You're listening to the Bible for normal people, the only God ordained podcast on the internet.

I'm Pete Ends.

And I'm Jared Bias.

Welcome to this episode of the podcast.

And, you know, I thought of calling it Pete Rescues Leviticus because for many or maybe even

most of you Leviticus is ruined already. But I decided to aim for brand consistency.

So here we go. And, you know, Leviticus, I get it, is not the stuff I think for most people

of morning devotions or a sermon series or like neighborhood Bible studies.

I mean, my doctoral advisor told us once in class that if we ever find ourselves as general

editor for a commentary series, make sure we get a commitment to Leviticus first because

that's the hardest one to assign. And, you know, it's just, it is a lot to wait through, I think.

We shouldn't pretend that it's not. And for many people, I think the effort doesn't always

have like pay off a value. So it's a hard thing to try to get through.

And, you know, for those who do dive in, sometimes it's used as an exhibit A for why the old

testament is boring and irrelevant or downright oppressive, like you can eat pork or for some

using it to justify anti gay laws. Sometimes it's just a book that's worth avoiding for many people.

And I know it's a hard book to invest in for Christians. I'm not suggesting that it's not.

And I'm not suggesting it plays as key a role in Christian thinking as a genesis or Isaiah or

Psalms or a number of other books. But if you're interested in understanding something of Israelite

religion, okay? Not when I say that Israelite religion, it's not just what they like believed in

the abstract, but what they actually enacted, what they embodied their rituals. Well, then Leviticus

suddenly becomes quite significant. But its placement, the book Leviticus, its placement in Torah,

...