February 14 – Reading 45

FEBRUARY 14 – Reading 45

by Chris Rainey | February 14

“THE FORCES OF LIFE AND DEATH”
(Leviticus 13:1 – 14:57)

This is the law for any case of leprous disease: for an itch, 55 for leprous disease in a garment or in a house, 56 and for a swelling or an eruption or a spot, 57 to show when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law for leprous disease.– Leviticus 14:54

To be ambassadors of this kingdom means to care deeply about bodies and the forces of death that oppose them.
 – Jennifer Rosner, “‘Be Clean’: Jesus and the World of Ritual Impurity,” Christianity Today, May/June 2021.

In reading Leviticus, we have seen the regulations around offerings (chapters 1-7) and the priesthood (8-10). We are now looking at ritual impurity (11-15), and will soon reach the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur, 16) and the “holiness code” (17-27), which will have a lot to say about moral impurity.  Both ritual and moral purity were prerequisites for accessing the holy. Most of us are quite familiar with moral impurity, which in Leviticus refers to sinful behaviors such as idolatry, incest and other sexual sins, and murder. These sins defile people, the sanctuary, and the land, and most importantly, they are avoidable. One can choose not to do them. 

Ritual impurity is something quite different. This type of impurity is unavoidable–sometimes called a “contagion” that can occur at any time during our everyday lives–not sinful, and generally dealt with by a purification process. Jennifer Rosen calls this purification process “washing and waiting” because it involves ritual bathing followed by a period of waiting in isolation away from sacred spaces.  A person could become ritually impure by association with one of the three basic categories of the forces of death working against human life and flourishing: various skin diseases, genital discharges, or contact with corpses. Specifically, Leviticus 13-14 describes two ways to be rendered ritually impure and not qualified to approach the holy: a skin disease on a person’s body or a “skin” disease in the walls of their home. 

Having said all of this, what is the point for us today? Jacob Milgrom summarizes that the purification process was a symbolic ritual, which suggests that these laws teach us something deeper about our relationship with God in a world where the forces of death are ever assaulting us:

“Thus the entire purification process is nothing but a symbolic ritual, a rite of passage, marking the transition from death to life. As the celebrants move from the realm of impurity outside the camp, and are first restored to their community, then to their home, and finally to their sanctuary, they have passed from impurity to holiness, from death to life. In so moving, they are reinstated with their families and are reconciled with their God.” – Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus : A Book of Ritual and Ethics in Continental Commentaries.

Spoiler alert! As we continue reading through the Bible this year, we will find eventually that the holiness of Jesus overpowers the sources of impurity, and the abundant life of Jesus overpowers the forces of death. Life is more powerful than death!

Application

• Ritual impurity teaches us how sin and moral impurity separates us from God, but is not sinful in and of itself.
• Nearly every aspect of the Israelites’ lives taught them to make a distinction between purity and impurity.

Reflection

• How does the purification process described in the Milgrom quote above parallel what happens at salvation?

Closing Prayer

Lord, thank you for showing me in Leviticus that you are attracted to certain activities and repelled by others. Help my life to repel sin and attract you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.