Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 13.

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I wish that God had not placed the commands to the Israelites concerning mold on fabric or leather right after His commands concerning identifying skin disease.  Although, now that I have written that and thought about it, perhaps it is good that He did.  In same ways we can understand the commands relating to skin disease better in light of the commands concerning mold.  If we look at the culture of the Israelites when they received these commands, and for a long time after that, they had no real way to treat these skin diseases.  So, I find it interesting that the passage says that while the priest is determining whether or not a person has a defiling skin disease they are to be isolated, quarantined,  for seven day periods (usually just one seven day period, but there is one or two cases where a second seven day isolation period is commanded).  However, if the person is determined to have a defiling skin disease, and thus be unclean, they are not to be isolated (see verse 11).  Now, I need to reconcile what it says there in verse 11 with what it says in verses 45 and 46.  We would tend to view verses 45 and 46 as being a kind of long term quarantine, but, in light of verse 11, that seems to be a misreading.  In the later verses it says that someone with a defiling skin disease must live alone, outside the camp.  It does not say that they cannot come into the camp.  It does not say that they cannot interact with people of the camp.  What it says is that they must make sure to let people know that they have this disease and ensure that people will not come into direct contact with them accidentally.  By setting up this system, it allows others to know that if they come into contact with these people they will need to go through the process for becoming clean after touching something unclean.  The process for what to do after touching something unclean does provide a basic method of hygiene to reduce the chance of transmitting disease.  If we have a disease which we might easily pass on to others, we should do our best to minimize our chances of doing so, and should warn those we encounter of the risk.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 13.

Today’s passage contains the instructions for isolating individuals who are suffering from infectious skin diseases.  As I read it, I see it as communicating the idea that we should separate ourselves from others when we are suffering from contagious diseases.  But not just that, we should encourage those around us to do likewise.  Further, we should seek treatment, and encourage others to seek treatment, for such diseases.  Then, the passage ends with instructions for identifying and dealing with materials which have mold on them.  Again, theses instructions teach us to sacrifice our own interest in order to protect the greater good.  I went over this passage repeatedly hoping the Spirit would show me a metaphor I could take from this, but that did not happen.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Leviticus 13.

Today’s passage contains instructions for dealing with “defiling” skin disease and defiling mold on fabric or leather.  I struggle with what to write about this because we have much better means to deal with such problems than they had when this was written.  However, as I thought about it I realized that both of these issues could be serious threats to a community, especially one which was nomadic.  The first thing to realize is that a “defiling” skin disease would have been contagious.  Further, mold spreads, and can be a health hazard in large enough amounts.  Fabric or leather with mold on it would eventually be destroyed by the mold and would damage the health of those exposed to it.  Additionally, allowing mold to remain on an object increases the risk of other objects becoming moldy.  So, these commands were designed to protect the community from disease.  Which brings me to an important point.  When we have contagious disease we should act to protect others from being exposed.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Leviticus 13.

I was struggling with what to write about this passage, so I did an Internet search to see what other commentary I could find on it.  I came across a blog by an atheist who used it as a basis to condemn belief in the Bible.  However, I found the author’s argument to show a distinct failure to understand the Bible in general, and this passage in particular.  His argument boiled down to saying that it is a terrible idea to go to priests for medical treatment.  The problem is that this passage does not suggest that people should go to priests for medical treatment.  Instead it merely proposes that priests should examine those who have what appear to be infectious skin diseases in order to determine if they are a danger to the community.  It does not address treatment since at the time there was no treatment.  However, it does provide a provision for those who recover, whether through a miracle, their body’s immune system overcoming the infection, or treatment by a medical doctor, a path for reinstatement in the community.  Another blog I came across said that Jewish rabbinical teaching holds that the skin diseases mentioned here represent physical evidence of spiritual sickness.  I do not know if that is true, but I will use that to see a lesson for us here.  In the Church today there are those whom we should put out of the fellowship of Believers because their words and/or actions are a danger to the community of believers.  However, as with this passage, when we do so, we must have a path for their reinstatement.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Leviticus 13.

Today’s passage talks about diagnosing a contagious skin disease and then later about destructive  mold.  There is not a lot of relevance to this for us today since our modern knowledge of the organisms involved in both of these allow us to take a different approach to such problems.  However, they do provide a metaphor for the way in which that which makes us unclean (and as Jesus tells us, what truly makes us unclean is that which comes from our hearts) can spread both within ourselves and throughout a community.  If we do not isolate and root out the thoughts, words, and actions which make us unclean, they will spread.  First throughout ourselves and then into those around us.  Of course, it also works the other way.  If we expose ourselves to those who practice unclean things (idolatry, immorality, greed, etc.) we risk being infected with those things ourselves.  While we cannot, and should not, isolate ourselves from the sinful in this world, we must remain conscious of the danger of allowing ourselves to normalize such self-destructive behavior.  I want to emphasize that I am not suggesting that we isolate ourselves from non-believers (or even try to limit our exposure to them).  Rather, I am suggesting that we be aware of the influence our sins may have on others.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Leviticus 13.

I am really not sure what to write about today’s passage.  It discusses skin infections and mold on fabric and leather.  First, the things being addressed spread.  Initially, they spread on the person or item which they infect, but if not contained they can spread to other people or items.  These instructions give methods to possibly contain the spread and to isolate the infection from other people or things until it can be determined if the containment was successful.  When I started to write this I thought I could see an analogy to sin among Believers in this, but as I began to try making that analogy it seemed to fall apart.  I will say this, sin among Believers can be like the infections and mold referred to in this passage.  If Believers associate with those who claim to be fellow Believers who make no effort to cut sin out of their lives, that sin will spread.  We must use careful judgement when we witness sin among our fellow Believers (and the answer is not as simple as isolating those we observe sinning, although that may be called for in some circumstances).

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 13.

Now that we have modern medicine and a scientific understanding of how mold and mildew spread, is there anything we have to learn from today’s passage?  I will answer that with a definite “Yes.”  The passage lays out a definite and deliberate approach to deciding what actions to take when someone or something appears infected.  This passage reminds us not to rush to judgement.  Instead, examine the facts and patiently wait to see how things develop.  If there is a risk of things escalating, isolate in a reversible manner until the situation becomes clear one way or the other.