ewwwww!

"Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that is in their midst."

Leviticus 15:31

This is not a chapter that I think will ever find its way into a Sunday morning scripture reading. It is not good sermon fodder either. The content of the chapter is more fitting for a health class than anything else. It has to do with bodily discharges for both men and women. That was already too much information. But this chapter goes into detail.

There are details about the types of discharge that lead to making one ceremonially impure and details about the types of offerings made for cleansing the condition. Why did God care about this? Because He wanted His people to take seriously their relationship with Him at all levels. Nothing was trivial when it came to approaching Him in worship. Hence these regulations were meant to pull their thoughts toward God.

The point was that worshiping God was a holy business. And these bodily regulations kept the focus squarely on God and the worship of Him in reverent holiness. This kept them from defiling the place where His presence would dwell among them. If I remove my tendency to see the “gross-out” factor in this chapter, and view the requirement as a call to holy thinking, I see the point. God is to be reverently worshiped. That is the point of this unusual chapter.

Technorati Tags: Leviticus,Holiness,Purity