Old systems… and new

Boy oh boy! 

I am trying to get a hold on just what I might find in Leviticus.

This from Britannica gave some satisfaction:

           Leviticus, (Latin: “of the Levites”) third book of the Latin Vulgate Bible, the name of which designates its contents as a book (or manual) primarily concerned with priests (members of the priestly tribe of Levi) and their duties.

So, it is a manual!

Students of Christian Science know the value of a manual! The slim volume Church Manual of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts by Mary Baker Eddy, is the students’ “go-to” book for starting a church, for the working of church services, holding lectures, Christly conduct, teaching Christian Science, the duties of the Christian Science Board of Directors, conditions for membership, the Christian Science nurse, Sunday School, and more.

I wonder if these activities can be related to the duties of the Levites as put down in Leviticus.

The Harper Collins Study Bible tells me that the construction methods of Israeli cultic implements, the sacred religious objects used in ritual – the tabernacle, its contents, and the priestly vestments – are described in the book of Exodus, while Leviticus describes how those objects were used in worship, by offering scenes from “the living cult”.

Of course, the name starts with Levi, one of Jacob’s sons by Leah. It is said that the Levi tribe was chosen by God to be priests who would serve Him.

There is a definition of Levi in the Glossary of Mary Baker Eddy’s Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures (p. 590: 11):

Levi (Jacob’s son). A corporeal and sensual belief; mortal man; denial of the fulness of God’s creation; ecclesiastical despotism.

Well! Isn’t that surprising? Well, it is to me. Can the present priesthood be traced back to Levi?

Science and Health speaks of despotism in the chapter Animal Magnetism Unmasked. We find there a quote from the Boston Herald:

“Mesmerism is a problem not lending itself to an easy explanation and development. It implies the exercise of despotic control, and is much more likely to be abused by its possessor, than otherwise employed, for the individual or society.”  (p. 102:25)

The next paragraph begins:

Mankind must learn that evil is not power. Its so-called despotism is but a phase of nothingness. (p. 102: 30)

I now quote from page 141 of Science and Health (chapter Science, Theology, Medicine):

All revelation (such is the popular thought!) must come from the schools and along the line of scholarly and ecclesiastical descent, as kings are crowned from a royal dynasty. In healing the sick and sinning, Jesus elaborated the fact that the healing effect followed the understanding of the divine Principle and of the Christ-spirit which governed the corporeal Jesus. For this Principle there is no dynasty, no ecclesiastical monopoly. Its only crowned head is immortal sovereignty. Its only priest is the spiritualized man. The Bible declares that all believers are made “kings and priests unto God.” (p. 141: 10-21)

Let our pulpits do justice to Christian Science. Let it have fair representation by the press. Give to it the place in our institutions of learning now occupied by scholastic theology and physiology, and it will eradicate sickness and sin in less time than the old systems devised for subduing them, have required for self-establishment and propagation. (p. 141: 28)

Joyce Voysey