28 METZORAH (leper); Lev. 14:1-15:33, Luke 12&13

[Bruce Bertram]

This section starts off with regulations for the cleansing of a leper after he or she is healed of the disease. Note how the word ‘cleansed’ is frequently associated with getting rid of leprosy, instead of the word ‘healed.’ The one being cleansed first goes through a ceremony with two birds and the sprinkling of blood, then offers some sacrifices. The leper is to stay outside the camp while unclean, but after the bird ceremony he or she may come back into the camp but must stay outside their tent (not go inside) for seven days. After that all the hair is shaved off, a bath is taken, and the sacrifices are offered. An interesting difference with this sacrifice and others is that some of the blood and some of the oil is placed on various parts of the sacrifice-er instead of the altar or ark.

Next God discusses regulations for leprosy in houses and other possessions after Israel takes up residence in Canaan. Note that 14:34 says that God is the one who puts the mark of leprosy on a house. Some of the regulations are for first cleaning the affected area, and if the leprosy persists to destroy the house. Some of the cleansing ceremony is similar to the ceremony for a person. If anyone goes into or lies down or eats in a house under quarantine they are unclean till evening and must launder their clothes. After the leprosy is gone, the priest sprinkles the house with blood from a hyssop branch and scarlet string dipped in the blood of a bird and water, with a second bird being set free in the field. We end the chapter with the purpose for all these details.

54This is the law for any mark of leprosy—even for a scale, 55and for the leprous garment or house, 56and for a swelling, and for a scab, and for a bright spot— 57to teach when they are unclean and when they are clean. This is the law of leprosy. (Leviticus 14:54-57 NASB95)

In chapter 15 we get some instructions on what are called ‘flows’ or ‘discharges.’ Some of the flows are specified, such as menstrual blood or semen, and some are a little more obscure, but probably refer to running sores or wounds, perhaps even to items such as acne. A person with a flow or discharge is unclean, and everything they touch is unclean, and if someone touches the item that an unclean person made unclean, that person is unclean also. So uncleanness can be seen as death or corruption that spreads. The remedy for touching the unclean things is the three ‘ings’ – bathing, laundering, and evening. The person, however, is not clean until the discharge stops, then the three ‘ings’ apply also. There is a difference between a discharge and a seminal emission in that the person must wait seven days after the discharge to become clean and offer two birds to the priest, while the person with the seminal emission is simply unclean till evening (with the bathing and laundering). A woman’s discharge of blood keeps her unclean until the discharge stops. For regular menstruation this is seven days. But if the blood keeps flowing she is unclean until it stops. Then she waits seven days and takes two birds to the priest. The ending verses of this chapter explain further about why these things are a concern.

31“Thus you shall keep the sons of Israel separated from their uncleanness, so that they will not die in their uncleanness by their defiling My tabernacle that is among them.” 32This is the law for the one with a discharge, and for the man who has a seminal emission so that he is unclean by it, 33and for the woman who is ill because of menstrual impurity, and for the one who has a discharge, whether a male or a female, or a man who lies with an unclean woman. (Leviticus 15:31-33 NASB95)

Luke 12 starts off with a critical definition of the ‘leaven of the Pharisees,’ which is right after the religious leaders begin making plans to trap Jesus (end of Luke 11).

1Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. (Luke 12:1 NASB95)

Jesus goes on to say that we shouldn’t fear those who can only kill the body, but fear Him who after killing the body has the authority to cast the soul into hell. He further says that we shouldn’t worry about things, because God will care for us, as we are more valuable than the sparrows He provides for. He emphasizes that the point is to continue to love God and fear Him no matter what, even as people are persecuted by the synagogue or rulers of men.

8“And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess him also before the angels of God; 9but he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God. 10“And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him. (Luke 12:8-10 NASB95)

Following these words Jesus warns about greed in response to a man who wants Jesus to make his brother give him his inheritance. He uses the parable of a rich land owner who builds bigger barns to hold his wealth from the land, and thinks he is set for life. But God says, “Fool. This night your life is required of you.” So Jesus says not to worry about things like food and wealth or clothing, that life is more than food and the body more than clothing and that God will provide what is needed, since He provides for flowers like lilies or birds like ravens.

30“For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. 31“But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. 32“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. 33“Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys. 34“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Luke 12:30-34 NASB95)

Jesus moves on from worry and God’s provision to the concept of readiness for the Master’s return. The master can return at any time, so the servant’s job is to watch and be ready. Then Jesus says that He didn’t come to bring peace, but a sword, and that His disciples should make peace while they can so that the master doesn’t come and find them unprepared.

In chapter 13 Jesus continues the theme of doing what the master has ordered by relating that unless people repent they will suffer the same fate as those who were killed in several instances at the time. Another parable is related concerning a fig tree that doesn’t bear fruit but is given one more chance. Then Jesus heals a woman in a synagogue meeting on Sabbath, but a synagogue ruler tells the people to only come the other six days. Jesus asks why should she wait another day, and why not be freed on the Sabbath? So another ruler bites the dust and feeds the animosity against Jesus that is rising. The parables of the mustard seed and leaven are given here also, showing how the kingdom of God spreads and benefits everyone.

In the last part of chapter 13, Jesus responds to a question about how few people will be saved by focusing instead on the individual’s need to strive to enter the kingdom through the narrow door. He says that once the door is shut the people on the outside will beg to be let in but the master will say he never knew them. They will say that he taught in their streets, but he will refuse to acknowledge them because of the sinners they are. Jesus says that there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth because the patriarchs will be in the kingdom, and others from the far reaches of the world, but they will not be allowed in. Some Pharisees try to warn Jesus about Herod wanting to kill Him, but Jesus tells them that Herod may be a fox but he will not be able to deter Jesus from dying outside of Jerusalem.

Shalom

[Bruce Bertram]

Leviticus 15 has some interesting things to say about cleaning up after getting dirty, or, well, ‘not clean.’ The instructions for cleansing are pretty simple most of the time – just take a bath (I think a shower would also be okay), launder the clothes, and wait for evening (the three ‘ings’). Traditionally, in a few circles, a wife will separate from her husband (sleep in a different bed in a different room) and they will avoid sexual relations because of her monthly cycle. Among very orthodox Jews, this time can extend up to two weeks, even though the flow of a woman’s cycle only lasts from four to seven days. However, very little tradition takes into account that according to the same section of Scriptures a man’s discharge of semen will make one just as unclean as contact with a woman during her cycle. Yet there is no corresponding two-week period of separation to avoid the uncleanness of sex. Of course there wouldn’t be, or no one would be getting any!

Uncleanness is similar to leaven, and leaven is another way of referring to sin. Leaven is a picture of sin because it will work it’s way throughout a measure of flour, penetrating and multiplying until the whole measure is leavened, just like a little bit of sin will work its way through a person or a community until everything is leavened with sin. Hypocrisy is one form of leaven, as described by Jesus in Luke 12.

1Under these circumstances, after so many thousands of people had gathered together that they were stepping on one another, He began saying to His disciples first of all, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. (Luke 12:1 NASB95)

Jesus was teaching this because He had recently been accused by the Pharisees of doing works by the power of Satan (Luke 11:15) and wasn’t adhering to their interpretations and traditions (Luke 11:38). Even though the rulers of Israel appeared to be following God’s Word, they were not. They were ‘saying one thing’ (God’s Word) while ‘doing another’ (their own traditions). This leavening had permeated all their teachings so that they were like “concealed tombs” (‘unclean’ bones, Luke 11:44), loading up burdens for people and not lifting a finger to help (Luke 11:46).

The tradition of avoiding a wife during her cycle (for two weeks, no less) is a perfect example of the leaven of the Pharisees. On the one hand, the tradition dictates avoidance of the female, but no corresponding avoidance of the male for sex! What a sadly beautiful picture of hypocrisy – the wife is put in the burdensome position of separation (plus the husband is burdened with avoiding relations with her), yet the husband makes her unclean every time he has sex with her. If we are going to have separation for a woman’s uncleanness, where’s the two weeks of separation for uncleanness from semen? The point is, the two weeks of avoiding the wife is nowhere in Scripture (except there is a prohibition of sex during her actual discharge of blood in Leviticus 18:19 and 20:18). This tradition is extra-biblical and goes along with “adding to men’s burdens without lifting a finger to help.” It is part of the ‘leaven of the Pharisees’ and we should always guard against this leavening by sticking with the Word, unleavened, just as God gave it.

Shalom

[Bruce Bertram]

Leviticus 14:1 - 15:33; 2 Kings 7:3-20; Luke 12 and 13; Matthew 9:20-26; Mark 5:24b-34; Luke 8:42b-48; Hebrews 13:4

And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. (Luke 12:22, ESV)

I thought the title of this article was kind of neat. It can be used the way Jesus did, where He’s trying to tell us not to be anxious at all. The other way it can be used is to say that all anxiousness is wasted effort. When we do anxious, it is for nothing, because there’s generally nothing we can do about the situation. We can’t add a single hour to our lives (and usually anxiety shortens them), and we can’t make a single hair of our heads change color (the real color, not the L’Oreal color).

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6, NASB95)

Jesus (with Paul) is trying to tell us not to be anxious about our life. He’s responding to the guy in Luke 10:13 who asked Jesus to make his brother divide an inheritance with him. He uses the parable of the rich farmer and bigger barns to show that no matter how much money or goods we gain, we cannot stop the final accounting which will take it all (and we’ll still come up short). We can’t stop age, and we can’t stop death. Anything we gain in this life stays in this life after we’re gone. It doesn’t benefit us at all in the age to come. No possession will protect us from a God who demands an accounting for what we’ve done with the life He’s given. We come into the world with nothing, and we leave with nothing.

But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. (1 Timothy 6:6–10, ESV)

In another spot (Matthew 6) Jesus is addressing the same subject, but also says that we cannot use our time for more than one God. Anxiousness results when we try to serve two masters.

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24, ESV)

I know. It’s easy to say we shouldn’t be anxious about things like food and shelter. It’s not so easy to eliminate worry sometimes. This life is full of things that make us anxious. We suffer pain; we are frustrated in our goal to provide a home and food for our families. Believers are attacked on a regular basis, both from the world and from within by our own doubts.

As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” (Romans 8:36, ESV)

There are people whose main goal in life seems to be taking our peace and cheating us out of our livelihood. We can relate to what Paul says.

To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things. (1 Corinthians 4:11–13, ESV)

With so many things going on that threaten our peace, it’s easy to succumb to worry. It’s strongly tempting to give up pursuing God’s kingdom for the sake of worry. We don’t do it all at once – no, worry just nibbles around the edges of the foundation until it collapses within us and we sell out completely.

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. (James 4:1–3, ESV)

We want to make a home more secure by getting a better paying job. Or we decide that we could afford a house in a nicer area if both parents work. We scramble to get a nest egg, and then we have to work hard to protect the egg. It’s very easy to lose sight of God’s kingdom and put too much work into our own kingdom.

We know we have to work. Scripture tells us that if we don’t work we don’t eat.

For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. (2 Thessalonians 3:10, ESV)

But what Jesus is saying is that there’s a difference between working as we need to, and working to gain more than we need. Anxiousness is created when we choose to support the pursuit of (more) money over God’s kingdom. We want and we don't have. When we pursue more money over the kingdom, we are saying that we do not trust God to provide. It's funny, too, because even our money tells us to trust in God (as hollow as that is coming from a godless government).

The difference is in where we place our hearts. Jesus wants us to trust God and seek His kingdom first. Then all the things we are anxious about will be added to us. Food and clothing will be provided because our Father knows we need these things, and we are more valuable to Him than a handful of sparrows or a bouquet of flowers.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:37–39, ESV)

We have to choose what and whom we will put time into. There are only so many hours in a day and a week. Money is a fickle god, and is never satisfied though we give it all of our time and substance. Instead of storing up treasure on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and building bigger barns that cannot shelter us from death, we should store up treasure in heaven. The kingdom of God is in doing what He says, living by every word that comes out of His mouth. Following His commands. We make a deposit in our heavenly account every time we choose His word and let go of the pursuit of money. God’s Law helps us fend off anxiousness with reminders that God knows what He is doing and will provide what we need. Each command is a concrete step in learning to trust God and choose righteousness with every action.

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7–8, ESV)

We have a weekly Sabbath rest to contemplate His word and rest from our labors. We read the Word on a daily basis to discover His will for our lives and to fortify us for decisions. God’s holidays are loaded with reminders and hope; we learn from the past and yearn toward fulfillment. Refusing to eat unclean things is almost a minute-by-minute workout of our trust and determination to live by every word from God’s mouth. Each command we implement (major, minor, or shadow) is like a stepping stone to more peace and security or “life more abundant.” With each step we take on God’s living way we banish the ghosts of anxiety before they can get as much as a clammy hand on our hearts. Choosing His way over the money way means we don’t have to be anxious for tomorrow. God will provide.

Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5–6, ESV)

Shalom
Bruce