Tag Archives: Ritual Purity

Leviticus 12–15: Dealing With Contagious Sin Pathogens in Oneself and in the Church

Posted on by
3

Overview of Parshiot Tazria-Metzora (Lev 12–13 and 14–15)

Often these two parshiot are combined in the yearly Torah reading cycle depending on how the biblical calendar falls for the year. Their combining is likely due to the fact that each is relatively short and deals with related subjects: namely, the ritual purity laws. 

As we shall see, the causes of ritual impurity involve sin issues. As a remedy to this problem, the Torah prescribes procedures that the afflicted person had to follow in order to be deemed cleansed and thus be readmitted into the camp of Israel after having been temporarily expelled. All the rituals prophetically pointed to Yeshua’s atoning death on the cross.

These two parshiot dealing with diseased and unclean persons immediately come after the laws concerning clean and unclean meats (Lev 11). What the Israelites ate as well as the state of their physical bodies was an important aspect of holiness in the eyes of YHVH.

From these two parshiot, we learn that an unclean person could only become clean through the atoning blood of a sacrificed animal or through ritual cleansing of water by which he was reconciled to Elohim and brought back into the camp of Israel. 

What can we learn from the juxtapositioning of these subjects (i.e. the laws pertaining to unclean meats and unclean people) in the Torah? Simply this. Man can easily become impure and defiled because of his innately depraved, crooked, and wicked heart that is at enmity with the laws of Elohim (Jer 17:9; Rom 8:7). 

Since the fall of Adam, man has been in a state of impurity from Elohim. Thus, sin separates him from the presence of Elohim and from his fellow Israelites. Only the sin- Continue reading →

 

The Similarities Between Sin and Germs

Posted on by
3

Hacker bug smile

The surprising way Leviticus chapters 12, 13 and 14 relate to you

These several chapters are some of the most difficult ones in the Torah for us to wrap our brains around spiritually. What is the relevance of these arcane laws of ritual impurity and “leprosy” to us in modern times ? With a little thought, we can see that there are some deep and relevant spiritual truths contained in these biblical passages!

As Matthew Henry points out in his classic gospel-oriented commentary on these passages, after the laws concerning clean and unclean foods in Leviticus 11 come the laws concerning clean and unclean persons. As germs are contagions causing physical disease, so man is infected with the spiritual contagion of a sin nature that brings about spiritual disease leading ultimately to death. Henry points out that man imparts his depraved sin nature to his offspring at the time of conception, which is why the woman needed to go through ritual cleansing at the time of a child’s birth. Similarly, the Bible teaches us that the plague of leprosy (Heb. tzaaras referring to a generic skin disease) was judgment by Eohim against the sins of rebellion, greed and misuse of the tongue (e.g, Miriam, Gehazi and King Uzziah).

The spread of and cure for spiritual diseases is similar to those of physical diseases, as we’ll discuss below. First, however, let’s compare and contrast how physical germs are similar to spiritual sin “germs.” Continue reading →