Among Them - Leviticus 15

You can just imagine my excitement when looking at the heading of Leviticus 15, “Discharges Causing Uncleanness”. Wow! I just couldn’t wait to read all about it. Ew! As in typical Levitical style there are no punches pulled or words couched in flowery language regarding such a sensitive subject. The law is laid out matter-of-fact with definitions of the various bodily fluids, the time of uncleanness and typical instructions for rectifying this state. Also, as is typical, the law is very practical and just plain common sense.
Right at the end of the chapter, we are given the reason for this set of laws and it is truly a gem of scripture.

v. 31 'You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them.'

God’s dwelling place is among the people and it cannot be defiled. So once again, I am faced with trying to understand the holiness of God. (That is THE recurring theme of the book of Leviticus!) God the Father cannot be in the presence of sin or impurity of any kind. Yet paradoxically, he created a being filled with discharge, lots of discharge, potential. He created man who would sin, become filthy, ruin perfection and yet he has not abandoned us. Even though, it is seemingly impossible for his presence to be in the muck, mire and filth of mankind, he continued to make his dwelling among his people. Granted, there had to be LOTS of rituals before Jesus came, but God’s desire to connect his holiness to the human soul is astounding.

What love he has for this creature mankind! What grace he bestows minute by minute upon my weary soul! His blinding holiness humbles me to my core. I am nothing compared to him, yet in His eyes, I am everything worth dying for.

For discussion: I have to admit, I am very challenged by some of my theological stances in reading this book. What does it say about the immutability of God if he creates multiple systems of bridging the gap between himself and man? Doesn’t this show a Spirit who is changing with the flow of human history and not a Spirit who has already written human history and is watching it unfold? Wouldn’t it be boring to have authored the whole thing and then sit back and watch? That doesn’t seem congruent to my understanding of God at all. He is so active and involved. What about the omniscience of God? Does God really know ALL there is to know? Perhaps there are things he doesn’t know or chooses not to know, such as the choices we will make under the auspices of free will. Perhaps he knows every possible choice we can make and every possible outcome of those choices and he responds accordingly working out human history as we continue to decide against His ways and His plans. Was this sacrificial system set up knowing it would fail or did God try it first? Perhaps he knew it would fail and the timing of Jesus’ coming had to be as it was. Only God knows, but I’d sure love to chat about it if someone wants to comment.