BIBLIOTHECA SACRA 159
(October-December 2002): 415-24.
Copyright © 2002 Dallas Theological
Seminary. Cited with permission.
THE PLACE OF
CHAPTER 24
IN THE STRUCTURE OF
THE BOOK
OF LEVITICUS
John R. Master
EVEN
A CASUAL READING OF THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS reveals
evidence of structure in the book. The sacrifices
recorded in
chapters 1:1-6:7, for instance, are arranged from
the most
costly to the least costly. Chapters 11-15 deal with
the clean and
the unclean; and some have called Leviticus 17-26
the "holiness
code."
STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK
Scholars
have proposed a number of possible patterns to explain
the overall structure of the book. Warning has
outlined the book
according to "the divine speeches."l Hartley argues that Leviticus
is part of a larger block of material extending
from Exodus 25:1 to
Numbers
10:10,2 and he views the divine speeches in
Leviticus as
structural indicators. He divides the book into six
divisions. "The
divisions are logically ordered. Each one must
necessarily follow
the preceding one, for material in the preceding division
is critical
for a proper understanding of the section at
hand."3
"When
the literary conventions of Leviticus are examined, we find
an overarching structure that bears an extremely
cerebral, closely
argued theological statement based on a series of
expanded analo-
John
R. Master is Professor of Biblical Education, Philadelphia Biblical University,
1 Wilfried
Warning, Literary Artistry in Leviticus
(Boston: Brill, 1999), 37-63.
2 John E. Hartley, Leviticus, Word Biblical Commentary
(Dallas, TX: Word, 1992),
xxx.
3 Ibid.,
xxxiv.
416
BIBLIOTHECA SACRA / October-December
2002
gies. In this structure
impurity ... is clearly subordinate to the
positive view of the theistic universe against
which it is balanced.
The
central place in the teaching is given to righteousness; impu-
rity is the foil for
displaying the meaning of righteousness. More
than a literary foil, it is a statement about the
nature of existence
in a sacramental universe, a religious
ontology."4
PROBLEMS WITH LEVITICUS
24
Throughout
these attempts to account for structure, however,
scholars have struggled to understand how
Leviticus 24 relates to
the material before and after it. In the late
nineteenth century
Kellogg
noted the following:
It is not easy to determine with
confidence the association of thought
which
occasioned the interposition of this chapter, with its somewhat
disconnected
contents, between chap. xxiii, on the set times of holy
convocation,
and chap. xxv, on the sabbatic and jubilee years,
which
latter
would seem most naturally to have followed the former imme-
diately, as related to the same subject of sacred
times. Perhaps the
best
explanation of the connection with the previous chapter is that
which finds
it in reference to the olive oil for the lamps and the meal
for the shew-bread. The feast of tabernacles, directions for which
has
just been
given, celebrated ingathering of the harvest of the year,
both of
grain and fruit; and here
a certain
portion of each.5
More recent commentators have
continued to note the same
problem. Hartley wonders why the topics in
chapter 24 have been
placed together. "It is difficult to account for
the location of these
instructions and laws within the
context of the laws of holy living.
They
come between a ritual calendar (chap. 23) and the regulations
for the sabbatical year and the year of Jubilee
(chap. 25), but this
chapter has little to do with the calendric concerns save that the
ritualistic practices were done on a regular
basis."6
Calling Leviticus 24
"miscellaneous,"7 Fox makes these
obser-
vations:
4 Mary Douglas,
"Poetic Structure in Leviticus," in Pomegranates and Golden
Bells, ed. David P. Wright,
David Noel Freedman, and Avi Hurvitz
(
IN: Eisenbrauns,
1995), 255.
5 S. H. Kellogg, The Book of Leviticus (New York: A. C. Armstrong
and Son, 1891),
474.
6 Hartley, Leviticus, 396.
7 The Five Books of Moses, trans.
602).
The
Place of Chapter 24 in the Structure of the Book of Leviticus 417
Two issues, unrelated to what has
gone before, are treated here: cer-
tain ritual objects in the Dwelling (oil lamps and
"showbred"), and the
story of a
man who insulted God and therefore had to be executed
(along with
further rules about capital crimes). The function of this
chapter is
not clear; perhaps it serves as a breather between the im-
portant sections on sacred days (23) and land tenure
(25). It is possi-
ble (as Levine notes) that chapters such as this one
and Num. 15
serve as a
repository for various cultic laws that needed a location.
There are two other places in the
Torah where a brief passage on the
lights in
the sanctuary may originally have served to separate sec-
tions: the end of Ex. 27 and the beginning of Num. 8.
If so, that func-
tion no longer is as major as it once might have
been.8
Gerstenberger highlights the problem
this way:
The diverse materials in Leviticus
24 ostensibly have nothing to do
with the
festival calendar. Some person appended them either be-
cause the
scroll came to an end here, or because for some reason un-
known to us
he found it necessary to mention the "eternal light" in
the temple
and the perpetually fresh divine loaves kept there. The
regular
sacrifices, those not dictated by the festival ritual, are, ac-
cording to Numbers
28f., not to be forgotten either. The uninterrupted
light and
the perpetually present bread are to be observed in addition
to the
holiday events themselves. This section regarding blasphemers,
along with
the expansion (vv. 10-23), is even further removed from
the
liturgical order. It deviates from its surroundings formally and
stylistically
as well, and might be a fortuitous insertion, prompted
possibly by
associations with the capital combinations of Leviticus 20
and 23:29f.9
For Gerstenberger
the structure of Leviticus 24 is part of a
larger problem relating to the entire book. He says
the present text
of Leviticus developed over a period of time.
"We must rather rec-
ognize that the many
successive tradents and scribes involved with
the sacred texts brought together material from
different origins,
and in this process of transmission were no longer
able to establish
an exact chronological or logical order. The Pentateuchal material
is often organized without any order at all."10 Therefore, while sug-
gestions for an overall
structure for Leviticus may not be uncom-
mon, the structure of
Leviticus 24 is problematic.
Milgrom's
recent commentary recognizes the same problem.11
"Lev
24 presents two nettling questions: the placement of this
8 Ibid.,
622.
9 Erhard S. Gerstenberger, Leviticus
(Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1996),
354-55.
10 Ibid.,
17-18.
11 Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus
23-27, Anchor Bible (
418
BIBLIOTHECA SACRA / October-December
2002
anomalous chapter, and the relationship between
its two parts, vv.
1-9
and vv. 10-23.”12
Leviticus 24 presents a problem not
only in establishing its
relationship to the preceding and
following contexts, but also in
understanding the relationship of the
material within the chapter
itself. Internally the chapter seems to address two
quite different
situations: the oil for the lampstand
(vv. 1-4) and the bread for the
table of showbread (vv. 5-9), both related to the
ministry of the
tabernacle (vv. 1-9), and then the necessity of
stoning the blas-
phemer (vv. 10-23). "Within chaps. 17-26, chap. 24 has anomalous
features."13 These elements in the
chapter do not seem to be closely
related nor do they seem to be related to the
larger context of the
so-called "holiness code" of chapters
17-26.
SOME
SUGGESTED SOLUTIONS
Warning
has attempted to solve the internal structural problem of
Leviticus
24 by examining word usage.14 He observes a pattern
re-
lated. to
Leviticus 24 based on his analysis of the author's use of
rbadA. "Lev 24 ... is
said to have ‘anomalous features’ with chaps.
17-27.
With regard to the clear structuring function of the verb
‘speak,’ it is no more anomalous than the two preceding chap-
ters."15
Warning also suggests that the
occurrence of the word "Sab-
bath" helps explain why Leviticus 24 occurs
where it does. "Once
we have recognized the notion of the ‘Sabbath’ to
be an important
thread running through Lev 23-26 one must admit that
this key-
word-occurring twice in 24:5-9-may have
prompted the ancient
author to place this pericope
here. Therefore it seems doubtful to
aver that Lev 24 is ‘arbitrarily dropped in between
chaps 23 and
25.’
On the contrary, because of the Sabbath in Lev 23 and
25-26
the present placement turns out to be the most
appropriate one."16
Also, Warning suggests a chiastic
structure for the chapter
"based on the alternation of the singular (B) and plural (A)
of the
12 Ibid.,
2081. Milgrom refers to both Warning and
ence for
13 Hartley, Leviticus, 396.
14 Warning, Literary Artistry in Leviticus, 92-98.
15 Ibid.,
66.
16 Ibid.,
94.
The
Place of Chapter 24 in the Structure of the Book of Leviticus 419
common noun Nb ‘son.’"17
These observations seem to suggest a
minute and extensive
artistic structure of the material in Leviticus
24. However, they do
not explain the order of the two sections within
the chapter or why
the chapter is placed where it is. In fact Warning
himself seems to
recognize that a micro-analysis does not provide a
sufficient ra-
tionale for the present
structure of the text when he refers to
Gane's observation of "the ascending order of
holiness in Lev
19-24."18
To simply say this is the most "appropriate"
place for the
material found in this chapter seems to fall
short of arguing why
the material is included in the first place.
of Leviticus, which has implications for the role
of chapter 24 in the
book.19
"In rereading Leviticus we shall consciously subdue our
3;
own interest in strict linear sequence in favor of a cultivated inter-
est in the links of each
part with the whole."20 She suggests that
the book has a "ring structure."21
"Ring composition is described for
17 Ibid.,
97.
18 Ibid.,
94.
19
20 Ibid.,
244.
21 Kathryn Gutzwiller provides an interesting perspective on this
question of liter-
ary structure. "Ring
composition, on the other hand, is a much earlier phenomenon.
Composing
in a ring, or with the introverted structure ABCBA, is simply a way of
organizing a unit of discourse. This unit of
discourse may or may not correspond to a
book in either the intellectual or the physical sense;
it may be smaller or larger than
a written work occupying a single roll. Ring
composition in classical texts was stud-
ied throughout the
nineteenth century and has been shown to be characteristic of
much early Greek poetry. In the epic compositions of
Homer and Hesiod, relatively
small narrative units are commonly organized in a
ring, while larger structures, like
the Iliad as a whole, have also been analyzed on
the same pattern. As a basic
method of organizing thought throughout the archaic
period (and before as well, one
assumes) ring composition apparently helped the
oral composer comprehend [the
units] in a performance setting. This form of
compositional structure continues to be
a dominant mode of organizing discourse down
through the time of Herodotus, who
often forms his larger narrative units in rings with
the moral lesson at the center, or
pivotal point. In narrating the fall of
sus' misinterpretation of
Apollo's oracles-the king's all too human mistake-at the
turning point of his ring (1.46-56).
"In the later years of the
fifth century, ring composition came to be replaced
with other forms of organization we tend to
associate with rational or logical think-
ing, such as linear,
chronological narrative of arrangement by type and subtype.
The
demise of ring composition was connected with the intellectual paradigm shift
that took place under the influence of sophistic and
Socratic thinkers, who replaced
traditional modes of thought with an emphasis on
definition and rational argument.
As
examples of the changed form of organization brought about by this intellectual
revolution, we may point to the chronological
organization of Thucydides' history by
420
BIBLIOTHECA SACRA / October-December
2002
the Greek: classics as a primitive device by which
the conclusion of
a speech returns to the main flow of the
narrative, by giving `some
verbal reminiscence of its beginning.'"22
In developing the concept of the
overall ring structure of Le-
viticus
sin offering and the guilt offering. "Chapter
24 matches with its
essay on sins the chapters on sin in the exposition
(4:5, 6:1-7)."23
However,
24:1-9 discusses the oil necessary to keep the lampstand
burning and the bread for the table of
showbread. Only the second
half of the chapter deals with sin. Also, while the
idea of sin is
found in 24:10-23 and 4:5 and 6:1-7, it is not clear
that these pas-
sages are dealing with the same kind of sin.
Leviticus 24:10-23
seems to be dealing with willful sin, at least in the
case of the blas-
phemer, whereas chapter 4 is
dealing with nonwillful sin. Leviticus
6:1-7
may also be focused on nonwillful sin, though not
everyone
agrees on this. Milgrom, for
instance, suggests this pericope is
dealing with willful sin that is confessed
before the guilty party is
discovered, thereby "converting" this
willful sin into something
nonwillful.24 The point is simply
that the parallel between chapter
24
and 4:5 and 6:1-7 is not strong.25 So, although
certainly important in dealing with the overall
structure of the
book, it does not deal in adequate detail with the
relationship of
Leviticus
24 to the rest of the book.
THE PLACE OF LEVITICUS
24
Despite
the general pessimism regarding the relationship of this
chapter to its context, some structural considerations
may help ex-
year or Aristotle's method of breaking down in
outline form the subject he is dis-
cussing. Organization by rings does later
reappear in artistically contrived poetry
books, such as Vergil's Ecologues"
("Comments on Rolf Rendtorff," in Reading Le-
viticus: A Conversation with Mary Douglas, ed. John F. A. Sawyer [
field, 1996], 38-39).
22
23 Ibid.,
250.
24 Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus
1-16, Anchor Bible (New York: Doubleday, 1991), 373.
25 Christopher R. Smith
argues that a major structural break occurs between
verses 9 and 10 of this chapter. Leviticus 24:1-9
concludes the preceding material
and 24:11-23 introduces the next section of the
book. While his view is admittedly
unique, it does point to the lack of apparent unity in
the material in this chapter
("The
Literary Structure of Leviticus," Journal
for the Study of the Old Testament
'70
[1996]: 26).
The
Place of Chapter 24 in the Structure of the Book of Leviticus 421
plain why this particular material is placed in this
location.26 Ac-
tually Leviticus 24 fits well
in the overall pattern of the book, and
the internal structure of the chapter reinforces
the argument of the
entire book.
First, it appears helpful to
recognize chapters 25 and 26 as an
independent structural unit. The expression "
reference to revelation given to Moses are found
in both Leviticus
25:1
and 26:46,27 suggesting that these two
verses may form an
inclusio. In other words this inclusio may suggest that these two
chapters are a unit independent of the preceding
material. Warn-
ing argues for the unity of
these two chapters based on the term
"the
nection between chapters 25 and
26 and the surrounding material,
but it does suggest that a thematic connection of
chapter 24 may be
found in relationship to its preceding context.
Chapters 18-23 are united in that
they deal with the kind of
people Yahweh wants to worship Him and the actual
process of
worshiping Him through celebrating the annual
feasts. Chapters
18-20
deal with the people, and chapters 21-22 deal with the
priests. The regulations mentioned in these
chapters stipulate how
the people and the priests were to conduct
themselves as examples
of holiness. Leviticus 23 discusses how the people
and priests were
to worship the Lord in the annual feasts. These
feasts are related
to the sabbath, as
indicated in 23:3. The relationship of Leviticus
24
to this material is the point at issue.
As
somehow explain, when viewed from a linear
perspective, what at
first appears to be an anomalous situation in the
text. She argues
for the integrity of chapters 18-20 with an
cus signals its turning
point by packing it on either side with two
parallel chapters, so that the turning has a
structure of
Chapter
18 is very similar to chap. 20; the main difference is that
26 Smith has suggested
this is the third narrative section of the book (24:10-23).
"The
narratives indicate or illustrate the organizing concerns of the major
divisions
they demarcate" (ibid., 24). "This desire
to account for the exile actually motivates
the selection of the short narrative (24:10-23)
that introduces this last group of law
chapters" (ibid., 25). Smith does not
directly connect the two sections of Leviticus 24.
Furthermore
he acknowledges his unique approach to the structure of the text. "It is
necessary to acknowledge that my analysis here is
apparently unique in proposing a
thematic break distinguishing the materials on
either side of Lev. 24:10--23 and
especially in uniting those that follow it"
(ibid., 26).
27 This expression also
occurs in 7:38 and 27:34.
28 Warning, Literary Artistry in Leviticus, 98-99.
422
BIBLIOTHECA SACRA / October-December
2002
the order is reversed. Chapter 18 plunges straight
into the topic of
sexual regulation and goes on to Molech,
while chap. 20 starts with
warnings against Molech
worship and goes on to sexual regulation.
In
between the pair of paralleled chapters stands a major state-
ment about the meaning of
righteousness."29
It seems even more obvious that
chapters 21-22 are a unit
since they deal with the holiness of the priesthood
and of the high
priest in particular. These five chapters (18-22)
together, then, dis-
cuss the holiness of the people and the priests,
thus covering the
holiness of all those encompassed within the
nation as God consti-
tuted it.
A key to unlocking the structure of
this section may lie in ob-
serving how Leviticus 24 relates to the pattern
seen in chapters
18-22.30 Leviticus 24:1-9 discusses two
separate but related topics.
While
verse 1 mentions the necessity for the people to provide the
appropriate oil, the emphasis is on the priests who
were responsi-
ble to keep the lamps
burning continually before the Lord. Keeping
the lamps burning is mentioned three times in these
verses. This
function is an integral part of the priestly
ministry, setting them
apart from the common people.
The second section (vv. 5-9)
discusses the priests' responsibil-
ity to place the showbread
before the Lord each week and mentions
that, when the bread was replaced by the priests,
the week-old
bread was to be eaten only by the priests and in a
holy place.
Again,
this privilege was not available to the common people, thus
marking off the special role given to the
priests by the Lord. There-
fore the regulations for the lamps and the showbread
are related to
the priestly ministry and not to the common people.
Leviticus
24:1-9
thus parallels chapters 21-22 in the suggested ring struc-
ture of Leviticus 18-2431
since both these sections deal directly
with priestly responsibility.
The fact that 24:10-23 deals with
how the people were to re-
29
30 In dealing with macro
chiasms Wayne Brouwer's discussion (based on Blom-
berg) is helpful (The Literary Development of John 13-17: A Chiastic Reading [At-
lanta:
Society of Biblical Literature, 2000], 38 45). The nine criteria for
establishing
the existence of a macro chiasm appear to be met.
31 If this suggested ring
structure for these chapters is valid, then a good argument
can be made for the central importance of the
annual cycle of feasts dealt with in
Leviticus 23. This annual cycle of
feasts would remind
present, and future provisions for His people.
This theological perspective would
provide the theological "motivation"
for a desire for holiness on the part of the entire
nation, including both people and priests.
The
Place of Chapter 24 in the Structure of the Book of Leviticus 423
spond to sin (the opposite of
holiness) is supported by the absence
of any mention of priestly involvement in
discerning the Lord's will
in dealing with blasphemers. It is difficult to
determine how sig-
nificant this might be, since
Deuteronomy 17:8-13 points to the
important role of the priests in judicial
proceeding. Perhaps the
priests are not mentioned in Leviticus 24:10-23
because of the ref-
erence to Moses. Only after
his death would the priests function in
adjudicating particularly difficult
cases. Nevertheless this portion
of Scripture does not mention priestly
involvement, even though
priests figure prominently in the opening verses
of the chapter.
Verses
10-23, dealing with sin related to the people and the neces-
sity for an appropriate
response, parallel chapters 18-20, which
also deal with the people.
Based on this analysis and the
concept of a ring structure,
chapter 24 is an essential part of Leviticus
18-24. The two major
sections of chapter 24, dealing first with the
priests (vv. 1-9) and
then with the people (vv. 10-23), provide the
textual material to
form a ring structure with chapters 17-23. This
material is textu-
ally necessary in order to create the intended
structure. Further-
more this deliberate structure is theologically
significant.
These observations lead to the
suggestion that chapters 18-24
follow an ABCB'A' pattern. Both A sections (chaps.
18-20 and
24:10-23)
focus on the people; both B sections (chaps. 21-22 and
24:1-9)
focus on the priests, and section C (Lev. 23) discusses the
annual feasts celebrated by both the people and the
priests.
As is often the case, a ring
structure may be found within
other ring structures, pointing to the carefully
crafted literary
structure of a book. Such structure gives special
significance to Le-
viticus 23. If that chapter is
the focus of this ring, what is its role in
the argument and how does it point to the overall
argument of the
book? In a section of the book dealing with holiness
for the entire
nation (chaps. 18-24), the teaching of Leviticus 23
has great sig-
nificance. An understanding of
the message of Leviticus 23 in the
larger chiastic structure suggested above does provide
a reason this
material was included in the book and at this
particular location.
SOME
IMPLICATIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STRUCTURE
This
article has sought to show how Leviticus 24, often viewed as
unrelated to its context, is actually directly
related to its context
and provides essential data through the structure
it supports. If
the central section of a chiastic or ring structure
is the author's in-
tended point of emphasis, it is important to note the
theological
significance of Leviticus 23 for the
theme of holiness which is being
424
BIBLIOTHECA SACRA / October-December
2002
developed in these chapters. A clear understanding
of Yahweh's
provision for His people (chap. 23) becomes the
theological founda-
tion and motivation for
holiness.
Identifying this ring structure
therefore has significant theo-
logical implications. Seeing Leviticus 23 at the
center of this "holi-
ness" ring structure provides the theological
focus for the exhorta-
tion to holiness on the part
of the people and the priests. The pil-
grimage feasts celebrated what
the Lord had done in the past
(Passover
and Unleavened Bread), what He was doing for the na-
tion in the present (First
Fruits and Pentecost), and what He
would do in the future (Trumpets, Atonement, and
Feast of
Booths). They reminded the people of God's
provisions for them,
thus encouraging them to be obedient and thankful to
Him. The
blessings of God as a motivation for obeying His
commands follow
the pattern begun in Genesis, where God's loving
acts preceded His
divine commands. This same pattern finds expression in
the struc-
ture of suzerainty treaties,
in which the reiteration of kingly
blessings precedes kingly commands.
Viewed in the light of these
structural considerations, Leviti-
cus 24 is not anomalous or
anachronistic. Its presence gives a
theological focus to the holiness code, indicating
that Yahweh's
care for His covenant people provides the
appropriate teaching and
motivation for godly living. God's calls to
holiness come from a
loving Lord who in every circumstance has sought, is
seeking, and
will always seek what is best for His people.
This
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