Day 33

Separation from Uncleanness

Read: Leviticus 11-13

It is helpful to divide the laws God gave Israel into three categories: ceremonial, civil, and moral. Ceremonial laws deal with sacrifices. Christians are not to obey them, for Christ has fulfilled them by his perfect sacrifice, and to continue to obey them would be to deny Christ. Civil laws dealt with community issues. Because our society is so different than that of Israel, they no longer apply to us. But the principles they teach of being concerned for the effect of our lives on that of others still hold. The moral laws no doubt still apply to us. It was wrong to murder before the commandment was given at Sinai, and it will always be wrong to murder.

The laws described in this passage fall under the civil law category. In a time when there was apparently little medical knowledge, these laws of uncleanness helped to protect people from the spread of illness.

But there was more to it. God wanted his people to be distinguished from the pagans around them. He knew that giving his people specific directions in practical matters would help in this. Dietary rules would help to set his people apart from their unbelieving neighbors. The explanation God gives in Leviticus 11:44-45 is significant. The word holiness contains the idea of separation. Because he was their God and he had brought them out of slavery, they were to be separated to him and apart from paganism. The same is true of us.

PRAYER
Father, give us grace to live holy lives. Amen.