The normal routines of life, our going to work, coming home, preparing meals for family, keeping clothes clean for work, school, and church, vacuuming all the dirt of the world we bring into our homes, the washing of bedding, cleaning toilets of germs always present—all these chores are done to sustain a clean household for our families to enjoy.  When one has a sickness, it is common sense to isolate them as best we can, so the other members of the household can avoid it.  Our sustained cleaning is designed to avoid sicknesses but we bring in germs from our daily going and coming that cannot be avoided.  The Covid era (as other former plagues of the world) highlighted the need for good hygiene through all generations for sure!

God tells Moses detailed ways to sustain the cleanliness of the Israelites’ households with awareness of how to deal with bodily fluids, both normal and abnormal.  All secretions must be cleansed, along with everything the fluids touch.  Then they must be declared clean by the priest who will provide a sacrifice and burnt offering from what they bring to him so that they can be atoned and cleansed.

Are we noticing how the job description of a priest is growing in the number of tasks?  I have questions!  Priests now are very personally involved in the lives of God’s people!  They will see and hear things that others will not.  As with lawyers and doctors, will they sustain a confidentiality agreement?  But wait, there’s more…

Leviticus 15

Discharges Causing Uncleanness

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ² “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When any man has an unusual bodily discharge, such a discharge is unclean. ³ Whether it continues flowing from his body or is blocked, it will make him unclean. This is how his discharge will bring about uncleanness:

⁴ “‘Any bed the man with a discharge lies on will be unclean, and anything he sits on will be unclean. ⁵ Anyone who touches his bed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. ⁶ Whoever sits on anything that the man with a discharge sat on must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

⁷ “‘Whoever touches the man who has a discharge must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

⁸ “‘If the man with the discharge spits on anyone who is clean, they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

⁹ “‘Everything the man sits on when riding will be unclean, ¹⁰ and whoever touches any of the things that were under him will be unclean till evening; whoever picks up those things must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

¹¹ “‘Anyone the man with a discharge touches without rinsing his hands with water must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

¹² “‘A clay pot that the man touches must be broken, and any wooden article is to be rinsed with water.

¹³ “‘When a man is cleansed from his discharge, he is to count off seven days for his ceremonial cleansing; he must wash his clothes and bathe himself with fresh water, and he will be clean. ¹⁴ On the eighth day he must take two doves or two young pigeons and come before the Lord to the entrance to the tent of meeting and give them to the priest. ¹⁵ The priest is to sacrifice them, the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way he will make atonement before the Lord for the man because of his discharge.

¹⁶ “‘When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean till evening. ¹⁷ Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening. ¹⁸ When a man has sexual relations with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both of them must bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

¹⁹ “‘When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening.

²⁰ “‘Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. ²¹ Anyone who touches her bed will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. ²² Anyone who touches anything she sits on will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. ²³ Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, they will be unclean till evening.

²⁴ “‘If a man has sexual relations with her and her monthly flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days; any bed he lies on will be unclean.

²⁵ “‘When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period. ²⁶ Any bed she lies on while her discharge continues will be unclean, as is her bed during her monthly period, and anything she sits on will be unclean, as during her period. ²⁷ Anyone who touches them will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.

²⁸ “‘When she is cleansed from her discharge, she must count off seven days, and after that she will be ceremonially clean. ²⁹On the eighth day she must take two doves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ³⁰ The priest is to sacrifice one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way he will make atonement for her before the Lord for the uncleanness of her discharge.

³¹ “‘You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them.’”

³² These are the regulations for a man with a discharge, for anyone made unclean by an emission of semen, ³³ for a woman in her monthly period, for a man or a woman with a discharge, and for a man who has sexual relations with a woman who is ceremonially unclean.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God always has a reason for his detailed commands. We have learned that God who loves and cares for His created has a strong desire to keep them safe and protected from harm and sickness. This is indeed another “law” to keep that will prevent the spread of disease.

However, I’m reminded of the woman who bled consistently for twelve years.  She tried everything.  She paid money to every doctor who said they could help—but could not. She obeyed the Mosaic law but found never to be cleansed completely because the bleeding never stopped!  All hope was gone until she heard of this preacher who had healed others of their debilitating ways of life and gave them a healed new life.  Oh, how she long for a new life without continually cleansing herself and her clothes of this constant bleeding that made her weak and weary.  All who knew her declared her unclean—for twelve long years! 

We pick up her story in Luke 8—

“And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years,^[a] but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

“Who touched me?” Jesus asked.

When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.”

But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed. ⁴⁸ Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” Luke 8:43-47

This same beautiful story of healing of this particular woman is also told by Matthew and Mark as well.  “If I can only touch the hem of his garment…”  The woman knew an unclean person such as herself should not be touching anyone—especially a man proclaimed to be a prophet of God!

But she had tried everything else.  Her last and only hope was Jesus. 

This woman’s risky faith, the size of a “mustard seed”, brought the healing she had sought for twelve years!  It was instant!  Jesus, full of the power of God, healed her as soon as she touched the hem of his garment without seemingly knowing who she was—or did He?  Jesus knew that the power within him had just been released to this lost, weakened woman, so he used her story to declare her faith and His glory!  The woman could now go the local priest, offer a sacrifice, and be declared clean! 

Think about it—

This woman had a hidden need, a burden she had lived with for twelve long years. It affected her physically and made life difficult. But it also affected her spiritually, because the hemorrhage made her ceremonially defiled and unable to participate in the religious life of the nation as we just read in Leviticus 15:19–22. She was defiled, destitute, discouraged, and desperate, but she came to Jesus and her need was met. Her faith, though maybe a bit superstitious at first; was honored and applauded by the Highest Priest and Savior of our souls!

But wait, there’s more—there’s always more God want us to know!

In the same passage of Luke, previous to this healing of the woman, Jesus was on his way to the house of Jairus, a prominent man, whose twelve year old daughter was dying!  So, the daughter was born about the same time the woman developed her bleeding disease.  Mm, with God, there are no coincidences!

The healing on the way to Jairus house was an opportunity for the woman to confess Christ and glorify God for her healing! Had she stolen away in the crowd, she would not have met Jesus personally or heard His words of assurance and comfort. But her confession was also an encouragement to Jairus, who would soon hear that his daughter had died. (Perhaps he wanted to blame the woman for the delay!) The woman’s twelve years of trial were ended, and the same Christ who helped her would help Jairus.  We read that Jesus brought Jarius’ daughter back to life!  The same Jesus served both the poor and destitute and the rich.  This same Jesus still gives life to whoever believes and desires to be saved from all their sins!

So, we learn that the law convicts us of all that is unclean that needs to be cleaned.  But it is Jesus, the Fulfiller of The Law who brings complete cleansing to all sin by His Sacrifice, once and for all!  Wow.  Jesus who was with God in the Old Testament is linked once more to Jesus of the New Testament who came down to earth and moved into the neighborhood of humanity.  May our response be to fully embrace the God who knows exactly what we need when we need Him.  Trust Him.  He knows!

Lord,

Thank you for leading us through Your Word that gives light to what might be hard to understand by the power of Your Holy Spirit who guides us to truth.

I’m yours.  I’m listening.

In Jesus Name, Amen