32 And upon whatsoever any of them, when they are dead, doth fall, it shall be unclean; whether it be any vessel of wood, or raiment, or skin, or sack, whatsoever vessel it be, wherein any work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the even; so it shall be cleansed.

33 And every earthen vessel, whereinto any of them falleth, whatsoever is in it shall be unclean; and ye shall break it.

34 Of all meat which may be eaten, that on which such water cometh shall be unclean: and all drink that may be drunk in every such vessel shall be unclean.

35 And every thing whereupon any part of their carcase falleth shall be unclean; whether it be oven, or ranges for pots, they shall be broken down: for they are unclean, and shall be unclean unto you.

Today we hear how an unclean animal’s carcass touching an instrument would also make that instrument unclean. It does specify throughout these verses that this only applies to dead unclean animals, not living ones. So, there are degrees to the polluting effect of uncleanness.

Tools or clothes or sacks made unclean in this way only needed to be washed, left for a day, and then could be used again. But food or water or clay pottery that was contaminated were forever unclean and had to be discarded. Again, degrees to the pollution.

Looking at these examples from a modern, practical sense, we recognize that a dead body carries more disease than a living one. We understand how some things can be washed and reused, whereas others are better to purge entirely, particularly the food and drink that we would otherwise bring into our bodies. There are degrees of corruption and there are degrees of protection against them. The tools that we use, the clothes that we wear, our outer skin, and our inner organs, we protect each of these to increasing degrees because we become more susceptible to virus and infection the deeper the contamination reaches.

Looking at this through a spiritual lens, some unworthy behavior is more corrupt and destructive than others. A person deceived by the world, engaging in sin while still maintaining a sense of conscience is like a living unclean beast. A potential source of corruption, but not to the same degree as another person who has become entirely cynical and jaded, turned nihilistic by his sin.

And as with the Israelite’s cleanliness laws, we must protect ourselves from these sinful influences by progressive measures. Blasphemous language in our culture is a problem, but it is worse when it is projected through the television into our homes, and it is even worse again when it is coming out of our own mouths. And so on for all sins. Sin is pervasive enough that we cannot avoid all contact with it, but we can put in progressive checks and protections the closer it comes to our heart.