CODE OF HOLINESS

Collection of secular, ritualistic, moral and festival regulations in the Old Testament Book of Leviticus, chapters 17-26.

The division designated "H" in scholarly circles was so named by a German biblical scholar A. Klostermann in 1877 because of its concern for sanctity embodied in the admonition "Sanctify yourself and he holy".

The Code of Holiness encourages the people of Israel distinctive among the rest of the peoples of the world because they have been chosen by Yahweh to demonstrate their unique election by disassociating themselves from the profanity of worldliness and to retain their ritualistic and moral purity.

The Code of Holiness includes regulations regarding animal sacrifices and the eating of meat, ritual cleanliness, priestly regulations, prohibitions against eating blood, blasphemy, sexual regulations, the offering of sacrifices to Moloch (the Moabite god to whom children were offered as burnt sacrifices) and mediums and sorcerers.

Also included ara a list of days that are to be held sacred and laws concerning the sabbatical (jubilee) year in which Israelite slaves were to be freed and interest was to be prohibited.