Category Archives: Leviticus

A Comparison of Philo’s Special Laws I with the Epistle to the Hebrews

Posted on March 5, 2016 by jamesbradfordpate

I recently finished Philo’s Special Laws I for my daily quiet time.  Yesterday, I moved on to Special Laws II.  Philo was a first century C.E. Jewish thinker in Alexandria, Egypt.  He interpreted the Torah in light of Greek philosophy. … Continue reading →

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Book Write-Up: Ritual and Rhetoric in Leviticus

Posted on December 19, 2013 by jamesbradfordpate

James W. Watts.  Ritual and Rhetoric in Leviticus: From Sacrifice to Scripture.  Cambridge University Press, 2007. Watts argues in this book that Leviticus 1-16 employs rhetoric to uphold the authority of the Aaronide priests.  Watts notes examples in the Hebrew … Continue reading →

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Phinehas and Corpse Contamination

Posted on February 18, 2013 by jamesbradfordpate

Phinehas was a son of Aaron, the High Priest.  In Numbers 25:7-8, Phinehas kills with a javelin an Israelite man who brazenly brought a Midianite woman into the presence of Moses and the congregation of Israel, along with the Midianite … Continue reading →

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Animal Sacrifice and Substitutionary Atonement

Posted on February 8, 2013 by jamesbradfordpate

I read the chapter entitled “African Religions” in Ari Goldman’s The Search for God at Harvard.  I’d like to quote what Goldman says on page 223 about how reading and learning about the Nuer tribe (which is located in the … Continue reading →

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Jesus and Elisha Disregard the Firstfruits Law? Esther Violates the Passover?

Posted on January 15, 2013 by jamesbradfordpate

In my latest reading of John’s Gospel: The Way It Happened, Lee Harmon makes an interesting point about the story of Jesus multiplying the loaves and the fishes in John 6.  According to Lee, Jesus and the people were eating … Continue reading →

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Numbers 5:1-4: Different Law, Intolerant God?

Posted on January 3, 2013 by jamesbradfordpate

In Numbers 5:1-4, God tells Moses to put out of the camp those who have a skin disease, those who had a discharge, and those who have become impure due to contact with a corpse, so that they would not … Continue reading →

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Ramblings on Jeremiah 33:14-16 and Prophecy

Posted on December 2, 2012 by jamesbradfordpate

At church this morning, the pastor preached about Jeremiah 33:14-16, which states (in the King James Version): “(14) Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of … Continue reading →

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Why Did the Person Who Recovered from Skin Disease Offer Atoning Sacrifices?

Posted on November 16, 2012 by jamesbradfordpate

I’ve been reading Leviticus 13-14 for my weekly quiet time, and these are chapters on skin disease.  One question that comes up in my reading of scholarly discussions of these chapters concerns why the person who was being purified after … Continue reading →

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Jubilees, Genesis 1-2, and Leviticus 12

Posted on November 13, 2012 by jamesbradfordpate

In Enoch and the Mosaic Torah: The Evidence of Jubilees, Lutz Doering has an essay on “Purity and Impurity in the Book of Jubilees”. Genesis 1 appears to present the first woman as being created at the same time as … Continue reading →

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Illumination of Scripture?

Posted on November 7, 2012 by jamesbradfordpate

I’ve heard more than one Christian say that, in order to understand the Bible, we need to ask the author of the book—-God—-what he meant.  I find that sort of attitude to be arrogant, to tell you the truth, and … Continue reading →

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