Clean and unclean…..

Today we move from the spiritual to the physical. Very physical. God cares about both. We have covered God’s regulations on offerings and worship and priests and how to restore relationship with him – the spiritual stuff. Now we turn to childbirth, infectious skin diseases and mildew. About how to stay pure and how to be cleansed when  becoming unclean.

These are basic rules of hygiene for a new people just starting out on their own and make for interesting reading.

If a woman gives birth to a son, she is ceremonially unclean for 7 days and then has to wait 33 days to be purified from her bleeding.

If a woman gives birth to a daughter, she is ceremonially unclean for 14 days and then has to wait 66 days to be purified from her bleeding.

Double the time for a girl – how weird is that?

At the end of this time, she is to present an offering at the Tent of Meeting and then she will be clean.

Hey, do you know how to tell if a spot is infectious or not? If it is, the hair in it will grow white. Never heard that before. Can’t find any evidence on t’interweb to back this up!

It is up to the priest to assess skin rashes and impose isolation where necessary to stop the spread – early quarantine. The commentary suggests this passage is all about learning to recognise leprosy, a terrible skin disease that still exists in our world today. Hence the harsh treatment of someone who is diagnosed –

Anyone with such a defiling disease must wear torn clothes, let their hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of their face and cry out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ As long as they have the disease they remain unclean. They must live alone; they must live outside the camp.  Leviticus 13:45-46

To stop the spread of this incurable disease, those infected must live separately and let everyone know of their disease before they approach. How horrific. But necessary. Thank God we have moved on since then. Take a look at the Leprosy Mission website to see what is being done with leprosy today.

The priest also has the job of assessing the spread of mildew on knitted, woven and leather articles. Quarantine still applies and if the mildew spreads, the product has to be destroyed.

There is hope. If someone recovers form an infectious skin disease, then they are allowed back and after following a rigorous cleansing ritual, they are allowed to resume normal life. It involves shaving off all their hair – and I mean ALL! There are offerings that need to be made to God and the individual is anointed with blood and oil for cleansing.

And now we move on to bodily discharges. Wow, it gets better lol. If a man has a bodily discharge, everything he touches and sits on is deemed unclean. This passage introduces the concept of handwashing –

Anyone the man with a discharge touches without rinsing his hands with water must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.  Leviticus 15:11

– which of course is still vitally important in preventing the spread of disease.

When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening. When a man has sexual relations with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both of them must bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.  Leviticus 15;16-18

Who knew? What can I say? No stone has been left unturned.

A woman is deemed unclean during her monthly period and everyone must stay away and not touch her. Sounds like a plan to me.