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First published June 1996

The Literary Structure of Leviticus

Christopher R. SmithView all authors and affiliations
Volume 21, Issue 70
https://doi.org/10.1177/030908929602107002

Abstract

Noting that the scholarly consensus regarding the structure of Leviticus depends on the increasingly disputed theory of a pre-existent Holiness Code, this essay revisits the question from a literary-critical perspective. Leviticus is found to be divided by genre into seven major units, which are alternating sections of law and narrative. The narratives (chs. 8-10; 16; and 24.10-23) allude to one another and serve as structural indicators for the developing thought of the legal sections. These deal consecutively with sacrifices (chs. 1-7), cleanness (chs. 11-15), holiness (17.1-24.9) and redemption (chs. 25-27).

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1 Most outlines correspond roughly to K. Elliger's in Leviticus (HAT, 4; Tubmgen: Mohr [Paul Siebeck], 1966), pp. 7-8. Most interpreters currently agree as to where the 'seams' are within the book of Leviticus. The disagreement is mostly as to whether certain of these represent breaks between a larger number of major sections or, instead, divisions within a smaller number.
2 J. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC, 4; Dallas: Word Books, 1992), p. 259. E. Gerstenberger, Das dritte Buch Mose: Leviticus (ATD, 6; Göttingen. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1993), p. 17, observes similarly that unless one is working with the same assumptions about the literary development of the Pentateuch that led nine teenth-century scholars to posit the existence of a Holiness Code in the first place, one is likely to consider it only a product of wishful thinking (ein Wunschgebilde).
3 'The Composition of the Pentateuch', SBLSP 24 (1985), pp. 393-415 (405).
4 Knierim, 'Composition', p. 406.
5 Knierim, 'Composition', p. 405.
6 See, for example, Hartley, Leviticus, pp. xxx-xxxi and Elliger, Leviticus, pp. 8-9.
7 For a demonstration that the instructions of Lev. 24.1-9 form a well-integrated section, see Hartley, Leviticus, p. 398. This discussion in Hartley's commentary was co-authored by S.A. Reed.
8 Leviticus : A Commentary (trans. J.E. Anderson; OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1965), p. 10.
9 Hartley, Leviticus, p. xxxiv.
10. M. Douglas has recently used this same observation to determine that the book of Numbers has a thirteen-fold literary structure, consisting of seven units of 'story' alternating with six units of 'law'. See In the Wilderness: The Doctrine of Defilement in the Book of Numbers (JSOTSup, 158; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1993).
11 Noth, Leviticus, p. 10.
12 Hartley, Leviticus, pp. xxxi-xxxii.
13 The Book of Leviticus (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979), pp. 19-20.
14 'Zur Existenz des sogennanten "Heiligkeitsgesetzes"', ZA W 86 (1974), pp. 307-16.
15 Approaching the question from a source-critical perspective, Wagner actually sets Exod. 32-40 aside from consideration as not belonging to the Priestly document, which is the compositional level he has in view in his article. His conclusion is thus based on Exod. 25-31. This distinction does not bear on the question being addressed here.
16 Wagner, 'Existenz', p. 314 n. 29.
17 Wagner, 'Existenz', p. 314 n. 29.
18 Hartley, Leviticus, p. 479.

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Volume 21, Issue 70
Pages: 17 - 32
Article first published: June 1996
Issue published: June 1996

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Christopher R. Smith
19 School Street, Williamstown, MA 01267, USA
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