Cult and Character

Moral wrongdoing, in ancient Israel's ritual texts, was both a breach of relationship and a kind of pollution, and Roy Gane argues that the so-called sin offerings, better understood as purification offerings, answered to both. His study centres on the Day of Purgation, commonly known as Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement, when those loyal to YHWH affirmed the pardon they had already received and the sanctuary itself was cleansed.

Working closely from the Hebrew texts, and drawing on ritual theory and a systems approach to human activity, Gane shows how these rites reveal justice and kindness held together in YHWH's character, ultimately affirming Jacob Milgrom's insight that theodicy lies at the heart of the system. A rigorous, rewarding study for scholars and serious students of Leviticus, ritual and biblical theology.