‘“You must keep the Israelites separate from the things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them.’”
~ Leviticus 15:31
Hi James and Ellen,
You will wonder as you grow older what it was like living in the United States when your grandpaa’s ma and dad where your age. You may wish that you could live for just one day during that time – just to know what life was like nearly one hundred years ago. You may wish you could live for just one day during the time that Jesus was on this earth – just to know what life was like nearly two thousand years ago. People lived very differently then. People lived differently when Moses was alive. Moses was born fifteen hundred years before Jesus was born. When you were a baby James, your ma and dad took you to South Dakota so that your dad’s grandma and grandpa could meet you. Do you know where Jesus and Moses were born and where they grew up as kids? Moses was born in Egypt. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Your grandpaa will tell you their stories someday. Moses and Jesus had unique lives as babies. You are special to your ma and dad today. Jesus was special to His Father because He was His Father’s only Son. Moses was so special to his ma and dad that they could not do to him what an Egyptian Pharaoh had mandated all the Israelite mas and dads to do with their boy babies – which was to throw them into the Nile River to drown. God had Moses rescued from the Nile River so that he could lead God’s specially chosen people out of the country of Egypt into the land which God had given to a man called Abraham. God had promised Abraham that his family would multiply and that his land would always be his extended family’s land. God had made this promise to Abraham six hundred years before Moses led Abraham’s descendants out of Egypt. God finally had His specially chosen people ready to return to the land which He had promised Abraham that his extended family would have to live in as their very own land. While walking to Canaan – which is what the land was called that God had promised to His specially chosen guys, gals and kids – the Israelites, God gave His people rules to live by while they lived on this earth. Does your ma and dad have set rules for you to live by in your house? What are some things which your ma and dad say they want you to do and some things which your ma and day say they do not want you to do?
The rules which God gave to His specially chosen people are called laws. Your ma and dad do not have any laws in their house. God gave His specially chosen people – the Israelites, laws to help His people live healthy lives on this earth. God also gave laws to help guide His people in the ways that He expected to be worshipped by them. The laws that God gave to His people are found in the book of Leviticus. You will not understand many of the laws that God gave to His especially chosen people because they no longer need to be kept. They do not need to be kept because Jesus was born. Jesus replaced the laws that God had given to His specially chosen people. God wants us to serve Him today through His Son Jesus instead of serving Him through the laws that He had given to His specially chosen people through Moses. Leviticus 15 is a chapter of laws for those who got sick. These laws would help that person know what to do. God did not want His people being unclean – which is to say He did not want them to have an ongoing illness. A guy or gal getting sick did not mean that he or she had sin in his or her life even though the illness led to the guy or to the gal becoming unclean. Once the guy or gal was well and after seven days, that guy or gal was to thank God through the priests. God expected the Israelites to be obedient to His laws. God wanted the very best for His people just like your ma and dad want the very best for you. There are books in the Bible – like Leviticus, which may not apply today to our walk with God but they sure did apply thirty-five hundred years ago for the kids who were your age whose mas and dads where God’s especially chosen people – the Israelites.
Your grandpaa was born fifty-nine years ago today. Your grandpaa’s ma says this day is her day of pain. Your grandpaa’s ma had hip replacement surgery a number of years ago on this date. Your grandmaa has much the same problem with her right hip. Your grandmaa needs to have the same operation someday. Your grandpaa was sickly after he was born. Your grandpaa’s ma and dad took cared for your grandpaa so that he would get well. When your grandpaa was in the fifth grade, he became very sick with rheumatic fever. Rheumatic fever is an ailment which can affect someone’s heart if . . . your grandpaa had to remain bedridden for at least a couple of weeks. Your grandpaa could not go outside to play. Your grandpaa could not even play in the house. Instead of sleeping upstairs, your grandpaa’s ma fixed up a place downstairs where he could sleep. If your grandpaa had not stayed in bed almost all the time for however long the doctor said that he needed to stay in bed, your grandpaa may have damaged his heart. Your grandpaa obeyed his ma and dad as well as the doctor and stayed in bed. Verse 31 is a law that God gave to help the Israelite guys and gals know what to do when they became unclean because of becoming sick ‘“You must keep the Israelites separate from the things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them.’” God’s presence among the Israelites when Moses wrote this was in the ark of the covenant. The ark of the covenant was God’s dwelling place. God did not want sin – which was an uncleanliness in someone, to be near where His presence was. God even today does not want sin to be anywhere near where His presence is. Do you know where God’s presence is in your life? God’s presence is in the hearts of everyone who He has chosen and who believes in Him. We do not need to go through what God had the Israelites go through to be clean so that they could be in His presence. Only sin will keep God’s presence from being in our lives.
Leviticus 15 (21)