| “When any man hath a running issue out of his flesh, because of his issue he is unclean” (Leviticus 15:2). |
| “This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days” (Numbers 19:14). |
| Those of us who are alive today are very familiar with germs and viruses, and we know how they work. As I write this we are in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, and we know how easily that virus has spread over the whole world. However, man has known about germs for less than 150 years. Before that time people did not understand how disease was spread, and a lot of infection was passed from one person to another because of carelessness in the way sick people were treated. Before man understood about germs, surgeons often operated on people without even washing their hands or using clean instruments. As you may imagine, the rate of infection after surgery was very high. |
| However, the Lord knew about germs, and He gave His people Israel some very good instruction about how to treat sick people so that disease would not be spread. We see from our first verse that if a man had a “running issue” out of his flesh, he was unclean. A running issue was simply a sore that discharged pus, or something like that. If you read Leviticus 15 down to the end of verse 13, you will see all the restrictions that were placed on someone with a sore like that, so that infection would not be spread to others. |
| Also, whenever a man died in a tent, everything in the tent, and all those who came into the tent, were unclean. The man may not have died of an infectious disease, but the people were not to take any chances. Anything in the tent, or anyone who came in while the dead man was there, was unclean for a whole week. They had to stay separate from other people, and then be purified with running water before they could come back and socialize with other people again. |
| Perhaps you have become upset over some of the restrictions that the government has placed on us during this Covid pandemic, but we see from our verses that the Lord Himself put restrictions on the Israelites, in order to prevent the spread of disease. He knew about germs and viruses even if man had not discovered them yet, and He gave His people good instruction. |
