LEVITICUS
By John D. Currid
Evangelical Press. 400 pages. £16.95
ISBN 0 85234 576 3
The author, who teaches at Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson, Mississippi, has placed Bible students in his debt with the fifth of his commentaries on Genesis through to Leviticus.
While reflecting the author’s erudition, it is written in a clear and readable style (well assisted by the publisher’s choice of format). It is particularly strong on explanation which is both thorough and responsible, reflecting, as it does, the author’s special interest in Old Testament culture, history and archaeology. All is undertaken from a conservative theological perspective.
Each section concludes with a section on application. This is grounded in a typological approach that is indebted, in particular and properly, to the Epistle to the Hebrews. However, it was at the point of application that the present reviewer became frustrated. While the book of Leviticus appears to the Protestant Western mindset (and with some justification) to be a burdensome list of rules and regulations that, biblically, highlight their provisional nature, this is not the whole story. Rather, Old Testament ‘saints’ found joy in the religion of Leviticus and. in its rituals, the opportunity to enjoy those things to which the ceremonies pointed: peace with God. sin and guilt removed, fellowship with the Deity, etc. This sense of Leviticus-inspired religion as a joyful celebration of the grace and mercy of the LORD is, however, absent from Currid’s exposition.
In places, too, the author appears to show his ignorance of modern linguistics and be rather over-confident in being able to ascribe by etymology and other analyses ‘meaning’ to words rather than recognising that meaning inheres in the word’s context.
Granted this, this volume is a welcome addition to the literature on Leviticus and will sit alongside Gordon Wenham’s New International Commentary as the first ‘port of call’ in my own studies of the book.
Dr. Stephen Dray,
Ferndale Baptist Church, Southend
Tutor, Sarum College, Salisbury
