Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

We continue with leprosy, or these outbreaks of disease, with the rules of cleansing. Leviticus as a whole offers no explanation for the cause of disease. The focus is on protecting people of the community and the sanctuary itself from contamination once the disease appears. With one exception, none of the disease is mentioned as being put on anything by God Himself. It’s important to note that everyone had a way into right standing. Everyone had something to give. It was NOT restricted to the rich.

There are various things that need to be done. Washing seven times. Being anointed by oil. And blood. Sacrifices and anointing the previously by the blood (on earlobe, thumb, and toe just like with priesthood). It always comes down to the blood. We see this theme continuing in the next section. Blood from sacrifice to God makes holy and clean. Blood from any other source makes unclean and temporarily unfit to encounter God. The things themselves are not the issue. It is the blood and the need to hold it in high respect that creates the conditions of uncleanliness. How can we walk fully in Messiah’s sacrifice if we think blood is ordinary?

When dealing with homes, God says He will bring a leprosy on the walls. Why? It doesn’t say, but the solution is to remove the parts of the walls where the disease was (and not reuse them), replacing them with new and fresh material. There is a Rabbinic teaching that the residents of Canaan heard the Israelites were coming and buried their riches in their walls and fled before them – intending to come back to their homes once Israel was defeated. When Israel was NOT defeated, God would afflict the walls so they would remove the walls and discover the riches. I don’t know if it is true, but it is the kind of total generosity God has, giving the stores of the unrighteous to the righteous (Proverbs 13:22).

The next chapter moves into human emissions and their effect on cleanliness and uncleanliness as far as ritual and access to the tabernacle goes. There are three basic categories. Discharge that isn’t semen (but might be), semen, and menstrual blood. The men and women themselves were not unclean or impure. It is the discharge that is. People become unclean by their interactions with the discharge. They were reasonable, easy to lift, and usually only lasted until evening. It was TEMPORARY. It seems to me it is meant in the same vein as God’s instructions to Aaron about intoxication. To cement in our minds the barrier separating holiness from unholiness. That we aren’t meant to bring thoughts of the flesh into the tabernacle.

Also, menstrual blood is BLOOD. And the importance of blood is not to be trivialised. These rules weren’t burdensome as they are written. For example the entirety of the woman’s time was her seven day flow. It was Rabbis who later added seven days to that ‘just in case’ to make sure the command wasn’t violated – which DOES seem burdensome (Matthew 23:4).

Separate the things of God from the things of flesh. It doesn’t make them DIRTY, it encourages us to remember to REVERENCE God when we come to Him, focusing completely on Him. Respect blood as the holder of life. Even blood on the way out (menstrual) is still blood. Separation and cleansing can only be done by sacrificial blood. By separating when in contact with blood, we keep the holiness of sacrificial blood in mind. If we don’t add to it, it won’t be a burden to us. If we remember the importance of separation and don’t trivialise it, we’ll find respect for God’s presence and places much easier to come to in the right frame of heart.

Don’t forget that all this is about heart intent. We’ve been freed from the Law, but not from the reverence and dependence on Him for salvation and success that the Law was here to point out.

Summary

Key Players: God

Key Themes: Sanctification/Cleansing, Mindfulness, Everyone Has a Way In

Key Verse(s): Leviticus 14:21-22