Broken Tablets and the Heart of the Torah

Leviticus 19 is arguably one of these most perplexing chapters in Torah. It seems to be simply a list of various unrelated laws. But, it's placement in Torah, right between 18 and 20, seems to suggest purpose. Chapters 18 and 20 have everything to do with each other--it doesn't make sense to divide them without some purpose.

Moshe Kline thought so too, so he set out to study the structure of Leviticus 19. His results were quite revealing. He found that Leviticus 19 is actually arranged according to a complex structure that points back to the ten commandments. You can find more details on his study here. Chapter 3 discusses the literary structure of Leviticus as a whole, while chapters 5 and 6 focus in on Leviticus 19 specifically.

Here, I want to build on the results of that study a bit. First a quick summary:

Moshe Kline puts forward the idea that Leviticus is arranged according to the Tabernacle. For the first 18 chapters, one is walking inward, progressing into the more intimate areas of God's holy place. From 20 onward, one is progressing outward back toward the people. Chapter 19 stands in the middle as the turning point where the Ark of the Covenant stands.

According to Moshe Kline, Leviticus 19 is arranged something like the following table (where each block represents a paragraph ending in "I am the LORD" and the numbers are verses):

1-2	11-12
3	13-14
4	15-16
5-10	17-18
19-25
26-28	32
29-30	33-34
31	35-36

As you can see, it is arranged into two columns, much like the ten commandments. If you examine the contents of each column, you will see that there is another similarity here. The first column focuses mainly on God-oriented commands (like the first 5 of the ten commandments) while the second column focuses mainly on neighbor-oriented commands. In fact, the majority of the ten commandments are referenced at some point in Leviticus 19, more than any other chapter of Torah. It's not a perfect fit, but then I don't think it was meant to be either (as will be explained further). The division of the first half of the columns is indicated by a shift from "I am the LORD your God" to "I am the LORD." In the second half, this distinction becomes meaningless--instead we see that there are word parallels between the second half of the columns and their respective columns in the first half. In the middle of these columns are verses 19-25--a seeming anomaly amongst the order we have just defined. Again, for more details on how this structure is formed, I recommend taking a look at Moshe Kline's articles above.

So, what is the author of Leviticus trying to do here? I see an obvious connection to the stone tablets in this passage. If we follow Moshe Kline's line of thinking and see Leviticus 19 as representing the Ark of the Covenant, this would make perfect sense--the ten commandments were contained within the ark. On the other hand, we don't see a literal repetition of the ten here, or even a one-to-one correlation. Just a strong reference. It's as if the commandments were--broken. Secondly, not all of the rules here reflect the general all-encompassing nature of the ten. Many of these commandments take a much more specific, practical role. If we go back to when the ten commandments were given, I think we'll find two key events that help explain what's happening here.

In Exodus 20, immediately after God finishes giving the ten commandments, the people cry out for an intermediary. They don't want to hear God's voice anymore. So, Moses takes the position of intermediary and relates the commands of God to the people. It's at this point that the commandments begin to take a very down to earth nature (slavery, social justice, etc.), quite a jump from the loftiness of the ten. The people of Israel had just admitted they were human. Therefore they needed a law for humans. Not angels.

Jump forward a bit to Exodus 32, and the people of Israel take another fall--the golden calf. Idolatry destroys the relationship Israel had just formed with their Redeemer. Moses comes down from the mountain and shatters the stone tablets. Unlike the divinely carved tablets Moses just broke, the next pair would have to be carved out by human hands. Tradition has it that the golden calf was also the reason for the necessity of the Tabernacle. At the very least, we see a change in the way the Tabernacle is described. Before 32, God starts with the Ark and the Table and the Menorah before discussing the outer layers. But, after 32, this order is reversed. The outside is placed before the heart.

When we come to Leviticus, this pattern shows itself again. Here we have the ten commandments, but not the lofty ones that God spoke from the mountain. No, these are the down to earth commands that we humans need with only a spark of the original glory left intact. We also see that the commandments are broken. Right across the middle of the columns, a totally unrelated piece of text is inserted, breaking the flow, creating a picture of broken tablets. Why is this done here? Because this is Leviticus, the book about how to approach God in all His holiness. About the Tabernacle, something that came about as a direct result of the golden calf. You see, the Tabernacle became an intermediary, an encasing around the holiness of God. Similarly, Leviticus is structured as an encasing around the ten commandments spoken by the voice of God. Only after you peel back layers of clean/unclean and holiness codes can you come to the heart of the matter. A broken set of tablets.

We still have one more question to answer, and I believe it will tie the rest of this together and answer the problem of a broken relationship. What is this passage that breaks up the two tablets in Leviticus 19?

In this one section we have three separate commandments. One is about not mixing various things (distinguishing or "judging"). Two is about a specific case of broken relationship, atonement, and forgiveness. Three is about something forbidden becoming holy and then fruitful.

Justice.

Mercy.

Redemption.

These are at the heart of the ten commandments.

You see, the book of Leviticus is not just some set of random archaic rules. It is a system put in place because of our sin to bring us back into relationship with God. It is a schoolmaster set out to teach us to distinguish clean and unclean, right and wrong, leading us toward the heart of the ten commandments--the heart of the Father. It teaches us to crucify our own sinful desire, our animal nature, in favor of a higher standard. 

But it also teaches us about God's mercy, His forgiveness, His patience. We broke faith, but rather than giving up on us, God came down to our level and gave us what we needed as human beings. He taught us righteousness on our level and provided atonement.

Together, mercy and justice intertwine to bring us to redemption. This is the intersection between heaven and earth, between the holy and the profane. It is where the world is renewed and darkness becomes light. Our broken relationship is restored completely as we are transformed into the image of our Creator, so that one day holiness will not be something we strive to do but who we are.