Leviticus 13 Commentary: The LORD goes scientific!
We take a look at skin diseases and the processes and procedures required. In chapter 12, a mother’s condition after childbirth required isolation for her protection, among other reasons. In this chapter a man with a skin condition requires isolation for the sake of others (and also himself).
This chapter is very interesting because the priest is not waving pieces of meat in the air or lifting hands to bless but rather he is conducting a medical process on the sick. It says a lot about Christianity today. Not everything requires prayer alone. Many things need both: prayer, always present and a physical logical process.
Check condition. If condition is A, take action X. Otherwise wait seven days and check condition again. If condition is A, take action X otherwise take action Y. This is computing! This is a scientific process. And it is in the Bible!
There are things that require offerings and intersession and there are things that require processes – medical procedure in this case. Detailed procedures are given in what should be the longest chapter in Leviticus (actually among the top 10 longest chapters in the entire Bible). Every case possible is detailed so that the priest is left fully informed. The LORD can be this detailed!
The general feeling here is that people must distance themselves from uncleanliness to protect the community from disaster. Uncleanliness wasn’t meant to be a tag of shame but a means to achieve a purpose. It is actually easy to guess the purpose for each and every case of uncleanliness as we go through these pages.
The pick from this very long chapter is that the LORD is aware of the ‘skin diseases’. The processes required to resolve these problems is equivalent to ordering the priests to go to a medical school. The processes are very much scientific and very detailed. The priest compared results of investigations and made decisions based on logical conclusions. This is beautiful, absolutely!
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LOVING SCRIPTURE 