Chapters 1-10 (laws of sacrifices, annointing of priests)
YHWH gives the laws of sacrifices. These are repeated for each type of sacrifice but the general procedure common to most sacrifices is this: the unblemished animal/bird is brought to the Tent of Meeting. For an animal, the person bringing the sacrifice lays hands on its head. It is slaughtered by the priest (for a bird, he pinches off its head). The blood is dashed against the altar, the offering is flayed and cut up.
The actual kinds of offerings listed by YHWH: a burnt offering (where the whole carcass is burnt), a meal offering (unleavened flour cakes eaten by the priests), a peace offering (only the internal organs are burnt, the rest seems to be eaten), a guilt offering (for unintentional sins, with a special sacrifice when the whole community sins), a penalty offering (when one is found guilty of certain crimes, can be animal/bird/flour depending on the sinner’s means). For each of these the specific ritual is described: where the blood goes, which bits remain on the altar for how long etc.
YHWH describes how Aaron (the first high priest) is to be annointed: him and his sons are washed, donned with the ceremonial garments (described in Exodus), annointed with the oil and offer several sacrifices. They follow this and YHWH sends a fire from heaven to consume the sacrifices. Aaron’s sons Nadab and Avihu offer YHWH an “alien fire” [whatever that means]. A fire comes from YHWH and consumes them too. Moses appoints the sons of Aaron’s uncle as their replacements. Priests are not to drink alcohol when entering the Tent so as not to profane it. Aaron still has 2 sons alive serving as priests. YHWH explains where they’re allowed to eat which parts from which sacrifice. However they don’t eat the sin offering at all and Moses is angry. Aaron sticks up for them, saying it would have been inappropriate to eat it so soon after his sons died. This placates Moses.
Chapters 11-15 (dietary laws, laws of people becoming unclean)
YHWH outlines the laws of which animals are kosher. For mammals, it’s only those with cleft hooves who chew their cud. For seafood, it’s only fish with both fins and scales. For birds, YHWH gives an explicit list of which species are allowed. For insects, it’s those with jointed legs that are used to leap around (ie. locusts, crickets, grasshoppers), all listed explicitly.
There are also animals which not only can’t be eaten but also make someone unclean if they touch the carcass: mammals without cleft hooves, or that don’t chew their cud, or that walk on paws; lizards, moles, mice and other kinds of crawling animals (all listed). Their carcass also makes any object unclean if it fall on it. If an earthenware vessel becomes unclean, it must be broken. Uncleanness is spread through water as the intermediate substance.
A person who becomes unclean washes themselves and their clothes and remains unclean until night. A woman becomes unclean after giving birth (longer for a girl), after which she brings a burnt offering and a sin offering.
YHWH gives the laws of leprocy. The symptoms for a person are all listed (skin scaliness, discoloured burn, yellow hair). A symptom is reported to a priest who can pronounce it unclean or in other cases (outlined in great detail) isolate a person for a week at a time until a verdict can be properly pronounced. Interestingly, if leprocy covers the whole body, a person is clean but as soon as the smallest part heals, they’re unclean. Once a person has been pronounced unclean, they rend their clothes, call out “unclean! unclean!” and live outside the camp until they heal. They then have special sacrifices to perform. There are also laws of leprocy of wool/linen (ie. an eruption): if a priest pronounces it unclean, the garment is burnt. There is also leprocy of a house (eg. red/green streaks in the wall). If pronounced unclean, the priest takes out the affected stones and they are replaced. The house is then cleansed through offering special sacrifices. Anyone who was living inside the house while it was stricken becomes unclean.
People can become unclean by genital discharge (for men) or bleeding (for women). Until it stops, they are unclean and pass uncleanness to their bed, to anything they sit on and ride on, anything they touch if their hands are wet, anyone who touches them and — for a woman — anyone who has sex with her. At the end of the period, the person brings 2 sacrifices and is clean. A discharge of semen or the act of intercourse makes the relevant parties unclean until the evening only.
Chapters 16-20 (the Israelite ritual+moral holiness code)
YHWH tells Aaron (ie. the high priest) that only he can come into the Tent of Meeting only once a year to do the ritual of the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). He must wear his special clothes (see Exodus) and make certain sacrifices in order to atone for the sins of him, his family and all of Israel. After, he confesses all the sins onto a goat (ie. the scapegoat), which is set free to carry them into the wilderness. On this day, Israelites must not do work and must practice self-denial (ie. fasting).
Anyone who makes a private sacrifice (ie. not bringing it to the Tabernacle) will be “cut off from the people”. The same punishment for consuming any blood.
Ritual holiness laws (to separate Israel from the Canaanites): no eating an animal that died naturally or was torn by beasts. No copying the laws/practices of the Canaanites, just YHWH’s laws. A list of forbidden sexual relationships: no having sex with your mother, your sister, other relatives, another man’s wife etc. (all this is addressed to men). No sex with a man, or with a woman whenever she’s unclean, or with an animal (and don’t allow women to engage in bestiality either). Don’t offer your children to the god Molech. All of these are the practices the Canaanites are engaging in, and this is why YHWH is going to destroy them.
Moral holiness laws: when gathering a field, leave a corner for the poor to pick from. Don’t defraud the widow or withhold wages from a labourer. Don’t insult the deaf or place a stumbling block before the blind. When making a judgement be impartial, don’t favour a poor person. Don’t hate fellow Israelites, don’t take venegeance, love your fellow [Israelite!] as yourself. Don’t mix material within clothes, or seeds in agriculture. Don’t cross-breed different animals.
If a man has sex with a female slave “designated” for another man as a wife, there’s no death penalty for him for adultery since she’s not free, but he must bring an offering. The fruit of trees in Israel is forbidden for 3 yrs. In year 4 the fruit is YHWH’s, on the 5th it can be used.
More of the holiness code: no divination, no ghost whispering, no trimming the sideburns, no making marks on your body in mourning for the dead. Rise before an old person. A [non-Jewish] stranger who resides in Israel should be as one of you. Keep honest weights and measures.
YHWH gives the penalties for each of the aforementioned forbidden sexual relations. Pretty much all are capital cases or being “cut off from your people” so it’s a matter of giving the method of execution. If the Israelites don’t keep these holiness laws, the land of Israel will spew them out like it’s about to do for the Canaanites.
Chapters 21-24 (laws about priests, festivals, blasphemy, injury)
Special laws for priests: no becoming impure from a dead person except when mourning a close relative. No marrying a woman “defiled by harlotry” or a divorced woman. The high priest can’t become impure even for his dead parents, doesn’t tear his clothes in mourning. He can only marry a virgin.
Restrictions on sacrifices: No priest with a defect (as listed: blind, lame, broken arm etc.) can make a sacrifice, but they can eat from sacrifices once they are made. Anyone who eats sacrifices while unclean is cut off from the people. Only a priest and his household (including slaves) may eat sacrifices. A layman who does so accidentally must pay the full value plus 20% penalty. YHWH lists the defects that disqualify an animal from being acceptable for a sacrifice: blind, maimed etc. An animal can be offered on the 8th day of its life, not before. An animal and its mother can’t be slaughtered on the same day.
YHWH outlines the festivals: the Sabbath and Passover as described in Exodus. On the first day of harvest, the first sheaf is to be brought to a priest and sacrifices to be made. After this, 7 weeks are to be counted off, then the offering of the harvest is made with a celebration and feast (Shavuot). Another festival is to be commemorated with shofar blasts (Rosh Hashana) and 10 days later is Yom Kippur (as described earlier). Finally, there is Sukkot where there are sacrifices for 7 days and a festival day on the 1st and 8th day. During this time, Israelites are to live in a booth (sukkah) as a reminder that YHWH made the people booths when taking them out of Egypt. On all the festival days, no work is to be done.
A fight breaks out in the camp and a half-Israelite curses an Israelite with YHWH’s name “in blasphemy”. He’s placed under custody and Moses asks YHWH what to do. YHWH says to stone him and pronounces blasphemy to be a capital offence.
One who kills another’s animal must make financial restitution life for life. One who injures another gets the same thing done to them: eye for eye and so on.
Chapters 25-27 (agricultural/property laws, vows, blessing+curse)
Every 7th year the land of Israel is to have a Sabbatical year. No reaping of any produce, but it’s ok to eat directly off the fields. At the end of 7 of these cycles, there is a special Jubilee 50th year with no reaping either. This makes 2 yrs in a row of no reaping (yrs 49 and 50) but lest anyone be worried, YHWH will provide enough in year 48 to cover all 3 yrs. During the Jubilee, all Israelite slaves go free and the ownership of all property reverts to the original owner. This means when a property is bought, it’s really only leased until the next Jubilee. If a man is in financial straits and is forced to sell his ancestral land, his family should pitch in. If they can’t the Jubilee is the safety net. Houses in a walled city don’t count: there the owner only has 1 yr to repurchase them otherwise ownership changes forever. However, Levite property can always be redeemed. If an Israelite has sold himself into slavery to you, don’t treat him harshly (but a non-Israelite slave can be treated as you will and does not go free in the Jubilee).
YHWH gives a short blessing of what will happen if the Israelites follow all the laws — the harvest will be great, they will have victory over all enemies and YHWH will dwell among them. He continues with very very long curse of what happens if they don’t; a chain of increasing severity, based on whether the Israelites will continue to sin. The chain is: the land will be barren, enemies victorious, wild beasts and famine will come, YHWH will cause the Israelites to resort to cannibalism of their infants, cities will be laid ruin, the Israelites scattered among the nations, the land will observe Sabbatical years from being bereft of people, hope will be lost and fear set in. Finally, the Israelites will be so depressed they will regret their sins and YHWH will remember the covenant (for he will not utterly destroy the Israelites). The curse therefore counts as a prophecy as well.
The laws of vows: one can vow to sacrifice the monetary equivalent of a human being (ie. purchase sacrifices to this amount). The various valuations for different “types” of people are given. If an animal is designated for sacrifice it cannot be substituted. Land/property/a firstborn nonkosher animal (a kosher animal is already YHWH’s, see Exodus) can also be consecrated. In this case they are valued by a priest. If the owner wants to redeem these (or to redeem a crop tithe), he must pay 120% of the appraised value.
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