Holiness & Perfection: A Canonical Unfolding of Leviticus 19 (Das Alte Testament im Dialog / An Outline of an Old Testament Dialogue)

What is the most important lesson in the word of God? In Matt. 22:34-40, Jesus summarizes the whole Bible into two commandments, being ‘love for God’ and ‘love for thy neighbor’ (Lev. 19:18). Why did Jesus cite Lev. 19:18 (love) instead of 19:2 (holiness), which is the core of this chapter? This book analyzes how Lev. 19 is unfolded from OT times to the message of the NT. It attempts to prove the importance of Lev. 19 in the canonical tradition of Judaism and Christianity and to identify the clues which can help to explain the reason why Jesus chose Lev. 19:18. Further, the book shows that holiness, one of the main issues in Lev. 19, is replaced by perfection in Matt. 5:48. This connection is shown through examining the Community Rule (1QS) of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which joins the themes of holiness and perfection. This combination serves as the ‘missing link’ to bridge the gap between Lev. 19 and Matt. 5. The method used to explore these texts is called ‘a canonical unfolding.’ After a commentary on Lev. 19 the chapter is compared to other connected texts. Finally, the meaning of Lev. 19 is reinterpreted in the whole context of the Canon. Table of Contents 9 Abbreviations - 9 11 I. Introduction - 11 13 A. Methodology - 13 15 B. The choice of the connected texts - 15 17 C. Survey of research of Lev. 19 - 20 22 II. Commentary of Leviticus 19 - 27 29 A. Exodus 20–23 and Leviticus 19 - 27 29 B. Leviticus 19 - 27 29 C. Commentary - 37 39 III. Leviticus 19 and its Canonical Unfoldingin the Old Testament - 63 65 A. Leviticus 19 and Deuteronomy 10:12–11:1 - 63 65 B. Leviticus 19 and Zechariah 7:8–14 / 8:14–17 - 70 72 IV. Leviticus 19 in Qumran Texts - 79 81 A. Leviticus 19 and the Damascus Document (CD) - 79 81 B. Leviticus 19 and the Community Rule (1QS) - 83 85 C. Leviticus 19 and the Temple Scroll (11QT) - 87 89 V. Leviticus 19 and its Canonical Unfoldingin the New Testament - 91 93 A. Leviticus 19 and Matthew 5:21–48 - 91 93 B. Leviticus 19 and Romans 13:8–14 - 103 105 C. Leviticus 19 and Ephesians 4–6 - 109 111 D. Leviticus 19 and 1 Thessalonians - 116 118 E. Leviticus 19 and 1 Peter 1:13–24 - 122 124 VI. Canonical Unfolding of Lev. 19 in the Bible - 131 133 A. Lev. 19 and its weakened elementsin the process of Canonical Unfolding - 131 133 B. Lev. 19 and its continued elementsin the process of Canonical Unfolding - 131 133 VII. Conclusion - 133 135 A. Holiness - 133 135 B. Love - 134 136 C. God, people, and the land - 134 136 Bibliography - 139 141