Abstract

This study analyzes the conceptual categories of space, time, and status in the Priestly rituals of Lev 8; 14; 16; Num 19; 28-19, and views them within the context of Priestly creation theology. Methods and models of analysis are drawn from cultural anthropology. The rituals are placed within the dual context of the processes of society and the created order. The created order is understood to be constituted by three interrelated orders-cosmos, society, cult. All three of these orders were brought into being through a creative act of speech of Yahweh. ;The Priestly rituals analyzed in this study all reflect a concern for some change in the status of persons or objects, e.g., the making holy of the sacred place, the tabernacle ; the purgation of the tabernacle ; the ordination and institutionalization of the priesthood ; the cleansing of a recovered leper which allows the individual to return to a full standing within society . A central element of rituals of status change is the blood of sacrificial animals. Because of its use in many different ways, it is argued that blood in the Priestly cult carries a broad range of meanings and symbolic-ritual values. ;Priestly rituals are divided into two basic types--rituals of maintenance and rituals of restoration. Rituals of maintenance are designed to keep intact the divinely created order. Rituals of restoration are designed to restore the divinely created order when it has been ruptured, broken, or damaged. Sin and its resultant defilement and impurity are the primary causes of such movement toward disorder and chaos