Practical laws regarding purification and care after child-birth as well as laws about identifying leprosy also have a spiritual significance. Take a look.
Leviticus 12: Purification After Childbirth
1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
2 "Speak to the people of Israel, saying, 'If a woman conceives and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days. As at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean.
3 And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.
4 Then she shall continue for thirty-three days in the blood of her purifying. She shall not touch anything holy, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed.
5 But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation. And she shall continue in the blood of her purifying for sixty-six days.
6 "'And when the days of her purifying are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb a year old for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering,
7 and he shall offer it before the LORD and make atonement for her. Then she shall be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, either male or female.
8 And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.'"
Leviticus 13: Laws About Leprosy
1 The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,
2 "When a person has on the skin of his body a swelling or an eruption or a spot, and it turns into a case of leprous disease on the skin of his body, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests,
3 and the priest shall examine the diseased area on the skin of his body. And if the hair in the diseased area has turned white and the disease appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is a case of leprous disease. When the priest has examined him, he shall pronounce him unclean.
4 But if the spot is white in the skin of his body and appears no deeper than the skin, and the hair in it has not turned white, the priest shall shut up the diseased person for seven days.
5 And the priest shall examine him on the seventh day, and if in his eyes the disease is checked and the disease has not spread in the skin, then the priest shall shut him up for another seven days.
6 And the priest shall examine him again on the seventh day, and if the diseased area has faded and the disease has not spread in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean; it is only an eruption. And he shall wash his clothes and be clean.
7 But if the eruption spreads in the skin, after he has shown himself to the priest for his cleansing, he shall appear again before the priest.
8 And the priest shall look, and if the eruption has spread in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a leprous disease.
9 "When a man is afflicted with a leprous disease, he shall be brought to the priest,
10 and the priest shall look. And if there is a white swelling in the skin that has turned the hair white, and there is raw flesh in the swelling,
11 it is a chronic leprous disease in the skin of his body, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean. He shall not shut him up, for he is unclean.
12 And if the leprous disease breaks out in the skin, so that the leprous disease covers all the skin of the diseased person from head to foot, so far as the priest can see,
13 then the priest shall look, and if the leprous disease has covered all his body, he shall pronounce him clean of the disease; it has all turned white, and he is clean.
14 But when raw flesh appears on him, he shall be unclean.
15 And the priest shall examine the raw flesh and pronounce him unclean. Raw flesh is unclean, for it is a leprous disease.
16 But if the raw flesh recovers and turns white again, then he shall come to the priest,
17 and the priest shall examine him, and if the disease has turned white, then the priest shall pronounce the diseased person clean; he is clean.
18 "If there is in the skin of one's body a boil and it heals,
19 and in the place of the boil there comes a white swelling or a reddish-white spot, then it shall be shown to the priest.
20 And the priest shall look, and if it appears deeper than the skin and its hair has turned white, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is a case of leprous disease that has broken out in the boil.
21 But if the priest examines it and there is no white hair in it and it is not deeper than the skin, but has faded, then the priest shall shut him up seven days.
22 And if it spreads in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a disease.
23 But if the spot remains in one place and does not spread, it is the scar of the boil, and the priest shall pronounce him clean.
24 "Or, when the body has a burn on its skin and the raw flesh of the burn becomes a spot, reddish-white or white,
25 the priest shall examine it, and if the hair in the spot has turned white and it appears deeper than the skin, then it is a leprous disease. It has broken out in the burn, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a case of leprous disease.
26 But if the priest examines it and there is no white hair in the spot and it is no deeper than the skin, but has faded, the priest shall shut him up seven days,
27 and the priest shall examine him the seventh day. If it is spreading in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a case of leprous disease.
28 But if the spot remains in one place and does not spread in the skin, but has faded, it is a swelling from the burn, and the priest shall pronounce him clean, for it is the scar of the burn.
29 "When a man or woman has a disease on the head or the beard,
30 the priest shall examine the disease. And if it appears deeper than the skin, and the hair in it is yellow and thin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is an itch, a leprous disease of the head or the beard.
31 And if the priest examines the itching disease and it appears no deeper than the skin and there is no black hair in it, then the priest shall shut up the person with the itching disease for seven days,
32 and on the seventh day the priest shall examine the disease. If the itch has not spread, and there is in it no yellow hair, and the itch appears to be no deeper than the skin,
33 then he shall shave himself, but the itch he shall not shave; and the priest shall shut up the person with the itching disease for another seven days.
34 And on the seventh day the priest shall examine the itch, and if the itch has not spread in the skin and it appears to be no deeper than the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean. And he shall wash his clothes and be clean.
35 But if the itch spreads in the skin after his cleansing,
36 then the priest shall examine him, and if the itch has spread in the skin, the priest need not seek for the yellow hair; he is unclean.
37 But if in his eyes the itch is unchanged and black hair has grown in it, the itch is healed and he is clean, and the priest shall pronounce him clean.
38 "When a man or a woman has spots on the skin of the body, white spots,
39 the priest shall look, and if the spots on the skin of the body are of a dull white, it is leukoderma that has broken out in the skin; he is clean.
40 "If a man's hair falls out from his head, he is bald; he is clean.
41 And if a man's hair falls out from his forehead, he has baldness of the forehead; he is clean.
42 But if there is on the bald head or the bald forehead a reddish-white diseased area, it is a leprous disease breaking out on his bald head or his bald forehead.
43 Then the priest shall examine him, and if the diseased swelling is reddish-white on his bald head or on his bald forehead, like the appearance of leprous disease in the skin of the body,
44 he is a leprous man, he is unclean. The priest must pronounce him unclean; his disease is on his head.
45 "The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, 'Unclean, unclean.'
46 He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.
47 "When there is a case of leprous disease in a garment, whether a woolen or a linen garment,
48 in warp or woof of linen or wool, or in a skin or in anything made of skin,
49 if the disease is greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the skin or in the warp or the woof or in any article made of skin, it is a case of leprous disease, and it shall be shown to the priest.
50 And the priest shall examine the disease and shut up that which has the disease for seven days.
51 Then he shall examine the disease on the seventh day. If the disease has spread in the garment, in the warp or the woof, or in the skin, whatever be the use of the skin, the disease is a persistent leprous disease; it is unclean.
52 And he shall burn the garment, or the warp or the woof, the wool or the linen, or any article made of skin that is diseased, for it is a persistent leprous disease. It shall be burned in the fire.
53 "And if the priest examines, and if the disease has not spread in the garment, in the warp or the woof or in any article made of skin,
54 then the priest shall command that they wash the thing in which is the disease, and he shall shut it up for another seven days.
55 And the priest shall examine the diseased thing after it has been washed. And if the appearance of the diseased area has not changed, though the disease has not spread, it is unclean. You shall burn it in the fire, whether the rot is on the back or on the front.
56 "But if the priest examines, and if the diseased area has faded after it has been washed, he shall tear it out of the garment or the skin or the warp or the woof.
57 Then if it appears again in the garment, in the warp or the woof, or in any article made of skin, it is spreading. You shall burn with fire whatever has the disease.
58 But the garment, or the warp or the woof, or any article made of skin from which the disease departs when you have washed it, shall then be washed a second time, and be clean."
59 This is the law for a case of leprous disease in a garment of wool or linen, either in the warp or the woof, or in any article made of skin, to determine whether it is clean or unclean.
Things to think about…
1. Leviticus 12 has many practical and medical benefits. All male children in Israel were to be circumcised on the eighth day. Medically it has been affirmed that blood coagulant properties of Vit K and fibrinogen are at their peak apparently just one week after birth. On the eighth day, the amount of prothrombin present actually is elevated above one-hundred percent of normal—and is the only day in the male’s life in which this will be the case under normal conditions. If surgery is to be performed, day eight is the perfect day to do it. Makes sense if this was a required law. We of course are required to have circumcised hearts, Rom 2:29. We are to be cut off from the world, its ways and temptations.
2. If you had a son, the mother was unclean for a week, if you had a daughter she was unclean for two weeks. Do mothers bleed more potentially with daughters? Not to my knowledge. I think there is a practical thing here that the boys had to be circumcised on day eight and mum was there at the ceremony (remember the circumcision of Christ – Mary and Joseph were both there – Luke 2:21). A blessing that the mothers got two weeks rest if they had a daughter.
3. What a horrible disease leprosy is. The Priests were also called upon for medical examinations to determine whether someone had leprosy or not and as such pronounce them clean or unclean, Lev 13. Note that only bald men are specifically mentioned as clean in the bible – Lev 13:40, 41. There is wisdom in this don’t you think.
4. Some of you are thinking ‘what is the warp or the woof’? This phrase is mentioned 9 times in Lev 13. It simply means with respect to weaving in fabric “in which the warp — the threads that run lengthwise — and the woof — the threads that run across — make up the fabric” (Wikipedia). For us we might say that Christ makes us clean in every aspect of the warp and woof of life. Leprosy could even contaminate clothes (and even walls Lev 13:37). Like our spiritual leprosy – sin. It contaminates everything in our lives - our minds, bodies and souls. The priest had to examine to finest details of the individual and the fabric in the clothes they wore and even the coverings in their houses to declare whether they were clean or unclean. Praise God that in Jesus there is no condemnation – we are pronounced ‘clean’ in His name! Christ covers us in our entire being, He declares us clean!
5. In Luke 17:11-19 Jesus 10 lepers ask Jesus to heal them. He quotes the Levitical law in Lev 13 and the requirement to be presented before the priests. On their way they were healed, one returns and gives thanks to Christ – the true High Priest. Our daily attitude should be one of thanks. He has rescued us from the disease and leprosy of sin. One day we will be presented before Him. Only those in Christ will clean for eternity. Receive Christ today and be healed from the affliction of sin which puts us outside the camp of Christ.
Vision statement for CBC
CBC’s Vision :- To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission.
Life groups on this week. Ric Beson will be taking the Life Group at church 6:30pm and will be looking at the life of Christ in the church.
Pastor Jay will be starting the young adult’s life group after Sunday mornings message. It will be a Christian topics and apologetics class.
Prayer Points
1. Pray for the start of Kids@Church, Life groups and church community days.
2. The conflicts in Israel and Ukraine. Praise for the peace of Jesus to reign.
3. Mathys has a prayer time at church on Monday afternoons. He would be happy for you to join him and to send prayer requests.
4. That we be bold in our witnessing for Christ. Pray for a heart to see those around you to be saved. Pray for the blessing over the new pastoral care and hosting program.
5. Growth, conversions, joy in the Word and Spirit to remain and increase.
Praise Points
1. The Lord blessed us with truth and a sense of His presence in all our meetings on Sunday.
2. Praise God for the church leaders. May the Lord bless as they make their plans, that He guides our steps.
3. Steve Hawkins testimony on Sunday.
4. Joy, peace and grace we see at CBC. Thankyou Lord
Announcements
1. Groups start back on Wednesday night at Church – 6:30pm. New Christians and Young Adults – Sunday after church.
2. Combined Baptist Church service at Beacon Baptist 5pm 11th Feb.
3. Church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
4. Tune in again this week on our YouTube page. Subscribe to the CBC channel Chuwar Baptist YouTube channel.
Catechism questions for January...
Q. 16. Who were our first parents? A. Adam and Eve.
