Day #47

Sermon - Audio
Lev 11-13 - Audio
Lev 11-13 - Daily Reading

Daily Insights - Please Comment


Step 4 - Made a fearless and searching moral inventory of ourselves.

If you are like me, there have been many times when we have ignored our own sins and problems and pointed the finger at someone else. It is possible to be out of touch with our internal affairs and blame others for our choices. We can also avoid self-examination by making moral inventories of the people around us. While doing this step, we remember that this is a time of self examination.

The Concept and importance of purity in the Bible is hard for us to understand. Part of the problem is understanding the religious culture of the day and the holiness of God.

Jonathan Klawans, “Concepts of Purity in the Bible.” P.2041 in The Jewish Study Bible writes: In the early days of modern biblical scholarship, conceptions of defilement were treated with scorn. James Frazer (1854-1939) and William Robertson Smith (1846-1894), two founders of modern anthropology, could barely conceal their disgust for the avoidance behaviors of the Bible. Smith, Frazer, and other approached purity rules as if they were a random collection of primitive taboos. Their origin lay in the savage fears of blood and demons; their preservation by Israel was simply a matter of perpetuating ancient custom. Making matters worse, Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) in Totem and Taboo famously compared religious avoidances with the obsessive behavior of psychotics. Whether they were seen as the products of primitive fears or primeval obsessions, ritualized avoidances were dismissed by many as irrational, pointless, and just plain foolish.

When we first come to the chapters 11-13 we find ourselves confused and wondering why in the world did God put all of this stuff in the Bible and why did God demand such things from His people? The awesome nature of God’s holiness provides a powerful context in the teaching about clean and unclean in these chapters. The fact that this section is sitting between the account of Aaron’s sons in chapter 10 and its brief review at the beginning of chapter 16 point this section to God’s holiness. This seems shocking to people who live in a culture in which all thoughts about God amount to sentimental mush. But, the same pattern emerges with Achan (Joshua 7), Uzza (2 Sam. 6), and Ananias and Saphira (Acts 5). In Revelation 1 and 2 John did not find Jesus very approachable as well!

Chapter 11

The designations “clean” and “unclean” do not refer to dirt or other unpleasant features, or their lack in certain animals. Somehow, in ways we may never understand, certain animals were appropriate for diet and other uses, and others were not.

“From ancient times interpreters have proposed many views as the common denominator or organizing principle for the dietary classifications. The proposals have included religious taboos (e.g., eating blood) and a measure to prevent the indiscriminate killing of animals (that is, a type of ancient endangered species list). The most repeated suggestion is that the dietary regulations, along with the entire set of cleans and unclean teachings, fostered good health and hygiene. None of these suggestions works out in all case. There seems to be no intrinsic reason why the clean are clean. That is, the clean are clean and the unclean are unclean because God said so. (Gary Schnittjer, The Tory Story)

I’m also reminded of Peter’s vision is the book of Acts where God said, Do not call unclean what I have made clean. Acts 10.13-15 And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.”

Mark 7.17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)

vs. 44-45 “For I am the LORD. This self-identification is used here for the first time in the book; it occurs frequently from chapter 18 on. for I am holy. Cf. 19.2; 20.26; 21.8. The Lord, who is himself, holy, calls his people to consecrate themselves, i.e., dedicate themselves to holiness (Hb.hitqaddesh), and to be holy, i.e., practice a holy lifestyle. (ESV Study Bible)


Chapter 12

A woman who has just given birth is considered unclean. The loss of blood signifies that one is incomplete and unclean. Three steps are required to move from defilement to purity: (1) the woman is to remain unclean for 7 or 14 days, depending on the gender of the child; (2) she then moves into the second stage, which lasts for 33 to 66 days in which she is neither pure nor impure; and (3) finally, she offers sacrifices in order to enter into full communion with the covenant people. The time of purification for the mother is twice as long if she gives birth to a female rather than a male. The reason is uncertain; although it may be that the female is potentially more unclean because of the probability of her menstruating and of her giving birth. In any event, there is no implication that the reason for the distinction is any kind of presumed “inferiority” of women. (ESV Study Bible)

12.8 and if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.’”

Luke 2.24 is a reference to this requirement of the law, telling us that Jesus’ parents were poor.


Chapter 13

Leprosy (here called “a disease of the skin of his body) is a name applied to several different diseases, and was something to be very afraid of in Bible times. Some of these diseases, unlike the disease we call leprosy or Hansen’s disease today, were highly contagious. The worst of them slowly ruined the body and, in most cases were fatal. Lepers were separated from family and friends and confined outside the camp. If someone’s leprosy appeared to go away, only the priest could decide if that person was truly cured.

Lev. 13:18-44 These rules deal with various cases of the leprous disease in relation to other common skin diseases or disorders, such as a boil (vv. 18-23), a burn (vv. 24-28), itching disease (vv. 29-37), leukoderma (vv. 38-39), and baldness (vv. 40-44). The priest is responsible for discerning whether or not the condition is one that makes a person unclean (cf. 10:10-11); this is one way in which the priesthood is to serve the well-being of the people. (ESV Study Bible)

Lev. 13:45-46 the person with a skin disease is to tear his clothes, go about with an unadorned head, and have his beard and mouth covered. These are all signs of mourning in the OT (Ezek. 24:17, 22; Mic. 3:7). Here they symbolize that a person is ritually dead. Cf. Luke 17:12-13, where lepers “stood at a distance” and called for help from Jesus. (ESV Study Bible)

Lev. 13:47-59 Except for the symptoms and actual treatments such as washing, the procedure of the examination in cases of leprous disease in a garment follows that of the cases for humans. Causes of such disease include various molds or fungi. When it becomes clear that the suspected area is affected by the disease, the treatment (i.e., tear or burn it) is destructive; the object must no longer be used, or has to be completely abandoned. (ESV Study Bible)