L E V I T I C U S

This page is an unfinished work. Greater detail of the text and written explanations sure would be nice additions. Feedback is welcome at cormacmjones@gmail.com.

Not to be read on a narrow screen!

GENERAL OUTLINE

Triadic Fractal

PART Ϛ. The Court of Sacrifice (ch. 1–16)

Ϛ. Laws for offerings (ch. 1–7)

ς. Laws for burnt offerings, grain offerings, peace offerings (ch. 1–3)

ζ. Laws for sin offerings (ch. 4–6:6)

η. The priests and the offerings (6:7–ch. 7)

Ζ. Priestly consecration and its stakes (ch. 8–10)

ς. Consecration of Aaron and his sons (ch. 8)

ζ. On the eighth day, Aaron and sons offer sacrifices (9:1‑22)

η. The glory of the Lord appears, killing Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu (9:23–ch. 10)

Η. Cleanliness and atonement (ch. 11–16)

α. Cleanliness laws (ch. 11)

β. Purification after childbirth (ch. 12)

χ. Leprosy laws (ch. 13–14)

ο. Laws for men and women with issues (ch. 15)

ω. The Day of Atonement (ch. 16)

PART Ζ. The Holy Place (ch. 17–24)

Α. The proper way to attribute animal life to God (ch. 17)

B. Moral purity to set the Lord’s people apart (ch. 18–20)

X. Laws for priests (ch. 21–22)

Ο. Feasts of the Lord (ch. 23–24:9)

Ω. He who blasphemed is stoned — eye for eye, tooth for tooth (24:10‑23)

PART Η. The Holy of Holies (ch. 25–27)

Ϛ. Jubilee release and redeeming one’s kinsmen (ch. 25)

Ζ. Blessings, punishments, remembrance (ch. 26)

Η. Laws concerning vows (ch. 27)

The Gospel according to Matthew had already trained me to look for patterns of triadic ascent in the chiastic centers of Biblical structures, but if it hadn’t, the beginning of Leviticus — the middle book of the Pentateuch — might have. It starts with a triad of sacrificial offerings, which then folds into a larger triad on the topic. The book thereby teaches you how to read it. It gets a bit more complicated, admittedly, as pentads begin to be employed (and on a level of finer detail, octaves — even at one point, a dodecad!); Leviticus is not as thoroughly triadic as its New Testament parallel, Luke. But the triads of Leviticus’s initial chapters are indeed signaling the shape of the whole.

The three-part division of my outline, then, is broadly in agreement with Mary Douglas’s in Leviticus as Literature (Oxford University Press, 1999), with the big exception being she places ch. 17 at the end of the beginning part, closing a ring with ch. 1. She certainly has good reason to do this, but I place it at the beginning of the second part, finding it better fits the fractal pattern in that position. Douglas’s arrangement puts great weight on the distinction of narrative and law, ch. 8–10 and 24:10‑23 being in her estimation the only examples of narrative in the book. I am dubious both that this is an important distinction and that even if it were, there were no other instances of narrative in the book. But to her, the narratives at ch. 8–10 and 24:10‑23 function as screens between the three sections, the first section being a chiasmus and the second being a linear progression. Conversely, in my contemplation of the typology, I see the first section as triadic ascent, and the second as fivefold chiasmus. It is not necessary to see the two models as exclusive of each other, but the differences are worth noting.

Regardless though, if it were not for Douglas, I might have gone with my knee-jerk labels for the threefold pattern: purification, illumination, and perfection. She reminds me that of course in Mosaic religion, this progression was incarnated in the design of the tabernacle: the Court of Sacrifice, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies — which Douglas takes as a very literal model for the shape of Leviticus. Although my application of the tabernacle pattern is more typological and less literal, I believe this approach yields a much more detailed understanding of the text.

FRACTAL OUTLINE

LEVITICUS

PART Ϛ. The Court of Sacrifice (ch. 1–16)

Ϛ. Laws for offerings (ch. 1–7)

ς. Laws for burnt offerings, grain offerings, peace offerings (ch. 1–3)

ς. Laws for Burnt Offerings: calves, lambs/kids, doves/pigeons (ch. 1)

Intro: The Lord called to Moses from out of the tabernacle, Speak to the sons of Israel (1:1‑2)

ς. An unblemished male calf (1:3‑9)

ζ. An unblemished male lamb or kid (1:10‑13)

η. A dove or pigeon (1:14‑17)

ζ. Laws for Grain Offerings (ch. 2)

α. Sacrifice of flour, oil, and frankincense; the priest to sacrifice it, keeping a handful (2:1‑3)

β. Oven, pan, or hearth (2:4‑8)

χ. The priest to burn it, keeping a remainder (2:9‑10)

ο. Neither leavened nor unsalted (2:11‑13)

ω. First-fruits of grain ground, with oil and frankincense; the priest to burn it (2:14‑16)

η. Laws for Peace Offerings: oxen, sheep, goats (ch. 3)

ς. Oxen, male or female (3:1‑5)

ζ. Sheep, male or female (3:6‑11)

η. Goats (3:12‑16a)

Coda: All the fat belongs to the Lord (3:16b‑17)

ζ. Laws for sin offerings (ch. 4–6:6)

ς. For priest and congregation, for ruler or one of the people (ch. 4)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses, Speak to the sons of Israel (4:1‑2)

α. If an anointed priest sins, a calf offered (4:3‑12)

β. If the whole congregation sin, a calf offered (4:13‑21)

χ. If a ruler sin, a male kid-goat offered (4:22‑26)

ο. If a soul of the people of the land sin, a female kid-goat offered... (4:27‑31)

ω. ...or a female lamb offered (4:32‑35)

ζ. Not to report swearing, to contact uncleanness, to make an oath unknowingly (5:1‑13)

ς. To witness swearing and not report it; to have contact with uncleanness and not know it; to make an oath unknowingly — a ewe lamb or kid-goat offered (5:1‑6)

ζ. If he can’t afford that, two turtle-doves or two young pigeons (5:7‑10)

η. If he can’t afford that, a tenth ephah of flour (5:11‑13)

η. Ram offerings for sins against the commandments (5:14–6:6)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses (5:14)

ς. For unconscious sins against the holy things of the Lord, a ram plus a fifth of its value in silver (5:15‑16)

ζ. For unknowing sins of guilt against any of the commandments (5:17‑19)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses (6:1)

η. For willful sins against a neighbor, restorations (plus a fifth) and a ram (6:2‑6)

η. The priests and the offerings (6:7–ch. 7)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses, Charge Aaron and his sons (6:7‑8)

α. The law of whole-burnt offerings, disposing them outside the camp; the fire on the altar not to be extinguished (6:9‑13)

β. The law of sacrifice: flour to be a burnt-offering; Aaron and his sons to eat the remainder without leaven (6:14‑18)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses (6:19)

χ. The flour to be offered by Aaron and his sons on the day of anointing (6:20‑23)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses, Speak to Aaron and his sons (6:24‑25a)

ο. The law of the sin-offering: the flesh and blood of it to be kept holy (6:25b‑30)

ω. The law of the ram for the trespass-offering; the skin and the flour sacrifices belong to the priest that offers it (6:32‑40)

The law of the sacrifice of peace-offering: for praise, bring unleavened bread with the flesh (7:1‑5)

ς. For a vow, it can be eaten for two days, but not on the third (7:6‑8)

Unclean flesh is not to be eaten, just burnt; unclean soul is not to eat, lest he perish from his people (7:9‑11)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses, Speak to the sons of Israel (7:12‑13a)

ζ. Eat no fat of oxen, sheep, or goats; eat no blood of beasts or birds (7:13b‑17)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses, To the sons of Israel also say... (7:18‑19a)

η. Breast and shoulder of peace-offerings go to Aaron and his sons (7:19b‑24)

Extro for η. The priests and the offerings (6:7–ch. 7): This is the anointing of Aaron and his sons (7:25‑26)

Extro for Ϛ. Laws for offerings (ch. 1–7): This is the law of the offerings commanded in Mount Sinai (7:27‑28)

Ζ. Priestly consecration and its stakes (ch. 8–10)

ς. Consecration of Aaron and his sons (ch. 8)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses (8:1)

α. Get Aaron and sons, vestments, ointment, a calf, two rams, and bread; call an assembly (8:2‑5)

β. Cleansing and vesting Aaron and sons (8:6‑9)

χ. Anointing the altar, tabernacle and Aaron (8:10‑13)

ο. The calf for a sin offering and the ram for a whole-burnt offering (8:14‑20)

ω. The second ram, the ram of consecration, a whole-burnt offering to the Lord (8:21‑28)

ς. Sprinkling oil and blood on Aaron and sons and their garments (8:29‑30)

ζ. Boil the flesh and eat (8:31‑32)

η. Aaron and sons to remain in the tabernacle for seven days to fulfill consecration (8:33‑36)

ζ. On the eighth day, Aaron and sons offer sacrifices (9:1‑22)

ς. Moses commands sacrifices of Aaron and his sons, and of the elders; the glory of the Lord to appear (9:1‑6)

ζ. For Aaron and his sons: a sin-offering and a whole-burnt offering (9:7‑14)

η. For the people: a sin-offering, a whole-burnt offering, and a peace offering (9:15‑22)

η. The glory of the Lord appears, killing Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu (9:23–ch. 10)

α. Moses and Aaron enter and exit the tabernacle; the glory of the Lord appears to the people and devours the offerings (9:23‑24)

β. Nadab and Abihu cense the Lord with strange fire, and the fire of the Lord devours them (10:1‑2)

χ. Moses: the Lord will be sancitified; Aaron pricked at heart (10:3)

ο. Aaron’s cousins commanded to remove the bodies (10:4‑5)

ω. Aaron and two remaining sons commanded not to mourn but to fulfill the consecration as Israel mourns for them (10:6‑7)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Aaron (10:8)

ς. You and your sons shall not drink alcohol when entering the tabernacle (10:9‑11)

Intro: Moses said to Aaron and his surviving sons (10:12a)

ζ. You shall eat the bread and the shoulder and breast of the burnt offerings in the Holy Place (10:12b‑15)

η. Moses angry with Aaron’s sons for not eating the sin offering but letting it burn; Aaron explains he wouldn’t think it pleasing to the Lord to eat the sin offering when this happened to him; it pleases Moses (10:16‑20)

Η. Cleanliness and atonement (ch. 11–16)

α. Cleanliness laws (ch. 11)

ς. To eat: clean and unclean among the earth, waters, and birds (11:1‑23)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, Speak to the sons of Israel (11:1‑2a)

ς. Beasts must part the hoof and chew the cud to be clean; otherwise they’re unclean (11:2b‑8)

ζ. Water animals must have fins and scales to be clean; otherwise they’re unclean (11:9‑12)

η. Birds listed that shall not be eaten; winged creatures that creep listed that can be eaten (11:13‑40)

ζ. Touching the dead (11:24‑40)

ς. Unclean animals that die are unclean (11:24‑31)

ζ. Washing with water things that touch dead bodies, which water shall then be unclean (11:32‑35)

η. Flowing water and dry seed are not polluted by dead bodies, but wet seed is; clean cattle that die are unclean (11:36‑40)

η. Creeping creepers — holiness (11:41‑45)

ς. Every creeper an abomination (11:41‑43)

ζ. Be holy since I am holy, and don’t defile yourselves with creepers (11:44)

η. Be holy as I am holy (11:45)

Coda: This is the law (11:46‑47)

β. Purification after childbirth (ch. 12)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses, Speak to the sons of Israel (12:1‑2a)

ς. For having a son, a woman is to be separated 40 days; for a daughter, 80 days (12:2b‑5)

ζ. Then a lamb for a whole-burnt offering, a pigeon or turtle-dove for a sin offering (12:6‑7)

η. If she cannot afford a lamb, two turtle-doves or pigeons (12:8)

χ. Leprosy laws (ch. 13–14)

ς. Laws for identifying leprosy: body, head, and garments (ch. 13)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron (13:1)

ς. On the skin (13:2‑28)

ζ. On the head or beard — lepers to be outcasts (13:29‑46)

η. On garments (13:47‑59)

ζ. Laws for cleansing lepers (14:1‑32)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses (14:1)

Verifying cleanliness outside the camp (14:2‑3)

ς. Dipping a live bird in the blood of a sacrificed bird, with cedar wood, and spun scarlet, and hyssop (14:4‑7)

He shall shave all hair and be admitted to the camp, but not his house until seven days and another shave (14:8‑9)

ζ. On the eighth day: A lamb for a trespass-offering, a cup of oil for anointing, and another lamb for a sin-offering (14:10‑20)

η. If he’s poor: A lamb for a trespass-offering, a cup of oil for anointing, and two turtle-doves or pigeons, one for a sin-offering and one for a whole-burnt offering (14:21‑32)

η. Leprosy laws for houses in the promised land (14:33‑53)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron (14:33)

α. Furniture removed and house shut up seven days (14:34‑38)

β. If then the plague is spread, firstly stones are removed and replaced (14:39‑42)

χ. If that doesn’t work, the house is destroyed (14:43‑45)

ο. Those who enter a shut-up house are made unclean (14:46‑47)

ω. If replacing the stones did work, the house is clean; bird dipped in blood of other bird, with cedar wood, hyssop, and spun scarlet (14:48‑53)

Coda for whole leprosy section (14:54‑57)

ο. Laws for men and women with issues (ch. 15)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, Speak to the sons of Israel (15:1‑2a)

α. A man with an issue is unclean, as is his bed and seat (15:2b‑3)

β. Those that touch his bed or seat or his skin (15:4‑7)

χ. If the man with an issue spits on someone (15:8)

ο. His saddle and anyone who touches anything under him or carries it (15:9‑10)

ω. If he doesn’t wash his hands...; the earthen or wooden vessels he touches (15:11‑12)

ς. If he’s cleansed, seven days of purification (15:13)

ζ. On the eighth day, two turtle-doves or two young pigeons for atonement (15:14‑15)

η. The man whose seed of copulation shall happen to go forth from him; and the woman who lies with him (15:16‑18)

α. A woman with an issue of blood shall have seven days of separation; those that touch her and what she rests on are unclean (15:19‑20)

β. Those that touch what she rests on shall be unclean (15:21‑23)

ξ. If anyone lie with her, he and his bed shall be unclean seven days (15:24)

ο. If she has an issue many days, then she is unclean, along with what she rests on (15:25‑26)

ω. Those that touch it shall be unclean (15:27)

ς. Once she’s cleansed, seven days and she’s clean (15:28)

ζ. On the eighth day, two turtle-doves or two young pigeons for atonement (15:29‑30)

η. To beware of uncleanness, this is the law for male and female (15:31‑33)

ω. The Day of Atonement (ch. 16)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses after the two sons of Aaron died (16:1)

α. Aaron to enter the Holy Place, vested, with offerings (16:2‑5)

β. He’ll bring the calf; and the two goats: one for the Lord and one for a scapegoat (16:6‑10)

χ. He’ll kill the calf and bring incense behind the veil to cover the mercy-seat (16:11‑13)

ο. He’ll sprinkle the calf blood on the mercy-seat eastward, then kill the goat for the Lord and do the same with its blood (16:14‑16)

ω. No one in the tabernacle at this time; sprinkling the calf and goat blood on the altar; sending away the scapegoat (16:17‑22)

ς. Aaron to bathe and make offerings for himself and the people (16:23‑25)

ζ. He that took the scapegoat is to wash before returning; likewise him who took the calf and goat of the Lord outside the camp for burning

(16:26‑28)

η. A perpetual statute: the seventh month, the tenth day, a most holy sabbath (16:29‑34)

PART Ζ. The Holy Place (ch. 17–24)

Α. The proper way to attribute animal life to God (ch. 17)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses, Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel (17:1‑2)

ς. If someone kills a calf, sheep, or goat and does not offer it to the Lord at the tabernacle, he will be cut off from his people (17:3‑9)

ζ. Eating blood forbidden — the life of the flesh is in the blood (17:10‑14)

η. Anyone who eats what died of itself or was torn by beasts is unclean (17:15‑16)

B. Moral purity to set the Lord’s people apart (ch. 18–20)

ς. Sex laws — not as the nations do (ch. 18) See CLOSE-UP

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses, Speak to the sons of Israel (18:1‑2a)

ς. Do not do as Egypt or Canaan; observe my judgments (18:2b‑5)

ζ. Sex laws (18:6‑23)

η. In such things the nations are defiled; keep mine ordinances (18:24‑30)

ζ. Laws for holiness, including love of neighbors, strangers (ch. 19) See CLOSE-UP

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses, Speak to the congregation of the sons of Israel (19:1‑2a)

ς. Be holy for the Lord is holy: revere your parents, no idols, peace offerings (19:2b‑8)

ζ. Love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord your God (19:9‑18)

η. That the land not go a whoring: a chiasmus of laws for holiness (19:19‑37)

η. Abstain from the child sacrifice, incest, and bestiality of the land’s previous occupants (ch. 20)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses, To the sons of Israel also say... (20:1‑2a)

ς. Giving seed to Moloch to be punished by the people or else they will be punished (20:2b‑9)

ζ. Twelve sexual sins punishable by death (20:10‑21) See CLOSE-UP

η. Inherit the land and be not like previous nations; distinguish clean and unclean; be holy (20:22‑27)

X. Laws for priests (ch. 21–22)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses, Speak to the priests the sons of Aaron (21:1‑2a)

α. Rules for priests regarding death and marriage (21:2b‑15)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses, Speak to Aaron (21:16‑17a)

β. Aaronites with blemishes shall not draw nigh to God to make offerings (21:17b‑23)

Extro: Moses spoke to Aaron and his sons and to all the sons of Israel (21:24)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses, Speak to Aaron and his sons (22:1‑2a)

χ. Cleanliness laws for priests (22:2b‑8)

ο. Laws regarding priests and strangers (22:9‑16)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses, Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the congregation of Israel (22:17‑18a)

ω. Offerings to be without blemish (22:18b‑25)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses (22:26)

ς. A baby animal and its mother not to be separated for a week, nor killed in one day (22:27‑28)

ζ. Sacrifices to be eaten on the day of, not left for the morrow (22:29‑30)

η. Keep my commandments; I brought you up out of Egypt to be your God (22:31‑33)

Ο. Feasts of the Lord (ch. 23–24:9)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses, Speak to the sons of Israel, these are my feasts (23:1‑2)

α. The Sabbath (23:3)

Intro: These are the feasts of the Lord (23:4)

β. The Passover and Week of Unleavened Bread (23:5‑8)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses, Speak to the sons of Israel (23:9‑10a)

χ. The Feast of Firstfruits: with a lamb, flour, and wine (23:10b‑14)

ο. The Feast of Weeks, fifty days after Firstfruits (23:15‑22)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses, Speak to the sons of Israel (23:23‑24a)

ω. The Feast of Trumpets, on the first day of the seventh month (23:24b‑25)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses (23:26)

ς. The Day of Atonement, on the tenth day of the seventh month (23:27‑32)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses, Speak to the sons of Israel (23:33‑34a)

ζ. The Feast of Booths, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month (23:34b‑43)

Extro: Moses spoke of the feasts of the Lord to the sons of Israel (23:44)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses, Speak to the sons of Israel (24:1‑2a)

η. Olive oil and twelve loaves for the Holy Place perpetually (24:2b‑9)

Ω. He who blasphemed is stoned — eye for eye, tooth for tooth (24:10‑23)

α. An Israelitish man names the Name and curses, about whom the Lord speaks to Moses, sentencing him to death by stoning (24:10‑14)

β. Speak to the sons of Israel, This shall be a law going forward, for stranger and native (24:15‑16)

α. Whoever smites a man to death, let die; a beast to death, let him render life for life (24:17‑18)

β. Blemish a neighbor? Rendered in return (24:19)

χ. χ. Bruise for bruise, eye for eye, tooth for tooth (24:20a)

ο. Since one has blemished a man, it shall be rendered unto him (24:2ob)

ω. Whoever smites a man to death shall die (24:21)

ο. One judgment for the stranger and the native, for I am the Lord your God (24:22)

ω. Moses speaks to the sons of Israel, and they stone the man as commanded (24:23)

PART Η. The Holy of Holies (ch. 25–27)

Ϛ. Jubilee release and redeeming one’s kinsmen (ch. 25)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses in Mount Sinai, Speak to the sons of Israel (25:1‑2a)

α. The sabbath year (25:2b‑7)

β. The jubilee, a year of release beyond the sabbath (25:8‑22)

χ. Laws for redeeming lands and houses (25:23‑34) See SUBSTACK

ο. Do not oppress your brothers; fear the Lord your God (25:35‑46)

ω. Redeeming a kinsman sold to a rich stranger (25:47‑55)

Ζ. Blessings, punishments, remembrance (ch. 26)

ς. Blessings for obedience (26:1‑13)

ζ. Punishment for disobedience (26:14‑39)

η. When the people confess and accept their punishment, the Lord will remember His covenant (26:40‑45)

Extro: These are the judgments, ordinances, and law of God given to the sons of Israel in Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses (26:46)

Η. Laws concerning vows (ch. 27)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses, Speak to the sons of Israel (27:1‑2a)

α. Limits on the monetary donations that men and women of various ages should make; exceptions for a poor man (27:2b‑8)

β. Rules for donating cattle, or unclean animals (27:9‑13)

ξ. Rules for consecrating houses (27:14‑15)

ο. Rules for sanctifying fields (27:16‑24)

α. On holy weights (27:25)

β. Every firstborn ineligible for vows (27:26)

ω. χ. To redeem an unclean beast, pay a fifth of its value (27:27)

ο. Dedicated things most holy to the Lord shall not be sold or redeemed (27:28‑29)

ω. On tithing (27:30‑33)

Extro: These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the sons of Israel in Mount Sinai (27:34)

CLOSE-UPS

Sex Laws

SEX LAWS — NOT AS THE NATIONS DO
(ch. 18)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses, Speak to the sons of Israel (18:1‑2a)

Ϛ. Do not do as Egypt or Canaan; observe my judgments (18:2b‑5)

(full text)

ς.

I am the Lord your God. (18:2b)

Ye shall not do according to the devices of Egypt, in which ye dwelt:

and according to the devices of the land of Canaan, into which I bring you,

ye shall not do;

and ye shall not walk in their ordinances. (18:3)

ζ.

Ye shall observe my judgments,

and shall keep my ordinances,

and shall walk in them:

I am the Lord your God. (18:4)

η.

So ye shall keep all my ordinances,

and all my judgments,

and do them;

which if a man do, he shall live in them:

I am the Lord your God. (18:5)

Ζ. Sex laws (18:6‑23)

(summarized)

ς. Incest forbidden (18:6‑18)

Intro: All kindred are off limits (18:6)

α. Not with your father or your mother or your step-mother (18:7‑8)

β. Not with your sister (18:9)

χ. Not with your grandchildren (18:10)

ο. Not with your step-sister (18:11)

ω. Not with your aunts and uncles (18:12‑14)

ς. Not with your daughter-in-law or your sister-in-law (18:15‑16)

ζ. Not with a mother and daughter both, nor with a grandmother and granddaughter both (18:17)

η. Not with a woman and her sister while both are still living (18:18)

ζ. Unrelated women not to have sex with (18:19‑21)

ς. Not with a woman having her period (18:19)

ζ. Not with a neighbor’s wife (18:20)

η. Do not give your seed to serve a ruler (18:21)

η. Infertile abominations forbidden (18:22‑23)

ς. Not with a man as with a woman (18:22)

ζ. Not with an animal

η. Nor should a woman present herself to an animal (18:23)

Η. In such things the nations are defiled; keep mine ordinances (18:24‑30)

(full text)

ς.

α. Do not defile yourselves with any of these things;

β. for in all these things the nations are defiled, which I drive out before you, (18:24)

χ. and the land is polluted;

ο. and I have recompensed their iniquity to them because of it,

ω. and the land is aggrieved with them that dwell upon it. (18:25)

ζ.

α. And ye shall keep all my statutes and all my ordinances,

and ye shall do none of these abominations;

β. neither the native,

nor the stranger that joineth himself with you: (18:26)

χ. (for all these abominations the men of the land did who were before you,

and the land was defiled,) (18:27)

ο. and lest the land be aggrieved with you in your polluting it,

as it was aggrieved with the nations before you. (18:28)

ω. For whosoever shall do any of these abominations,

the souls that do them shall be destroyed from among their people. (18:29)

η.

α. And ye shall keep mine ordinances,

β. that ye may not do any of the abominable practices,

χ. which have taken place before your time:

ο. and ye shall not be polluted in them;

ω. for I am the Lord your God. (18:30)

Holiness Laws

LAWS FOR HOLINESS, INCLUDING LOVE OF NEIGHBORS, STRANGERS
(ch. 19)

Intro: The Lord spoke to Moses, Speak to the congregation of the sons of Israel (19:1‑2a)

Ϛ. Be holy for the Lord is holy: revere your parents, no idols, peace offerings (19:2b‑8)

α. Ye shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy (19:2b)

β. Reverence your parents and keep the sabbaths; I am the Lord your God (19:3)

χ. Do not follow idols or make molten gods; I am the Lord your God (19:4)

ο. If you make a peace offering to the Lord, make it acceptable of yourselves (19:5)

ω. Eat it on the day of, or the day following, but not the third day or you shall be destroyed from the people (19:6‑8)

Ζ. Love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord your God (19:9‑18)

α. When harvesting, leave a remainder for the poor and stranger;
I am the Lord your God (19:9‑10)

β. Don’t steal, lie, bear false witness, swear unjustly by my name, or profane my name;
I am the Lord your God (19:11‑12)

χ. Don’t harm or rob your neighbor, nor withhold wages, nor revile the deaf nor trip the blind; fear God;
I am the Lord your God (19:13‑14)

ο. Don’t act unjustly, don’t privilege the poor or rich; be just with your neighbors; no blood justice;
I am the Lord your God (19:15‑16)

ω. Don’t hate your brother in your heart; don’t rebuke, avenge, or be angry; love your neighbor as yourself;
I am the Lord (19:17‑18)

Η. That the land not go a whoring: a chiasmus of laws for holiness (19:19‑37)

α. Don’t crossbreed cattle, mix grape seeds, or mix textiles (19:19)

β. Punishment for sleeping with a maidservant (not death) (19:20‑22)

α. In the holy land, fruit trees to be unclean for 3 years, holy for the fourth (19:23‑25)

β. No eating on mountains or divining by birds or marking your body (19:26‑28)

χ. χ. Don’t whore your daughter; keep my sabbaths and holy places (19:29‑30)

ο. Do not attend diviners or enchanters (19:31)

ω. Honor the aged and fear God (19:32)

ο. Love the stranger as yourself, for you were strangers in Egypt (19:33‑34)

ω. Be just with measures and weights and scales (19:35‑37)

More Sex Laws

TWELVE SEXUAL SINS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH
(20:10‑21)

A dodecad

———

A dodecad operates chiastically, but it is cyclical rather than parabolic. The mathematical analogy would
be a sine or cosine wave rather than a parabola. As with the oscillation of the sunrise’s position on the
horizon through the twelve months of the year, the pattern is a sine wave when the circuit is reckoned
from an equinox and a cosine wave when reckoned from a solstice. I interpret the following dodecad as a
cosine wave beginning and ending at the winter solstice.

———

[WINTER SOLSTICE]

_♒︎.

Whatever man shall commit adultery with the wife of a man,

or whoever shall commit adultery with the wife of his neighbour,

let them die the death, the adulterer and the adulteress. (20:10)

_♓︎.

And if any one should lie with his father’s wife,

he hath uncovered his father’s nakedness:

let them both die the death, they are guilty. (20:11)

_♈︎.

And if any one should lie with his daughter-in-law,

let them both be put to death;

for they have wrought impiety, they are guilty. (20:12)

[VERNAL EQUINOX]

_♉︎.

And whoever shall lie with a male as with a woman,

they have both wrought abomination;

let them die the death, they are guilty. (20:13)

_♊︎.

Whosoever shall take a woman and her mother, it is iniquity:

they shall burn him and them with fire;

so there shall not be iniquity among you. (20:14)

_♋︎.

And whosoever shall lie with a beast,

let him die the death;

and ye shall kill the beast. (20:15)

[SUMMER SOLSTICE]

_♌︎.

And whatever woman shall approach any beast,

so as to have connexion with it,

ye shall kill the woman and the beast:

let them die the death, they are guilty. (20:16)

_♍︎.

Whosoever shall take his sister by his father or by his mother,

and shall see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness, it is a reproach:

they shall be destroyed before the children of their family;

he hath uncovered his sister’s nakedness,

they shall bear their sin. (20:17)

_♎︎.

And whatever man shall lie with a woman that is set apart for a flux,

and shall uncover her nakedness,

he hath uncovered her fountain,

and she hath uncovered the flux of her blood:

they shall both be destroyed from among their generation. (20:18)

[AUTUMNAL EQUINOX]

_♏︎.

And thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s sister,

or of the sister of thy mother;

for that man hath uncovered the nakedness of one near akin:

they shall bear their iniquity. (20:19)

_♐︎.

Whosoever shall lie with his near kinswoman,

hath uncovered the nakedness of one near akin to him:

they shall die childless. (20:20)

_♑︎.

Whoever shall take his brother’s wife, it is uncleanness;

he hath uncovered his brother’s nakedness;

they shall die childless. (20:21)

[WINTER SOLSTICE]

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