The beauty of uncleanliness laws

Laws on being unclean can seem unusual. Regarded as something that an Israelite absolutely must follow. Being unclean had great social and Spiritual consequences in that you couldn't touch people without making them unclean, or you could not serve or enter the temple. Becoming unclean could mean you need to wash and wait until the next morning. Wait until you were declared clean by priests or make sacrifices as a guilt offering. It would also dictate a significant portion of your diet.

Okay so we don't really follow these laws as much any more, certainly with any strictness. While some Christian based groups still insist on it, the majority of evangelical groups do not and leave it up to you. But while people can discuss these various and sometimes seemingly unusual laws, there is actually a great God honouring beauty to them which can be missed amongst other discussions. So let's take a step back, out of all the details and debates and just look, this is God's word after all.

Strict obedience to the uncleanliness laws, correctly applied, would have meant that the nation of Israel would have been more rested, less sick and diseased, lower miscarriage rates, and yes, have a greater balanced wildlife population amongst other things. These laws actually show us how much God, who gave the law, was actually behind the laws. Without the need for knowledge of micro biology or eco-management. They would have achieved, through simple obedience some of the things which we try to achieve even today.

Starting with the food laws. They largely avoid eating foods which we now know, through understanding micro biology, contain larger amounts of bacteria which can be dangerous. The NHS in the UK while saying pork is okay for pregnancy reminds people to make sure meet is well cooked with no blood in it, or any pink colour even. The same goes with fish, we know foods, very well cooked, are okay and can even be checked with thermometers, but avoiding certain types of fish and higher risk foods (if even slightly undercooked) carries greater risk for miscarriage.

In addition, they were told to avoid eating much of the local wildlife which actually protects local populations. Killing and eating animals from higher trophic levels such as top predators would help A. protect those specific from extinction and B. keep down the level of fast breeding populations of animals. In the UK we wiped out the Sea Eagle which would naturally hunt things like seagulls. Now, many places are overrun with seagulls because they have very few natural predators and have become a pest. There are many more examples of this type of thing and you can look into this further for yourself. But we can start to see how these laws are not just some strange religious practice but real and practical laws that would have achieved quite a lot for the people.

Other laws include women's periods. Now modern sensibilities tend to be offended with the idea of a woman being considered unclean because of a natural process i.e. during a period and for a time after child birth. While a study on the meaning of 'blood' in scripture would be needed to unpack this further (e.g. blood is called 'life blood' [Gen 9:4; Jer 2:34] and you can be guilty of the blood of someone [Deut 21:8) and blood of someone unjustly killed cries out from the ground[Gen 4:10]) however, for now, lets consider it practically.

If a woman is unclean, and that uncleanliness would spread to anyone she touches (Lev 15:19) and anything she sits on is unclean which spreads to anyone who touches what she sat on. Here is a brief of the main laws of this. Period 7 days being unclean; birth of son 7 days unclean (+33 days purification) 14 days unclean for a girl (+66 days purification). Normal uncleanliness means everything they touch is unclean, whereas purification times are different from being unclean as it means that they mustn't touch anything sacred during purification or go into temple.

In practice, lets think about this for a minute before we get caught up in feminist thinking. If a woman is unclean and would make anyone unclean she touches or anything she sits on, how would this actually work out in practice? She wouldn't be able to just go out as normal, she couldn't do certain things for risk of spreading her uncleanness to others. In fact, she would be severely limited-so that makes it oppressive right? Perhaps? Or perhaps it is actually allowing women the time and space needed for a bit of rest or recovering. I have known plenty of women who either due to hormonal changes and pain, discomfort and the rest would really like to be able to rest and not feel under so much pressure during periods. These laws would actually serve to protect many women during what is often an uncomfortable, emotional and often painful time for them. Also bearing in mind they didn't have neat and tidy disposable tampons to use back in those days.

Blood left around unwashed can lead to infection so it makes sense what she sits and lies on is considered unclean. It forces her to rest and for others to look after her more during that time as she is not allowed to do as much because she is unclean. For example, she is under no obligation during that time to travel or go into the temple. Any temple devotion is suspended. In practice, being unclean would actually serve, if applied correctly, to women having more of a break in a highly agricultural community and culture. 7 days every cycle, 33 and 66 days after child might not seem like much (compared to maternity leave, but that was only put into law in 1975!), but it was a massive step in the right direction to protect women.

All bodily discharges were made an uncleanliness issue. People had to wash after every time they had sex, including the sheets. All possible signs of infections people were unclean and things they touched needed to be washed. They even had a form of self isolation policy (Lev 13:46) which we have even seen in recent years with rules on Covid. The level of control over a significant number of infections, in a time without the medicine that we have today would have meant reduce direct infection rates and greater overall cleanliness of the people.

In addition, there was nothing to stop someone unclean being helped by someone who would also become unclean. Remember, the law also states 'love your neighbour as yourself' (Lev 19:18b). So no one, according to the law, needed to be neglected.

So stepping back from uncleanliness laws as a whole we can really begin to see how these laws were divine. They addressed issues which would not have even be understood at the time (e.g. micro biology and environmental bio diversity management etc.). They actually protected women during what is often a very uncomfortable time. They protected important species of local wildlife, and avoided more risky foods both for the general population but also especially for pregnant women. A Proper application of these laws meant the Israelites would have been healthier (through cleaning items, washing more often, food laws, minimising infection spreading) more rested (because of limiting activities while unclean) and have a more well maintained and balanced eco system (through limiting food eaten). It truly is the word of God.