Tag Archives: Leviticus 14-15

Daily Bible Study

February 6, 2024 Bible Study

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Leviticus 14-15.

What am I going to write about today?  Today’s passage starts with the offerings which should be made when one is cleansed of a defiling skin disease.  It continues to discuss the offerings to be made when a house is cleansed of defiling mold.  From there it discusses how bodily fluids are a vector for the spread of disease.  OK, it doesn’t say that.  What it does say is that anyone who has a discharge of bodily fluids is unclean until the discharge ends and they wash themselves and any clothes which might have been exposed to the discharge.  Based on what we know today about the spread of infectious diseases, these commands regarding the discharge of bodily fluids seem wise.

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

Daily Bible Study

February 6, 2023 Bible Study — Do Not Expose Others To Our Illness, And Cleanse Ourselves Of Spiritual Crud

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Leviticus 14-15.

I am really unsure where to go with today’s blog, but I am going to focus on one verse near the end of the passage: Leviticus 15 verse 31. My first thought when reading that verse was that we today should make sure that we do not expose our brothers and sisters in Christ to infection when we are sick.  If you are sick, don’t go out and spread it to others.  However, I also see another lesson here as well.  We should separate ourselves from spiritual uncleanness, and take the effort to get clean again after exposure.  The Israelites went to a lot of effort to make sure that they were cleansed after becoming unclean, we should be willing to do whatever we need to do to be cleansed as well.

This passage is a perfect example of why I write this blog.  If I was not writing this blog, I would have skimmed over this passage without truly registering what it said.  And right about now, if not sooner, I would have lost my discipline to continue reading the Bible every day.

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

Daily Bible Study

February 6, 2022 Bible Study — Cleansing Ourselves From Sin

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Leviticus 14-15.

I am at a complete loss today as to what to write.  One can point to a few things about good hygiene presented in this passage, but what lesson can we take from it about how we should live our lives?  Perhaps one could make a metaphor out of the command that someone who is to be cleansed by this ritual must wash their clothes. shave all of their hair and then bathe their entire body for how we should spiritually cleanse ourselves from sin, but I cannot quite put that together.  Certainly, the section on bodily discharges reminds us that even as long ago as these commands were written down people understood the dangers of exchanging bodily fluids with others.  I guess the one point of value I will make is that we need to be willing to go to great lengths to cleanse ourselves from sin.

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

Daily Bible Study

February 6, 2021 Bible Study Celebrating Recovery From Illness

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 14-15.

The idea that many of the sacrifices were consumed as celebratory feasts makes sense out of the offerings made for being declared clean after having a skin disease.  The offering was a celebration of healing.  Those who could afford it gave a lamb to the priests and celebrated with a second lamb.  Those who were two poor for that celebrated with a lamb which they split with the priest.  But in both cases they celebrated God’s goodness in providing them with healing.

I have seen Chapter 15 be misinterpreted in several ways.  It seems obvious that Chapter 15 reflects the risks of spreading infection that being exposed to someone else’s bodily fluids entails.  In recent times we have seen a few diseases which became serious threats to public health because of promiscuous sharing of bodily fluids between near strangers.

Daily Bible Study

February 6, 2020 Bible Study

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 14-15.

I write this sometime around now every year, this stretch of passages is one of the reasons I write this blog.  If I did not write this blog I would get bogged down reading these and start skimming over the passages, or even skipping days.  While I cannot ind anything in this passage today which builds my faith, I still think there is value in reading this passage regularly (in my case, once a year).  One of the reasons it is important to read these passages regularly is that people with anti-Christian, or anti-Judaism, biases will often misrepresent what is written here.  If we read them regularly we will recognize when someone is doing that.

Daily Bible Study

February 6, 2019 Bible Study — Bringing the “Outcast” back

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 14-15.

The passage describes the process whereby a person who has been declared to no longer be contagious must go through a ceremony to become ceremonially clean once again.  The process both reduces the risk that the person will become reinfected and shows that there is a spiritual element to recovery from a serious illness.  Once a person has completed a quarantine to determine that they are not contagious, or no longer contagious, they were to remove all of the hair from their body and wash their clothes.  The priest would conduct a purification ceremony over them, then they would remain outside of their tent for seven more days.  At the end of these seven days of purification, they would once more shave all of the hair off of their body, then offer a purification offering and a sin offering.  While I am glad that we no longer need to go through the complex, involved ritual described here, there is a lesson to be learned about welcoming back those who were, for valid reasons, “outcast” from the community and who have done what is necessary to be welcomed back.

Daily Bible Study

February 6, 2018 Bible Study — More Public Health Regulations

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 14-15.

    I have read through today’s passage several times looking for what I want to write about it. In the end nothing really struck me. However, I found myself fascinated by its understanding of how to deal with public health threats. I noted how they used various time delays to ensure that symptoms did not recur for someone who was apparently healed. In yesterday’s passage there were instructions on how to deal with mildew on various items in a nomadic camp. Today’s passage explains how to apply similar rules to permanent structures. The final thing which I found interesting was the understanding of the health dangers of exposure to someone else’s bodily fluids expressed in this passage.

Daily Bible Study

February 6, 2017 Bible Study

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 14-15.

    The passage continues with rules regarding maintaining the health of the population. First there is a description of the complex procedure to be followed in the case of someone who has been cured of a skin disease. It goes on to lay out a procedure for dealing with a house which has a mildew infection. The procedures for dealing with such a house may seem excessive, but it demonstrates an understanding of the health risks of some types of mold which are easy to overlook. Finally the passage lays out rules to minimize the chance of being exposed to the bodily fluids of another person. The individual who compiled the rules regarding bodily discharges showed a fairly good understanding of the dangers and how to minimize the risks. I would like to draw a lesson for our spiritual lives today, but I do not see one as I read it this time. I will add that I think there is value in reading this passage for the understanding it gives us of the people to whom it was addressed and the purpose of the rules contained here.

Daily Bible Study

February 6, 2016 Bible Study — Preventing the Spread of Disease

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading. I had been using One Year Bible Online, but it was time for a change.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Leviticus 14-15.

    In today’s passage it describes what a person who had a skin disease should do when a priest finds that he has been cured. The result of these commands is that the officiating priest has an incentive to find the person cured. On the other hand, the incentive is not nearly enough to encourage the priest to find someone who is clearly contagious as cured. It goes on to address dealing with a house which has become contaminated with mildew or mold (we assume mildew, the word used is the same as the word used to describe skin diseases). We know today that several types of mold are unhealthy and that if allowed to become too prevalent in a house they can never be gotten rid of. Finally the passage discusses actions to make sure that people are not accidentally exposed to the bodily fluids of others. Once more, we know today that many diseases can be more easily spread through exposure to the bodily fluids of someone who is infected with them.