Previously, I always thought of/remembered the Decalogue has the obligations to God and the obligations to our neighbor as most Christians do. However, learned that the Jewish community tends to relate half of the commandments as positive and the other negative (82). It was also interesting to read that even among Christians the obligations to God commands are interpreted differently.
My naive, before seminary self, always assumed that if I read something in a certain book of the Bible, then the portion was written during the time period of the rest of that specific book. Yet, according to Collins, the laws of the Book of the Covenant "are not the laws of nomads watering in the wilderness" like the Israelites were during the book of Exodus (85). Learning this has been important in helping make a little bit more sense and clarity when it came to how such serious casuistic laws were put into place and followed.
Lastly, the book of Leviticus I have always found to be quite boring and never fully listened to or read the laws that were included. Because of my lack of interest, I had very little knowledge on the book of Leviticus, the Priestly laws and Holiness Code before this reading. I previously made assumptions that all of the sacrifices were for a lack of a better term, no sense and irrelevant to me personally. However, I really enjoyed learning about the symbolism of the sacrifice for the day of atonement (93). Though, I would not carry out this ritual today, I do feel like I can transform the ideas and sacredness behind it into a ritual that can be meaningful for my atonement.