Leviticus chapter 15 , part 2

*When a woman menstruates, she is automatically unclean for seven days, or as long as any bleeding lasts.  It can vary wildly from woman to woman. During this time, anything and anyone who touches her, her bed, or anything she sits on will become unclean. A person who touches her must wash their clothes and themselves, but they will still be unclean til evening. A man who has relations with her during this time will be unclean for seven days, and any bed he lies on will also be unclean. Here's the kicker: After the bleeding stops, a woman is still ceremonially unclean for another seven days! In this passage, a woman is not required to wash before she is considered clean again. On the eighth day, she has to take a couple of birds to the priest to sacrifice as a sin offering and a burnt offering. This is how atonement is made for the uncleanness of her discharge, as if it is her fault.

*Wouldn't the God who made women be responsible for the way their bodies work? Menstrual blood is not a sign of disease or misbehavior, it is completely natural and normal. It does not contaminate another person in any way to come in contact with a menstruating woman. Plus, every healthy woman on earth is subject to a menstrual cycle for almost 40 years of her life. Just these regulations alone would have made a woman unclean half of every month. Then add in the days after her husband exercised his marital rights and the months after childbirth, she could be unclean over more than half her lifetime. At least she had  other women to commiserate with. But why should she have to live with such a stigma for something she has no choice in?

*I am also struck by the irony of these regulations. Obviously the ancient Israelite men who made these regulations had no idea what happens inside a woman's body on a monthly basis. (Yes, men, why would a god care?) For example, they must have been completely unaware of ovulation times or they might not have decided a woman was unclean for so long, if they wanted children. Most women with regular cycles ovulate on or about the 14th day of the cycle, just when an Israelite woman would be considered clean again. If a woman tended to ovulate early by a just a couple of days, she might never have children, especially if she or her husband are concientious rule followers.  Other women would seem to be much more fertile when it was really just a matter of timing.

*All these clean and uncleanness rules make me wonder about unbroken chains of uncleanness. How could you know for sure that a particular thing or person hadn't been touched by someone who had touched someone, who had touched someone else unclean, ad infinitum? Seriously, you could go crazy thinking about this stuff. Plus, could you imagine trying to enforce these rules on a population the size of Austin, Texas?

*Something else to think about: What kind of people today are concerned with imaginary contamination, rituals, repetitive washing, and counting?

*Verse 31 implies that Israelites who don't separate themselves from things that make them unclean deserve to die for defiling the dwelling place of God. This chapter has basically  told them that sex makes people unclean, so they're toast.

Edited.

Leviticus chapter 15, part 1

After reading chapter 15:

*This chapter is kind of disgusting. Here we are told about bodily discharges of various kinds.

*The first kind is experienced by men. It does not clearly state which body part it comes from. My study bible says it was probably diarrhea or urethral discharge that is a symptom of a health problem. Anyway, this guy is unclean. Anything and everything that touches him, or that he touches, will be unclean. Even if he spits on a person, that person will be unclean. Anything and anyone that comes in contact with the person with such a discharge must be washed. (That's probably a good idea. ) They will be unclean til evening, that magical time, except for clay pots, they must be broken. After the discharge goes away, he counts the magic seven days then washes himself and his clothes, and he will be clean. Personally, I think the washing should happen sooner, but that's just me. Remember though, this cleanness and uncleanness is purely ceremonial, and not to be confused with cleanliness. After a man is clean, he has to take two birds to the priest to be sacrificed as a sin offering and a burnt offering, to make things right with God, because bodily discharges are the result of sin......maybe, maybe not.

*Next is an emission of semen. No matter how it happens, it makes a man unclean.(Sorry guys.) He must wash his whole body and he will be unclean til evening. If a woman is involved, they must both wash and will be unclean til evening. Is all this beginning to make you wonder when a person is actually clean enough for God? Is there a point at which they just threw up their hands and said, "I'm perpetually unclean, so what." Or did they practice the don't ask, don't tell method of cleanness? Maybe it just became standard practice to take a bath every morning to avoid any issues about issues.( ha, ha.) Would they have to tell their neighbors, children, or servants when they were unclean?  Was a couple's bed "unclean" on the morning after? Were the priests celibate? How could they work for God and handle sacred stuff if they were unclean regularly? Who would make the sacrifices and perform the rituals if all the priests came to work one day and admitted they were all unclean? Notice how, in the case of the man with this kind of issue, it is not said that everything he touches becomes unclean, just himself and/or his wife. Plus, he isn't required to make a sin offering.

*I can imagine scenarios with uncleanness wars between rivals or enemies. "Ha! I just made him unclean and he doesn't even know it." Or "Come any closer and I'll touch you!" Or "You can't do anything to me, I'm unclean. Pbbbbt!"

Leviticus chapter 14

After reading chapter 14:

*Now we learn about cleansing from infectious diseases. This is not a medical procedure but a religious ritual performed AFTER a person has healed. It is to insure the person's ceremonial cleanness, whatever that means.

* This involves: killing a bird over water/ using cedar, scarlett wool and hyssop to sprinkle the bloody water seven times on the person being cleansed/ releasing a bird into the fields/washing clothes/ shaving off all hair and bathing/ staying outside their tent for seven days/ shaving all hair and washing clothes again/ on the eighth day, sacrificing three lambs, flour and oil (unless the person is poor, then one lamb and two birds will do).

*The priest is to sacrifice a lamb as a guilt offering (The person must have been guilty of something or they wouldn't have been sick, right? ) and put some of its blood on the right ear, right thumb, and right big toe of the person to be cleansed. Then he sprinkles some oil seven times before the lord. Next, he puts some oil on the same places he put the blood, and puts the rest on the person's head. Wait, we are not done yet. We must also have a burnt offering and a grain offering. This is the priest making atonement on behalf of the formerly diseased person. Finally, he is "clean." Was it worth the trouble?

*The second half of the chapter is about cleansing a house from mildew, once they come to the promised land. Yahweh tells Moses and Aaron in verse 34 that HE will put the spreading mildew in people's houses. When that happens, the priest closes up the house for seven days to see if the mildew spreads, which of course it will. The contaminated stones are to be torn out and replaced,  and the walls are to be scraped and replastered. This is actually a pretty reasonable course of action. If the mildew reappears, the house is to be torn down. Anyone who goes into the house will be unclean til evening and must wash their clothes.

*If the house stays mildew free after treatment, a priest is to come and purify it. Again we go through the killing of a bird over water and sprinkling of the bloody water on the house seven times. Then it will be magically clean.

While researching hyssop, I found that it is unclear just what plant was meant by the word that is translated hyssop in the bible.

Leviticus chapter 13, part 2

* Now that we are done with skin ailments, we move on to mildew found on articles made of wool, linen, or  leather. If the mildew is green or reddish, it is spreading mildew. It must be shown to the priest. The article is to be isolated for seven days. If the mildew is still spreading, the article is definitely unclean and must be burned. If the mildew does not spread, the article must be washed and isolated for another seven days. If it looks the same, even though it has not spread, it is unclean and must be burnt. If the mildew has faded, it can be cut out and the article can be used. However, if the mildew reappears in that article and spreads, it must be burnt. If the mildew is gone after washing, an article is clean.

*Today we know that mildew is caused by a fungus that grows in dampness. If materials are kept dry, by regular exposure to circulating air, dry heat, or strong sunlight, they will not mildew. Also, vinegar works well to kill fungus. These are all things ancient people could have used instead of the wait and see method favored by the priests. This tells me they didn't know or care about prevention, just the ambiguous status of clean or unclean.

The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury, book review

I post book reviews when I think they might contribute to the conversation about religion. Every October, I try to read a few classic books based on a "spooky" theme. The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury, which I finished recently, fits both those criteria. It is in the format of an old fashioned boys' adventure story. This Halloween adventure carries a group of boys into the past for a look at ancient religious practices that are the precursors of  a modern Halloween. It covers rituals by ancient Egyptians, Ancient Greeks, Druids, Ancient Romans, Christans, and South Americans. It also looks at philosophies of death up close and personal. One of the boys' friends is ill and on the threshold of life and death as part of the story.

Mr. Bradbury weaves all the stories, past and present, into a narrative that gives perspective to the present by exploring the past. He doesn't come right out and say it, but he implies that all the rituals and superstitions are fantasy, sometimes fun, sometimes spooky. Take them away and what remains is the ever present reality that we all must die.

Leviticus chapter 13, part 1

After reading Leviticus 13:

*This chapter is about infectious skin diseases. I should say up front  that I am not a medical professional, and neither were the ancient Israelite priests. From this chapter, it seems to me that standard practice was: If it looks bad, it is bad. They had no scientists with microscopes and Petri dishes to tell them exactly what was causing a particular issue. These things must be looked at by a priest to determine if a person was clean or unclean: Rashes, swellings, or bright spots.

So what is bad? (Automatically unclean):
-Sores on skin that have turned white, have white hair, and are more than skin deep
-spreading rashes and raw flesh
-White swellings with white hair and raw flesh, which sounds a lot like the first item on the list.
-A white or pink swelling that appears after a boil has healed and is more than skin deep and has white hair.
-A white or pink swelling, after a boil heals, that is not more than skin deep and doesn't have white hair, but is spreading.
-A burn that has raw flesh, is more than skin deep and has white hair.
-A burn that is not more than skin deep and doesn't have white hair, but is spreading.
-A sore on the head or chin, more than skin deep, with thin yellow hair. Called an itch.
-An itch that is spreading, no matter what it looks like.
-Reddish white sores on bald heads

Not so bad, or iffy: (Requiring  isolation to watch for a magical seven days)
-White spots on skin that are only skin deep and do not have white hair.
-A white or pink swelling that appears after a boil has healed, but does not have white hair and is not more than skin deep and does not spread.
-A burn that is not more than skin deep and does not have white hair and does not spread.
-A sore on head or chin not more than skin deep, with no black hair and no yellow hair, not spreading.

Clean:
-Skin and hair turning white from head to toe, without raw flesh.
-Skin that was raw flesh but has healed and turned white.
-The scar after a boil has healed.
-The scar from a burn
-An itch in the head or chin that is healing and is growing black hair
-Dull white spots
-Bald heads and foreheads without sores

What's with the white hair? As far as I know that is not a sign of disease. What happens to a person in isolation? How do they live their daily lives? After the seven days of isolation are up, they are to go back to the priest to be declared clean or unclean. If declared clean, they must wash their clothes (Not their bodies?) and they will be good to go. If declared unclean from an infectious skin disease, they must wear torn clothes, and  let their hair be messy, which are signs of grief. They must also cover the lower part of their face and yell,"Unclean, unclean." As long as they have the disease they must live alone outside the camp.

So, basic priestly medical duties consist of wait and see what happens, then diagnosis of clean or unclean. No treatments, no wound care, no basic hygiene instructions like washing or covering wounds to keep them clean. The priest's only concern was ceremonial cleanness or uncleanness.

Leviticus chapter 12

After reading chapter 12:

*This chapter addresses purification after childbirth, as though childbirth makes someone impure. I can't remember where I heard it, but I agree with the statement that the Israelites seem to have an obsession with blood. Blood is Bad. We have not been told it up to this point, but the blood of a woman makes her guilty of uncleanness. After she waits the proscribed times following childbirth, she must make two sacrifices before she can be considered clean, a burnt offering and a sin offering. Presumably this means there is something sinful associated with childbirth. Between childbirth and purification, she must not touch anything sacred or visit the sanctuary. She's got cooties.

*Before the offerings can be made, there must be a waiting period. If she had a boy, she is ceremonially unclean for seven days after giving birth. Then she must wait 33 more days to be "purified," a total of 40 days. (Two magic numbers in one command! It must be holy.) I don't understand the difference between the first seven days and the following 33 days. She's still considered unclean until the priest pronounces her clean.

*A newborn male is to be circumcised at 8 days old. I have some questions. Who does the circumcising? Wouldn't the baby be considered unclean since he is in constant contact with his mother? If he is unclean, wouldn't anyone who comes in contact with him also become unclean? Did fathers avoid contact with their wives and newborns during this time? That would be sad. Will we get answers to these questions later?

*Oh, unlucky woman who has a daughter! She is unclean for 14 days, then must wait another 66 days to be purified. That is twice as long as it takes after birthing a male. Extra magic must be needed to counteract the girl cooties.

*After childbirth, it is possible for  a woman to  experience some bleeding for up to 40 days, but highly unlikely for it to go longer than that. Plus, there are no fundamental differences between birthing a daughter or  a son. That is just, well, silly.