Leviticus

After finishing Exodus and all the passages going into detail over the temple construction, the robes of Aaron and his sons, etc, I was happy to be moving onto Leviticus. Only to have chapter after chapter delineating the different types of sacrifices and procedures for each. It's not hard to see where many people trying to read the Bible from start to finish might just very well quit at this point.

It's not totally without interest though. Such as the idea of allowing different types of sacrifices for those that are poor. If you don't have a cow, a sheep will do. If no sheep, then birds. If no birds, then a cereal/grain offering.

Or the fact that it covers sins committed without realizing. Upon realizing the sin, it is imperative to then make a sacrifice and make yourself right with God. If your sin involved defrauding another, you must make restitution plus a set penalty to make yourself right with your fellow man and society and STILL make the sacrifice to square things with God. It also sets the penalty, preventing capricious, greedy and/or arbitrary penalties to be set. It also allows that rulers and priests can also commit sins and will be held accountable for those sins. Think of how often rulers of the time were set up as and considered gods. Even today, dictators the world round see themselves as being independent of the concerns and laws of the people they rule.

But, five chapters in and still going, it makes laborious reading.