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Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord? A Biblical Theology of the Book of Leviticus. By L. Michael Morales. New Studies in Biblical Theology 37. Nottingham, UK/Downers Grove, IL: Apollos/IVP, 2015, 347 pp., £16,99.
L. Michael Morales, professor of Biblical Studies at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Taylors, South Carolina, has written an impressive study on the book of Leviticus. This book of the Pentateuch is of utmost importance to understand not only the Pentateuch but also the entire Bible. Morales explains that the fundamental question of the OT cult is how sinful men can become members of the household of God. That is the reason he gave his study on Leviticus the apt title based on Ps 24:3: "Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord?" This entrance liturgy is at the heart of the book of Leviticus, and also makes clear how the cult actually functioned in the religious practice and faith of the people of Israel in the OT.
The last decade of OT scholars have begun to realize that the Jewish medieval expositors of the OT rightly saw a connection between the creation narrative and the narrative of the building of the tabernacle. The tabernacle is a representation of the cosmos and the paradise and God meant the cosmos and the paradise as a sanctuary. Morales points to the fact that the seven-day structure of the creation account is mirrored by the tabernacle instructions in Exodus 25-31. Both the end of the first creation account and the instructions of the building of the tabernacle conclude with the Sabbath (Gen 2:3; Exod 31:12-18). Man's chief end is to serve God and to find rest in God.
Morales thinks paradise can be compared to the holy of holies of the sanctuary. I would prefer to compare paradise to the holy place of the sanctuary because we can see a parallel between the tree of life and the golden candlestick. The land of Eden, which I distinguish...