Leviticus 10: The priesthood as a New Eve?
a thread to tug on
Notice some curious correspondences between the Creation Narrative and the Tabernacle Narrative. These are prompting me to think about the narrative identity of the priesthood in Leviticus 1-16 in general, and ch. 10 in particular. To begin with…
1. God builds a sevenly world (Gen. 1:1-2:3; Exod 25-Lev 9)
This has become old hat to Old Testament scholars.
In Genesis 1:1-2:3, God creates a world in “seven days.” The first verse is spelled out in seven words and twenty-eight letters. The second verse has fourteen words. God is mentioned thirty-five times. “Earth” and “heaven” are mentioned twenty-one times each. The phrase, “and it was so,” and “God saw it was good” occur seven times.
Starting in Exodus 25, God makes seven speeches to Moses about building the tabernacle, each of which corresponds thematically to one of the days of creation:
Exodus 25:1-30:10 addresses light, glory, and beauty, corresponding to the creation of light on Day 1 (Genesis 1:1-5);
Exodus 30:11-16 identifies “twenty years old” as the legal line betwewen male adults and male children for tax purposes, corresponding to the separation of the waters above and below on Day 2 (Genesis 1:6-8);
Exodus 30:17-21 commissions the construction of a bronze washing basin, corresponding to the containment of the waters on Day 3 (Genesis 1:9-13);
… and so forth. On to the point. Here’s an article if you want more.
In Genesis 2, God creates a garden, but there is no man to “serve” (‘abad) it. Then he places Adam and Eve — the man and his helper — in the garden and gives them their vocation.
In Leviticus 1-7, after the tabernacle has been built, God institutes and explains five offerings, but there is no priest to do its service (‘abadah). Then God has Moses ordain Aaron and his sons — the high priest and his priesthood — to that service.
Readers of Torah know a fall comes next.
2. The helper “takes” (laqach; Gen. 3:6; Lev. 10:1)
(I owe this insight to Ben Lovelady.)
Genesis 3:6 — “When the woman saw … she took…”
Leviticus 10:1 — “Then Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, each took…”
You wouldn’t have to read past the first word to worry. The first word of 10:1 is vayiq’chu, “then they took,” from laqach, “he took.” The next words specify its the newly-ordained priests, Nadab and Abihu who do the taking.
“Taking” (laqach) is the action of Eve that precipitates the fall. Notice, the priesthood repeats the action of Eve.
3. God addresses the man (Gen. 3:9; Lev. 10:8)
Genesis 3:9 — “But the Lord God called to the man and said to him…”
Leviticus 10:8 — “Then the Lord spoke to Aaron…”
Though Eve had taken the first action in the sequence, God directly addresses Adam, suggesting Adam bears some implicit responsibility for the whole sequence of events.
Notably, this is the first and only time in the Tabernacle Narrative (Exodus 25—Numbers 10) that God addresses Aaron directly and alone. This implies suggests Aaron, by virtue of his high priesthood, bears some implicit responsibility for his priesthood (as Eli has for the transgressions of his sons and Samuel does for his, in 1 Samuel 2:12-36; 8:1-3).
God first Adam/Aaron for the transgression of Eve/the priests.
Also, I don’t know what to do with this, but God “calls” (vayyiq’ra) to Adam. vayyiq’ra, which means, “and he called,” is the first word of and the Jewish name for the book we call Leviticus.
4. God says what’s next (Gen. 3:14-21; Lev. 11-16)
(I owe this insight to Peter Leithart.)
In Genesis, God curses the serpent, the woman, and the man. In Leviticus, God tells Aaron he must distinguish between what is holy and profane, clean and unclean. Notice the ways Leviticus 11-16 structurally corresponds to Genesis 3:14-21:
Leviticus 11 distinguishes between clean and unclean foods, which corresponds to the curse on the serpent (“cursed are you above all the cattle”), who must crawl on his belly (Genesis 3:14-15).
Leviticus 12 addresses childbirth, which corresponds to the multiplication of pain in childbirth (Genesis 3:16).
Leviticus 13-14 addresses skin diseases, which corresponds to the “sweated brow” which will mark Adam’s work (Genesis 3:17-19).
Leviticus 15 addresses genital emissions, which corresponds to Adam calling (vayyiq’ra) Eve the “Mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20).
Leviticus 16 institutes the Day of Covering (k-p-r), on which Aaron (and every other high priest) must first cover himself and his household (which consists of other priests), which corresponds to God’s covering Adam and Even with the skins of an animal (Genesis 3:21).
Do you see how the cleanliness laws of Leviticus 11-16 extends the curse narrative of Genesis 3:14-21?
Aaron’s new (high priestly) vocation is to engage frankly the cursed and unclean world and to provide covering for its people, the way God frankly engaged and covered Adam and Eve:
“Then the Lord spoke to Aaron, ‘Do not drink wine or strong drink, you and your sons with you, when you enter into the Meeting Tent, so that you do not die, which is a perpetual statute throughout your generations, as well as to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean and to teach the Israelites all the statutes that the Lord has spoken to them through Moses.’” (Leviticus 10:9-11)
“Aaron is to present the sin offering bull which is for himself, and he is to make atonement on behalf of himself and his household.” (Leviticus 16:11a)
5. Where the whole thing is headed
These two partial narratives, Genesis 1-3 Exodus 25-Leviticus 16, are each fulfilled on their own terms in the New Testament:
Jesus is the New Adam, and the Church is the New Eve (e.g. Romans 5; 1 Corinthians 15; Ephesians 5).
Jesus is the New Aaron, our high priest, and we are Nadab and Abihu (and we are Eleazar and Ithamar), his family and his priesthood (e.g. Hebrews 7-10:18).
The correspondences between God and Adam and Eve on the one hand, and God and Moses and Aaron and the priesthood on the other, are neither consistent nor insistent. What they are, where they appear, is suggestive. If we’re looking, we recognize Adam in Aaron and Eve in the priests.
And God’s first sustained discourse on priestly ministry strikingly resembles his behavior in Genesis 3:14-21.
Who knew Genesis 3:14-21 was about priestly ministry.
This has Dru Johnson vibes along the lines of his argument in Epistemology and Biblical Theology (which he repeats to some extent in Biblical Philosophy), specifically, how he handles the phrase "listen to the voice of X." There's an interesting correspondence between narrative structures that build on, modify, or extend the first iteration in Gen 1-3. What makes this method so interesting is noting not only the similarities but also the differences as the story structure is retold in different circumstances. I have nothing specific to add in that regard; just noting that I think this is great place to start.