Editing Book of Leviticus (section)

==Composition==
[[Image:Tabernacle Camp.jpg|thumb|The [[Tabernacle]] and the Camp (19th-century drawing)]]

The majority of scholars have concluded that the Pentateuch received its final form during the Persian period (538–332&nbsp;BC).<ref>Newsom, p.26</ref> Nevertheless, Leviticus had a long period of growth before reaching that form.<ref name="Grabbe 1998, p.92">Grabbe (1998), p. 92</ref>

The entire composition of the book of Leviticus is [[Priestly source|Priestly]] literature.<ref>Levine (2006), p. 11</ref> Most scholars see chapters 1–16 (the [[Priestly code]]) and chapters 17–26 (the [[Holiness code]]) as the work of two related schools, but while the Holiness material employs the same technical terms as the Priestly code, it broadens their meaning from pure ritual to the theological and moral, turning the ritual of the Priestly code into a model for the relationship of Israel to Yahweh: as the tabernacle, which is apart from uncleanliness, becomes holy by the presence of Yahweh, so he will dwell among Israel when Israel receives purification (becomes holy) and separates from other peoples.<ref>Houston, p. 102</ref> The ritual instructions in the Priestly code apparently grew from priests giving instruction and answering questions about ritual matters; the Holiness code (or H) used to be a separate document, later becoming part of Leviticus, but it seems better to think of the Holiness authors as editors who worked with the Priestly code and actually produced Leviticus as is now extant.<ref>Houston, pp. 102–03</ref>