Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 12:6-8

6 And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest:

7 Who shall offer it before the Lord, and make an atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that hath born a male or a female.

8 And if she be not able to bring a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons; the one for the burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean.

Yesterday I started examining the purification rites surrounding childbirth and discussed why I don’t think they are so shameful as some assume. Certainly, a shameful interpretation can be read into these verses, but it is a personal choice to do so. It is also possible to see no shame in the event, only an acknowledgement of the inherent gravity and mortality in birth. I explained what such a perspective looks like for the purification period of a mother in yesterday’s study, and now we will do the same for the sin and burnt offerings described in today’s verses.

Whether the child was a son or a daughter, the offerings were both a sin offering and a burnt offering. As we have already seen, a sin offering was meant for the absolution of sin, and a burnt offering was about dedicating one’s life to God and His purposes. The burnt offering is not controversial, but many have taken the need for a sin offering at birth as meaning that a child is born sinful; conceived by a sinful act, issued forth in a sinful state. But I don’t believe that view is necessary. I believe this ritual could be pointing to the common curse of mortality, without reflecting on the individual moral guilt of the child.

It is certainly a fact that we live in a fallen world. We all experience tragedy, we all experience suffering, and we all experience death. Every one of us is doomed by this fate and need to be saved from it via resurrection. Separate from this, though, is our own individual guilt when we commit our own sins. Sins where we had a knowledge of good but choosing to do evil. Thus, we have a universal mortal demise, and we have a personal spiritual demise, each of which must be overcome in Christ.

I believe the sin offering for an Israelite child’s birth was to acknowledge that the mother had brought her child into this universal, mortal, deathly reality, and that grim fate could only be overcome by the sacrifice of a lamb. This sacrifice is symbolic of Christ’s promise that his death and resurrection will conquer the tomb for all of us. Whether that resurrection will also redeem us from personal sin depends on whether we seek his forgiveness and enter into his covenant, but redemption from death, at least, is guaranteed.

So, it is true that there is a deep gravity to the fallen state into which we are born, but I don’t hold that we are also born in sin. We are born into the consequences of Adam and Eve’s transgression, but not into the guilt of their transgression. We only become guilty when we personally disobey. And in both cases, mortal death and spiritual sin, the sacrifice of the lamb shall overcome.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 12:1-5

1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean.

3 And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.

4 And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled.

5 But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days.

This chapter speaks about childbirth, and how the mother would go through a purifying period before participating in regular tabernacle ceremonies. These passages have been used as evidence by some that the Mosaic Law treated women and childbirth as shameful, given the use of terms like “unclean” and the requirement of a “sin” offering. And this has not only been the argument of those antagonistic to Christianity. Even believers have used passages such as these to suggest that we are born in sin, shameful from our very beginning, and that sex acts are inherently vile.

While I can see where such interpretations are coming from, I feel that they are unnecessarily negative. It would be very helpful to know how ancient Israelites felt about these requirements, and whether they felt ashamed of them. We do not have that information, so we must be careful to not assume how they must have felt about these requirements.

On the matter of uncleanliness, I wish to point out that unclean is not one and the same as guilty or evil. There were many things that could make one unclean, including things that a person would have no willful agency over. A man having a nighttime emission was unclean for a time. A man stumbling over the corpse of a pig was unclean for a time. It is more accurate to think of uncleanliness as the spiritual equivalent to getting mud on our clothes. Getting muddy is nothing for us to be ashamed of. Sometimes it just happens, and we are not lesser people because of it. And yet, while we are muddy, we still keep distant from formal functions, public events, and clean places. We know we have to take a bath and wash ourselves before we go to these sorts of places because there is just too much earth on us.

Being unclean in the Old Testament seems to be the same, but in the realm of the spirit. The things that make one unclean are do not need to be shameful or guilty, they just happen to leave too much “earth” on us. They are things that mark us with the residue of the mortal world. Given that perspective, it is hard to think of anything so mortal as giving birth, and it makes sense that that would therefore make one ritually, but not morally, unclean.

Not only does birth involve the bringing forth of a mortal soul, but as verse 5 specifically calls out, it involves a considerable discharge of mortal blood. Many have noted that the purifying period is doubled when having an infant girl, and that this is likely due to the fact that this act of childbirth is inseparably connected to the female sex. The bringing forth of another woman means bringing forth another vessel of mortality. It is both issue and future issue all in one, so two purification cycles.

In tomorrow’s verses we will hear about the offerings that would accompany a new child’s birth, including a sin offering. In that post I will address why I think this offering is also not so shameful as some seem to think.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 11:41-47

41 And every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth shall be an abomination; it shall not be eaten.

42 Whatsoever goeth upon the belly, and whatsoever goeth upon all four, or whatsoever hath more feet among all creeping things that creep upon the earth, them ye shall not eat; for they are an abomination.

43 Ye shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creepeth, neither shall ye make yourselves unclean with them, that ye should be defiled thereby.

44 For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

45 For I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

46 This is the law of the beasts, and of the fowl, and of every living creature that moveth in the waters, and of every creature that creepeth upon the earth:

47 To make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the beast that may be eaten and the beast that may not be eaten.

It is interesting that anything that moves on the belly (worms or snakes), or anything with a multitude of legs (centipedes and spider), or anything that creeps on all four (rats and lizards) are pronounced unclean, and also these are the sorts of creatures that naturally cause us the most anxious when we encounter them. Things that move in weird ways discomfort us. So, too, we sometimes see people orienting themselves around identities that God has forbidden, and these are often unnerving and uncomfortable to us as well. A man with prosthetic breasts and a falsetto voice is naturally unnerving, the same as one whose face is covered in tattoos using aggressive language. God’s laws of cleanliness tell us to trust our instincts, that our intuition is there for a reason, and we should listen to it.

In verse 44 God calls us to “sanctify ourselves” and “be holy.” Yes, we live in the world, and are unavoidably tarnished by it, but we are still to strive to be different and set apart. We should stand out as those consecrated to something higher. That upward reaching is the overarching symbol in all of the laws of clean and unclean animals. All of these symbols show that we should be striving for the supreme, the transcendent, the very best that we can be. Not that it will ever make us divine on its own, but it will orient us so that we may be caught by divinity as it passes us by.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 11:36-40

36 Nevertheless a fountain or pit, wherein there is plenty of water, shall be clean: but that which toucheth their carcase shall be unclean.

37 And if any part of their carcase fall upon any sowing seed which is to be sown, it shall be clean.

38 But if any water be put upon the seed, and any part of their carcase fall thereon, it shall be unclean unto you.

39 And if any beast, of which ye may eat, die; he that toucheth the carcase thereof shall be unclean until the even.

40 And he that eateth of the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: he also that beareth the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even.

Today’s verses continue on the rules we saw yesterday, explaining the corrupting effect of dead unclean animals. Larger sources of water would not all be corrupted. Presumably, there would be enough clean water that any untoward elements would dissipate to only trace levels. A dead carcass on a seed was fine, the plant was still shielded within, but if the seed had been watered already, and had begun the process of growing and sprouting, the actual plant was corrupted and now unclean.

The next verses talk about touching or eating a clean animal’s carcass. This obviously means an animal that died by natural means, not one that was slaughtered for the express purpose of eating. In these cases, any who touched the carcass would be unclean, but all he had to do was wash his clothes and he would be clean again the next day.

Logically, there had to be ways in which the transference of uncleanness would cease. If an unclean carcass made a vessel unclean, which made the person who touched that vessel unclean, which made anything that person touched unclean…obviously at some point everything would be unclean. And, well, now that we are aware of germs and viruses, there is some truth to that model. The fact is, we all carry unclean things in and on us, and none of us are pure, and none of us can become so. That is why sacrificial atonement remains necessary for us all.

But in our day-to-day lives, we do find that God has provided us a buffer that prevents infinite corruption. Yes, diseases pass through us, but they do eventually die out. Filth transfers from the ground to our hands to our food to our insides, but usually in small enough quantities that our body passes it through without issue. Or, if we do get ill, we almost always quickly recover. And speaking spiritually, every day there are evil influences that tempt us and our sins beget guilt, but we do move on and feel ourselves restored again on the next day. And where our sin is more serious, still with a period of washing and waiting, we are able to move forward again. God has built resilience and restitution into us, allowing us to bounce back from the constant uncleanness of the world.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 11:32-35

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.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 11:29-31

29 These also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind,

30 And the ferret, and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole.

31 These are unclean to you among all that creep: whosoever doth touch them, when they be dead, shall be unclean until the even.

Today’s verses call out individual animals that would also be unclean to the Israelites. First among them are rodents and reptiles, then also snails and moles. Of course, each of these would have already been forbidden under the existing laws: rodents and reptiles do not have split hooves, snails don’t have raised legs for leaping, and moles violate both requirements, whether you consider them a beast or a “creeping thing.”

Presumably these animals are called out as edge case examples, showing that if an animal seems like it might be unclean, it is unclean. So it is in moral life. We may not be able to define every type of sin and every manner of evil, but we can establish principles, provide examples, and then rule out anything else that seems like it might be in violation of those guidelines.

Let us consider one example. Is AI-generated pornography not immoral since it involves unreal characters? The scriptures may not call it out directly, but they do establish a pattern of what God has allowed in regard to sexuality, and we should omit anything questionable around that. God has allowed for a man and a woman to cleave together as one flesh, and He has forbidden extramarital sexuality. Looking at the matter of AI pornography, that starts to sound a lot like a weasel or a tortoise, something on the fringes of more familiar sin, and something we should also treat as unclean.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 11:24-28

24 And for these ye shall be unclean: whosoever toucheth the carcase of them shall be unclean until the even.

25 And whosoever beareth ought of the carcase of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even.

26 The carcases of every beast which divideth the hoof, and is not clovenfooted, nor cheweth the cud, are unclean unto you: every one that toucheth them shall be unclean.

27 And whatsoever goeth upon his paws, among all manner of beasts that go on all four, those are unclean unto you: whoso toucheth their carcase shall be unclean until the even.

28 And he that beareth the carcase of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: they are unclean unto you.

Next, we hear that if an animal was unclean for eating, then it was also unclean to touch its carcass. One could touch a living pig, but if he either tried to eat it or touch its corpse, he would be unclean.

The symbolism is clear here. We want nothing to do with the unclean things of the world, and the death that they cause, whether physical or spiritual. We do not take stolen money, we do not spread rumors, and we do not take joy at the suffering of others. If we are to have success in this world, let us have it honorably and honestly, and not take undue advantage or ill-gotten spoils.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 11:21-23

21 Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth;

22 Even these of them ye may eat; the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind.

23 But all other flying creeping things, which have four feet, shall be an abomination unto you.

We finally come to the last major category of animal cleanliness, which has to do with the insects. Perhaps not surprisingly, almost the entirety of the insect kingdom is forbidden. The only specimens that are permissible are those with raised legs that can leap or fly. Specifically, it describes locusts, beetles, and grasshoppers.

Perhaps the symbolism here is that only the low creatures that aspire to reach higher could be accepted, just as we are lower than God, but we strive for godliness. This is a beautiful symbol of discipleship. We are not perfect, and we are not going to be so in this life. But still, we leap for it. Not to fool ourselves into thinking we are something that we aren’t, but because it is in the striving and falling short and striving yet again that the best comes out of us. Man’s ambition should always be at least a bit beyond his grasp.

This concludes the main sections of animal cleanliness. In the following verses God describes various other unclean elements and specific animals to be avoided, but the main animal category symbolism is complete. It is a fascinating part of God’s pattern that we are above the animals, yet we can look to them for our own edification. God has provided examples both of good and bad among them and even given us hints for how to recognize each.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 11:13-20

13 And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,

14 And the vulture, and the kite after his kind;

15 Every raven after his kind;

16 And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind,

17 And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl,

18 And the swan, and the pelican, and the gier eagle,

19 And the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.

20 All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you.

We have heard the laws of cleanliness for beasts and fish, today we hear them for the birds. For this we are not given a clear defining principle, though, most of this is simply a long list of birds which cannot be eaten.

Looking at the list, however, a pattern does emerge. When we look at hawks, eagles, and osprey, we see that birds of prey are being forbidden. This maintains the pattern seen previously, where other predator animals were also forbidden. God’s people are not to be ravenous or murderous, only standing against the Lord’s foes when commanded, and otherwise establishing peace with all.

We also see forbidden the scavenger birds, such as the vulture and the raven. God’s people are not meant to be opportunists taking advantage of others’ misfortune. We are to prosper by honest labor.

Finally, we also see the dark and the strange flying creatures forbidden. Nocturnal animals like owls and bats must not be eaten. So, too, we must not deal in the dark, make alliances with the shadows, or serve the prince of darkness.

Again, we see the pattern continuing of the laws having a clear symbolism for what God’s people should be, and what they should not be. In our next post we will hear the instructions for the last category: insects.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 11:9-12

9 These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat.

10 And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you:

11 They shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcases in abomination.

12 Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you.

Yesterday we considered the symbolism of clean and unclean land animals, and how the clean animals represented qualities of righteous and faithful followers of God. But it was not only land animals that had rules of cleanliness. Today we hear the rules for which animals of the sea could be eaten, and which could not.

As with the land animals, there are two important criteria. To be a clean sea creature, it must have scales and fins. This obviously matches up with what typically comes to mind when we say “fish.” Salmon, trout, swordfish, carp, these would all be included. It would not include things like clams, octopuses, or lobsters.

Part of the symbolism of clean sea creatures has to do with the context that they live in. The water is not where man lives, it is not fit for him to dwell there, only to make brief visits to it. It is mysterious and its depths are hidden. The sea could be seen as an analogy for the world, something distinct and different from the heavenly spirit that lives in all of us. Something that we all interact with, but only on a temporary basis, until we return to our eternal home up above.

Given that context, the presence of fins would suggest purposeful, directed, and constant movement. Be in the world to achieve what you need to achieve and then move on, not stopping and becoming attached to it. Not crawling along its darker depths. The scales can represent a boundary or a protection. A wall that keeps the foreign world out. A wall that keeps us shaped the way God made us, not amorphous or filled with the surrounding atmosphere like a jelly fish.

Thus, even with the sea creatures, the rules of cleanliness and uncleanliness once again serve as a symbolic reminder of the qualities that we must strive for to maintain a healthy separation from the world and consecrated to the Lord.