Emor (Leviticus 21-24)
LA JOLLA, California — The Torah text continues with The Holiness Code, which continues into next week’s readings. Chapter 21 deals with restrictive qualifications on the High Priest. Chapter 22 deals with restrictions of sacrificial food to the High Priest’s family; and demands that sacrifices brought by Israelite citizens be pristine. Chapter 23 mandates observance of the Sabbath, the Festivals, and the High Holy Days; also mandates that harvesters leave the edges of their fields and gleanings for the poor and the stranger. Chapter 24 mandates a daily light in the Tent of meeting; instructs to leave twelve bread loaves on the table outside the Holy of Holies each Sabbath. It then turns to describe a fight episode in camp, resulting in a blasphemy statement and punishment of the offender. Lastly the text states the famous lex talionis, which was long believed to be original in the Torah. However it is now known to be a common law previously among multiple nations, especially perpetuated in Hammurrabi’s Code of 1754 BCE.
From all this, I have chosen three passages for comparison with ancient paganism, from internet sources.
I. Leviticus 21 (Of High Priests)…”none shall defile himself (several ways)…(or meet priests’qualifications if he) has a (physical) defect.”
Egypt: The pharaoh was the supreme high priest. However with many temples throughout Egypt, he delegated a ‘high priest’ to each one, usually a royal relative. Little is known about what training was required. Except for troubled times, these priests’ powers were great, even to the role of military generals. A day in the life of a high priest included:
–Before dawn: ritual ablutions These included a bath in a sacred lake, shaving off all hair, gargling a salt solution, and dressing in linen robes and special sandals.
–Sunrise: At dawn, enter the shrine to awaken the god’s spirit in its statue. It was then cleansed, anointed and dressed, and offered the finest foods, during which frankincense was burned.
–Pre-noon: The ‘residual’ food became breakfast for the priest, following which he bathed again.
–Noon: Priest re-enters the shrine, burning myrrh resin and sprinkling water to further purify its spaces.
–Various times: Numerous other set rituals, according to the clock.
–Evening: Bathe once again to maintain ritual purity
–Sunset: Enter the shrine, now to put god’s spirit to rest, burning an aromatic incense to create a restful environment.
–Night: Again bathe, twice during the night. [1]
It can be concluded that, though the entry criteria for high priesthood were quite different in Egypt compared to those of the Torah, the duties of the Egyptian priests constituted a demanding career.
Rome: Priesthoods were held by the elite classes. Elected officials might serve as pontiffs. They married, raised families, and led politically active lives. They read the will of the gods, among other things sanctioning territorial expansionism as divine destiny. A victorious general showed piety by dedicating part of his spoils to the gods. Of conquered peoples, Rome absorbed their gods and cults, and added to their temples. Roman ‘mysteries’ however were maintained, and Rome viewed the colonies’ mysteries with suspicion. One result was that the Judeans posed difficulties, which led to conflict.
With the collapse of the Republic and the rise of the Empire, public vows became directed at the Emperor, resulting in ’emperor worship.’ Early Christians did not fare well in this environment. This changed with Constantine’s adoption of Christianity as the state religion.
According to Cicero, Romans considered themselves the most religious of all peoples, and the rise of Rome’s power was proof they received divine favor in return. [2] (Sounds like 19th century USA’s notion of “Manifest Destiny.”)
Sumeria: Priestesses were common, with equal status to High Priests. They owned property, transacted business, and enacted ceremonials depicting god to goddess marriage. [3]
II. Leviticus 22:29-30 Re: sacrificial (animal) “thanksgiving offering to the Lord…shall be eaten on the same day; you shall not leave any of it until morning”
Sharing food goes back to hunter-gatherer days, to assuage guilt and sin over the kill, and to unite all. People worldwide felt that an animal had a soul, but nevertheless humans had to eat–and so did the gods. Sharing with the gods elicited their blessing, which gave it religious significance. [4]
Egypt: The earliest evidence archaeologically of animal sacrifice is in Egypt, from c. 4400 BCE. Though domesticated sheep and goats predominated, remains also included gazelles and non-domesticated animals such as baboons and hippopotami. Later dynasties also sacrificed cattle, swine, and geese.
By 3000 BCE, i.e. the end of the copper age, animal sacrifice had become commonplace across many cultures, including Canaan, Mesopotamia, Sardinia, Crete, and all over Europe. Divination by examination of parts of the dead animal, especially the liver, also was practiced, especially in the Italic peninsula and the Near East. The Scythians of central Eurasia considered their most prestigious offering to be the horse. They were loath to keep pigs, which they never sacrificed. Incidentally their method was to strangle the animal via a noose around the neck, tightened in the manner of a tourniquet.
Rome: Their most potent offerings were cattle, sheep, and pigs, each the best specimen possible. The animal was cleansed and clad in regalia and garlands. The horns might be gilded. Sacrifice sought harmonization of the earthly and the divine, which meant that the animal must seem willing to offer its life. Accordingly it must remain calm and be quickly and cleanly dispatched. Sacrifice to deities in the heavens (gods above) was performed in daylight. This required white, infertile victims, of the same sex as the god/goddess addressed, e.g. to Juno a white heifer, to Jupiter a white castrated ox. To gods of the earth, e.g. Mars, Neptune, were offered fertile victims.
After the sacrifice, they held a banquet. All reclined on couches, including images of the honored deity, along with Rome’s officials and priests. A sacrificial fire consumed the god’s portion. Lesser citizens may have had to provide their own food. [5]
Greece: A sacrificed animal typically was domesticated, not wild game, except in the case of Artemis the huntress, who preferred wild game. Altars were outside in front of the temple. Barley seeds were thrown by those not responsible for the killing, ensuring a semblance of their participation. They poured water on the animal’s head, which forced it to ‘nod’ as if in agreement to the sacrifice, i.e. thus the sacrifice would not be treated as an act of violence. Everyone was a ‘willing’ participant: mortals, immortals, and animals!
The feast that followed was for gods and humans alike. To the gods went the long bones with some fat and spices, and wine. Those continued to burn, so the smoke would rise up to the gods and goddesses above.
To the humans went the meat and other tastier parts. Everything had to be eaten in the area and had to be eaten by evening. Greeks did not prostrate themselves on the ground, as in other cultures. They worshiped while standing, i.e. sort of as equals to the gods. [6]
III. Leviticus 24: 10-16 “…and a fight…between the half-Israelite and…a certain Israelite…(the half-Israelite) pronounced the Name in blasphemy …Israelite people speak thus: Anyone who blasphemes his God…shall be put to death…stone him…”
On the internet, I found a fairly thorough essay on the history of blasphemy. Unfortunately, the earliest records are scant.
In the Egyptian Book of the Dead, a deceased must assure Osiris that he has not done certain acts, e.g. ‘not blasphemed a god,’ else he didn’t gain immortality.
There are fragments from the Assyrian Code which imply that blasphemy was a serious offense. A false accusation of blasphemy earned a lying accuser forty blows.
Oddly enough, the Code of Hammurabi contained no prohibition of blasphemy. In the Sumerian epic of Gilgamesh, his friend Enkidu is killed after insulting the goddess Ishtar.
As for Judean history when Jerusalem was under siege by Assyria in 701 BCE, the Assyrian leader taunted King Hezekiah to save the city. He said that God would deceive Hezekiah via a promise that Jerusalem would not fall. This was blasphemy, and Judeans tore their clothes in grief. The prophet Isaiah promised that God would save the city. As it turned out, Assyria retreated for its own domestic reasons, interpreted by Jews as a miracle by God.
There are numerous recorded instances of the charge of blasphemy, particularly in ancient Greece. Athens, in the 5th Century BCE, had reached a pinnacle of cultural excellence and thus hegemony over the Greek nation. When Athens’ supremacy was threatened, blasphemy laws were invoked and used to silence dissenters. One could criticize the state, but he/she was forbidden to criticize the gods. Such was called ‘impiety.’
Anaxagoras (500-428 BCE) was condemned to a dungeon for stating that a superior intellect had designed the world, rather than the mythic gods. Pericles, a superb orator, defended him, and probably saved his life. The punishment was revised to a fine, and exile for life.
Phidias. the greatest sculptor of the classical era, had designed the Parthenon’s interior and sculpted the huge statue of Athena inside. He carved figures of Pericles and himself on her shield, for which he was charged with impiety. He died in prison in 433 BCE.
Playwrights Euripides and Aeschylus toyed with impiety in their plays, but avoided punishment. The rationales have not survived concerning these cases.
During the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE) between Athens and Sparta, there were politically inspired accusations of ‘impiety’ on the powerful party of Pericles. In 417 BCE, a law was passed, forbidding the teaching of atheism, after which dozens of important people were accused.
In 413 BCE, Athens woke one AM to discover someone had mutilated most of the statues of the god Hermes, son of Zeus. Alcibiades, a rising statesman and general, was accused, also for parodying the sacred ‘Eleusinian Mysteries.’ Though away at war, he was condemned to death in absentia, and his property confiscated. Thus, he joined the Spartans and fought against Athens. Numerous others were similarly accused of ‘impiety.’
Athens, the enlightened society, went into decline during this period and never recovered. Ironically, war-like Sparta, not known for culture, became a refuge for some of Athens’ best citizens.
The final victim of war hysteria in Athens was the philosopher Socrates. As we know, his teaching technique, conducted in public, was to probe a concept by questions, e.g. regarding morality. He had friends and followers known for ‘impiety,’ which strengthened the case against him. He took poisonous hemlock in punishment and died in 399 BCE. He is said to have loved the city Athens so much that he refused to save his life via an opportunity to be smuggled out of prison and into exile.
Athens, formally the center of culture for the ‘known world,’ continued to bring impiety charges against people for many years. In
323 BCE, Aristotle fled the city after being indicted for impiety. He had written an inscription for the statue of a political patron, comparing him to the gods. He claimed, as he fled, “so Athens would not sin against philosophy twice.”
In response, Epicurus, another philosopher, made a decision not to deny the existence of the gods. Instead he suggested that they led lives of complete bliss somewhere in the ether with no interest in humans. He maintained that people did not have to concern themselves with the gods, but he was careful not to denigrate. them.
In summary regards to Athens–Blasphemy laws were conveniently invoked to rid the city of its most illustrious and provocative thinkers. We remember and revere them to this day, and the names who tried to silence them are forgotten.
Regarding ancient Rome, the law was more concerned with magic and sacrilege rather than blasphemy. The Twelve Tables of Roman Law say nothing about blasphemy. Its death penalty was reserved for those making incantations to harm others. However, one can find legal treatises from the late Empire that seem to prohibit blasphemy. Keep in mind, early Christians were considered to engage in blasphemy against the gods. They would not offer incense or oaths to the gods. They maintained that the pagan gods did not exist, and if they did, they were not deities but demons. Such an insult to Roman gods was a form of blasphemy, although the Romans did not call it by that name.
Jesus allegedly was brought to trial before the Judean Sanhedrin on the charge of blasphemy. Per Mark and Mathew, Jesus was tried for blasphemy. His words in those Gospels do not accord with saying anything blasphemous. Furthermore, the Jewish penalty for blasphemy was stoning, not crucification. Also it is unlikely that the Romans would care about Jesus insulting a Jewish God. It may be surmised that Pontius Pilate, who had leeway in his decision, chose crucification, because Jesus committed a political crime against Rome. [7]
NOTES
[1] “All About Liberty” magazine, Joann Fletcher, 12 June 2019; and “Historical Religions,” subject of Priests, Wikipedia
[2] Religion in Ancient Rome, Wikipedia
[3] “Historical religions,” subject-Priest, Wikipedia
{4] Research on the Ritual of Sharing Sacrificial Food, WU Yu-ping, DU Yan, Journal of Literature and Art Studies, June 2016, Vol. 6, No. 6, 619-625
[5] Animal Sacrifice'”-Wikipedia
[6] “Learn Religions:” Method of Sacrifice in Ancient Greece, Austin Cline, June 11, 2018
[7] http://atheistscholar.org/Criticism/Blasphemy.aspx
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Irv Jacobs is a retired medical doctor who delights in Torah analysis. He often delivers a drosh at Congregation Beth El in La Jolla, and at his chavurah.