James Watts uses rhetorical analysis for this detailed exposition of
Leviticus 1-10. In dialogue with a wide variety of contemporary
scholarship on Leviticus, this commentary also engages the history of
the book's interpretation and the history of Jewish and Christian ritual
practices. Leviticus's rhetoric aimed to persuade ancient Israelites to
make offerings to God. It legitimized the monopoly of Aaronide priests
over Israel's offerings and over determining correct ritual practice.
The priests in turn established the Torah containing Leviticus as the
authoritative text of Israel's religion. Rhetorical analysis of
Leviticus thus leads to new insights into the role of priests in raising
the Pentateuch to the status of scripture and in shaping the biblical
canon. It also calls attention to the role of ritual rhetoric in the
polities of later Jewish and Christian groups, despite the fact that
neither religion makes animal offerings as Leviticus 1-10 mandates.