Blog 99: The Pentateuchal Setting of Atonements
The five books of the Pentateuch have a core of three scrolls knit closely together at their seams by terminology and themes. While Genesis and Deuteronomy form bookends with matching final poetry and exhortations, the center document is the Levitical Book of Holiness embraced by Exodus and Numbers on either side. Exodus and Numbers mirror each other in the wilderness wanderings. Using historical events written to point to a future fulfillment “at the end of days,” the endings of Genesis (49:1) and Deuteronomy (31:29) tell us what will happen “in the last days,” a term used six times in the New Testament surrounding the appearing of Yeshua, the Anointed One who came to suffer, die, and after three days rise again.
Words sew together the five Pentateuchal scrolls. Genesis concludes with Joseph’s death event, stitched to Exodus’s list of Joseph’s brothers and mention of his death. The Book of Exodus concludes with Israel camped at Mount Sinai, YHWH’s fiery glory relocated to the new Tabernacle of meeting, and Moses not being able to enter. Leviticus begins with Moses hearing the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, instructing him on the sanctuary’s sacrificial laws, and finishes with YHWH’s commands spoken to Moses on Mount Sinai’s fiery top, the second time (Lev. 25-27:34; Deu. 10:10-11). Numbers begins with YHWH speaking to Moses in the Tabernacle of meeting and concludes with the commandments and judgments YHWH gave Israel by the hand of Moses on the plains of Moab. The fifth book, Deuteronomy, starts with “These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel” and ends with Moses’s death, stating there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom YHWH knew face to face. The five scrolls form a chiastic narrative.
A. Genesis: Historical introduction/past
B. Exodus: escaping Egypt/wilderness/building tabernacle at Sinai
C. Leviticus: Tabernacle holiness and service
B’. Numbers: tabernacle tribal position/wilderness/entering land
A’. Deuteronomy: Historical conclusion/future
Exodus and Numbers encapsulate Leviticus’s atonement center. Exodus continued the story of Genesis with a genealogical list of Israel’s sons who had migrated to Egypt. A deliverer was born in the fourth generation, leading them out of Egypt through the wilderness to God’s holy mountain. Moses received the Torah and blueprint for the building of the Tabernacle. Due to Israel’s infidelity to the covenant, Moses could not enter the Tabernacle after YHWH’s cloud and fire from the mountain rested above it, filling it with His glory. Exodus concludes with a time signature, “the first day of the first month of the second year” (Exo. 40:17). Numbers begins with YHWH speaking to Moses in the Tabernacle “on the first day of the second month in the second year after Israel had come out of Egypt” (Num. 1:1). Within the month between Exodus ending and Numbers beginning, Leviticus shows Israel how to live in a covenant relationship with a holy God, “a kingdom of priests, a holy nation” (Lev. 26:5). The Book of Numbers continues the story with taking a census of Israel’s tribes. The fourth book’s center logs Israel’s journey, their failure to enter the Land through unbelief, and their sentence to die within 38 years of wandering, followed by a second census. It ends with the allotment of the Land and its cities in preparation for Israel to possess their inheritance. The events of Exodus and Numbers form a chiasmus1 emphasizing the center, Sinai, Leviticus, and the voice of YHWH’s holy Presence telling how to live near Him safely.
A. Exo. 15:22-25 Marah, bitter water to sweet
B. Exo. 17:1-7 Rephidim water from the rock
C. Exo. 17:8-16 War with Amalek
D. Exo. 18:19-26 Elders to judge Israel
E. Exo. 18:1-27 Jethro, priest of Midian, Moses’s father-in-law
F. Exo. 19:1-2 Arrival at Sinai/time signature
G. Sinai/Leviticus/God’s voice speaking out of fire
F’. Num. 10:11-33 Departure from Sinai/time signature
E’. Num. 10: 29-32 Jethro, priest of Midian, Moses’s father-in-law
D’. Num. 11:16-30 Seventy elders to teach Israel
C’. Num. 14:39-45 War with Amalek
B’. Num. 20:1-13 Meribah water from the rock
A’. Num. 21:16-18 Beer, water from the well
In a broad overview, Leviticus divides into three sections: the first (Ch. 1-7) and the last (Ch.17-27) instruct in the sacrificial rituals for approaching God and serving Him in His sacred space. The center (Ch. 8-16) focuses on justice and holiness. For a more defined structure, Leviticus has seven chiastic sections with a single center,2 chapter 16’s Day of Atonements ransom/purity ritual.
A. Lev. 1-7 sacrifices to approach YHWH
B. Lev. 8-10 priesthood inducted
C. Lev. 11-15 clean/unclean
D. Lev. 16 Atonements ritual
C’. Lev. 17-20 holy/profane
B’. Lev. 21-22 priesthood laws
A’. Lev. 23-27 feasts and sacred time, meeting YHWH in oneness
Chapter 16 is also numerically centered as the 19th of YHWH’s speeches from within the Tabernacle, with 18 on either side3 (18 is the sum of chi, “life”), totaling 37, the number constant of YHWH’s names and titles. Leviticus has 16,713 words before it (Exodus) and 16,413 words after it (Numbers), a difference of 300, the shin, YHWH’s consuming fire against all that opposes life. Yeshua’s atonement for our sins is His glory, His fire, His holiness, and His gift of oneness.
Takeaway:
The center of the Pentateuch is Leviticus, and the center of Leviticus is Chapter 16’s Day of Atonements. God created humans in His image to commune with Him, walking and talking in the Creator’s Presence, absorbing His holiness, His light. Humanity lives outside of Eden, where moral failings pollute the creation and us, giving death reign. To live in God’s Presence is life. The game changer for us is God’s gift of atonement, which allows us to enter into His holy Presence and learn His ways of life, washed from the ways of death. Atonement is the center of the new creation.
Fun Factors:
The Pentateuch’s middle three books (Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers) word count is 45076, a number with 12 divisors that add to 80640, the fiery sun’s diameter number 864. Like the life-giving sun’s rays, the glory of God’s holiness is a fire that purifies, so we will not be burned when we walk through the fire to enter the new Eden (Isa. 43:2).
Footnotes:
1 Morales, L. Michael. 2015, Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord? InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, p. 26, from Schart, A. 1990: 52. J. Milgrom (1990: xvii-xviii), modifications mine.
2 Morales, L. Michael. 2015, Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord? InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, p. 29, modifications mine.
3 Morales, L. Michael. 2015, Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord? InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, p. 28, from Warning, W. (1999), Literary Artistry in Leviticus, Leiden: Brill.