Instead of being cruel, Biblical quarantine laws showed God’s care for his people. The laws also demonstrated that his people had to take responsibility for their own health—and the health of their neighbors! How different our current health care crisis would be if we took both greater personal and social responsibility for living the kind of healthy lifestyle God intended us to practice. Furthermore, Biblical quarantine generously included the way for people to reenter the community once the illness was addressed. Thankfully, God still cares about our health. He’s the God who heals all our diseases—sometimes through miraculous intervention, sometimes through the body’s miraculous self-healing systems as we follow the his design for healthy living, and sometimes through the miracle of modern medicine—which we should clearly attribute to not just the medical profession, but to the God-given brilliance those who’ve discovered preventions and cures for disease.
The Journey// Focus: Leviticus 13:45-46
Those who suffer from a serious skin disease must tear their clothing and leave their hair uncombed. They must cover their mouth and call out, “Unclean! Unclean!” As long as the serious disease lasts, they will be ceremonially unclean. They must live in isolation in their place outside the camp.
Years ago I read a bestseller called, The Hot Zone. It is the story of the first known outbreak of the Ebola virus—a deadly and highly infectious disease from the rain forest of central Africa. The virus got transported through its human host via air travel, and it suddenly appeared in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. There is no cure, most everyone who contracts it dies within hours, and there is a sudden and panicked, spare-no-expense-don’t-worry-too-much-about-civil-rights effort to stop the outbreak of this “hot” virus.
The book is a page-turner and I would recommend that you read it. But I will warn you, it will scare the bejeebers out of you, not only because of the shocking havoc the virus wreaks on the human body, but because of the very real pandemic possibility, given how globalization has brought the whole humanity family into such close proximity.
The infectious diseases and molds described in Leviticus 13, and the spare-no-expense, violate-every-civil-liberty approach to dealing with them may seem so over the top and inhumane to us today, but given the close proximity of two million Israelites encamped in the Sinai wilderness makes these procedures a little more sane, and humane for the whole of the nation. Several thousand years ago, they had no real system of medical care, no hospitals, no sewage system, no sanitation service, no antibiotics, no Purell, or no bleach or no remediation for toxic mold. They were a primitive people, so God simply started with where they were and protected them from themselves through these rules and regulations.
As I did with the previous chapter, allow me again to quote from a source more knowledgeable that I am on this particular subject. I think you will find this entry from the Quest Study Bible insightful:
Poor health does not necessarily mean that a person is being punished for a specific spiritual or moral offense. (See John 9:3 for the reason why one particular man was born blind.) Some diseases have genetic origins; others are caused by bacteria or viruses and are transmitted through coughing and sneezing, improper hygiene or poor food handling. There are times, however, when illnesses result from sinful attitudes and actions that involve various aspects of life, such as sexuality, eating and drinking, money, health practices, etc. Old Testament laws about health and hygiene may seem overly fastidious, and the isolation of the unclean may seem cruel. But those laws actually reflect God’s gracious protection of the Israelite community from the spread of disease. The laws stressed personal responsibility and concern for the welfare of the community as a whole. They also helped members of the community know when and how to resume contact with people who had regained their health, reducing excessive fear of the sick.
I appreciate the fact that instead of being cruel, these laws showed God’s care for his people. Moreover, these regulations also demonstrated that the people had to take responsibility for their own health and the health of their neighbors—something modern Americans ought to reconsider. How different would our health care crisis be if we would take greater personal responsibility for living the kind of healthy lifestyle God intended us to practice. Furthermore, God’s rules for disease and toxic molds also generously included the way for people to reenter the community once they were addressed.
Are you grateful, as I am, that we belong to a God who cares about our health? And not only does he care, he is the God who heals all our disease—sometimes through miraculous intervention, sometimes through the miracle of the self-healing systems of our bodies when we follow the Divine design for healthy living, and sometimes through the miracle of modern medicine—which we should clearly attribute to not just the medical profession, but to the God who provided the people in the profession with the brilliance to discover preventions and cures for these age-old diseases.
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