Priestly source lost, God remained present with Israel. The history of exilic and post-exilic Judah is little known, but a summary of current theories can be made as follows: The Pentateuch or Torah (the Greek and Hebrew terms, respectively, for the bible's books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) describe the history of the Israelites from the creation of the world, through the earliest biblical patriarchs and their wanderings, to the exodus from Egypt and the encounter with God in the wilderness. The books contain many inconsistencies, repetitions, different narrative styles, and different names for God. There are, for example, two
Leviticus Rabbah 23, 31-34, 36, 37). In this, Leviticus Rabbah differs from the Pesikta, for in the Pesikta the individual explanations are seldom lacking. And while the Pesikta rarely quotes lengthy homiletic excerpts after the proems, Leviticus Rabbah quotes such materials after the conclusion of a proem, in the course of each chapter, and even toward the end of a chapter. These excerpts have often very slight reference to the context. But otherwise Leviticus Rabbah carefully follows the form of the Pesikta. The end of each chapter in Leviticus Rabbah, like the Pesikta, consists of a passage containing a Messianic prophecy. The