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John 1:4
In him was life, and the life was the light of men. Studying the Biblical laws of clean and unclean seem to take us to a world far removed from our present society. We cannot though, read these passages in the Book of Leviticus and assess them according to the dynamics of our present world; we need to understand them according to their own context. All the issues of ritual impurities in the Bible have to do with separating the holy from death, decay and corruption. All the regulations mentioned about ritual purity in the Torah can be understood in the idea that God, being life itself cannot, and does not have anything to do with whatever decays and dies. All the earthly elements therefore that represent him must be (at least symbolically) free from corruption. We easily see these ideas in the gold covered acacia wood that makes the Holy Ark, a wood with the properties of cedar that fights corruption. Salt also, which is a preservative has to be added to meat offerings and the meat discarded within three days before it turns rancid. Of course, as long as we are in this mortal body and on this temporal earth, we cannot fully get rid of corruption; the whole idea is therefore a message from the Father to teach us about himself. Ritual uncleanness has nothing to do with us committing any particular sin. For example, a woman has done nothing wrong when she enters her monthly time and even less when she has a baby, the fulfillment of one of Hashem's greatest commandment, but yet, at these times she is considered ritually unclean. Being ritually unclean is a mere acknowledgment of our mortal human condition. Also the condition of ritual uncleanness mostly relates to the Temple and its service. All one needs to do to be ritually clean again is immerse in a mikveh (ritual immersion pool). The best way to understand it is to relate it to protocol. There is certain protocol to enter for example in the presence of a President of any country, or even in the presence of a King; it doesn’t mean that we are criminals. In the days of Yeshua, some people went overboard in their concerns with ritual purity. The Master tells us about it in this story about a dying wounded man on the road to Jericho. Both a Levite and a priest pass him by but choose not to help him because they were concerned about ritual cleanliness which forbids the touching of blood (Luke 10:25—37). This shows a misunderstanding of the idea. The Master himself who is sinless and coming from the halls of heaven was not afraid to put on the impurity of humanity and make himself impure in order to rescue us from our mortality. Again, ritual purity is not about having committed a sin; one can obey every dictum of the Torah and still be impure. It is solely about our human condition. May we in our sense of righteousness not be found to be like the afore-mentioned Levite or priest who because they were so concerned about their own purity, failed to obey the commandment to reach out to those in need. The Master did not discard the practices of ritual purity which came from him to start with, but he does teach us to have a proper balance and perspective in our commandment observance; he says, "These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others" (Matthew 23:23).
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Mark 1:40
And there came a leper to him, beseeching … saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. The Torah spends a considerable amount of time detailing a condition called ‘leprosy’. It tells us about people’s leprosy, but also about leprosy in beards, fabrics, and houses (Leviticus 13:18-59). Leprosy in the Bible seems to relate not only to the loathsome disease by that name, but also to all sorts of corruption and decay. The term seems to be used to refer to the advance of death and corruption in matter (Leviticus 13:4-8). On a metaphorical level, Jewish sages referred to leprosy as the disease the snake inherited as part of the curse. Uncleanliness and mortality is part of the curse brought on man because of sin so the metaphor is certainly befitting. Leprosy is also associated with one of the most important sin in the Bible, the one called ‘lashon harah’ which literally means ‘the evil tongue’ and which refers to gossip and slander. After slandering Moses her brother, Miriam was afflicted by this ‘leprosy’ (Numbers 12). Leprosy and the state of ritual impurity is irrelevant today because it only relates to the Temple in Jerusalem which does not exist at this present time. At the time when religiosity accorded undue emphasis to ritual purity, Yeshua came to put it back in its proper perspective. In the days of the Master, Priests and Levites were so obsessed with ritual purity that they would forget the commandments about mercy and helping those in need for fearing defiling themselves. We can see this in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:33). Yeshua on the other hand was not afraid of being defiled by leprosy. On some occasions he even voluntarily touched a leper to heal him (Matthew 8:2-3). He even entered the house of Simon the Leper to eat with him, and this is where He met Mary-Magdalene (Matthew 26:6-7). The Talmud tells of one called: The Leper Messiah. It "records" a supposed discourse between the great Rabbi Joshua ben Levi and the prophet Elijah. The rabbi asks "When will the Messiah come?" And "By what sign may I recognize him?" Elijah tells the rabbi to go to the gate of the city where he will find the Messiah sitting among the poor lepers. The Messiah, says the prophet, sits bandaging his leprous sores one at a time, unlike the rest of the sufferers, who bandage them all at once. Why? Because He might be needed at any time and would not want to be delayed (Sanhedrin 98a). While this may seem to be a far-fetched story, it is not the only Jewish text which associates Messiah with leprosy. One of the names of the coming Messiah in the Talmud is: ‘The Leper Scholar’. Unlike the exclusive religious leaders of His days, as He came to us, Yeshua voluntarily put on the decaying condition of mortality. He touched our ‘leprosy’, and even entered our house to fellowship with us while in our mortal decaying condition. As He goes back to His father and our God, He takes us with Him to partake of His resurrected body. What a wonderful Messiah we have. Amen and Amen. May it be soon, even in our days! John 1:4
In him was life, and the life was the light of men. Studying the Biblical laws of clean and unclean seem to take us to a world far removed from our present society. We cannot though, read these passages in the Book of Leviticus and judge them according to the dynamics of our present world; we need to understand them according to their own context. All the issues of ritual impurities in the Bible have to do with separating the holy from death, decay and corruption. All the regulations mentioned about ‘ritual purity’ in the Bible can be understood in the idea that God, being Life Itself, cannot and does not have anything to do with whatever decays and dies. All the earthly elements therefore that represent Him must be free from corruption. We easily see these ideas in the gold covered acacia wood that makes the Ark, a wood with the properties of cedar that fights corruption. Salt also, which is a preservative has to be added to meat offerings and the meat discarded within three days before it turns rancid. Of course, as long as we are in this mortal body and on this temporal earth, we cannot fully get rid of corruption; the whole idea is therefore a message from the Father to teach us about Himself. A woman has done nothing wrong when she enters her monthly time and even less when she has a baby which is to fulfill one of the greatest of God’s commandments but yet, at these times she is considered ritually unclean. One thing we need to realize is that being ritually unclean is not about having committed a sin. It is a mere acknowledgment of our mortal human condition, and these rules are mostly related to Temple service. All one needs to do is to take a ‘mikveh’ (ritual immersion/baptism) to be ritually clean again. The best way to understand it is to relate it to protocol. There is certain protocol to enter for example in the presence of the President of the U.S, and while it doesn’t mean that we are all criminals, this protocol has mostly to do with security. In the days of Yeshua, some people went overboard in their concerns with ritual purity. The Master tells this story about a dying wounded man on the road to Jericho. A levite and a priest pass him by choosing to not help him because they were concerned to stay pure (Luke 10:25-37). This shows a misunderstanding of the idea. The Master Himself who is sinless and coming from the halls of Heaven was not afraid to put on the impurity of humanity and make Himself impure in order to rescue us from our mortality. Again, ritual purity is not about having committed a sin One can obey every dictum of the Torah and still be impure. It is solely a condition. May we in our sense of righteousness not be found to be like the afore-mentioned Levite or priest who because they were so concerned about their own purity, failed to obey the commandment to reach out to those in need. The Master did not discard the practices of ritual purity which came from Him to start with, but He did say, These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others (Matthew 23:23). |
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