Leviticus 11-15 Clean and Unclean

Leviticus 11 Kosher defined - clean and unclean food

Leviticus 11:1-8 Israelites may only eat clean animals. 

• They are defined as having a divided hoof and chewing the cud. Unless an animal has both, it is unclean and not to be eaten, and the carcass of an unclean animal is not to be touched.
• Leviticus 11:9-12 Definition of clean sea creatures: only those that have both fins and scales.
• Leviticus 11:13-19 Unclean birds are not defined by any characteristic, but simply listed.
• Leviticus 11:20-25 Definition of clean insects: insects that walk on all four legs that have jointed legs for hopping. 
• Leviticus 11:29-31 Definition of unclean animals that move along the ground.

Leviticus 11:26-28 seems to restate for emphasis the command for avoiding touching unclean animals (from 11:1-8).

Leviticus 11:32-38 Further instructions on dealing with items that contact unclean animals, specifically with their carcasses. Wash it, unless it is a clay pot, which must be shattered. A spring or cistern, or seeds are not made unclean by contact. A person becomes unclean by contact.

Leviticus 11:39-40 The carcass of a clean animal transmits uncleanness by contact. The response to this must be washing clothes, and waiting until evening (presumably sunset) to become clean. Implicitly this differentiates a clean animal that dies of natural causes from one that is slaughtered for food. 

Leviticus 11:41-42 Repetition of uncleanness of animals that crawl on the ground. (11:29-31)

 

Leviticus 11:43-45 The overall principle is this. Be clean, because the Lord God is holy. Being clean is part of being holy. He wants us to be holy like He is holy.

Leviticus 11:46-47 Summary and conclusion of the rules of kosher food. Choose wisely. 

The significance of the kosher rules is puzzling. Some are clearly health based, since some foods, along with fat and blood, are clearly unhealthy. Dead bodies decompose very quickly and result in both bacteria and toxins. Some animals are notorious carriers of vermin such as ticks. But the selection of specific species does not necessarily line up 100% with protecting physical health. This leads us to suspect that these rules have an element of testing the Jews for obedience, and also perhaps a degree of marking them for others to identify. After all, Jesus declared all foods clean. (Mark 7:19) Instead, all men would recognize His disciples by their love for each other. (John 13:35)

Another dimension of this is the link between clean and holy. There is not a one-to-one correspondence unless one makes it so by definition. Jesus pointed out that the Pharisees observed the details of the ritual law, but were full of internal sin.  (Matthew 23) But Leviticus 11:44 says  “I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy” in the immediate context of discussing uncleanness. The implication seems to be that it is possible to be clean without being holy, but it is impossible to be holy unless one is clean. And perhaps it is not too big a stretch to think that unclean thoughts are included here. (Matthew 23:25 & 27) Perhaps teeming vermin that automatically are repugnant to us are what our impure thoughts are like to God. That things like pride, avarice, wrath, lust, envy, gluttony, and sloth are the unclean stuff we should really be concerned about.

The New Testament has a different perspective on food, substantially different from clean and unclean. Jesus told His disciples that His food was to do the will of the Father who sent Him. (John 4:34) He said that His body was real food. (John 6:51, 54-56) At the last supper He offered it to His disciples (Matthew 26:26). Hebrews 5:12-14 asserts that the teachings that follow in that epistle are solid food, while the basics of faith are milk; not to imply lack of nutrition, but that they are by themselves insufficient to reach spiritual maturity. This is truly Kosher.

Leviticus 12 Purification after childbirth

Leviticus 12:1-5 A woman is ceremonially unclean after giving birth, one or two weeks depending on the gender of the child. Then she must wait an additional 33 or 66 days before she can be purified from her bleeding. Obviously there is risk in childbearing, but the life is in the blood. Also, the boy child is to be circumcised on the eight day, a practice first mentioned in Abraham’s circumcision of Isaac.  (Genesis 17:10-14)

Leviticus 12:6-8 The rules for purification after the designated waiting period after childbirth are to offer a lamb, or two pigeons or doves. Why does a woman need purification after giving birth? Prior passages have labelled blood as unclean. A woman sheds blood in giving birth to a new life. Life is in the blood. (Leviticus 17:11&14) 

After Mary had completed her forty days of purification after Jesus’ birth, she took Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (to the Father), and offered two doves for her purification according to the passage. (Luke 2:24) The spiritual reality behind this is fully revealed in Jesus’ words to His disciples, that whoever drinks His blood has eternal life. (John 6:53-54) That would be further explained at the last supper. (Luke 22:20) Jesus shed His blood to give us eternal life. A woman shedding blood during childbirth is a physical picture of this eternal truth - that the Lamb of God would shed His blood on our behalf so that we can be born again through the Spirit of God. (John 3:3 ff.) The mother sacrificially gives blood to bring new physical life into the world, and is thereby blessed  by this rite specified in Leviticus 11.

Leviticus 13 Skin Diseases and Mold

Leviticus 13:1-46 Rules for dealing with skin diseases

Leviticus 13:1-8 General rules for anyone with a condition that might be a defiling skin disease

• A description of what it might look like
• Direction to go to a priest for diagnosis and instruction
• Instructions for the priest on how to make the diagnosis and what behavior to prescribe
• Criteria for clean vs. unclean 

Leviticus 13:9-13 When the disease has run its course, they are clean.

Specific types of uncleanness

• Leviticus 13:14-17 Raw flesh makes a person unclean.
• Leviticus 13:18-23 Criteria for evaluating a boil.
• Leviticus 13:24-28 Evaluating a burn scar.
• Leviticus 13:29-37 Criteria for a sore on the head or chin.
• Leviticus 13:38-39 Evaluating a rash.
• Leviticus 13:40-44 Evaluating baldness and loss of hair.

Leviticus 13:45-46 Regulation for those diagnosed as unclean. They must live alone, outside the camp, wear torn clothes, have unkempt hair, cover their face, and cry out “Unclean! Unclean!”

Although this passage is often taught as dealing with Leprosy, there seems to be a distinction between Hansen’s disease, the modern name for leprosy, and tzaraath (Strong’s H6883), an infectious skin disease. Hansen’s disease is a specific bacterial infection with several symptoms that can include skin damage, but also includes damage to the nerves, respiratory tract, and eyes.  It can al so lead to damage to fingers, toes, limbs, etc., due to unnoticed injuries because of nerve damage. Tzaraath is a collection of skin conditions that can include a rash, boils, or  bald or discolored skin patches, but can also affect objects such as clothing or household goods, sounding more like mold. 

Regardless of the medical diagnosis, this passage can be seen as a metaphor for sin. It is chronic, contagious, and requires spiritual diagnosis and treatment. While the Mosaic law commands exclusion from society to avoid contaminating others, the reality is that all sin and we would not have a society if everyone self-isolated from everyone else. We hide  our sins for the most part. But the New Testament shows Jesus cleansing the lepers (Luke 17:11-19), not being contaminated by them, but decontaminating them, and healing the woman with the issue of blood (Mark 5:25-34), not being made unclean by her, but transmitting His wholeness to her. The bottom line on this is for us to see the hopelessness of sinners apart from Christ, but the healing, deliverance, and fullness of life that Jesus offers by delivering us from sin. Only He can, but HE CAN!

Leviticus 13:47-59 Dealing with Defiling Molds

Leviticus 13:47-52 Any garment with a persistent mold, based on color and whether it spreads, must be burned.

Leviticus 13:53-59 Dealing with ambiguous cases, deciding what materials are potentially salvageable and which are not. The process for identifying and cleansing a garment that is redeemable. 

While this passage deals with tzaraath contaminating physical objects, generally sin does not flow from people to objects, since sin is a heart condition. Rather, the lesson seems to be that if an object is a gateway to sin, e.g., pornography, it must be burned to eliminate its contamination of people. 

Leviticus 14 Cleansing from Tzaraath

Leviticus 14:1-20 Procedure for any diseased person to be ceremonially cleansed.

• Leviticus 14:2-7 After the individual is examined, two birds are brought, one offered and the other to be washed together with cedar, scarlet yarn, and hyssop, the water to then be sprinkled on the penitent and the live bird to be released.
• Leviticus 14:8-9 The individual then washes his clothes, shaves, and bathes, and waits outside his tent seven days. He then shaves, bathes, and washes his clothes again, and is considered clean.
• Leviticus 14:10-11 On the eighth day, the individual brings three lambs (two male, one female), grain, olive oil, to present before the Lord. 
• Leviticus 14:12-18 The priest then offers one of the lambs and the oil as a guilt offering. He takes blood from the lamb and applies it to the right ear, thumb, and big toe of the individual, just as was  done for the priests during their ordination (8:23-24). The priest then sprinkles the oil before the Lord, applies it to the ear, thumb, and toe of the individual, and pours it on his head.
• Leviticus 14:19-20 The priest then offers the sin offering and the guilt offering.

Leviticus 14:21-32 Instructions for the poor, who cannot afford the above offerings. Less expensive offerings, but the same steps are still required.

Leviticus 14:33-54 Cleansing from defiling molds

Leviticus 14:33-42 If the owner of a house thinks it looks like there might be a defiling mold, he is to ask the priest to inspect it. This begins a multi-step process. If the priest’s initial inspection sees suspicious colored depressions, they seal the house for a week.  Then the priest re-inspects and if it appears to have spread, they remove the contaminated stones and has the inside walls of the house scraped. Both those stones and the plaster go to the dump, and are replaced.

Leviticus 14:43-47  Later, if the mold reappears the house is declared unclean and is torn down and hauled to the dump.  People who go into it are unclean for a day, and anyone who eats or sleeps in it must also wash their clothes.

Leviticus 14:48-53 If the house is not unclean, then purification involves two birds, cedar, hyssop, and scarlet yarn in a manner very similar to a person who is being purified. (14:2-7) It seems odd that he needs to make atonement for the house, but this is the command.

Leviticus 14:54-55 This concludes the rules for dealing with defiling skin diseases and mold. ( Leviticus 13-14). Even though uncleanness and skin diseases are not necessarily sin in and of themselves, they represent things that can weigh us down, separate us from Him, or hinder us from fully entering into all He has for us. 

When Israel conquered Canaan, they doubtless found houses that had been contaminated by pagan religious practices. Or they may have themselves contaminated their houses. Does residual sinfulness linger over locations apart from human behavior? Our gut tells us so. Some places just don’t feel right. The exact mechanism of the spiritual realm - what demonic forces are at work and how they work - is not the issue. Our susceptibility and response to these forces is what matters. Ritual purification enabled the Jews of that day to make a public renunciation of whatever evil forces were present. Baptism in water is Jesus’ designated symbol and statement of receiving His deliverance from sin. Beyond that, cleanness and wholeness  are inextricably linked. 

The symbolism of the cedar, scarlet yarn, and hyssop in this ceremony. Cedar has a pleasant aroma and is durable.  It also has antibacterial properties and was used as a preservative in ancient times. The big use was in the construction of Solomon’s temple. (1 Kings 6&7) Scarlet, of course, represents blood, and a scarlet thread was later used as a sign of the Lord’s presence by Rahab in Jericho. (Joshua 2:18-21) Hyssop is a bit of a puzzle, but may have been used for herbal healing. Its petal structure also is ideal for the sprinkling ritual.  It is also mentioned in David’s psalm of confession (Psalm 51:7), and was part of the wine vinegar that was offered to Jesus on the cross just before He died. (John 19:29) Ultimately, any cleansing that matters comes through the work of Christ on the cross. 

Leviticus 15 Dealing with unclean discharges

Leviticus 15:1-12 An unusual bodily discharge by a male is implicitly something other than a normal bowel movement. (There are instructions elsewhere for dealing with that - Deuteronomy 23:12-14.) Clearly blood coming out of bodily orifices is unusual, and at some point diarrhea becomes unusual. Although not explicitly defined, most likely it is the point at which the flow is uncontrolled and contaminates clothes and places where one sits or lays. There are instructions for cleansing of clothes or furniture the discharge contaminates, and how that uncleanness is further transmitted. Uncleanness is transmitted by touch, both to people and to objects like pots. 

Leviticus 15:13-15 Formal cleansing from this uncleanness starts by waiting a week after the discharge ends. After that he is to wash himself and offer two birds - doves or pigeons.

 

Leviticus 15:16-18 An emission of semen is cleansed by washing with water and waiting until evening. This applies to both the man, clothing that is contaminated, and any woman he has sexual relationship with.

Leviticus 15:19-24 A woman’s monthly menstrual discharge is designated to last seven days. The same rules apply to this as a man’s ejaculation of semen, other than its designated weeklong duration. This flow of blood is not unusual and does not require an offering. 

Leviticus 15:25-30 A woman who has a blood discharge outside of her regular monthly period falls under the same rules as a man with a bloody discharge. She is unclean as long as it lasts, has to wait a week after it ends, and make a sin offering of two birds after that. However, when Jesus encountered the woman with the issue of blood for twelve years and she touched Him, He did not become unclean, but her flow of blood stopped immediately. (Mark 5:25-34) Jesus commended her faith, but even though she had faith, she had to take action and actually reach out to touch Him in order to be healed. 

Leviticus 15:31-32 These rules are specifically intended to protect the Israelites from coming into the Lord’s presence while unclean, defiling His dwelling place, and dying in that condition. 

There seems to be an underlying spiritual health regime behind what would otherwise be guidelines for physical health. Bodily discharges are known to carry high levels of both bacteria and toxins that can easily infect another person who inhales or ingests them. Hence modern medical practice requires gloves and face masks and elaborate washing and disinfecting of health care workers depending on what specifically they are doing. Blood transfusions require extreme care and testing. Public restrooms often stink (at least men’s rooms) despite the use of disinfectants. 

Jesus talked about true uncleanness as being the unclean things that come out of the heart through the mouth.  Eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person. Unclean food is processed by the digestive system and is eliminated through natural processes. Various versions of the seven deadly sins are what defile a person. (Matthew 15:10-20) Being defiled is not a death sentence as long as redemption is possible, but dying in a defiled state is the worst possible end of life. Even so, how we live in this life is important to our happiness and well-being. Murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander don’t just condemn our souls in eternity, they make our lives in this world a living hell.

Book Review: The Final Quest by Rick Joyner

 

First published in 1996, this book recounts five visions or dreams the author recorded. The opening is a stark description of spiritual warfare. The book progresses through various stages of revelation as he moves up a heavenly mountain, through crowds of fellow warriors and angels, to conversations with saints who have gone before (the great cloud of witnesses in heaven), and visions of and conversations with the Lord.  The bottom line is that total devotion to Christ is the highest value and must be the highest priority for our lives. 

The key element of these visions is the intensity with which the author experienced them, and that he manages to convey. The symbolism of various items and creatures lends concreteness to the story. But it is some of the messages that is most strongly conveyed. We need to try to get Jesus’ perspective on situations, people, and events. He loves every single person, not just the saints. He wants to use us in the situations we are in but most of us listen to Him so seldom or so poorly that we simply miss what He is calling us to. We judge other believers based on our culture and prejudices rather than seeing them the way He does, because we are too often prideful and set in our ways. People that seem insignificant to us matter the most in Jesus’ kingdom. When we are judged by Him, He still loves us but wants us to rectify our lives once He has shown us.

The first chapter seems hard as it describes in gory detail what the spiritual conflict looks like. As the book progresses there is not a continuation of the combat between good and evil, but a focus on preparing believers for the battle before they return to it. This does not make them easier to read, because they are challenging on two levels. One challenge is understanding the divine point of view as presented. The other challenge is to deal with our own shortcomings in all of these areas. 

In the introduction, the author explicitly states that he did not make any of this up on his own. He is recording dreams and visions that he had over the course of several months. He offers insight on the prophetic process as described in Scripture and as he experienced it. He does not claim that any of his revelation is at the level of Scripture, but that it deals with how we apply Truth to our lives.

Leviticus 8-10 The Ordination of Aaron and the first offerings

Leviticus 8

Leviticus 8:1-4 The Lord told Moses to bring Aaron and his sons and the required offerings to the entrance of the tent of meeting. Moses, as God’s prophet, was to commission his brother and family as priests. Moses had a unique position, but curiously his children aren’t ever mentioned in connection with the ministry. One suspects interesting family dynamics, although at the age of about eighty, Moses and Aaron must have pretty much settled all that. 

Leviticus 8:5-9 Moses baptized Aaron and his sons, and then dressed Aaron in the high priest garments and accoutrements. The symbolism is recounted elsewhere. (Hebrews 4:14, 5:4-5) 

 

Leviticus 8:10-13 Moses anointed everything with oil - the tabernacle, the implements, and Aaron. He also dressed Aaron’s sons. 

Leviticus 8:14-21 Moses presented a bull for the sin offering for Aaron and his sons. He then presented the ram for the burnt offering for  them.

Leviticus 8:22-25  Moses offered another ram for ordination. This included putting some of the ram’s blood on the right ear, thumb, and big toe of Aaron & sons. Since this was not a sin offering, but for ordination, the symbolism might be something like the Lord ordaining them to actively serve Him with their hearing (possibly hearing His voice while serving), the work of their hands, and where they would go. Blood brings life to our cells (nutrition and oxygen among other things) The blood of Jesus, having atoned for our sin, brings us eternal spiritual life. Beyond life as mere existence, life as purposeful, meaningful, and positive activity.

Leviticus 8:26-29 Moses gave the bread loaves, both unleavened and with yeast, to Aaron & sons, with which they performed a wave offering, worshipping the Lord with upraised hands. Moses also used the breast of the ordination ram as a wave offering himself.

Leviticus 8:30 Moses then sprinkled the blood and anointing oil on Aaron & sons and their garments, to consecrate them. They were set apart for the priesthood.

Leviticus 8:31-35 Moses gave them direction to eat the priests’ portion of the meat and bread offerings, and remain in the tent of meeting for seven days. He closed with a rather stark promise: do this so you won’t die. We often present the gospel, offering people eternal life, but how often do we include a warning? Doesn’t that become brimstone and fire preaching? But whether we yell or say it softly, the message still has to be, right relationship with God is the only alternative to eternity apart from Him. 

Leviticus 8:36 Aaron & sons did what Moses passed on to them from the Lord.

Leviticus 9

Leviticus 9:1-6 Moses told Aaron & sons, and the elders of Israel to perform the sin and burnt offerings.  Then he  gave instructions for the Israelites, presumably to be passed by the elders to the people, or maybe to be done by the elders on their behalf, to bring a goat, a calf, a lamb, an ox, and a ram for sin, burnt, and fellowship offerings. The entire assembly of Israel came and stood before the Lord. Moses promised that the glory of the Lord would appear. I wonder how the people at the back of the crowd of 600,000 could see what was happening. Perhaps the Lord enabled them to see and hear supernaturally. The largest sports venues these days seat only about 100,000, and loudspeakers and Jumbotrons are needed to see what is happening on an individual level. 

In the context of this enormous worship service, it is important to remember that the primary purpose of all this was so that God could bless Israel with His presence. He did not need the blood or burnt carcasses of these animals. He wanted to draw His chosen people close to Himself, and this was His method for revealing Himself to them. In preparing to encounter God’s presence as we pray and worship, we need to take seriously the commands He gives in the New Testament. He wants this communion and He seeks us, but we need to respond by taking what He has told us seriously. For example, Paul gives directions regarding preparation for communion in 1 Corinthians 11, and for worship in 1 Timothy 2. This is not a matter of Pharisaical rule-following, but of principles for 

entering into close relationship with the living God and loving Savior. 

Leviticus 9:7-14 At Moses’ command, Aaron & sons offered the offerings for themselves, in great detail.

Leviticus 9:15-22 Aaron and sons then made the offerings as directed for the people.  This included sin, burnt, fellowship, and wave offerings. Then Aaron blessed the people. 

Leviticus 9:23-24 Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting and came out, Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people, and fire came out from the presence of the Lord to consume the offerings. The people shouted for joy. It’s not clear if the glory appeared in the fire or some other manifestation. The people recognized it. And they rejoiced! Would that we all would rejoice in His presence, not cower in guilt and fear for our lives. God provided a remedy - Jesus our sin offering - so that we can fellowship with Him and have joy in doing so.

Moses had previously experienced the Lord’s presence, first in the burning bush, and later on Mount Sinai. Now the presence of the Lord was to reside permanently in the Holy of Holies, although only the high priest could enter it, and that only once a year. But He was there. (Hebrews 9:7, but see 9:8-14.)

Leviticus 10

Leviticus 10:1-3 Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu offered unauthorized fire to the Lord. Fire came out from the Lord’s presence and consumed them. Moses spoke God’s word to Aaron that He was to be honored. Since they were the sons of Aaron the high priest, they may have desired to get even closer to God (we can’t know their motives), but they were also held to a higher standard. This included using only the incense recipe that was given earlier (Exodus 30:34-38). 

The deaths of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11), and the death of Achan and his entire family (Joshua 7:24-26) are reminiscent of this judgment of God in the early days of the faith community. That using the wrong incense formula doesn’t seem to us like it should be a capital offense probably reflects that we do not adequately appreciate the weight of God’s holiness. The incense symbolizes one of the physical manifestations of His glory, which they had just seen. (9:23-24) To use their own formulation was to try to mix human glory with His. Not going to happen. And we would be the worse off if He allowed it. 

Priests seem to be an elevated position, respected and honored, but they carried the weight of a heavy responsibility. Since they represented God to the people, God Himself held them to the highest standards. And since we are to be a kingdom of priests in the New Testament, He holds us to the highest standards as well. The only difference is that the Holy Spirit empowers us to be like Jesus. We need to humbly receive this calling and empowerment. 

Leviticus 10:4-7 Moses passed on God’s instructions that Aaron and his surviving sons were not to mourn publicly, and not to leave the tent of meeting, lest they also die.

Leviticus 10:8-11 Aaron & sons were instructed not to drink alcoholic beverages when they went into the tent to meet the Lord. Furthermore, this was a lasting rule for future generations.

Leviticus 10:12-15 Moses said that they and their families should eat the priests’ portions of the offering, per earlier instructions. This is a perpetual sharing.

Leviticus 10:16-20 Moses found out that the goat from the sin offering had been burned up, and was angry that it had not been eaten in the sanctuary as he had instructed. Aaron’s response was that he wasn’t sure if the Lord would have been pleased, given what had happened earlier to Abihu and Nadab. Apparently this answer satisfied Moses. Sometimes we have conflicting guidance and honestly don’t know what the Lord wants. We should not judge others if they are trying to obey God and honestly confused. We shouldn’t always assume we have the whole story or the best course of action for them.