In this section of Leviticus God directs Moses to give the people laws regarding cleanness and uncleanness. On one level, these laws regarding personal diet, hygiene and medical treatment might be regarded as Hebrew Health Department standards. Disease control was certainly a byproduct.
We can appreciate this. Our culture is obsessed with health and fitness. But the laws point beyond mere health to holiness. The key interpretive verse is Leviticus 11:45, “For I, the Lord, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. Therefore, you must be holy because I am holy.
We should understand the personal, social and ceremonial cleanliness required here as a symbol of holiness.
As we all know cleanliness is next to godliness, right? Well, actually that is not in the Bible, but cleanliness does preserve social unity and wholeness. To put it bluntly, there is a reason why we practice personal hygiene and change baby’s dirty diapers—it’s for our sake and everyone else’s as well!
One scholar argues that the purity laws helped Israel grasp the unity and perfection of God’s creation, which in turn led to a shared worldview and common sense of purpose that set Israel apart from her neighbors.
So the rules benefit Israel in many ways, but the chief benefit is God’s presence among them. Observing these laws protects Israel from falling into the practices of polytheistic religion around them. In this way God creates a people who will fulfill the promises made to Abraham by standing against the sin and personal dissolution that mark a sinful world, and by modeling reverence for the one true God.
As you read through the laws, you’ll be fascinated, puzzled, creeped out and amused. I was relieved to discover, for example, that, “If a man loses his hair and his head becomes bald, he is still ceremonially clean!” (Leviticus 13:40).
Perhaps you are offended by the number, specificity and seriousness of these (at least to our thinking) odd rules. But in their cultural context they expressed a personal and corporate discipline worthy of Marines at boot camp. It created identity, unity and (as we note above) a sense of purpose that set Israel apart from her neighbors.
And being “set apart,” is the meaning of holiness.
Prayer: Lord, help us keep the disciplines of faith which, today, under the New Covenant and guided by the Holy Spirit, keep us close to you, undefiled by the world, and in alignment with your will. More than anything, we want to enjoy your presence in our lives and serve you faithfully in the world. Amen.
Blogging Through the Bible 