76 Things Banned In Leviticus (perhaps it’s time to lay off quoting 18:22 for a while?)

[happyslug]

61. Many of these restrictions reflect the religions of others in that part of the World

And if one practices what those religions require, is an rejection of the temple of Jerusalem and thus an rejection of being jewish

These include

1. Burning any yeast or honey in offerings to God (2:11) (Seems to have been a requirement of other religions in the area)

2. Failing to include salt in offerings to God (2:13) (Salt-less offering appears to have been a requirement of other religions).

3. Eating fat (3:17) This was a restrictions only to the Priests, for any fat from any animal was to be sacrificed to God by them. Thus everyone else could eat fat but not the priests of the temple of

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosher_foods

4. Eating blood (3:17) This seems to be a ban on eating under cooked meat. If blood remained on the meat it could mean it was uncooked and given the level of sanitation at that time unsafe to eat.

11. Bringing unauthorized fire before God (10:1) (Fire was a known feature of Zoracastism)

13. Tearing your clothes (10:6) (Was done in the bible to show great stress, but only in pre-Temple days, thus appears to have been something priests of other local religions still did when Leviticus was "found".

14. Drinking alcohol in holy places (bit of a problem for Catholics, this ‘un) (10) Wine was tied in with the religion of the greeks, and thus why wine being part of Christian religious ceremony was widely adopted, but that wine was tied in with Greece and they pagan gods, the reason it was banned.

The following all relate to make sure everyone in Society acts for the benefits of Society not for themselves:

5. Failing to testify against any wrongdoing you’ve witnessed (5:1)

6. Failing to testify against any wrongdoing you’ve been told about (5:1)

9. Deceiving a neighbor about something trusted to them (6:2)

10. Finding lost property and lying about it (6:3)

The following all relate to acts that occurs through no fault of the person to did the "unclean act" that person must "clean" himself by making a sacrifice to God, if they can NOT afford a goat or a Sheep then two pigeons will suffice: In simple terms it is a way for people who think they may have done an offense to undo that offense:

7. Touching an unclean animal (5:2)

8. Carelessly making an oath (5:4)

Other reflected Economic reality in Jerusalem

15. Eating an animal which doesn’t both chew cud and has a divided hoof (cf: camel, rabbit, pig) (11:4-7) .

Camels were NOT a big part of the economy prior to about 1BC (and then tied in with increase dryness of the desert as both Arabia and North Africa dried up. Prior to 1 BC, it was still possible to uses horses in North Africa and Arabia. After about 1 AD, it became to dry for horses, thus the Roman imported in Camels (through some reports indicate that while the Romans did import Camels, actual use of camel is caravans did not occur till the Arab Conquest).

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/05/080508-green-sahara.html

That the Sahara has only been as dry as it is at present since about 900 AD:
http://www.space.com/10527-earth-orbit-shaped-sahara.html

Pigs use as much water as a man, thus a desert tribe that raise pigs, has to reduce itself by one person for every pig they have. Sheep and goats both use much less water. Oxen almost as much as a pig, but could be used to haul wagons (and used as such in most deserts before the Camel, and it appears the Camel was NOT used till after 1 AD for that purpose). Thus those tribes that favored Goats and Sheep over Pigs did better in the Desert then those tribes that raised pigs. An exception was in the River Valleys of the Nile and Mesopotamian. Thus in areas where water is the limiting factor, pigs are looked down upon for economic reasons.

16. Touching the carcass of any of the above (problems here for rugby) (11:8)

You must understand, Ancient Judea was between two types of climate. It was NOT in the climate around the Actual Mediterranean Sea, thus anything to do with actual fish was hard for them to obtain (and while the coast may have access waters to keep pigs, as you went eastward water became the main concern of supply). The ancient Israelites were also in areas where farming was still possible do to rains from the Mediterranean Sea. Further east, it became to dry to farm, and thus camel replaced oxen as the main beast of burden. Thus a tendency to avoid both Camels and Pigs.

17. Eating – or touching the carcass of – any seafood without fins or scales (11:10-12)

Notice the restriction, seafood without fins or scales, in other words food that can NOT be salted and thus preserved. Given that Salt was the main form of preservation of meat till the tin can was invented in the 1800s AND that we are talking about the Temple in Jerusalem, seafood from the coast to Jerusalem would be an abomination by the time it reached Jerusalem.

18. Eating – or touching the carcass of - eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, the red kite, any kind of black kite, any kind of raven, the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey, the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat. (11:13-19)

19. Eating – or touching the carcass of – flying insects with four legs, unless those legs are jointed (11:20-22)

20. Eating any animal which walks on all four and has paws (good news for cats) (11:27)

Cats were a associated with a god of Egypt, and lets NOT forget an ancient rule, if you ate something you obtain part of its "power". Thus eating cats would be tied in with Egyptian religion and thus an act of rebellion against the Temple.

21. Eating – or touching the carcass of – the weasel, the rat, any kind of great lizard, the gecko, the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink and the chameleon (11:29)

Apaches had a similar dietary law as to "Cold blooded" land creatures. provably since most of them go after pests that eat grass, and people in the desert want the grass for their own animals. The rat is a question mark, when Leviticus was "Found" in the temple, had the black rat reach Judea? It appear NO.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_rat

This is questionable since it appears that Leviticus is older then the Black Rat reaching the Mediterranean. Thus what was banned, given mice are NOT banned? I suspect mice, for most mice are NOT worth the effort to capture do to their small size.

AS to Weasel, what was meant by that? Weasels do NOT exist in the Middle east, to hot for them. Thus what we call a Weasel is not the Weasel of Leviticus.

Now, other translations of the bible uses the term "Mole Rat" and "mouse" and that makes more sense then Weasel and Rat:

http://biblehub.com/leviticus/11-29.htm

The Mole rat is a small rodent, like the mouse, but is known to stay underground. Like moles hated for it could reduce crops by eating the roots:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nesokia_indica


22. Eating – or touching the carcass of – any creature which crawls on many legs, or its belly (11:41-42)

Snakes have always been associated with the Devil in Jewish Tradition, thus this tradition.


23. Going to church within 33 days after giving birth to a boy (12:4)

Women do need time to recover from Child Birth and going to Church was an effort back in the days when most people WALKED to church, even if it was 20 miles away.


24. Going to church within 66 days after giving birth to a girl (12:5)

Typical sexist attitude of the early Jews, Girls were worth less then boys thus a mother needed twice the time to recover from giving birth (this goes with the Catholic Church Doctrine at the time of the Fall of The Roman Empire, abortions were NOT murder if done before the Fetus was "non-en-souled". By the Middle Ages (when the Church was able to convince most people, women did have souls) ensoulment occurred when the child "quickened" i.e.. the mother could feel the fetus move inside her womb. To abort a non en-souled fetus was still a sin, but NOT a mortal sin. At the end of the Western Roman Empire, you had two different dates for female and male fetuses. A mother could abort a female fetus at twice the "Age" of a male fetus. The same time difference as above. By the middle ages the time period had moved to the later age for both male and female fetuses.

The following are against the law in ALL states to this day, for the simple reason incest is NOT tolerated. Now the Catholic Church Expanded this list in the Dark Ages so to spread out wealth. i.e. to many ancient families were keeping the money within their clans by marrying each other's cousins. The Catholic Church said this violated Leviticus more to spread the money around across generational lines then permit families to maintain their hold over society by keeping the money within their family.

25. Having sex with your mother (18)

26. Having sex with your father’s wife (18:8)

27. Having sex with your sister (18)

28. Having sex with your granddaughter (18:10)

29. Having sex with your half-sister (18:11)

30. Having sex with your biological aunt (18:12-13)

31. Having sex with your uncle’s wife (18:14)

32. Having sex with your daughter-in-law (18:15)

33. Having sex with your sister-in-law (18:16)

34. Having sex with a woman and also having sex with her daughter or granddaughter (bad news for Alan Clark) (18:17)

35. Marrying your wife’s sister while your wife still lives (18:18)

The following may be common sense:

36. Having sex with a woman during her period (18:19) Women tend to be crabby that time of month, why bring on a fight?

37. Having sex with your neighbor’s wife (18:20) Yes, get you neighbor, who you may have to live with for he owns the property next to your property, mad at you.

The next group are interesting. Child as Sacrificed to Molek, a pagan god, is followed by a man having sex with another man as with a woman, which itself was one form of some ancient pagan religions of the time period. Notice this is NOT listed among the list of people one should not have sex with (except sex with animals) but list of Pagan worship.

38. Giving your children to be sacrificed to Molek (18:21)

39. Having sex with a man “as one does with a woman” (18:22)

40. Having sex with an animal (18:23)

Leviticus then goes on about God Punishments for the above and said the punishment for violating any of the above was EXILE, not death. That ENDS Leviticus 18

LLeviticus 19 is about how to worship God, and the cross was NEVER considered a "metal god" or anything other then a symbol for God.

41. Making idols or “metal gods” (19:4)

The Leviticus goes into items for the poor:

42. Reaping to the very edges of a field (19) Please note it was the PUBLIC ACT of having that type of sex, that was the religious act, not having it done in the privacy of one's home. The law states

43. Picking up grapes that have fallen in your vineyard (19:10) Same as 42

Then it goes into violations of the Ten Commandments:

44. Stealing (19:11)

45. Lying (19:11)

46. Swearing falsely on God’s name (19:12)

47. Defrauding your neighbor (19:13)

Then back to producing the poor:

48. Holding back the wages of an employee overnight (not well observed these days) (19:13)

49. Cursing the deaf or abusing the blind (19:14)

50. Perverting justice, showing partiality to either the poor or the rich (19:15)

Then onto items that break up social groups (and why such things should NOT be done is to maintain group unity):

51. Spreading slander (19:16)

52. Doing anything to endanger a neighbor’s life (19:16)

53. Seeking revenge or bearing a grudge (19:18)

Then cheating, because mixing Fabrics meant back then mixing in Linen for Wool, Linen is a good hot weather material, but inferior to wool in cold weather:

54. Mixing fabrics in clothing (19:19)

The next rule appears to do with Mules, Mules have the size of a horse, with the body strength of a donkey. On the other hand it is NOT re-breed-able i.e. you can NOT use it to start a new herd. Worse, when I was doing research on Streetcars I ran across some comments made about horse drawn streetcars and that when horses were to old for continue use to haul streetcars, they still had value (i.e. they could be retrained for other jobs and thus had value even in old age). That was NOT true of Mules. Once done as hauling Wagons or Streetcars they were worthless.

55. Cross-breeding animals (19:19)

As to planting seeds in the same fields, Rye, Wheat and Barley all become ripe at different times of the year, thus if you mix them you could NOT harvest them using a scythe, but had to harvest each plant by itself. Given these were all grains that also made it easier to lose some of the grains (domestic grains since ancient times are known for the seeds to fall from the stock all at one time, one of the reason such grains became the grain of choice of farmers in the Ancient Near East).

56. Planting different seeds in the same field (19:19)

This is a separate category from the Sexual Crimes of Leviticus 18, for it requires punishment for the offense, but only for the economic loss sleeping with that slave cost the owner of the slave:

57. Sleeping with another man’s slave (19:20)

It is considered good practice to remove all the buds from a young tree, so it does NOT waste the power from the sun on making such fruit ripe. instead the tree has to concentrate the power from the sun on making the tree bigger and stronger, so a good rule of husbandry:

58. Eating fruit from a tree within four years of planting it (19:23)

Omens and Star gazing was forbidden for the same reasons most states make such actions illegal today, to easy to be used by Charlatans:

59. Practicing divination or seeking omens (tut, tut astrology) (19:26)

The Greeks were known for their fancy beards. The Romans, who prior to Scipio Aficanus, were also known for their beards, but the Romans looked down on the Greeks for the Romans just left their beards grow, it was the Greeks who trimmed them and curled them. Now, Scipio ordered his Troops to be clean shaved and short haired so any enemy would have one less thing to grab on to in a fight, this became the Roman Style till Emperor Hadrian. It came back into Style with Emperor Constantine and has been the fall back position of Western Europe ever since. As to the Ancient Jews, they were like the Ancient Romans, disliked the Greek practice of trimmed, curled and other wise fancy beards. Thus the following rule had more to do with opposition to the greeks (notice small g, to mean people who spoke Greek as oppose to people who lived in Ancient Greece, it is believe the ancient Philistines were such small g greeks, who settled in Palestine around 1000 BC, when Greece entered its own dark ages after the fall of Troy. Thus this is more an anti-Philistine rule then anything else:

60. Trimming your beard (19:27)

61. Cutting your hair at the sides (19:27)

This was another thing ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans practiced and the Ancient Jews Rejected:

62. Getting tattoos (19:28)

The following should need no explanation:

63. Making your daughter prostitute herself (19:29)

Same as to Star gazers, something the Jews were NOT into:

64. Turning to mediums or spiritualists (19:31)

Showing respect to other people was important, thus the next five requirements:

65. Not standing in the presence of the elderly (19:32)

66. Mistreating foreigners – “the foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born” (19:33-34)

67. Using dishonest weights and scales (19:35-36)

68. Cursing your father or mother (punishable by death) (20)

The temple of Jerusalem was like most Capital, a rat nest of vipers, Given that situation why would any Priest even THINK about doing the following UNLESS it was plot against someone:

69. Marrying a prostitute, divorcee or widow if you are a priest (21,13)

70. Entering a place where there’s a dead body as a priest (21:11)

71. Slaughtering a cow/sheep and its young on the same day (22:28)

The following is another example of a Law design to protect the poor. The rich can decide when to work and not work, the poor must do as their "betters" tell them, or they will NOT get paid. Given the power difference, the following was made so that everyone, no matter had poor, had the ability to be with his or her family at least once a week:

72. Working on the Sabbath (23:3)

The following come under the same general rules that applied to 69. 70 and 71 above:

73. Blasphemy (punishable by stoning to death) (24:14)

74. Inflicting an injury; killing someone else’s animal; killing a person must be punished in kind (24:17-22)

The following was to protect the poor, thus the poor could NOT sell their land permanently (and thus lose it) and the poor could not be sold as a slave:

75. Selling land permanently (25:23)

76. Selling an Israelite as a slave (foreigners are fine) (25:42)

Now the excepts for Foreigners only applied to foreigners who were already slaves OR by international law and custom became slaves. Thus the clause mentioned above to treat foreigners as guests would prevent foreigner from being sold UNLESS they came under those two exceptions.