Days 50-51, Chronological Bible Study Timeline. Map. Go to today’s Bible reading (use your browser arrow to return): Leviticus 11–15
Note: Today's Bible study is extensive because of the uninterrupted theme. You may wish to read the Scripture on February 19 and read the study on February 20.
In most places around the world, there's a significant concern for good healthcare. We have sterile environments in our hospitals and laboratories. We wear facial coverings and have disinfecting soaps, sprays, and gels in our homes, schools, institutions, and workplaces. With their use, we hope they will keep us from getting sick.
We also have special diets to promote the healing and maintenance of our bodies. This two-day Bible study is about healthcare and holiness. What do they have to do with one another?
God wants us to be Holy and Spiritually Healthy
God is holy—there's nothing unclean or impure about him—he's perfect and righteous in every way! The LORD wants his people to worship him in holiness. He wants us to be set apart from all sin and wickedness, and to dedicate ourselves to him—not just on Sunday, but on every day of the week.
We all make mistakes and sin, but “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1John 1:9, NIV). Let's honor him. Our daily lives should express reverence to God in the way we live, and if we do, we will experience his joy, pleasure, and blessings.
While the Israelites camped at Mt. Sinai, God gave them plans for the tabernacle, priests, and offerings with specific instructions so they might honor him. Nadab and Abihu, two of Aaron's sons, were careless and didn't honor the LORD in their worship before the people.For this, God put them to death! Leviticus 10:9 may suggest they were drunk.
After this incident, God told Moses, “You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean” (Leviticus 10:10 NIV). The natural question which follows this command is—what is clean and what is unclean?
A Clean Diet
There are wild animals, birds, insects, reptiles in the desert, and in water holes or rivers, there are fish. God said some creatures are clean, i.e., the Israelites may eat them; others are not, i.e., the Israelites may not eat them. Why? There are two schools of thought about these limitations:
The restrictions were for better dietary health
Some people have written articles or books from the dietary guide given to the Israelites. However, there is no Biblical explanation why the Israelites can or cannot eat these. Animals, which have completely divided hoofs and chew their cud (oxen, sheep, deer, antelope, and goats), may be eaten. Animals with paws may not be eaten. Crawling creatures are forbidden. We know certain insects like flies and mosquitoes carry diseases, and they are not to be eaten. Locust-type creatures, however, are clean and can be eaten.
God also forbids the people of Israel from eating things with blood in them. Perhaps, birds of prey may not be eaten—blood carries disease. Sea creatures and fish without scales are also not permitted for food, although the reason is not given. (see Matthew 15:18-20).
The Jews in Jesus' day still observed the dietary restrictions. Some think he cancelled them when he declared: “What goes into a man's mouth does not make him unclean, but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him unclean” (Matthew 15:11, NIV). In that context, however, Jesus is pointing out that eating food with unwashed hands doesn't make a person unclean, but words coming out of him might (see Matthew 15:18-20).
Unrestrained words found in gossip and slander are damaging. Cursing, berating, or insulting words are also unclean speech. God loves us, and as Christians, we should try to love others, too. What we say should come out of a heart of love. That is clean speech. We know this is easy to say but not always easy to do. We need God's help—the tongue is hard to tame!
Restrictions were to prevent idol worship
The other school of thought for the dietary restrictions was the prevention of idolatry. Maybe the surrounding nations worshiped the unclean and other creatures. God wants his people to worship him. Therefore, God wants his people to be holy even in their diets (Leviticus 11:44-45).
Praise the LORD; it's now through the sacrifice of Christ that made us holy and able to approach the very throne room of God! We can't do it ourselves! The writer of the book of Hebrews says, “… we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10, NIV). He continues,
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith (Hebrews 10:19-22a, NIV).
Dealing with Disease and Holiness
Disease is another kind of uncleanness
If anyone among the Israelites is suspected of having an infection, he must go to the priest for an examination. The priest will re-examine him if he's unsure. If the infection is worse, the priest isolates him from the camp and forbids him to come to the tabernacle for worship until the condition disappears.
Recovery and Readmittance
Once an Israelite is isolated from the camp, can he ever rejoin the assembly? Yes, if he no longer has the disease. Leviticus 14 details a process an unclean (diseased) person has to go through to be accepted back into Israel's congregation.
First, the priest inspects him thoroughly outside of the camp to make sure he no longer has a disease. If there is no evidence of it, then he is ceremonially cleansed in a strange way that resembles the scapegoat ceremony (Leviticus 16:7-10) only it is with birds. The sprinkling of a dead bird's blood with cedarwood, red yarn, and hyssop on the man (or woman) to be cleansed has no magical healing power. It is a sign of cleansing for the benefit of the community.After the cleansing ceremony, the one recovering from the disease is shaved from head to toe, bathed, and his clothes are washed. Then he must wait a week for a re-examination. The priests repeat the process before they admit him back to camp. He must be clean and free of disease. The purpose of this is unclear, but perhaps it's a sign of his approval and acceptance into the congregation of Israel as being clean and re-dedicated to God.
Spiritually speaking, we Christians can praise God we don't have to go through ceremonies to be accepted by him. “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26, NIV). It's through the blood of Jesus Christ that he makes us clean and approved by God. Our changed lives show others we are clean and have spiritual life. Still, it's helpful when others give testimony to our changed life, so we are quickly accepted. (Exodus 29:19-20a).
Miscellaneous Regulations for Cleanliness
The LORD institutes other regulations for dealing with dead bodies, purification after childbirth, purification from bodily discharges, and ridding mildew from homes and clothing. These are partially for their health and partly for another reason. God says, “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” (Leviticus 15:31, NIV).
Our Cleanliness (Holiness)
As Christians, we live in the Grace age, but God puts limitations on us for our benefit. The Apostle Paul writes,
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator (Colossians 3:5-6,8, NIV).
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? (2Corinthians 6:14, NIV)
Holiness is being spiritually and morally clean
After Christ cleanses us from sin, we have personal responsibilities to keep pure and holy before God (1Peter 1:15-16). Keep reading about and living the will of God from the Bible (just as you are doing today).
How are we made holy? Do we have any responsibilities to keep ourselves holy? Explain
What are the purposes of diets? Spiritually speaking, how does limiting our actions and words and feeding on the good stuff help us live holy lives?
Focus Verse
Leviticus 11:44a (NIV) “I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.”
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Looking Ahead: We have talked about healthcare and holiness, and now it is time to do something about it. It's Time for a Cleanup! Join us for our next lesson to find out what this involves.
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