Next (chapters 17–26) comes what has been designated the “Holiness Code,” or “Law of Holiness,” which scholars regard as a separate, distinctive unit within the P material (designated H). It calls upon the people to be holy as God is holy by carrying out his laws, both ritual and moral, and by avoiding the polluting practices of neighbouring peoples; and it proceeds to lay down laws, interspersed with exhortations, to attain this special holiness. Although many scholars tend to date its compilation in the exilic period, some see evidence that it was compiled in pre-exilic times; in any case, the consensus is that the laws themselves come from a much earlier time.

These—a most miscellaneous collection—begin with injunctions on the proper (kosher) slaughtering of animals for meat; go on to a list of precepts against outlawed sexual relations (incest, homosexuality) and an injunction against defiling the (holy) land; proceed to a list of ethical injunctions, including the law of love and kindness to resident aliens, all interspersed with agronomic instructions and warnings against witchcraft; and then, after an injunction against sacrificing children, return to the listing of illicit sexual relations and the warning that the land will spew the people out if they do not obey the divine norms and laws. There follow special requirements for preserving the special holiness of priests and assuring that only unblemished animals will be used in sacrifices; instructions on the observance of the holy days—the sabbath, feasts, and festivals; commands on the proper making of oil for the holy lamp in the Tent of Meeting and of the sacred shewbread, to which are appended the penalties for blasphemy and other crimes; and finally, rules for observance of the sabbatical (seventh) and jubilee (50th) years, in which the land is to lie fallow, followed by rules on the redemption of land and the treatment of poor debtors and Hebrew slaves.

This miscellany, presented in chapters 17–25, is followed by a final exhortation, in chapter 26, promising the people that if they follow these laws and precepts all will go well with them but warning that if they fail to do so all kinds of evil will befall them, including exile and the desolation of the Promised Land. Yet, if they confess their iniquity and atone for it, God will not destroy them utterly but will remember his Covenant with their forebears. Such a passage points to a later time but not necessarily to the exilic period, as some commentators have assumed. The chapter concludes: “These are the statutes and ordinances and laws which the Lord made between him and the people of Israel on Mt. Sinai by Moses,” connecting these precepts with the primal revelation in Exodus.

Commutation of vows and tithes

In the final chapter of Leviticus (27), the P material is resumed with a presentation of the rules for the commutation of votive gifts and tithes. It provides for the release from vows (of offerings of persons, animals, or lands to God) through specified money payments. Some commentators understand the vow to offer persons to refer originally to human sacrifice, others as pledging their liturgical employment in the sanctuary. Special provisions are made for the poor to relieve them from the stipulated payments. Only grain and fruit tithes, not animal tithes, are redeemable. This chapter and the book of Leviticus end, like chapter 26, with the verse, “These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai.”

The conclusion of the Sinai sojourn

The book opens with a command from God to Moses, early in the second year after the Exodus, to take a census of the arms-bearing men over 20 in each of the clans of Israel. Moses and Aaron, aided by the clan chiefs, take the count, clan by clan, and reach a total of 603,550 men—according to critical scholars, an unbelievably large total for the time and conditions. The Levites, to whom is entrusted the care of the Tabernacle and its equipment, are exempted from this secular census and are counted in a later census, of males one month and over, along with a census of firstborn males from other tribes. The Lord had required that the latter be consecrated to him when he slew all the firstborn of the Egyptians but spared those of the Israelites; now the bulk of them were released by the Levites being taken in their stead to minister to the priests, while for the excess of firstborn over Levites “redemption” payments were collected. A further census of men 30–50 years old is taken among the Levite clans, so as to assign them their various duties, which are here stipulated. Also specified are the positions of the tribes (separated into four divisions of three tribes each) in the camp and on the march, with an assignment of specific portions of the Tabernacle and its equipment to be carried by the Levite clans. YHWH is to give the signal to break camp by lifting the cloud by day or the fire by night from above the Tabernacle and then to advance it in the direction the people are to march. YHWH’s signal is to be followed by a blast by the priests (Aaron’s sons) on two specially made silver trumpets.

The above directions are set forth in chapters 1–4 and 9–10 (through verse 10). There are intervening chapters containing various materials: expelling leprous or other unclean persons from the camp, the ordeal for a woman suspected of adultery, regulations for Nazirites (those who take special ascetic vows), the offerings brought at the dedication of the Tabernacle, and the purification of the Levites preparatory to taking up their special sacred functions. The priestly emphasis of the materials in chapters 1–10 is evident, and it is also clear that there are various strands of priestly interpretation involved.