Sherry

Leviticus 15 – Bodily Discharges, Oh My!

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and told them to tell the children of Israel the following laws of bodily discharges for men and women.

For Men

When a man has a discharge from his body, his discharge is unclean. Whether his body runs with the discharge or his body is stopped up by the discharge, it is his uncleanness. Every bed he lays on and everything he sits on shall be unclean. Whoever touches his bed or sits on anything on which he who has the discharge sat, should wash his clothes and bathe in water and remain unclean until evening. If the one with the discharge spits on him who is clean, then he should wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening. Wow! God only addresses the discharge issue in the case of being spat on by someone. In today’s world having a bodily discharge would not be that person’s only issue. Any saddle on which he who has the discharge rides is unclean. Whoever touches anything that was under him is unclean until evening. Whoever carries any of those things should wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening. If the one with the discharge touches someone and had not rinsed his hands in water, that person should wash his clothes, bathe in water and be unclean until evening. Any earthen vessel the one with the discharge touched, should be broken and every wooden vessel should be rinsed in water. When the one with discharge is cleansed of it, he should count for himself seven days for his cleansing, wash his clothes and bathe his body in running water. Then he should be considered clean. On the eighth day, he should take two turtledoves or two young pigeons and go before the Lord to the door of the tabernacle of meeting and give them to the priest. The priest should offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. The priest should make atonement for him before the Lord because of his discharge.

If any man has an emission of semen, then he should wash all of his body in water and be unclean until evening. If there is semen on any garment and any leather, it should be washed with water and be unclean until evening. When a woman laid with a man and there was emission of semen, both of them should bathe in water and be unclean until evening.

For Women

If a woman has a bloody discharge (menstrual cycle), she should be set apart seven days. Whoever touches her would be unclean until evening. Everything she lies or sits on during her period would be unclean. Whoever touches her bed or anything she sat on should wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening. If he touches anything that was on her bed or anything she sat on, he shall be unclean until evening. If any man lies with her at all, so that the blood of her period gets on him, he would be unclean for seven days. Every bed that he lies on will be unclean. If a woman’s discharge of blood is longer than usual, all the days of her bleeding will be as her normal period days. She will be unclean. Every bed she lays on and whatever she sits on will be unclean just as with her normal period. Whoever touches those things will be unclean. He would have to wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening.

If she is cleansed of her discharge, then she should count for herself seven days and after that, she will be clean. On the eighth day, she should take two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting. The priest should offer one as a sin offering and the other one as a burnt offering. The priest should make atonement for her before the Lord for the discharge of her uncleanness.

The children of Israel should be separated from their uncleanness, lest they die in it when they defile God’s tabernacle that was among them. This is the law for one who had a discharge, for him who is unclean because of emitting semen and for her who is indisposed because of her period, and for one who had a discharge, either man or woman, and for him who lies with her who is unclean.

Next week we travel to Leviticus 16.

To God Be The Glory!

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Sherry

Leviticus 14:33-57 / It’s Time To Cleanse House
The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron telling them that when they got to the land of Canaan, which He was giving them as a possession, and He puts a leprous plague in a house there, then the owner of the house must tell the priest. He should say, “It seems to me that there is some plague in the house.” Why would God put a leprous plague in a house? According to Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers, house leprosy was sent by God if the owner of a plot of land on the sacred soil built his house with materials unlawfully acquired. Benson’s Commentary suggests that if the natural cause for the leprosy couldn’t be determined, then it could be resolved that the power of the God of nature put it there. Clarke’s Commentary suggests that it only means that God permitted or suffered it to be done in the course of His providence (all googled, of course). There are other commentaries that offer different suggestions as well. The bottom line is that God offered a cleansing plan in place for a leprous plague in a house. The priest should command that the house was emptied before he entered it to examine the plague. This was done so that everything in the house would not be declared unclean. After the house was emptied, the priest would go in to examine it. If the priest examined the plague and saw that the plague was on the walls of the house with ingrained greenish or reddish streaks that appeared to be deep in the walls, then he should leave the house and shut the door of the house for seven days. On the seventh day, the priest should look and if the plague had spread on the walls of the house, then he should command that the stones that have the plague be taken away and cast into an unclean place outside the city. The priest should have the house scraped all around on the inside. The dust that is scraped off should be poured in an unclean place outside the city. The stones that were removed should be replaced with other stones and new mortar should be used to plaster the house. If the plague came back and broke out in the house after the stones were removed, after the house was scraped and plastered, the priest should take another look at it. If he determined that the plague had indeed spread in the house, it is an active leprosy and the house was unclean. The house should be broken down completely – the stones, timber and all the plaster. Everything should then be carried outside the city to an unclean place. Also, anyone who went in the house at all while it was shut up would be unclean until evening. Whoever laid down or ate in the house should wash his clothes.

If the priest examined the house and the plague did not spread after it was plastered, then he should pronounce it clean because the plague was healed. He should take to cleanse the house, two birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. The priest should then kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water and then take the cedar wood, hyssop, scarlet and the living bird and dip them in the blood of the slain bird and the running water. He should sprinkle the house seven times. The priest should then cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, the running water, the living bird, the cedar wood, hyssop and the scarlet. Then he should let the living bird loose outside of the city in an open field and make atonement for the house because it was now clean.
This is the law for any leprous sore, scale, swelling, scab and bright spot (Leviticus 13:2-46); for the leprosy of a garment (Leviticus 13:47-59); for the leprosy of a house (Leviticus 14:33-53). The leprous laws were to teach whether the aforementioned were unclean or clean. “This is the law of leprosy.”

Since leprosy is a contagious disease, God’s covering had to be over the priests as they did all of these examinations to determine if a potential case of leprosy was active. Are you covered or protected by the Lord?

Next week, we journey to Leviticus 15.

To God Be The Glory!

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Sherry

Leviticus 14:1-32 / Cleansing Costs

The Lord spoke to Moses regarding the law of the leper for the day of his cleansing, saying that he should be brought to the priest. The priest should go out of the camp and examine him. If the leprosy was healed in the leper, the priest should command that two living and clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop be taken for him. The priest should command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water. He should take the living bird, the cedar wood, the scarlet and hyssop and dip them in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. The priest should sprinkle it seven times on the one who is to be cleansed from the leprosy and pronounce him clean. Then he should let the living bird loose in the open field. The one being cleansed should wash his clothes, shave off all his hair and wash himself in water so that he may be clean. Afterwards, he should come into the camp and stay outside his tent for seven days. On the seventh day, he should shave all the hair off his head, his beard and his eyebrows. He should shave off all his hair. He should wash his clothes and wash his body in water and he shall be clean. On the eighth day he should take two male lambs and one ewe lamb of the first year, all without blemish, three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering and one log of oil to the priest. The priest who is making him clean should present the man being cleansed and all of the aforementioned items before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. The priest should take one male lamb and offer it as a trespass offering and the log of oil and wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. He should kill the lamb in the place, a holy place, where he kills the sin and burnt offerings. The sin and the trespass offerings belong to the priest. It is most holy. The priest should take some of the blood of the trespass offering and put it on the tip of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand and on the big toe of the right foot of the one being cleansed. The priest should take some of the log of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand, then he should dip his right finger in the oil in the left hand and sprinkle some of it seven times before the Lord. As for the rest of the oil in his left hand, the priest should put some on the tip of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the big toe of the right foot of the one being cleansed. The oil was to be put on the blood of the trespass offering that was put on the same body parts. The rest of the oil in the priest’s hand was to be put on the head of the one being cleansed. The priest should then make atonement for him before the Lord. Then the priest should offer the sin offering and make atonement for the one being cleansed. Afterwards, he should kill the burnt offering. The priest should offer the burnt and grain offerings on the altar and make atonement for him and he shall be clean.

If the one being cleansed is poor and cannot afford it, then he should take one male lamb as a trespass offering to be waved to make atonement for him. He should also bring one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, a log of oil, two turtledoves or two young pigeons, such as he can afford. One bird would be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering. These should be taken to the priest on the eighth day for his cleansing, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, before the Lord. The priest should take the lamb of the trespass offering and the log of oil and wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. Then he should kill the lamb of the trespass offering and take some of the blood and put it on the tip of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand and the big toe of the right foot of the one being cleansed. The priest should pour some of the oil into his left hand and then sprinkle some of it with his right finger seven times before the Lord. Then he should put some of the oil in his hand on the tip of the right ear, on the thumb of the right hand and on the big toe of the right foot of the one being cleansed. The oil goes on the same body parts where the blood of the trespass offering was placed. The rest of the oil in the priest’s hand was to be placed on the head of the one being cleansed to make atonement for him before the Lord. The priest should offer one of the turtledoves or pigeons, such as he could afford, with the grain offering. One bird would be a sin offering and the other one, a burnt offering. The priest would make atonement for the one being cleansed before the Lord.

This is the law for one who had a leprous sore, who could not afford the usual cleansing.

Next week, we continue in Leviticus 14, Verses 33 – 57.

To God Be The Glory!

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Sherry

Leviticus 13:29-59 / Is It Leprosy Or Not? (Part Two)

If a man or a woman had a sore on the head or the beard, the priest should examine the sore. If it appeared deeper than the skin, and there was a thin yellow hair in it, then the priest should announce him unclean. It was a scaly leprosy of the head or beard. If the scaly sore did not appear deeper than the skin and there wasn’t a black hair in it, then the priest should quarantine the one who had the scale for seven days. On the seventh day the priest should examine the sore and if the scale didn’t spread and there wasn’t a yellow hair in it and it didn’t appear deeper than the skin, he should shave himself, but not shave the scale. Then the priest should quarantine him for another seven days. On the seventh day the priest should examine the scale and if it didn’t spread over the skin and did not appear deeper than the skin, the priest should pronounce him clean. He should wash his clothes and be clean. (Leprosy? Not) If the scale should at all spread over the skin after his cleansing, then the priest should examine him and if the scale did indeed spread over the skin, there was no need for him to look for yellow hair because he was unclean. (Leprosy? Yes) However, if the scale appeared to be at a standstill and black hair had grown in it, the scale healed. He is clean and the priest should pronounce him clean. (Leprosy? Not)

If a man or woman had bright spots on the skin of the body, specifically white bright spots, the priest should look at it. If the bright spots were a dull white, it was a white spot that grew on the skin. He is clean. (Leprosy? Not)

As for the man whose hair had fallen from his head, he was bald, but he was clean. (Leprosy? Not) He whose hair had fallen from his forehead, he was bald on the forehead (receding hairline), but he was clean. (Leprosy? Not) If there was a reddish-white sore on the bald head or bald forehead, it was the breakout of leprosy. The priest should examine it and if the swelling of the sore was reddish-white on the bald head or forehead like the appearance of leprosy on the skin of the body, he was a leprous man. He was unclean and the priest should pronounce him unclean because of the sore. (Leprosy? Yes) For the leper with the sore, his clothes should be torn and his head bare. He had to cover his mustache and cry out ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ He would be unclean for as long as he had the sore. He was to dwell alone outside the camp. (Leprosy? Yes)

If a garment had a leprous plague in the warf (threads running lengthwise) or the woof (threads running crosswise) whether or not the garment was woolen, linen or leather or anything made of leather it should be shown to the priest. The priest should examine the plague and isolate the item for seven days. On the seventh day, the priest should examine the garment or the leather item to see if it had spread. If it did spread, then the plague was an active leprosy and was unclean. (Leprosy? Yes) He should burn the garment or leather item in the fire. Upon examination if the plague did not spread, the priest should command that the garment (wool, linen, or leather) or any leather item gets washed and then isolate the item for another seven days. The priest should re-examine the item after it had been washed and if the plague did not change its color, though it did not spread, it was unclean and should be burned in the fire. It would continue eating away, whether the damage was outside or inside. (Leprosy? Yes) If, after re-examination, the priest saw that the plague had faded after washing it, then he should tear it out of the garment whether out of the warf, out of the woof, or out of the leather. However, if the plague appeared in the garment again, it was a spreading plague and should be burned in the fire. (Leprosy? Yes) If, after washing the garment, and the plague had disappeared from it, the garment should be washed a second time and would be clean. (Leprosy? Not) This was the law of the leprous plague in a woolen or linen garment, or anything made of leather to pronounce it clean or unclean.

Leprosy was not considered a mere disease, but was looked up on as symbolic of sinfulness and therefore, a cleansing was needed rather than just a healing.

Next week, it’s off to Leviticus 14.

To God Be The Glory!

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Sherry

Leviticus 13:1-28 / Is It Leprosy Or Not? (Part One)

The Lord told Moses and Aaron that when a man has a swelling, a scab or a bright spot that becomes like a leprous sore on the skin of his body, he should be taken to Aaron, the priest or to one of his sons, the priests. The priest should examine the sore on the skin of the body; and if the hair on the sore has turned white and it appears deeper than the skin of his body, it is a leprous sore. Then the priest should examine him and pronounce him unclean. (Leprosy? YES) If the bright spot is white on the skin of his body and does not appear to be deeper than the skin, and its hair has not turned white, then the priest should isolate him for seven days. The priest should examine him on the seventh day and if the sore appears to be the same as it was before and has not spread on the skin, then the priest should isolate him for another seven days. Then, again, on the seventh day, the priest should examine him. If the sore has faded and did not spread on the skin, then the priest should pronounce him clean. It is only a scab, and he should wash his clothes and be clean. (Leprosy? NOT) If the scab should spread at all over the skin after he was seen by the priest for his cleansing, he has to be seen by the priest again. If the priest sees that the scab did indeed spread on the skin, then the priest should pronounce him unclean. It is leprosy.

When a person has a leprous sore, he should be taken to the priest. The priest should examine him. If the swelling on the skin is white and it has turned the hair white and there is a spot of raw flesh in the swelling, it is an old leprosy on the skin of his body. The priest shall pronounce him unclean. The priest should not isolate him, but send him directly to the leper camp because he is unclean. (Leprosy? YES)

If leprosy has broken out all over the skin and covers all the skin of the one who has the sore, from his head to his feet, wherever the priest looked, then the priest should consider; indeed the leprosy covered all his body and he should pronounce clean who has the sore. It turned all white. He is clean. (Leprosy? YES, but pronounced clean) However, when raw flesh appears on him, he shall be unclean. (Leprosy? YES) The priest should examine the raw flesh and pronounce him unclean because the raw flesh is unclean. It is leprosy. If the raw flesh changes and turns white again, he should go back to the priest. The priest shall examine him and if indeed the sore has turned white, then the priest should pronounce him clean who has the sore. He is clean. (Leprosy? NOT)

If the body develops a boil in the skin and is healed, then a white swelling or bright spot, reddish-white replaces it, he should show it to the priest. When the priest examines it, and its appears deeper than the skin and the hair has turned white, the priest should pronounce him unclean. It is a leprous sore that has broken out of the boil. (Leprosy? YES) However, if the priest examines it and there are no white hairs in it and it’s not deeper than the skin, but is faded, the priest should isolate him for seven days. If it should at all spread over the skin, then the priest should pronounce him unclean. It is a leprous sore. (Leprosy? YES) If the bright spot stays in one place and has not spread, it’s the scar of the boil. The priest should pronounce him clean. (Leprosy? NOT)

If the body receives a burn on its skin by fire and the raw flesh of the burn becomes a bright spot, reddish-white or white, the priest should examine it. If the hair of the bright spot has turned white and it appears deeper than the skin, leprosy has broken out in the burn. The priest should announce him unclean. It is a leprous sore. (Leprosy? YES) However, if the priest examines it and there are no white hairs in the bright spot and it’s not deeper that the skin, but has faded, the priest should isolate him for seven days. The priest should examine him on the seventh day. If it has spread at all over the skin, then the priest should pronounce him unclean. It is a leprous sore. (Leprosy? YES) However, if the bright spot stays in one place and has not spread on the skin, but it faded, it is a swelling from the burn. The priest should pronounce him clean because it is a scar from the burn. (Leprosy? NOT)

Next week, it’s Leviticus 13:29-59.

To God Be The Glory!

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Sherry

Leviticus 12 – Had A Baby?
The Lord told Moses to tell the children of Israel that if a woman conceived and had a male child, she would be unclean seven days; as in the days of her customary impurity (menstrual cycle) she would be unclean. On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin should be circumcised. She was to continue in the blood of her purification thirty-three days. She was not to touch any hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary until the days of her purification were completed.

If the woman gave birth to a female child, she would be unclean for two weeks, as in her customary impurity, and continue in the blood of her purification sixty-six days.

When the days of the woman’s purification were completed, whether she had a son or a daughter, she was to take a lamb of the first year as a burnt offering, a young pigeon or a turtledove as a sin offering to the priest to the door of the tabernacle of meeting. The priest would then offer it before the Lord and make atonement for her. She would then be clean from the flow of her blood. This was the law for the woman who gave birth. If the woman was not able to bring a lamb, then she was allowed to bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons – one as a burnt offering and the other as a sin offering. The priest would make atonement for her and she would be clean.

Next week, it’s Leviticus 13.

To God Be The Glory!

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Sherry

Leviticus 11:24-47 / The Unclean and The Clean
If anyone touched the carcass of any of the types of animals listed below, they would be unclean until evening. Even if someone carried part of their carcasses, they should wash their clothes and be unclean until evening.

1) The carcass of any animal which divides the foot, but is not cloven-hoofed (example: camel because the hoof is split on top but is attached below – Source Mi Yodeya) or does not chew the cud (examples: horses and pigs) was unclean to them. Everyone who touched it would be unclean.

2) The carcass of any animal that goes on its paws, among all kinds of animals that go on all fours (examples: dog, cat, fox, wolf, coyote) was unclean to them and the one who touched it would be unclean until evening.

3) The unclean among the creeping things that creep on the earth – the mole, mouse, the large lizard after its kind, gecko, monitor lizard, sand reptile, sand lizard and the chameleon. If they fall on anything such as wood, clothing, skin, sack, whatever the item is, in which any work is done, when they are dead, that item would be unclean. The thing must be put in water. It would be unclean until evening, then it would be clean. If they should fall into an earthen vessel, the vessel should be broken and whatever was in it became unclean. If water from an unclean vessel fell on any edible food, it became unclean and any drinkable liquid in the vessel became unclean. Everything on which a part of any such carcass fell should be unclean including an oven or cooking stove. They should be broken down because they are unclean to them. However, a spring or a cistern in which there is plenty of water, shall be clean, but whatever touched any such carcass would become unclean. If a part of any such carcass fell on any planting seed which is to be sown, it remained clean. If the seed was wet and a part of any such carcass fell on it, it became unclean to them.

4) If any animal they were allowed to eat died (not rightly killed for food), then whoever touched its carcass would be unclean until evening. Whoever ate or carried the carcass would have to wash their clothes and be unclean until evening
Every creeping thing that creeps on the earth could not be eaten and was an abomination to them. Whatever crawls on its belly, or goes on all fours, or has many feet among the creeping things on the earth could not be eaten because they were an abomination. Therefore, they should not make themselves abominable with any creeping thing nor make themselves unclean with them, lest they be defiled by them.

God said that He is the Lord their God. Therefore, they should consecrate themselves and be holy because He is holy. Again, they shouldn’t defile themselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God said that He is the Lord who brought them out of the land of Egypt to be their God. They should be holy because He is holy.

This is law of the animals, the birds, every living creature that moves in the waters, and every creature that creeps on the earth to distinguish between the unclean and the clean and between the animals that could be eaten and those they could not eat.

Next week we journey to Leviticus 12.

To God Be The Glory!

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Be Encouraged

Sherry

Leviticus 11:1-23 – To Eat Or Not To Eat

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron telling them to tell the children of Israel what animals they were allowed to eat on the earth among all the animals.

To Eat

Among the animals, the children of Israel could eat whatever divides the hoof, having cloven hooves and chews the cud. Examples are ox, sheep, goats, deer, gazelles, roebucks, wild goats, mountain goats, antelopes and mountain sheep (Deuteronomy 14:4-5).

Whatever in the water that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or the rivers, they could eat.

Of every flying insect that creeps on all fours they could eat, were those which have jointed legs above their feet to leap on the earth. They could eat the locust, the destroying locust, the cricket and the grasshopper, each after its own kind.

Not To Eat

Even though the following list of animals chew the cud or have cloven hooves, the children of Israel were not allowed to eat them – the camel, the rock hyrax and the hare because they chew the cud but do not have cloven hooves. The swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, it does not chew the cud. All of those animals were unclean to them. They were not allowed to eat their flesh nor touch their carcasses.

All in the seas or the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water or any living thing in the water were an abomination to them. They could not eat their flesh and they were to regard their carcasses as an abomination. So, whatever in the water that does not have fins or scales were to be an abomination to them.

The following list of birds were to be an abomination to them and not to be eaten – the eagle, vulture, buzzard, kite, the falcon after its kind, every raven after its kind, the ostrich, short-eared owl, sea gull, the hawk after its kind, the little owl, fisher owl, screech owl, white owl, jackdaw, carrion vulture, stork, the heron after its kind, hoopoe and the bat.

All flying insects that creep on all fours were to be an abomination to them, except for the ones listed on the “To Eat” list. All other flying insects that have four feet were to be an abomination to them.

In Acts 10:9-15, Peter has a vision about all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things and birds of the air, descending to him from heaven on an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners. A voice came to him and told him to rise, kill and eat. Peter exclaimed “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean. The voice spoke to him again and said, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.” Of course, God was showing Peter that he, as a Jewish man, could keep company with or go to someone of another nation. Because he should not call any man common or unclean (Acts10:28).

Romans 14:2-3 states, “For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has received him.

Romans 14:6 says “…He who eats, eats to the Lord for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.

Romans 14:20-21 says, “Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense. It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak.

In conclusion, whether you eat certain foods or not is a personal decision. Just be mindful not to offend nor judge anyone regarding their eating habits. No matter what, give God thanks. Pray over all that you eat.

Next week, it’s Leviticus 11:24-47. (Part 2)

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Sherry

Genesis 32:29 – Then Jacob asked, saying, “Tell me Your name, I pray.” And He said, “Why is it that you ask about My name?” And He blessed him there. (NKJV)

Get blessed by the best – God!

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