We are not surprised that at this time of year many of our number will come down with some sort of seasonal illness. Everything from the common cold, to the flu, and even the corona virus have effected some of us and still will throughout the “cold season”. It is at this time of year that we also may become more vigilant in washing our hands and wiping down surfaces such as door knobs. Why do we do that? We do it because we understand many infectious diseases are transferred through clothing and other inanimate objects.
So what about when Moses writes in Leviticus 13:47-59; and 14:33-35 about clothing and buildings being infected with leprosy? Is is possible for clothing or homes to have leprosy on or in them? It seems that we might be tempted to explain away this as a myth of the ancient world. If we take a closer look, we can understand that there were a variety of diseases in the ancient world covered under the blanket term leprosy, which are not the equivalent of the modern usage of the term for Hansen’s disease. As we have studied, there are varying symptoms that have been mentioned in Leviticus 13-14.
God, the creator of all things, knew what was best for Israel. He gave them laws that were not trivial but purposeful. There were some situations where clothes or buildings became so contaminated that they had to to be isolated or destroyed to protect human life. This is still the case at times today that clothing and even buildings may have to be destroyed by fire because they are a risk for our health.
During the initial giving of the law, we would understand that the Israelites were living in a largely desert climate. The very nature of being a nomadic people at this time would certainly make changes of clothes infrequent and the use of skins for housing and bedding would present an ample opportunity for insects that could bite and leave marks on their skin, much like what Moses describes. This is but one possibility, and we could easily infer that something categorized as leprosy could easily be from the bites and subsequent infection.
What about a house? The housing that Israel lived in temporarily would have been tent-like, but when they came into the land of Canaan, they would have houses. The houses would be stone with planks and mortar, which in themselves are organic materials. If a house were to become contaminated (it could be mold, mildew, or something else; we simply do not know because the text does not say) it had to be dismantled and taken outside of the city to an unclean place (14:45).
God is concerned about our health, physical and spiritual. If we would take into account all He has written in His book, we could avoid many of the plagues of living with proper care for our bodies. There are restrictions on what we drink (no beverage alcohol), the place of physical relations (only in a Biblically defined marriage), the need to work (if a man does not work, neither shall he eat). There are restrictions on things that will certainly hurt our health. We would save ourselves much discomfort and heartbreak if we turned to the written word for all matters of our lives.
Grace and Peace,
R.D. Beavers
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