symbolism of sacrifice, and the kosher laws that many Jews including me) still observe have their roots in the Biblical system of sacrifices. Moreover, who's to say barbecue rituals are a kind of secular form of sacrifice. Plus, some indigenous religions, Islam, and Santeria among others still do animal sacrifices in some form. To assume that they're some sort of primitive rite that most of humanity has grown out of reflects the dominant anti-materialist bias in the study and practice of religion Vasquez called attention to in your readings for Religion senior Seminar.
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