As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp.”
~ Leviticus 13:46
Hi James and Ellen,
Who do your dad and/or ma take you to when you get sick? Do your dad and/or ma take you to a doctor or do your dad and/or ma take you to a pastor? Where do you think that a dad and/or ma would about 3400 years ago take a sick kid? Do you know what God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids were doing about 3400 years ago? God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids were about 3400 years ago being led by God from Egypt – where they had been living for about 430 years, to the land area that God had promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that their extended families would always have as their very own land to live in if . . . God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids were called Israelites because they were the descendants of a guy by the name of Israel. Jacob had God change his name to Israel. During the years that God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids lived in Egypt, God’s specially chosen guys and gals began worshipping gods made from stones, wood and metal. After God led His specially chosen guys, gals and kids out of Egypt, God imparted on His specially chosen guys and gals a new belief paradigm which had His specially chosen guys and gals believing that He is the One True God. It was not as if the guys, gals and kids who God had chosen to be His specially chosen guys, gals and kids had a choice; when God decides it is time for something to happen, it will happen. God impressed on His specially chosen guys and gals the need to obey Him. God through Moses gave His specially chosen guys and gals regulations to obey. Moses recorded in what became Leviticus 13 the regulations regarding infectious diseases and mildew. God told Moses and Aaron that any guy, gal or kid with a swelling, rash or bright or white spot had to be taken to a priest. Aaron and his four sons were the initial priests. How would you like to have your dad and/or ma take you to your pastor each time that you had an infectious disease? Aaron or one of his four kids would decide if a guy or gal was clean or unclean, whether the guy or gal would need to wait for seven days to be pronounced clean or . . . Aaron and his sons had somewhere between two and three million guys, gals and kids to offer sacrifices for, determine whether the guy, gal or kid was clean or unclean and whether or not the guy, gal or kid had an infectious disease. Your grandpaa does not know how Aaron and his sons did it – unless not that many Israelite people group’s guys, gals and kids had skin problems. Aaron and his kids also had to make decisions regarding mildew.
God chose the Levi tribal clan to oversee the spiritual and physical expectations that He had of His specially chosen guys and gals. Aaron and his four kids had to make calls on health issues from raw flesh sores to boils to burns to sores on a head or chin to white spots on a body to sores on a bald head. If a call was made by Moses or by one of his kids that a guy or gal among God’s specially chosen guys and gals had an infectious disease, the guy or gal had to be for seven days separated from other guys and gals. Do you know what will happen today to a guy, gal or kid who has an infectious disease? A guy, gal or kid today with an infectious disease will sometimes be put in isolation. Why do think that a guy, gal or kid with an infectious disease will be separated from or put into isolation from other guys, gals and kids? If guy, gal or kid with an infectious disease is around other guys, gals and kids, the guy, gal or kid with an infectious disease may just cause other guys, gals and kids to get the same infectious disease. Your dad one time was put into isolation. Doctors thought your dad might have a very infectious skin disease called smallpox. Your dad had just gotten back to the United States after having spent time in Bolivia with your grandmaa and grandpaa. Guys and gals today are scared of getting smallpox. Your dad had a very serious case of chickenpox. Your grandpaa had chickenpox when he was a kid. Chickenpox leaves pockmarks. Your grandpaa has a pockmark about in the middle of his forehead. Chickenpox is a skin disease. Your grandpaa also had ringworm when he was a kid. There are a lot of different skin diseases that a kid – and a guy like your grandpaa, can get. Leprosy is a skin disease that was treated differently. Your grandpaa will write about leprosy at another time. If it has not happened to you already, sooner or later you are probably going to get a sore that will become infected, you will probably burn yourselves on something, you may get a boil and you will probably get some sort of rash. You will sooner or later have some kind of skin disease or skin issue. If the skin disease or skin issue is bad enough, your dad and/or ma will not take you to your pastor; your dad and/or ma will take you to your doctor. There were times when a guy among God’s specially chosen guys would have a skin disease that just would not go away. Verse 46 says what had to happen “As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp.”
Mildew to God is on par with a skin disease. Your grandmaa and grandpaa had mildew grow in houses that they lived in in Bolivia. Bolivian weather can be very wet and muggy. Mildew needs wet, muggy weather to grow. If mildew starts growing on clothes, the mildew will damage the clothes. What do you think will causes damage to your lives? Skin diseases cause pain and discomfort. Skin diseases can be passed on to others. Do you know what else besides skin diseases can cause pain and discomfort in your lives? Do you know what else besides skin diseases can be passed on to other guys, gals and kids? Do you know what can tarnish your lives – like what mildew does to clothes? Sins blemish lives. Sin is like a disease or mildew. God is able to heal any skin disease that you might have. God has already covered the skin diseases and the mildews in your lives through His Son’s death on a cross for you.
Leviticus 13 (152)