Laws About Bodily Discharges
The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any man has a discharge from his body, his discharge is unclean. And this is the law of his uncleanness for a discharge: whether his body runs with his discharge, or his body is blocked up by his discharge, it is his uncleanness. Every bed on which the one with the discharge lies shall be unclean, and everything on which he sits shall be unclean. And anyone who touches his bed shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. And whoever sits on anything on which the one with the discharge has sat shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening.
This section of Leviticus (chapters 13-15) are a difficult read for most people. Chapters 13-14 are about leprosy and chapter 15, as stated above, is about bodily discharges from men. The overarching theme of these chapters is purity in the camp of Israel. God wanted to protect them from any and all diseases that might cause a contamination throughout the camp. We are not sure what the discharges in the above passage (and all of chapter 15) are actually referring to in these instructions. It would be assumed it is discharges from sexual organs, but when we start to assume something while studying Scripture we are walking on dangerous ground. There could be a wide range of interpretations for the terms and the instructions. The nation of Israel, obviously, knew what Moses was referring to since there is no recorded interaction between Moses and the people inquiring more details and explanations. The key to appreciate in these type of Old Testament texts is the following:
1. God was just as much concerned about the people’s physical heath as their spiritual health. God wanted them to protect themselves and each other from contamination that could wipe them all out due to diseases. (This might have been a great passage to study during the world-wide pandemic of 2020.)
2. God knows that sin impacts not only mankind’s relationship with Him but also man’s physical body. We may not have a particular physically ailment due to our specific sin(s), but general sin in the world causes our physical ailments. God did not create man to be physically ill. It was the introduction of sin in the world through the disobedience of Adam that also introduced illnesses.
3. God has a method and solution for mankind’s illnesses. God wants as much proactive steps as reactive steps. God outlines how to manage the illness. This means He is not simply going to help the illness. Remember, God is a powerful God. He could have told Moses to tell the priest that when they discover someone with leprosy or these discharges to simply come to the priest and God will enable them to be healed. God didn’t do that. God gave steps to either prevent the diseases, or prevent the spread of the disease, or instructions on how to live with the diseases. God does not always simply heal.
4. God did connect the physical with the spiritual. By having the priest play the role of the doctor does not mean God did not want the development of the role of medicine or doctors. These passage do teach us, however, that God does intend the physical and the spiritual to be united in the solution we use to head off diseases and to care for it. Our world wants to separate those things. God did not.
These are tough passages to read but hey are also great passages to see and learn about the character of God relating to diseases and sickness. God cares and knows how to make us both spiritually and physically healthy.
No comments:
Post a Comment