Beginners scanning Leviticus will find much detail about rituals and sinful situations, but little enlightening context or rationale. This study explores how scholars imagine that these rituals and moral laws made sense to those living back then, even though many of these early rituals and customs have been discontinued or replaced by consensus with alternative forms of worship. The authors seem to be unquestioningly devout, and quite realistic about life at the same time. Everyone shared in rituals of faith at home, at shrines, or in Jerusalem; everyone honored the proper food and...