February 18th

According to the Bible, a woman was impure for 7 days from the start of her menstrual flow. Anyone who touched the woman during this period would then become unclean themselves. The idea of “purity” involves removing dirt, pollution, or contaminating matter from the physical self. The idea of impurity is the opposite, and can involve body fluids, diseases, corpses, disapproved sexual activity, and immoral acts. According to Leviticus 13:45, leprosy was a horrible disease that required the exile from society and into isolation. In a way this impurity symbolized a sinful person being cutoff from the spiritual Israel and the isolation of the person in the Lord’s covenant. The purity laws were set in place for the Israelite people because they associated dirt with disorder. Some examples of such purity are seen when animals for sacrifice must be without blemish, women must be purified after childbirth, and priests can only come into contact with death when their own close kin die. According to Mary Douglas ”…the idea of holiness was given an external physical expression in the wholeness of the body seen as a perfect container”(53). The dietary food laws developed the metaphor of holiness on the lines of unity, integrity, and perfection of the individual. God required the maintenance of purity in order to teach the people obedience so that they could progress spiritually and to point their minds toward the source of salvation in Himself. The dietary laws served as a teaching tool. By voluntarily abstaining from certain foods or by preparing them in a certain way, it shows a personal commitment to act in one’s faith. Overall, these laws acted a both a social instrument to keep the nation Israel together as one and a spiritual instrument to keep the people remembering God as the one true God.