Today starts week five and was all about laws about Leprosy and bodily discharges. As I was reading this, I was pretty disgusted; and now rereading to study and journal, I am beginning to understand a little better.
This first section deals with preliminary symptoms of skin diseases like raw flesh, boils, burns, sores on the head or chin, white spots, and skin diseases on the head that cause baldness.
Since it is unlikely the ancient people would have understood the concept of infectiousness, it should perhaps simply be “skin diseases.” Such diseases show visible defects that could function aptly as a symbol for defilement – as could mildew.
The symptoms described, and the fact that they may change rapidly, show that the disease was not true leprosy. They applied also to a number of other diseases, as well as rather harmless skin eruptions.
When a person had an issue with their skin, they were to report to the priest to get it checked out. After the priest had examined it, they were pronounced unclean and sent away for seven days, when the priest would examine again.
The ceremonial unclean were excluded from the camp, where the Israelites lived. As a result of being unclean and their separation from God, they were to exhibit their grief by tearing their clothes and having unkempt hair covering half their faces.
Some of the diseases or symptoms seemed a little odd to me. Maybe I am not understanding the true meaning of them; but the ones about thin, yellow hair, or going bald had some very amusing memes out there. Yellow hair, meaning there were no blondes around?
There were also very specific laws for cleaning lepers. There were cleanings, visits from the priest, rituals, and offerings. The ritual after the skin disease had been cured had three parts: 1) ritual for the first week, outside the camp; 2) ritual for the second week, inside the camp; and 3) special permission for the poor.
The laws about cleansing the houses were similar to that of the people. The priest would examine the house and the disease. The infected areas would be restored, or in extreme cases torn down. I think this mainly refers to mildew, mold, or fungus that would defile the place.
The last section was about laws for bodily discharges…gross! I think I preferred reading about the lepers over this. Basically, anything that came out of a person was deemed unclean. Things like male uncleanness caused by bodily discharge or emission of semen, or female uncleanness caused by her monthly period or lengthy hemorrhaging were all discussed.
The bodily discharge referred a lot to anything they would sit or lay on would be unclean; so it probably had to do with diarrhea or urethral discharge (various kinds of infections). This indicates that the bodily discharge had to do with the buttocks or genitals.
When a person is cleansed of the discharge by washing clothes and bathing in water, it took seven days to fully be clean.
When it came to natural things like semen as a normal sexual activity and a woman’s menstruation, it required no sacrifices but only washing and a minimal period of uncleanness.
I have no idea what kind of world they were living in, that they needed laws about these things! I was very naive to think that the Bible was full of warm fuzzies, and God loves us, and the ten commandments were the rules. I had no idea things were this specific, down to the point of what comes out of your body. Wow!
This whole section of reading really just grossed me out, and I’m happy to be done with it!
I agree