A Rough Outline of Leviticus
My project of reading the Bible is going a little slower than I hoped. At this point I had planned to be through Judges but today I just finished Leviticus. Outlining the books, even when I am just working writing my first impression outline rather than creating a refined one, seems to take quite a bit longer than I had anticipated. I suspect that this means I might not finish the project of reading the whole Bible by June. If that happens it will be no great tragedy. I will just continue to plug away until I complete both scriptures. With that said, my rough outline follows below.
Leviticus Outline
1:1-7:38 The Lord speaks to Moses in the Tent of Meeting about various laws
– 1:1 The Lord calls Moses to the Tent of Meeting
– 1:2-3:17 rules for sacrifice
– 1:2-1:17 burnt offerings (no meat may be eaten)
– 2:1-16 cereal offerings
– 3:1-17 offering of well-being (meat may be eaten)
– 4:1-35 rules for offerings/sacrifices of atonement
— 4:3-12 in the case of a priest
— 4:13-21 in the case of the congregation
— 4:22-26 in the case of a chieftain
— 4:27-35 in the case of a "person among the populace"
– 4:27-31 sacrificing a female goat
– 4:32-4:35 sacrificing a sheep
– 5:1-26 ways someone can incur guilt and ways to atone for that guilt
— 5:1-13 acts of impurity
— 5:1-5 list of sins
— 5:6-13 sacrifices of purity
— 5:14-26 unwitting acts of trespass (note: each subsection contains both the sin and the atonement. Also, note that monetary payment may be accepted in lieu of animal sacrifice in some of these cases)
— 5:14-16 on the Lord’s property
— 5:17-19 on the commandments
— 5:20-26 on "his fellow"
– 6:1-7:36 further instructions on offerings
– 6:2-6 ritual of the burnt offering
– 6:7-11 ritual of the cereal ("grain") offering
– 6:12-16 ritual of the grain offering of the priest
– 6:17-6:23 ritual of the sin offering
– 7:1-7:7 ritual of the guilt offering
– 7:8-10 parallels between the guilt offering and burnt offering
– 7:11-34 ritual of the sacrifice of well being
– 7:35-36 summary statement for 6:1-7:36
– 7:37-38 summary statement for 1:1-7:36
– 8:1-10:20 Aaron and his are ordained and made priests
– 8:1-36 The ordination of Moses and his sons
– 9:1-24 Aaron and his sons conduct their first sacrifice (Note: in 9:23-24 "the Presence of the Lord appeared to all the people.")
– 10:1-20 The mistakes of Aaron and his sons
— 10:1-3 Nadab and Abihu transgress and are killed
— 10:4-8 A rule about ritual purity is interjected
— 10:9-11 A rule about sobriety is interjected
— 10:12-15 Further instructions about the meal offering
— 10:16-20 Aaron assures Moses that the sin offering will be handled properly in the future
– 11:1-15:33 The Lord speaks to Moses and Aaron about purity laws
– 11:1-47 dietary laws for animals
– 11:1-8 land animals
– 11:9-12 aquatic animals
– 11:13-19 birds
– 11:20-24 insects
– 11:25-40 how to relate to the carcass animals
– 11:41-45 miscellaneous things that swarm
– 11:46-47 summary statement
– 12:1-8 impurity after childbirth
— 13:1-14:57 the impurities of eruptions
— 13:1-47 the impurity of the skin (addressed to Moses and Aaron)
– 13:1-44 various kinds of skin diseases
– 13:45-46 the casting out of the unclean
– 13:48-59 the impurity of clothing
— 14:1-32 the ritual for cleansing a leper (clearly a continuation of 13:46 and addressed only to Moses)
— 14:33-14:53 the impurity and purification of plagues in homes (mold, etc.) (addressed to Moses and Aaron)
— 14:54-57 summary statement on the impurities of eruptions
– 15:1-33 impurity of bodily discharges (addressed to Moses and Aaron)
— 15:1-18 male discharges
– 15:1-15 abnormal discharges
– 15:16-18 semen
— 15:19-30 female discharges (menstruation)
– 15:31-33 summary statement for all impurities in 12-15 ("You shall put the Israelites on guard against their uncleanness, lest they die through their uncleanness by defiling My Tabernacle which is among them. (15:31))
– 16:1-34 institution of the day of atonement and instructions for the annual cleansing of the Tabernacle (addressed to Moses) (note: I am placing this in the general section about purity because it begins with issues around the purification of the Tabernacle)
— 16:1-5 only Aaron is to enter the Tabernacle, he should have with him a bull, a ram and two he-goats
— 16:6 the bull of the sin offering
— 16:7-10 the he-goats one for the Lord and one for Azazel (the goat for the Lord is to be sacrificed and the goat for Azazel is to be sent into the wilderness, my Jewish Study Bible says that Azazel literally means "fierce god")
— 16:11-17 cleansing the inner sanctum
— 16:18-19 cleansing the rest of the Tabernacle
— 16:20-22 the casting out of Azazel’s goat
— 16:23-25 Aaron’s cleansing after the purification rituals
— 16:26-28 the cleansing of others involved in the rituals
— 16:29-34 the institution of this annual ritual for all time
– 17:1-20:27 general purity necessary for the people of Israel to occupy Canaan (addressed to Moses) (this is what is commonly called the Holiness Code)
— 17:1-9 no sacrifices outside the Tent of Meeting
— 17:10-14 no partaking of blood
— 17:15-16 how to eat carrion
— 18:1-29 you shall not copy the practices of the people of Canaan because they were expelled from their land for their practices
– 18:5-18 prohibitions against incest
– 18:19-20 additional sexual prohibitions
– 18:21 prohibition against child sacrifice
– 18:22-23 additional sexual prohibitions
– 18:22 prohibition against male homogenital acts (specifically penetration)
– 18:24-29 summary statement for 18:1-29 (note: the central issue here is defiling the land by acting like the people of Canaan)
— 19:1-18 practices to be holy (You shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy)
– 19:3 honor your mother and father and keep the sabbath
– 19:4 no idols
– 19:5-8 proper sacrifice
– 19:9-10 leave parts of the harvest for the poor
– 19:11-12 no stealing, lying or swearing falsely
– 19:13 no defrauding your fellow
– 19:14 no insulting the deaf or blind
– 19:15-16 deal fairly in justice
– 19:17-18 Love your fellow as yourself.
— 19:19-37 observe my laws (is this a subsection of 19:1-37 or independent? the problem with outlining is that one is imposing an order onto the text that may, in fact, not really be there)
– 19:19 no mixing of two kinds
– 19:20-22 no carnal relations with slave owned by a man and promised to another man
– 19:23-25 fruit trees must be left for five years before they a harvest is taken from them
– 19:26-28 do not eat anything with its blood, do not practice divination or soothsaying
– 19:29 do not make your daughter a harlot
– 19:30 keep the sabbath
– 19:31 do not turn to ghosts
– 19:32 show deference to the old
– 19:33-34 do not wrong the stranger (has the formulation "for you were strangers in the land of Egypt)
– 19:35-36 do not falsify measures
– 19:37 summary statement
– 20:1-27 prohibition of worship of Molech (addressed to Moses) (note: parallels to 18 and 19)
— 20:1-5 no child sacrifice
— 20:6 no turning to ghosts
— 20:7-8 sanctify yourself to be holy
— 20:9 do not insult your parents
— 20:10-21 prohibitions against incest, adultery, homogenital acts and bestiality
— 20:22-26 observe the laws to sanctify the land
— 20:27 repetition of 20:6
– 21:1-22:30 ritual purity necessary for the priesthood and rites of worship
– 21:1-23 purity of the priesthood (addressed to Moses)
— 21:1-4 no contact with the dead (other than dead relatives)
— 21:5-6 no shaving
— 21:7-8 no marrying harlots or widows
— 21:9 daughters of priests who commit harlotry will be put to death
— 21:10-12 priests shouldn’t leave the sanctuary once they have been anointed with oil, also the anointed priest should not go near any dead body
— 21:13-15 priest must marry a virgin from his own kin
— 21:16-23 priests may not have any "defect"
— 21:24 summary statement for 21:1-23
– 22:1-16 the purity necessary to handle offerings (addressed to Moses)
— 21:1-9 for making the sacrifice
— 21:10-16 for consuming the sacrifice
– 22:17-30 the purity of the offerings themselves (addressed to Moses)
— 22:17-28 before sacrifice
— 22:29-30 after sacrifice
– 22:31-33 summary statement 21:1-22:30
– 23:1-44 liturgical calendar (addressed to Moses)
— 23:3 institution of the sabbath
— 23:4-8 institution of passover
— 23:9-25 counting the omer and the sacrifices between passover and the day of atonement
— 23:26-32 institution of the day of atonement
— 23:33-36 festival of the booths
— 23:37-38 summary statement for 23:1-36
— 23:39-44 further instructions for the festival of the booths
– 24:1-9 instructions for regular worship by the priests in the Tabernacle
— 24:1-4 oil (daily)
— 24:5-9 bread (once a week on the sabbath)
– 24:10-23 the blasphemer
— 24:10-12 the act of blasphemy
— 24:12-16 judgment and punishment of the Lord
— 24:17-22 reminder of laws prohibiting murder of people who do not transgress the Lord’s laws
— 24:23 execution of the blasphemer
– 25:1-55 sabbatical and jubilee laws (given to Moses on Mt. Sinai)
— 25:1-7 the sabbatical year
— 25:8-55 the jubilee laws
– 25:8-12 institution of the jubilee
– 25:13-17 holdings are to be returned
– 25:18-22 the land will provide during the jubilee
– 25:23-24 the redemption of the land (parallel to 25:13-17)
– 25:25-28 sales of land are only in effect until the jubilee
– 25:29-34 exceptions are made for urban property
– 25:35-38 a prohibition against charging interest to relatives
– 25:39-46 only the descendants of non-Israelite slaves may be slaves in perpetuity
– 25:47-55 strangers (resident aliens) must redeem Israelite slaves at the jubilee
– 26:1-2 a summary statement but what it summarizes is unclear to me (does it draw 25:1-55 to a close?)
– 26:3-45 statements summarizing a promise and threat, if the laws are kept then the people and the land will flourish. if not, then not.
— 26:3-13 the promise
— 26:14-45 the threat
– 26:14-33 a series of punishments culminating in banishment from the land
– 26:34-38 you shall perish among the other nations
– 26:39-45 until at last some understand what they did wrong and are allowed to return
– 26:46 a summary statement for the law giving that began at Leviticus 25:1
– 27:1-33 concerning dedications (contributions) to the Lord (the Temple/Tabernacle?)
— 27:1-8 monetary dedications
— 27:9-13 animals
— 27:14-15 someone’s home
— 27:16-21 land that is held
— 27:22-25 land that has been purchased
— 27:26-27 firstling animals may not be consecrated because they belong to the Lord to begin with
— 27:28-29 nothing that belongs to the Lord may be sold
— 27:30-33 tithes also belong to Lord and cannot be redeemed
– 27:34 essentially a restatement of 26:46 which suggests to me that perhaps all of 27 comes from a different source than some of other portions of Leviticus
