keeping it, levitical religion in principle has no religious need for a redeemer, savior, or messiah. The consistent message of the priestly editing of Scripture is that so long as the altar is effective, Israel’s relationship with God is secure. In levitical religion, there is nothing religious a messiah can do that the altar cannot do. A redeemer is religiously unnecessary. Rabbinic Judaism is the primary heir and continuator of the levitical religion represented in Scripture. Emerging from the