as chiasmus, inclusio, and repetition give the text a more poetic and rhetorical character. It is not simply the dry list of commands and prohibitions that it may seem to be on the surface. Part of the problem in understanding the nature of the book comes from the translation of “Torah” as “law” rather than as “instruction.” For Christians, many a good intention to read the whole Bible from cover to cover has foundered on Leviticus. One author describes it as “gristle.” It seems