This book is part of the Torah – the first 5 books of the Bible. We only hear from this Old Testament book twice in the Sunday cycle.
Date
The oral tradition of this material is ancient, but it probably wasn’t compiled into written form until the exile or the return.
Overview
Leviticus contains most of the laws that a Jew is commanded to observe on a regular basis. Traditionally young boys begin their academic study with this book. Even today, many of these laws remain at the center of what it means to be a good Jew.
This book is concerned with ritual purity – how to attain and maintain it.
The Jewish Study Bible has this to say about the Levitical law: “The system forced a separation between the experience of encountering God’s sanctity and matters pertaining to death… Because God is eternal, God does not die… By following the ritual purity regulations, ancient Israelites separated themselves from what made them least God-like.” So the emphasis here is on being God-like, with some things sorted into the category of being “death-like.