Leviticus 12-13
Sunday Evening Bible Study
August 31, 1997
Introduction
We've started into a section talking about clean and unclean.
Though we don't understand all the reasons behind some of the specific restrictions, we know that the basic principle is that God wants His people to be holy, to be different from the world.
From DeuteroMommy -
Laws Pertaining to Dessert
For we judge between the plate that is unclean and the plate that is clean, saying first, if the plate is clean, then you shall have dessert. But of the unclean plate, the laws are these: If you have eaten most of your meat, and two bites of your peas with each bite consisting of not less than three peas each, or in total six peas, eaten where I can see, and you have also eaten enough of your potatoes to fill two forks, both forkfuls eaten where I can see, then you shall have dessert. But if you eat a lesser number of peas, and yet you eat the potatoes, still you shall not have dessert; and if you eat the peas, yet leave the potatoes uneaten, you shall not have dessert, no, not even a small portion thereof. And if you try to deceive by moving the potatoes or peas around with a fork, that it may appear you have eaten what you have not, you will fall into iniquity. And I will know, and you shall have no dessert.
On Screaming
Do not scream; for it is as if you scream all the time. If you are given a plate on which two foods you do not wish to touch each other are touching each other, your voice rises up even to the ceiling, while you point to the offense with the finger of your right hand; but I say to you, sc ream not, only remonstrate gently with the server, that the server may correct the fault. Likewise if you receive a portion of fish from which every piece of herbal seasoning has not been scraped off, and the herbal seasoning is loathsome to you and steeped in vileness, again I say, refrain from screaming. Though the vileness overwhelm you, and cause you a faint unto death, make not that sound from within your throat, neither cover your face, nor press your fingers to you nose. For even not I have made the fish as it should be; behold, I eat it myself, yet do not die.
Leviticus 12 - Purifying after childbirth
:2 unclean seven days
This first period of uncleanness is a total separation from others, a mother is not to come into contact with a lot of people in the first week.
:3 eighth day … circumcised
The male child was to be circumcised on the eighth day.
Studies have shown that it's by the eighth day that a child's blood reaches the ability to clot properly on it's own. In a pre-medical society, this would be the safest time to circumcise a boy.
In today's society, a boy may be circumcised even on the second day, but that's only because of today's medical abilities.
Circumcision was to be a sign between God and His people, a way of telling they were His.
Circumcision began with Abraham.
It was a picture of the "cutting away of the flesh", that God's people were not to live after the flesh but after the Spirit.
Lesson:
Giving children spiritual values.
It starts from the very beginning.
You don't wait until they're a full grown heathen to start teaching your children God's ways.
:4 continue … three and thirty days
The mother was then to continue for another 33 days in a state of uncleanness.
This makes a total of forty days of separation.
Why uncleanness at childbirth?
At least some aspects are probably hygienic.
A woman continues with a flow of blood after childbirth, and it may have to do with keeping infection from setting in, protecting the mother, or from cleanliness with the germs that can be spread through blood.
It may be actually a blessing for the mother in allowing her a chance to recuperate from the birth of her child.
:5 a maid child
When the baby was a girl, the time was lengthened.
The initial complete separation was two weeks instead of one, and the total time of separation 80 days instead of 40.
Why a difference for the girls?
There doesn't seem to be any kind of medical explanation to this, even though the ancient Greeks at the suggestion of their physician Hippocrates had a mother lay up for 42 days for a girl, and 30 days for a boy.
Some have suggested that the shorter time for the boy had something to do with the fact that the boy had been circumcised, and had paid a kind of price on his own.
Another suggestion has been that it would give a mother and her daughter a longer time to bond, perhaps being a greater blessing to the girls.
Who knows?
:6 burnt offering … sin offering
These were to recommit the mother to the Lord, perhaps also as a way of expressing thanks for the new little life.
Why a sin offering?
Had a mother sinned in giving birth?
One commentator said it might have been for any rash words the mom might have spoken while giving birth, such as cursing the father, calling him names. This is where the mother looks angrily at the father and yells, "You did this to me!" Ha! Could be truer than you think!
Perhaps it was just a way of getting back into fellowship, even as the priests had to present sin offerings from time to time before performing their ministry.
:8 she shall bring two turtledoves …
It didn't matter if a family was rich or poor, everybody is able to do it God's way.
If you were too poor to afford a lamb to sacrifice, you could always buy two turtledoves or two pigeons for the sacrifice.
This reminds us of another passage in the Bible:
(Luke 2:21-24 KJV) And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. {22} And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; {23} (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) {24} And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.
This gives us a little clue to the family of Jesus.
They were simple, poor folks.
(2 Cor 8:9 KJV) For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
He gave up the riches of heaven to become a poor man on earth, so that we might have the riches of heaven one day.
Lesson:
Get back into fellowship.
This is what this is all about, getting back into fellowship.
I am concerned when a mom has a baby, and it's almost years before she can be back into fellowship.
Dads, maybe you can help.
Leviticus 13
:1-3 inspecting for leprosy
Hebrew word is "sara`at" - it appears to be a broad enough term to include several things.
The traditional "leprosy" is more specifically called "Hansen's Disease", where people loose feeling in their limbs, and they can even loose fingers, toes, etc., because they can't feel them.
But medical scholars feel that the things described in this chapter aren't specifically "Hansen's Disease", but would also include psoriasis, favus, and vitiligo.
Many of these other diseases (not Hansen's Disease) are highly contagious, and hence the precautions.
Medical implications
The priest did not function like a doctor, giving medical prescriptions, but more like a public health official, putting people under quarantine.
The fact that Israel practiced the use of quarantines helped their overall health as a people.
Spiritual implications
There seems to be a sense in the Bible that leprosy is almost a symbol of sin.
When Miriam rebelled (Num.12), God made her leprous
When Gehazi lied and took money from Naaman, he turned to a leper (2Ki.5)
Uzziah the king brazenly walked into the temple to offer incense as if he was a priest, and became a leper. (2Chr.26:19)
These two chapters could be seen as dealing with sin
A person caught in sin is removed from fellowship with God and His people
(Jer 17:9 NIV) The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
But God can heal the incurable, He can restore a sinner to His presence.
:3 deeper than the skin of his flesh,
As we're going to see, some things are just "skin deep", and not really a problem.
But sometimes, a person's problems are really a lot deeper, and then we need to be concern.
Sin is more than "skin deep".
From Wiersbe:
In eighteenth-century England, if you were convicted for stealing, the judge could order the authorities to chop off your right hand. If you were convicted a second time, they could cut off the left hand. I recall reading about a pickpocket who lost both hands but managed to succeed in his career because he perfected picking pockets with his teeth! Even if the authorities had pulled all his teeth, it wouldn’t have solved the problem, because sin is deeper than the skin. Jesus said, "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man" (Matt. 15:19-20).
:4-6 Take time
If the priest was unsure of the diagnosis, then the person was to come back in seven days and be checked again.
Lesson:
Take time for discernment.
Some of the application of this chapter has to do with discerning what is going on in a person's life.
I think it's really hard to know a person in a very short period of time.
For those of you looking for spouses, take note.
For those looking to hire somebody, listen up.
We need to also be careful when we put people into important, high-profile ministry positions.
(1 Tim 5:22 KJV) Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men's sins: keep thyself pure.
(1 Tim 5:24-25 KJV) Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after. {25} Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand; and they that are otherwise cannot be hid.
You'll usually be able to tell with enough time what a person is really like.
I find it difficult to recommend marriage to a couple that's only known each other a few weeks.
Yes, God can do miracles, but why tempt Him?
Take time to make correct decisions.
Don't jump to conclusions too quickly; many things lie unsolved, and the biggest test of all is that God looks as if he were totally indifferent.
Oswald Chambers (1874–1917)
Illustration
In a manufacturing town in Scotland, a young lady began teaching a Sunday school class of poverty-stricken boys. The most unpromising youngster was a boy named Bob. After the first two or three Sundays, he did not return. So the teacher went to look for him. Although the superintendent had given Bob some new clothes, they were already worn and dirty when the teacher found him. He was given another new suit, and he came back to Sunday school. But soon he quit again, and the teacher went out once more to find him. When she did, she discovered that the second set of clothes had gone the way of the first. "I am completely discouraged about Bob," she told the superintendent. "I guess we must give up on him." "Please don't do that," he pleaded. "I believe there is still hope. Try him one more time." They gave Bob a third suit of clothes, and this time he began to attend faithfully. It wasn't long until he became a Christian and eventually even taught in that same Sunday school. Who was that obstinate, ragged boy who for a time seemed so unreachable? None other than Robert Morrison, who later became the first Protestant missionary to China. He translated the Bible into Chinese and brought the Word of God to teeming millions.
So discouraged pastor, Sunday school teacher, youth worker, give that disappointing person one more chance.
:15 raw flesh is unclean
God is talking about open wounds here, but the way it's worded is kind of ironic.
Our flesh, left to itself is totally unclean!
(Rom 7:18 KJV) For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
:18-23 Boils
God describes certain conditions where a boil has become leprous.
Lesson:
God's Word is our guide.
I don't know about you, but I would be utterly lost if I was told to be an examining priest, but didn't have a copy of God's Word to remember how to examine each type of leprosy.
It's really no different in our lives as well.
We too can get lost trying to decide what's right and what's wrong if we don't stay in God's Word, reminded of His ways and His guidelines.
Illustration
During the days that Knute Rockne was coaching Notre Dame, a sports columnist in a South Bend newspaper earned the reputation of being the meanest, most cutting writer in the country. The anonymous writer, who knew Notre Dame well, wrote about the team's weaknesses. He pointed out the mistakes of individual players. He told about those who were lazy, about those who broke training and didn't discipline themselves. Of course, this column made the players roaring mad. The truth hurt and players complained to Rockne. He listened with sympathy but said he could not stop the writer. He advised that the only way the players could do so was to go out and play the game so well that they would prove him wrong.
Later it became known that the writer of the column was Knute Rockne himself. As coach of the team he was best acquainted with their weaknesses. The critical column was his ingenuous device to develop a better team. Sometimes the Scriptures speak so sharply about us it is uncomfortable. But God tells the truth because He loves us and wants to make us winners. He knows that we cannot win unless we discipline ourselves to obey His rules of life.
:24-28 Burns
(summarize)We have descriptions of different kinds of burns, and which ones are labeled leprous.
:29-37 Scalp & beard
(summarize)When there is a discoloration in the hair or beard, and which is leprous.
:38-39 Bright spots
(summarize)White spots and red spots.
:40-44 Baldness
Baldness is okay unless there is an infection
Good news for those that are thinning a little on top!
:45-46 unclean, unclean
It was required of a leper to show to everyone that he was unclean, so that he would not spread his infection.
I know this is a touchy subject, but I wonder if this has any implications with our modern AIDS virus.
I'm not sure if it's necessary that AIDS patients be totally quarantined from society, but I grieve when I hear about doctors or dentists who contract the virus because the patient didn't tell them they had the disease.
Lesson:
Separation from sin.
A leper had to live outside the camp until he was cleansed from his leprosy.
This is because these types of skin diseases were contagious.
Sin is contagious.
Paul was concerned about the Corinthian church because they not only tolerated a man living in open sin, but they almost seemed a little proud of the fact.
(1 Cor 5:6-7 KJV) Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? {7} Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
When you hang around people who are just having a great old time with their sin, if you're careful, or dead, their sin will begin to rub off on you.
We need to be careful here, because in reality we are all sinners.
And if a person is asking for help, they're on their way to being cleansed!
But when a person does not care about their sin, and even enjoys it, we need to be careful to not allow it to affect us.
:47-59 Garments
In the days before hot water, washing machines, and Tide, you cold have a problem develop on your clothes.
If you got some kind of weird spot on your clothes, and it began to spread, you might be in for some problems.
Ladies, this might be a way of getting your husband to stop wearing that old T-shirt he wears on Saturday mornings …
Sometimes the garment had to be burned.
Sometimes the spot had to be torn out.
Sometimes it could just be washed out.
Just get it clean!
Lesson:
Wear clean clothes.
This might be a little awkward of an application, but sometimes some of our choices in clothing fall into the "unclean" category.
I don't think we need to go overboard in this, but I think we ought to show concern for each other by not wearing things that were designed to catch the eye of the opposite sex.