Chapters 23-24:9: The Shape of the Year

We have two choices: this can either be a short lesson, skimming the surface of Chapter 23 with a few observations related to our study as a whole, or a very - very - long one, explicating the yearly cycle of festivals and holy days and their meaning for the Israelite community.  I vote for Option #1 (my reasons for this are twofold: 1) the theological importance and historical development of this liturgical way of shaping time in the Jewish tradition is vast.  While embarking on this study would doubtless enrich our understanding of Leviticus as a whole, I fear doing so in this context would be more of a de-railing than a detour.  2) I don't know nearly enough about said topic.  It will have to wait for another time).

You are to bring-near a fire-offering to YHWH, for seven days... 

You are to perform-a-sacrifice on the day of your elevating the sheaf, a sheep, wholly-sound, in its (first) year, as an offering-up to YHWH... 

And you are to perform-as-sacrifice: one hairy goat for a hattat, and two sheep, a year old, for a slaughter-offering of shalom...

Does this sound familiar?  Haven't we already heard something like this way back in chapters 1-7, in the outer court?  What are these sacrificial instructions doing here, in the sanctuary?

First, the sacrifices specified in chapters 1-7 were "freewill offerings" of various types; although the offerings were necessary for the maintenance of ritual purification, they were brought at the discretion of the worshipper.  Locating the material describing how to bring these offerings in the "outer court" section of the text makes sense if these are offerings that are brought by anyone, at any time.  Now that we are in the sanctuary, however - that much closer to the presence of YHWH - we find instructions for sacrifices that are initiated by God.  Just as the earlier chapters created a paradigm in which worship, family life, ethics, priestly qualifications and behavior, and sacrificial animals and objects were to be characterized by holiness, so also time is to be defined and ordered by God.  The Israelite calendar was to be shaped not merely by the cycles of the sun and length of days, but by remembering God's redemptive actions on Israel's behalf and responding with the appropriate observances of gratitude, celebration or purification.

Second, chapter 23 constitutes the final block of material before we encounter the 2nd Narrative that is the screen to the Holy of Holies ... which is only entered once a year on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur).  It makes perfect sense that the instructions for shaping the entire year in acknowledgement of YHWH's provision, protection, and presence, would serve as preparation for entering the most sacred area of the tabernacle.  Although the instructions for Yom Kippur have already been outlined in chapter 16, this reminder of the ordering of time through liturgical observance prepares the reader for our literary trip into the Holiest Place.

And just to make sure we realize that we are, indeed, taking a tour of the sanctuary, chapter 24 begins with material pertaining to the furniture that is located in the sanctuary - the lampstand and the table of showbread.  The feasts ordained by God expand and complete chapters 1-7, and the instructions for the oil and baking of bread complete the instructions for their installment recorded earlier in Exodus 27.20-21 and 25.23-30.  We are now ready make our way through the 2nd Screen, the narrative of chapter 24.10-22.

In summary, these "proclamations of holiness" shaping the yearly calendar include time as well as space and behavior in the ordering that reflects YHWH's holiness.  Sketch out a quick list for yourself of when these festivals are supposed to occur and other specifications of time surrounding them - the 7th day, the 7th month, the 14th day of the first month, for 7 days, for 7 weeks.  It is not only remembrance and participation, but symbolic perfection that is to be acted out through the shape of the year.  Little by little, the tabernacle and participation in its functions begins to encompass all aspects of ordinary life.  It is the echo, the reflection, of creation: "This constant orientation to the sabbatical cycle throughout the calendar year keeps the community of faith reminded of the cosmic rhythm that sustains the creational order.  Each sabbatical observance recalls the primordial plan, invites the community to reflect on God's design, and enables them to imitate God's intentions through both their rituals and their ordering of communal life."*  And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it...

Next Stop: Chapter 24:10-22 - "Cursing for Cursing"

*Samuel E. Balentine, The Torah's Vision of Worship (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999) 158.