The way of the attached

The third book of the Bible is Leviticus. While much could be said and written about this shortest of Pentateuch books, this post is just about its name.

Leviticus is about the way of the Levites.

It's a Greekified Hebrew name. While there's no relation between Sparta and Spartacus, the -us suffix is common in Greek, the language of the empire in its twilight at the time the Bible as we know it today was compiled. Hence, a book about the way of the Levites would be named Leviticus.

If one wants to take the language origin a step further on this name, one can look at the original meaning of Levi. It was a name given to one of Leah's sons which was the Hebrew word for “joined to” or attached.

“She conceived again and bore a son, and said, ‘Now this time my husband will become attached to me, because I have borne him three sons.’ Therefore his name was called Levi” (Genesis 29:34).

Leviticus, a book about the way of those who follow after their father, Attached.