Pentateuch - Encyclopedia Volume - Catholic Encyclopedia - Catholic Online

Leviticus's instructions for animal offerings have not been observed by Jews or Christians since the first century AD. Because of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD, Jewish worship has focused on prayer and the study of Torah. Nevertheless, Leviticus constitutes a major source of Jewish law and is traditionally the first book taught to children in the Rabbinic system of education. There are two main Midrashim on Leviticus—the halakhic one Sifra and a more aggadic one Vayikra Rabbah.

The New Testament , particularly the Epistle to the Hebrews , uses ideas and images from Leviticus to describe Christ as the high priest who offers his own blood as a sin offering. Christians generally have the view that the New Covenant supersedes i.

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Christians therefore have usually not observed Leviticus' rules regarding diet, purity, and agriculture. Christian teachings have differed, however, as to where to draw the line between ritual and moral regulations. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.


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For the Christian metal band, see Leviticus band. For 24th weekly parsha, see Vayikra parsha. Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy. Jewish Study Bible 2 Rev ed. Retrieved 6 April Books of the Bible. Retrieved from " https: Wikipedia indefinitely move-protected pages Articles containing Hebrew-language text Articles with LibriVox links. Views Read Edit View history. The Greek name pentateuchos , implying a division of the law into five parts, occurs for the first time about A.

An earlier occurrence of the name was supposed to exist in a passage of Hippolytus where the Psalter is called kai auto allon pentateuchon cf. The name is used again by Origen Comment.

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In Latin, Tertullian uses the masculine form Pentateuchus Adv. Isidore of Seville prefers the neuter Pentateuchum Etym. The analogous forms Octateuch, Heptateuch, and Hexateuch have been used to refer to the first, eight, seven, and six books of the Bible respectively. The Rabbinic writers adopted the expression "the five-fifths of the law " or simply "the five-fifths" to denote the five books of the Pentateuch. Both the Palestinian and the Alexandrian Jews had distinct names for each of the five books of the Pentateuch.

In Palestine, the opening words of the several books served as their titles; hence we have the names: Though these were the ordinary Hebrew titles of the successive Pentateuchal books, certain Rabbinic writers denote the last three according to their contents; they called the third book torath kohanim , or law of priests ; the fourth, homesh happiqqudhim , or book of census ; the fifth, mishneh thorah , or repetition of the law.

The Alexandrian Jews derived their Greek names of the five books from the contents of either the whole or the beginning of each division. Thus the first book is called Genesis kosmou or simply Genesis ; the second, Exodus Aigyptou or Exodus ; the third, Leueitikon ; the fourth, Arithmoi ; and the fifth, Deuteronomion.

Pentateuch

These names passed from the Septuagint into the Latin Vulgate, and from this into most of the translations of the Vulgate. Arithmoi however was replaced by the Latin equivalent Numeri, while the other names retained their form. The contents of the Pentateuch are partly of an historical, partly of a legal character. They give us the history of the Chosen People from the creation of the world to the death of Moses, and acquaint us too with the civil and religious legislation of the Israelites during the life of their great lawgiver.

Genesis may be considered as the introduction to the other four books; it contains the early history down to the preparation of Israel's exit form Egypt. Deuteronomy, consisting mainly of discourses, is practically a summary repetition of the Mosaic legislation, and concludes also the history of the people under the leadership of Moses.


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The three intervening books consider the wanderings of Israel in the desert and the successive legal enactments. Each of these three great divisions has its own special introduction Genesis 1: The Book of Genesis prepares the reader for the Pentateuchal legislation; it tells us how God chose a particular family to keep His Revelation, and how He trained the Chosen People to fulfil its mission.

From the nature of its contents the book consists of two rather unequal parts; cc.

By a literary device, each of these parts is subdivided into five sections differing in length. The sections are introduced by the phrase elleh tholedhoth these are the generations or its variant zeh sepher toledhoth this is the book of the generations. As early Oriental history usually begins with genealogical records, and consists to a large extend of such records, one naturally interprets the above introductory formula and its variant as meaning, "this is the history" or "this is the book of the history. Moreover, the introductory formula often refers back to some principal feature of the preceding section, thus forming a transition and connection between the successive parts.

Finally, the sacred writer deals very briefly with the non-chosen families or tribes, and he always considers them before the chosen branch of the family. Bearing in mind these general outlines of the contents and the literary structure of Genesis, we shall easily understand the following analytical table. After the death of Joseph, Israel had grown into a people, and its history deals no longer with mere genealogies, but with the people's national and religious development. The various laws are given and promulgated as occasion required them; hence they are intimately connected with the history of the people, and the Pentateuchal books in which they are recorded are rightly numbered among the historical books of Scripture.

Only the third book of the Pentateuch exhibits rather the features of a legal code. The Book of Exodus consists of a brief introduction and three main parts:. Leviticus, called by Rabbinic writers "Law of the Priests " or "Law of the Sacrifices ", contains nearly a complete collection of laws concerning the Levitical ministry. They are not codified in any logical order, but still we may discern certain groups of regulations touching the same subject. The Book of Exodus shows what God had done and was doing for His people; the Book of Leviticus prescribes what the people must do for God, and how they must render themselves worthy of His constant presence.


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Numbers, at times called "In the Desert " by certain Rabbinic writers because it covers practically the whole time of Israel's wanderings in the desert. Their story was begun in Exodus, but interrupted by the Sinaitic legislation; Numbers takes up the account from the first month of the second year, and brings it down to the eleventh month of the fortieth year. But the period of 38 years is briefly treated, only its beginning and end being touched upon; for this span of time was occupied by the generation of Israelites that had been condemned by God.

Deuteronomy is a partial repetition and explanation of the foregoing legislation together with an urgent exhortation to be faithful to it. The main body of the book consists of three discourses delivered by Moses to the people in the eleventh month of the fortieth year; but the discourses are precede by a short introduction, and they are followed by several appendices. The contents of the Pentateuch furnish the basis for the history, the law, the worship, and the life of the Chosen People of God. The following list organizes most of the laws into thematic groups:.

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The prophet Isaiah , active in Jerusalem about a century before Josiah , makes no mention of the Exodus , covenants with God, or disobedience to God's laws; in contrast Isaiah's contemporary Hosea , active in the northern kingdom of Israel , makes frequent reference to the Exodus, the wilderness wanderings, a covenant, the danger of foreign gods and the need to worship Yahweh alone; this has led scholars to the view that these traditions behind Deuteronomy have a northern origin.

Deuteronomy occupies a puzzling position in the Bible, linking the story of the Israelites' wanderings in the wilderness to the story of their history in Canaan without quite belonging totally to either. The wilderness story could end quite easily with Numbers, and the story of Joshua's conquests could exist without it, at least at the level of the plot; but in both cases there would be a thematic theological element missing.

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Scholars have given various answers to the problem. The Deuteronomistic history theory is currently the most popular Deuteronomy was originally just the law code and covenant, written to cement the religious reforms of Josiah, and later expanded to stand as the introduction to the full history ; but there is an older theory which sees Deuteronomy as belonging to Numbers, and Joshua as a sort of supplement to it.

This idea still has supporters, but the mainstream understanding is that Deuteronomy, after becoming the introduction to the history, was later detached from it and included with Genesis-Exodus-Leviticus-Numbers because it already had Moses as its central character. According to this hypothesis, the death of Moses was originally the ending of Numbers, and was simply moved from there to the end of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy stresses the uniqueness of God, the need for drastic centralisation of worship, and a concern for the position of the poor and disadvantaged.

The themes of Deuteronomy in relation to Israel are election, faithfulness, obedience, and God's promise of blessings, all expressed through the covenant: Deuteronomy's concept of God changed over time. The earliest 7th century layer is monolatrous , not denying the reality of other gods but enforcing the worship of Yahweh in Jerusalem alone. In the later, Exilic layers from the mid-6th century, especially chapter 4, this becomes monotheism , the idea that only one god exists. After the review of Israel's history in chapters 1 to 4, there is a restatement of the Ten Commandments in chapter 5.

This arrangement of material highlights God's sovereign relationship with Israel prior to the giving of establishment of the Law.