This is day two of what I would consider to be the “Holiness Codes.”  As I started the post yesterday, The last verses of Leviticus 11 really sum up where we are going with the Holiness codes.  They read, “For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground.  For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”

So what’s with all these codes anyway?  Some of them seem like common sense, others seem a bit ridiculous, all are ordained by God.  If that is the case, then there must be some meaning here, for them and for us.  Again, I think that the key here is God’s statement, “You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”

Israel was to be a light to the nations, a kingdom of priests as we talked about on January 25.  They were to be set apart as a testament to the glory of God.  To do this, they needed to be different than the nations that surrounded them.  It is suggested that these were all animals that other peoples would have no problem eating or touching.  (It is relatively ironic that I am eating shrimp as I write this… which are considered detestable to the Israelites).

Another thing that could be said about this is that many of these animals, like those that have skin diseases, carried disease infectious agents that could harm the people.  This could be another reason why certain animals, people, and even things like mold and mildew were considered unclean.  The laws for the uncleanness of a woman after childbirth or menstruation, though cruel by our standards, are actually somewhat healthy and not necessarily odd if you think about them.  A woman’s body needs time to recover after Childbirth.  It is unhealthy for a woman to become pregnant right away after the birth of a child.  Some of you may also know that the best time for conceiving a child is in the second week after a woman’s period (aka after the 7 days of uncleanness)… This could be seen as a form of  natural family planning if you will, or contraception I guess. 

If you’re interested in the break down of this, I recommend reading a blog from The Sent One.  There is a great breakdown of what is clean and unclean here.  The image below also belongs to the writer of this blog.

Finally, though, getting back to the main reasoning of this section, the whole purpose is holiness.  A state of being in which the people of God are set apart from the world, living lives to glorify God.  We’ve read in the past that the dead are unclean.  Many of the animals that are considered unclean would eat other dead animals, meat that had not been sacrificed to God.  This would make them unclean, thus passing their uncleanness to the one that ate them.  Others of these animals, insects included, would eat dung which is also considered to be unclean.  Again, this would pass the uncleanness to its eater.  Disease and destruction  are also unclean… thus people with them or around them are unclean… why?  Because it is contrary to the nature of God, the nature of the world as it was created, and thus contrary to God’s holiness.

If we think back to Genesis 1, the world was created perfect, with all creatures living in harmony towards one another.  The Hebrew word for this is “Shalom” or a state of peaceful, perfect existence.  In the Garden of Eden there was no death, no destruction, no disease.  Adam and Eve’s diet?  Plants.  Genesis 2 tells us that God said, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden…”  We actually don’t have an account of animals dying until God makes coverings for them later in Genesis 3.  In fact, we don’t see that humans are given permission by God to eat animals until after Noah gets off the Ark later in Genesis 9.

So this is how God created the world, without death, disease, and destruction.  Therefore we must assume that these things are contrary to the purpose of creation and the nature of God.  Engaging in this brokenness of creation would thus make one unclean… separated from the holiness of God.  For the people of Israel, there were things they would then have to do to make themselves clean.  Sometimes wash… sometimes sacrifice… sometimes wait until evening…

We too are sinful… unclean… and by our very nature cut off from relationship with God.  For us though, something was done to restore this relationship.  Thanks be to God that He sent His Son Jesus as an atoning sacrifice for our sins!!  In Christ, all things unclean are made clean.  We see this in Peter’s vision in Acts 10.  All we need do is believe in Jesus Christ and we too will be made clean in the eyes of God, washed and cleansed in His blood.  Amen.  Praise the Lord!