Day 34. Leviticus 13-15

Leviticus 13-15

Leviticus 13

²When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests:

Leprosy, all my parts are falling off of me...

Except, this isn't real leprosy.

Leprosy is also called Hansen's Disease. It's a disease cause by Mycobacterium leprae. According to Wiki, leprosy does not cause body parts to fall off, but they can become numb and/or diseased. Real leprosy isn't contagious.

The word used in the Hebrew bible is Tzaraath, there isn't an English word for that, so early translators used the word leprosy.

³And the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh: and when the hair in the plague is turned white, and the plague in sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy: and the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean.

Tzaraath apparently means "smiting". The disease is a punishment for sin.

When did Moses get to be an authority on skin diseases? Oh, he's not an authority, the Torah was given to Moses word for word on mount Sinai. Or, there's a tradition for treatment that's been passed down from generation to generation.

If you are unclean, you are stuck in your house for seven days. If the infection doesn't spread, you get seven more days of lockup. If after that time, the plague turns into a scab, the person is clean.

If the infection spreads the person is unclean.

¹⁴But when raw flesh appeareth in him, he shall be unclean.

eeew.

¹⁵And the priest shall see the raw flesh, and pronounce him to be unclean: for the raw flesh is unclean: it is a leprosy.

Or it's a punishment from god.

²⁹If a man or woman have a plague upon the head or the beard;

I'd say a bearded lady is a plague...

³⁰Then the priest shall see the plague: and, behold, if it be in sight deeper than the skin; and there be in it a yellow thin hair; then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a dry scall, even a leprosy upon the head or beard.

A yellow hair?

³⁸If a man also or a woman have in the skin of their flesh bright spots, even white bright spots;

³⁹Then the priest shall look: and, behold, if the bright spots in the skin of their flesh be darkish white; it is a freckled spot that groweth in the skin; he is clean.

Freckles are not unclean.

⁴⁰And the man whose hair is fallen off his head, he is bald; yet is he clean.

⁴¹And he that hath his hair fallen off from the part of his head toward his face, he is forehead bald: yet is he clean.

Going bald is not unclean.

⁴²And if there be in the bald head, or bald forehead, a white reddish sore; it is a leprosy sprung up in his bald head, or his bald forehead.

Having sores on your bald head, that is unclean.

⁴⁵And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean.

The covering is a veil that goes down to the upper lip. The person must announce to others that they are unclean, so clean people don't accidentally bump into them.

⁴⁷The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it be a woollen garment, or a linen garment;

Clothes can also be diseased.

⁵²He shall therefore burn that garment, whether warp or woof, in woollen or in linen, or any thing of skin, wherein the plague is: for it is a fretting leprosy; it shall be burnt in the fire.

Diseased clothes, that don't heal within a week, get burned.

Leviticus 14

²This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest:

He has to take two birds, with cedar and scarlet, and hyssop, and kill one of the birds. Then the rest of the stuff (including the live bird) have to be dipped into the blood of the killed bird. Then they let the blood loose.

⁸And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean: and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days.

We see that they are still living in tents here.

On the last day, the guy has to shave off all his body hair, and wash, and he's finally clean.

¹⁰And on the eighth day he shall take two he lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, and three tenth deals of fine flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil.

Then the priest kills most of the animals.

¹⁴And the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot:

This was the same ritual that Moses did to Aaron and his sons. The hear, do, go cleansing ritual.

If the guy is poor, then one of the lambs can be two doves.

³⁴When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession;

³⁵And he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague in the house:

This seems to have been translated by someone who is very poetic. He's also almost apologetic to have to bother the priest about his house.

"It seems to me, there is, as it were, a plague in the house".

³⁷And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish, which in sight are lower than the wall;

³⁸Then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days:

It seemeth to me, as it were, that the house has mold, possibly black mold, as it were.

After a week, if the plague spreads, the house will be disassembled, and then rebuilt with other building material.

If it comes back, the plasce is unclean.

⁵⁴This is the law for all manner of plague of leprosy, and scall,

⁵⁵And for the leprosy of a garment, and of a house,

⁵⁶And for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright spot:

⁵⁷To teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean: this is the law of leprosy.

If you are going to be a levitical priest, I recommend studying the law of leprosy. If you aren't, then it's really not that important.

Leviticus 15

²Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When any man hath a running issue out of his flesh, because of his issue he is unclean.

Whoo hoo, leviticacisms!

If you are oozing, you are unclean. Don't touch anyone, don't leave your house, wash your bed and your clothes, take a bath.

For most of these issues, to get to be clean, you need to wash with water, usually running water. Even after washing, you are unclean until even (evening). So, for the rest of the day, you are unclean.

¹⁴And on the eighth day he shall take to him two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, and come before the LORD unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and give them unto the priest:

Having an oozing sore is a sin, for that you must sacrifice two birds.

¹⁶And if any man's seed of copulation go out from him, then he shall wash all his flesh in water, and be unclean until the even.

Having sex, to climax makes you unclean.

¹⁸The woman also with whom man shall lie with seed of copulation, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the even.

Women who have sex are also unclean.

¹⁹And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even.

Having your period makes you unclean. Everything a woman touches while she is having her period becomes unclean. Anyone who touches a woman on her period becomes unclean.

²⁴And if any man lie with her at all, and her flowers be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean.

If you have sex with a girl while she is on her period, you are unclean for seven days, just like she is.

²⁵And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she shall be unclean.

If her period lasts longer than a week, she's unclean that whole time.

²⁸But if she be cleansed of her issue, then she shall number to herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean.

²⁹And on the eighth day she shall take unto her two turtles, or two young pigeons, and bring them unto the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

Having a period longer than a week isn't a medical issue, it's caused by sin.

³¹Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that is among them.

So, the reason that god gave these laws was so that no one who is unclean will go and defile the tabernacle.

³²This is the law of him that hath an issue, and of him whose seed goeth from him, and is defiled therewith;

³³And of her that is sick of her flowers, and of him that hath an issue, of the man, and of the woman, and of him that lieth with her that is unclean.

The leper laws were mostly for priests. The oozing laws are for everyone.

Points to ponder:

1. Do you go to church when you have a running sore? Does a bandaid or other bandage make you clean?

2. Do you go to church when you are on your period?

3. Do you believe that women during their period are unclean?

4. Do you believe the whole bible to be correct and as valuable to everyday life today as it was 3 thousand years ago? If so, do you not touch other people during the week of your period?