Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 15:1-7

1 And the Lord spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying,

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When any man hath a running issue out of his flesh, because of his issue he is unclean.

3 And this shall be his uncleanness in his issue: whether his flesh run with his issue, or his flesh be stopped from his issue, it is his uncleanness.

4 Every bed, whereon he lieth that hath the issue, is unclean: and every thing, whereon he sitteth, shall be unclean.

5 And whosoever toucheth his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.

6 And he that sitteth on any thing whereon he sat that hath the issue shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.

7 And he that toucheth the flesh of him that hath the issue shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.

Leviticus Chapter 15 launches into a subject that most people would probably rather skip over, but if this matter was good enough for God to teach from, it is good enough for us to learn from. It has to do with “issues” from the body, which of course means some sort of discharge that comes from a person, whether a man or a woman.

Verse 2 describes “a running issue out of his flesh,” and most scholars seem to agree that “his flesh” is euphemistic for the man’s genitals. This is further supported by verse 6’s concern with where the man “sits,” and later verses like 9 and 10. So, what would be a “running issue” from that region of the body? One might wonder about ejaculate, but that later on in this chapter that is referred to directly as “seed” or “seed of copulation,” so that rules that out. Scholars tend to agree that what these first verses are talking about is some emission caused by disease, which are particularly known to happen with certain sexually transmitted diseases. These verses seem to deal with men who are suffering side-effects of diseases contracted through sex.

Thus, if we find this whole subject gross and undesirable to dwell on, that is perfectly appropriate. Our physical revulsion is often well-tuned to guide us from danger and disease, and so too our spiritual revulsion should guide us from the acts that lead there.

Of course, while rarer, it is also possible to contract sexually transmitted diseases through innocent means, such as by non-sexual exposure or rape. Even in these cases, though, the dejected physical state is still real, the stain of fallen mortality is still upon us, and it does take some time to heal from that. Thus, anyone with these diseases, especially those who have obtained them by acts of sin, is in need of a time apart.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Possibility of an Answer

With difficult spiritual questions we sometimes just need to know that an answer is possible, even if we don’t yet know what it is. Shapes and shadowy forms suggest something concrete beyond the veil, and that is enough for man to believe.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Desire vs God

At one point or another each one of us has to fully resolve between our sinful desires and our faith in God. Let us look at the case of sexual desire.

At first, we may chase for gratification within the bounds of God’s laws. But what if that doesn’t work? Maybe our spouse doesn’t want to have sex with us anymore. Maybe we are more attracted to members of the same sex. Maybe no one wants to marry us. Maybe even if we do have good and frequent sex…our carnal nature still desires the forbidden fruit. In our modern culture, many think of their prohibited sexual desire as “who they really are inside,” making it a fundamental part of their identity. This complicates things further.

At this point, we may try to make the desires go away. We want to be good. We want to be chaste. We pray and ask God to change our hearts, to root out this wicked nature. But many find that He just doesn’t do so. He affirms His love for us, His word assures us that He has a plan for us, but He is not yet freeing us from our temptations.

Now we may start to flounder. We try to find a way to justify our sinful desires. Maybe we can use AI, since the scriptures do not have the language to expressly forbid it? Maybe we can go up to a certain point, but no further? Maybe we can be mostly good, but have a little vice, and Jesus will make it right? Maybe we can shift our belief system to say God didn’t actually command what He commanded? We look for anything to have our faith and cheat it, too.

But eventually, our integrity won’t allow us to do that anymore. Sooner or later, we come to the final, necessary choice. Cleave to the desire or cleave to God. Live a life of faith, even if it means accepting that part of us will always be dissatisfied…or choose to live in sin.

When people say they really tried to make their faith work, I believe them. I have no doubt that they really and sincerely tried to make these two incompatible pieces fit. I’ve been there myself. Sooner or later, so has every sincere follower of Jesus. But at some point, we run into the hardest instruction he ever gave us: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me,” (Matthew 16:24).

And maybe we say no. Maybe we embrace “who we are inside,” and cease to follow Jesus. And that reveals who was our true god all along.

Or maybe we do as he says. We deny “who we are inside,” take up the cross of being a broken person who doesn’t quite fit the image of God, and follow Jesus anyway. And that reveals who was our true God all along.

Either way, “choose you this day whom ye will serve,” (Joshua 24:15).

Posted on by Abe Austin

Transcended Life

One of the great quests of this life,
Is to find something that matters more to you than life,
Something for which you would give up your life.
For if you do not,
Then you haven’t transcended life.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 14:54-57

54 This is the law for all manner of plague of leprosy, and scall,

55 And for the leprosy of a garment, and of a house,

56 And for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright spot:

57 To teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean: this is the law of leprosy.

Today we finish the two chapters of guidance on how leprosy was to be handled among people, cloth, and houses. A common theme throughout this has been that of corruption, and the physical treatment of it is echoed in the social and spiritual frames as well. We saw how corruption, itself, must be destroyed, but the question was whether it could be removed without destroying the host. Sometimes it could be, and then the host could return to its full status and calling. Sometimes it couldn’t, and then, to contain the corruption, either destruction or quarantine of the host had to occur.

For both a garment and a house, persistent leprosy required complete destruction. But for a person, God did not command that the afflicted person be killed. They did have to be removed, though. They had to become dead to society. And then if they healed and could return to the fold, it was treated much like a rebirth.

Thus, leprosy is a lesson on corruption, purging, destruction, and restoration. It is a pattern that has been imbued throughout the universe, and observing it in any manifestation teaches us about it in all.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 14:48-53

48 And if the priest shall come in, and look upon it, and, behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house was plastered: then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed.

49 And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:

50 And he shall kill the one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water:

51 And he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times:

52 And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet:

53 But he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open fields, and make an atonement for the house: and it shall be clean.

Today we learn what happens if the infected part of a house is removed, and then the mold does not return. The ritual that follows is the same as that of a leper who was healed. We see the symbolic pattern of the two birds, one killed in a pot over water, the other dipped in its blood along with wood and hyssop and scarlet, then set free in a field.

As I said before, I see the ritual with the two birds as being symbolic of Jesus being condemned so that we may go free. In the case of the leper that applied at the individual level, here we see it applied at the level of a household. It is not only our inner trouble that Christ can liberate us from, but our interpersonal issues as well. We can be healed as an individual, as a family, as a community, as a nation, and as the entire human race. Impending doom can be reversed at each of these scales, but only through him.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 14:43-47

43 And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plastered;

44 Then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house: it is unclean.

45 And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the mortar of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place.

46 Moreover he that goeth into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the even.

47 And he that lieth in the house shall wash his clothes; and he that eateth in the house shall wash his clothes.

In the last post we heard that if the mold (leprosy) was spreading in the house, then the infected portion had to be removed and replaced. Today we hear what would happen if that did not resolve the matter, and tomorrow we will hear what would happen if it did.

It turns out that the house only got one chance to be redeemed. If after the first replacement the mold reappeared, then that was it. The whole thing had to be destroyed. Stone by stone, timber by timber, all of it deconstructed and hauled out of the entire city.

It may seem an extreme course, but it is better that people destroy their homes than wait for their homes to destroy them, as could very well be the case with weakened timbers and respiratory disease. So, too, when our societies are sick, we sometimes hesitate to make the difficult sacrifices necessary, and the result is that the contamination destroys us instead. A man whose house caves in on him when he had the chance to dismantle it has earned his demise. So it is with a society as well.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 14:37-42

37 And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish, which in sight are lower than the wall;

38 Then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days:

39 And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house;

40 Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city:

41 And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place:

42 And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the house.

As we mentioned in yesterday’s post, leprosy in the house would mean a spreading mold. Of course, identifying and removing mold from a house is a very wise and important thing to do, as otherwise it can weaken the structure and trigger disease. Mold in a house is sneaky, because at first it just seems like a discoloration, but repeated cases of collapsed homes and respiratory illnesses must have awoken even the ancient people to its true threat.

Mold is also difficult to evaluate because what we see of it is not always its furthest extent. Hence the test where the priest waits to see it spread, then has them scrape away the entire area. If the homeowner is lucky, just a replacement of the afflicted area will be enough to eradicate the problem, but as we will see in tomorrow’s verses, if it reappeared, then more drastic actions become necessary.

Mold in a house can be seen as another symbol of infectious ideologies, something that spreads throughout a society, whose color seems a little off. At first appearance it may seem of little concern but could lead to unforeseen structural compromises down the road. A modern-day example of this would be those who believe that the Earth is flat. As in verse 38 from today’s verses, it is wise to have a period of waiting and observing. Perhaps what we find is that this notion does not spread, it does not become mainstream, it does not go deeper in its claims. So far it seems to me that that is the case. It looks like flat-earth theories were mostly a passing fad, with fewer and fewer adherents as time goes on, and this isn’t of serious concern and doesn’t present any threat.

Or maybe I’m wrong. Maybe this seemingly innocuous trend is but the beginning of a wider culture of reality-denial. Then the mold is likely to weaken the timbers of our home and a society should try to dismantle and replace these cultures, but it may be impossible to do so. It may be that the society is already condemned.

That may seem an exaggerated claim, but we have seen it in the real world. Consider the case of Jonestown in Guyana, where a quirky ideology grew, avoided disbandment, and culminated in the mass suicide of its entire population. In the most extreme cases, a society gone rogue can indeed result in the destruction of the whole.