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Book Review: The Torah's Vision of Worship

brims with fresh and stimulating ideas. In a reading which deliberately distances Leviticus from the ethos of Deuteronomy with its concern for social administration, Leviticus is brought out of the shadows and valued for its distinctive insights. The author argues, with the aid of diagrams, that Leviticus is patterned on the tripartite structure of the Tabernacle (court, holy place and Holy of Holies), itself representing Sinai, the holy mountain. This analogy not only illuminates the structure of Leviticus but powerfully underlines the significance of its content. It emerges, not as an arid collection of archaic laws and rituals, but in its modernity concerned with justice not only for humans but for the animal world. The central chapters, dealing with the meaning of uncleanness and atonement, challenge traditional views. 'Unclean' animals are not detestable but part of God's creation over all of which his care extends. The taboos are not to be explained by hygienic concerns but on theological grounds (as with cannibalism, it is the act which is abominable, not the victim). Likewise the requirement of atonement does not imply anything shameful in the act of giving birth. Ritual disablement here is not a hardship but a rest. Among many other important themes put under the microscope are divination as a quasi-judicial function, the importance of Jubilee and attitudes towards homosexuality. Douglas concludes that in its reflection on God's justice Leviticus reaches forward to the book of Job. Demerit does not explain misfortune. 'God's choice is unconstrained. His election is never deserved.' There are one or two small errors in the footnotes in transliterating Hebrew terms but these are slight blemishes in what is an impressive study.