Leviticus
Priestly handbook from Sinai. Sacrifices, festivals, food laws, and the holiness code. The book that teaches Israel how to live in proximity to a holy God.
- customsDay of Atonement
Yom Kippur — the most solemn day of the year. The high priest enters the Most Holy Place to sprinkle blood on …
- customsFeast of Firstfruits
On the day after the Sabbath of Passover week, the priest waves a sheaf of the first cut barley before the Lor…
- customsFeast of Unleavened Bread
The seven-day festival joined to Passover. From 15 to 21 Nisan no leaven may be found in any Israelite home — …
- customsPassover
The spring festival commemorating Israel's deliverance from Egypt. A lamb is slain at twilight and eaten with …
- customsPentecost (Shavuot)
The Feast of Weeks, fifty days after Firstfruits. Israel brings two loaves of leavened wheat bread as the firs…
- customsTabernacles (Sukkot)
The seven-day autumn harvest festival. Israel leaves the house for a week of living in a sukkah — a temporary …
- conceptSanctification
The setting apart of a person, place, or thing to God, and the moral transformation that follows. In Christian…
- objectEphah
The standard dry measure of ancient Israel — about 22 litres of grain, a large basket. The prophet Amos rails …
- objectOmer
A small dry measure, about 2.2 litres — the daily ration of manna in the wilderness. One-tenth of an ephah, ro…
- objectShekel
A silver coin and weight, about 11 grams, used to pay the Temple tax. Thirty silver shekels was the price paid…
- objectShofar
A trumpet made from a ram's horn, hollowed and shaped to give a piercing, primal blast. It announced the new y…