Cleanliness and the Presence of God
The Presence of God – “To the face of Jehovah”
Over and over in the narrative of the Children of Israel and their journeyings in the wilderness, they are reminded that because they have the portable temple with them, they are in the presence of God. Because of this, they are encouraged in different ways to be clean before the Lord.
“And the Priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD and it shall be forgiven him for anything of all that he hath done in trespassing therein.” (Lev. 6:7)
“And thou shalt put the two stones of memorial unto the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD upon his shoulders for memorial.” (Ex. 28:12)
These people walking in the wilderness have a story that relates to being “before the Lord,” and because of this, they are invited to be a holy people (see Exodus 19.6)
Before the Face panim of the Lord
“Any cultic activity to which the biblical text applies the formula ‘before the Lord’ can be considered an indication of the existence of a temple at the site, since this expression stems from the basic conception of the temple as a divine dwelling-place and actually belongs to the temple’s terminology.” 1
Clean and Unclean
Leprosy, Issue of blood, touching the dead
There were many things that made the Israelites unclean – unable to be “before the face” of the Lord. In Numbers we read the following:
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath can issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead: Both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell. And the children of Israel did so, and put them out without the camp: as the Lord spake unto Moses, so did the children of Israel. (Numbers 5.1-4)
In this text those that touch the dead, have an issue of blood, or have leprosy are considered unclean. The impression seems to be conveyed that these things are associated with death. That which is linked with death is considered unclean and should stay out of the camp, and depending on which strain of the text we are reading 2, the tabernacle is inside the camp of Israel (or not – see note #2)
Discharges
The Priestly author of Leviticus stipulates that certain fluids which leave the human body cause mankind to be unclean and in need of rituals that bring them back into a state of holiness before the Lord. In Leviticus we read:
And the Lord spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When any man hath a running issue out of his flesh, because of his issue he is unclean. And this shall be his uncleanness in his issue: whether his flesh run with his issue, or his flesh be stopped from his issue, it is his uncleanness. Every bed, whereon he lieth that hath the issue, is unclean: and everything, whereon he sitteth, shall be unclean. And whosoever toucheth his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. And he that sitteth on any thing whereon he sat that hath the issue shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. And he that toucheth the flesh of him that hath the issue shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. (Leviticus 15.1-7)
Concluding the laws of purification from bodily impurities, Leviticus 15 deals with the uncleanliness that comes as a result of fluids which were once associated with life becoming associated with death. These things are normal and part of life, part of our natural world. The only issue in the text that makes this “sin” is if the individual does not go through the ritual of becoming clean again. 3
Childbirth
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean. And in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. And she shall then continue in the blood of her purifying three and thirty days; she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying be fulfilled. But if she bear a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation: and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days. And when the days of her purifying are fulfilled, for a son, or for a daughter, she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon, or a turtledove, for a sin offering, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest: Who shall offer it before the Lord, and make an atonement for her; and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that hath born a male or a female (Leviticus 12).
The idea from these verses is that the woman is unclean for a period of time after childbirth. The concept is that which was once alive is now out of her, meaning all the fluids associated with childbirth – because of this, the fluid that was once part of the mother is now out of the mother and is now dead. That which was once alive is now dead in a sense of the meaning, and in this sense, we have “uncleanliness” – not that the child or the woman are unclean, but that we have something (the fluid) that once was alive and is now dead.
Indeed, as stated in the Jewish Study Bible, “Like other bodily impurities, the defilement attached to childbirth has no moral significance whatsoever; it is a fact of nature. As the text explicitly says, the woman who has given birth needs to be purified from her flow of blood (v. 7)… the reason the length of each phase is doubled when a female child is born is difficult to determine… the ancients, however, may have believed there was a difference, or they may have noted that there is occasionally vaginally flow from the infant girl herself and viewed this as necessitating a longer purification by the mother. 4
Jacob Milgrom writes:
A mere glance at the list of impurity bearers in the Torah—the leper, gonorrheic, corpse-contaminated (Num. 5:1-4), parturient (Lev. 12), emitter of semen, menstruant (Lev. 15:16-24)—suffices to reveal that this list is arbitrary and artificial. It does not focus on disease or even on disorders… The bodily impurities in the above list focus on four phenomena: death, blood, semen, and skin disease. Their common denominator is death. Blood, and semen represent the forces of life; their loss, therefore, signifies death. In the case of scaly disease (so-called leprosy) this symbolism is made explicit: Aaron prays for his stricken sister: ‘Let her not be as one dead’ (Num. 12:12). Furthermore, such disease is powerful enough to contaminate someone who is under the same roof, and it is no accident that it shares this feature with the corpse (Num. 19:14). The wasting of the body, the common characteristic of all biblically impure skin diseases, symbolizes the death process as much as does the loss of blood and semen. 5
In another place Milgrom writes about holiness:
The rationale [for impurity] comes to light once it is perceived that there is a common denominator to the three above-mentioned sources of impurity—death… Because impurity and holiness are antonyms, the identification of impurity with death must mean that holiness stands for life. 6
Symbolic Value of Blood
Blood seems to be an exception to the topic of cleanliness and that which leaves the body. Donald Parry writes: Blood is part of our divine creation, and no artificial or man-made fluid can permanently serve as its substitute. The significance of blood as a life-giving force to mortals and the atonement is found in Leviticus 17:11: “For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.”
Just as our own blood gives us physical life, so does Christ’s blood signify spiritual life. Jesus taught this truth when he stated, “Whoso . . . drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:54). Also, the Lord taught that mortal blood (together with water and spirit) makes one into a “living soul,” and Jesus’ blood (coupled with baptismal water and the Spirit) gives one eternal life and glory (Moses 6:59). 7
“Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat” (Gen. 9:3-4).
“And he brought Aaron’s sons, and Moses put of the blood upon the tip of their right ear, and upon the thumbs of their right hands, and upon the great toes of their right feet: and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about” (Lev. 8:24).
“Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness” (Lev. 16:15-16)
“In that ye have brought into my sanctuary strangers, uncircumcised in heart, and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to pollute it, even my house, when ye offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant because of all your abominations” (Ezek. 44:7)
“And he shall lay his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron’s sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, And the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away” (Lev. 3:2-4).
Notes
- M. Haran, Temples and Temple-Service in Ancient Israel: An Inquiry into the Character of Cult Phenomena and the Historical Setting of the Priestly School (1978), 26; M.D. Fowler, “The Meaning of lipne YHWH in the OT,” ZAW 99 (1987): 384-390. See also: Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, p. 322-325.
- Is the tabernacle or tent of meeting inside the camp or Israel or not? Compare Exodus 25.8 and Numbers 1.50-2.32 (P) to Exodus 33.7-11 and Exodus 22.7-11 (E). In Exodus 22.7-11 (An Elohist text), Moses moves the tabernacle outside the camp of Israel, but the tent in not built until Exodus 36 (A Priestly text!). In Numbers 1.50-2.32 (A Priestly text), the tabernacle is inside the camp of Israel. Later in Numbers we have a strain from the Elohist, Numbers 12.4-15, which states that the tabernacle is once again outside the camp of Israel. The KJV translation makes it somewhat unclear, but in other translations Numbers 12.4 reads as follows: “And YHWH said suddenly to Moses and to Aaron and to Miriam, “Go out, the three of you, to the Tent of Meeting.” And the three of them went out.” The reason for this seems clear: In the Elohist narrative the tabernacle is moved outside the camp following the golden calf incident detailed in Exodus 32, an important narrative told from the northern Elohist perspective. This story in Exodus 32 establishes the Levites and Moses as the moral authorities over Aaron and his claims to priesthood authority.
- The way to become clean again is as follows: And if any man’s seed of copulation go out from him, then he shall wash all his flesh in water, and be unclean until the even. And every garment, and every skin, whereon is the seed of copulation, shall be washed with water, and be unclean until the even. The woman also with whom man shall lie with seed of copulation, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the even. And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even. (Leviticus 15.16-19). See The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford University Press, p. 229-230.
- The Jewish Study Bible, p. 221-222.
- Jacob Milgrom, Numbers: JPS Commentary (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 1990), 345-346.
- Jacob Milgrom, Leviticus: Continental Commentary, 12.
- Donald Parry, Symbols and Shadows: Unlocking a Deeper Understanding of the Atonement, Deseret Book, 2009.