Leviticus (Continental Commentary) (Continental Commentaries): A Book of Ritual and Ethics: Continental Commentaries

by Jacob Milgrom

Building upon his life-long work on the Book of Leviticus, Milgrom makes this book accessible to all readers. He demonstrates the logic of Israel's sacrificial system, the ethical dimensions of ancient worship, and the priestly forms of ritual.

''Values are what Leviticus is all about. They pervade every chapter and almost every verse. You may be surprised to read this, since the dominant view of Leviticus is that it consists only of rituals, such as sacrifices and impurities. This, too, is true: Leviticus does discuss rituals. However, underlying the rituals, the careful reader will find an intricate web of values that purports to model how we should relate to God and to each other.'' � from the Introduction

Genres: Nonfiction, Christianity, Religion, Theology, Judaica, Old Testament, Christian

412 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 21, 2004

Reviews

[Whitney Dziurawiec · Rating 4 out of 5]

Started out REALLY good, almost felt like he lost his steam at the end? Lol. The beginning had lots of theological implications, comparisons to Israel's neighbors, explanation of symbolism, etc. Toward the end it felt like he was just summarizing and explaining a bit. Still highly recommend but wish the latter part was as interesting as the first.

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

A kind of compendium of his three-volume commentary in the anchor Bible series, this volume highlights and explains the ritual world of Israel. If you wish to understand the difference between clean and unclean, holy and common, the various kinds of sacrifice, the priesthood, and all those other essential elements of Leviticus— many of which find their way onto the pages of the New Testament—this book will assist you.

[Emanuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lyfter fram olika utvalda teman i tredje mosebok och väljer ut vissa textpassager att särskilt kommentera. Det är smarta välunderbyggda resonemang av en expert. Vill man ha djupgående nörderier om språket/textvarianter etc. så har Milgrom också skrivit en mer utförlig kommentar över tredje mosebok i tre band i serien The Anchor Bible. Men den här lightversionen var precis lagom för mig.

[Josh Fisher]

If I described a religion that frames moral activity as either polluting or cleansing the divine ecology, or that emphasizes physical and embodied practices over cognitive or rational assent, or that actively models and prefigures a just society in its everyday practices, or that affirms the sanctity of human and nonhuman animals alike, or that attributes formidable power to queerness and defying traditional boundaries, or that equates meat consumption outside of a strict and highly specific context as literal murder, or that demands the periodic dissolution of all economic shackles, you'd think I was describing some progressive, New Age, ecospiritual religion of the future. All that to say—Leviticus owns, I love this weird ass book

[Suzanne Hess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Incredible scholarship.

[Tim Donnelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent resource for understanding Leviticus.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Milgrom was considered the leading scholar on the book of Leviticus and he provides many, many insights on things that would have gone right over my head if he had not clued me in. He does assume a Priestly writer and a Holiness writer (P and H). Being quite conservative in biblical matters, this seemed mostly unnecessary to me. I also disagree with his treatment of several of the laws (notably homosexuality). Those things aside, this is an important work to be studied by any serious student of Leviticus.

[Redbeardbrownhair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome introduction to Leviticus in commentary form. Milgrom connects the ritual spirituality of the Israelites with the pagan ritual practices of the ancient Near East, and shows how Israel redeemed the rituals from the obsession with chthonic and demonic deities, and utilized the symbolism familiar with its neighbors but in a new and holy way. This makes Leviticus make sense.

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

Weed out the unwarranted presuppositions, and you can find some stimulating insights. Also includes some severe moral misjudgments.

[Ken Road · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you ever wondered about blood sacrifices, I think this is as concise as it gets without losing the essentials.

[z]

- long read, fruitful, though often frustrating