Well, we’ve reached that part of Leviticus. We’re deep in the rules of worship, ancient rituals that can feel weird and distant from our own practice of faith. I know when I’ve tried to read the Bible straight through, this is the part where I usually get bogged down and look for something more relatable. It’s tempting to skim through all these regulations, but if we stick with it, we learn to see one of Jesus’s miracles in a whole new light.
So, what’s the deal with all this bodily-fluid talk? We know the ancient Israelite culture was focused on family legacies, going all the way back to Abraham’s first promise. Stories of children born in extraordinary circumstances are all over Scripture. So perhaps these rules reflect how seriously this culture took the foundations of life. It’s important to notice that these rituals treat sex with respect, not shame, and that unclean is a temporary state, not an entire identity.
Unfortunately, it was entirely possible for this law to bar someone from worship indefinitely. This must have been the case for the woman who sought Jesus after twelve years with a bleeding disorder. According to the law, she was unclean for all of those twelve years (Matthew 9:20–22). Anything and anyone who touched her would become unclean. Her only hope was for her bleeding to heal, and even then, the law required a waiting period and a sacrifice to fully restore her to community worship (Leviticus 15:25–30). For twelve years, through no fault of her own, she was isolated from her community and perhaps, in her eyes, God.
So imagine this woman hearing stories of a traveling healer. Imagine the longing as she spots him and melts into the crowd, too ashamed to ask for help, careful not to let anyone touch her and become defiled. Imagine her quietly slipping up behind Jesus and brushing her fingers on the edge of his robe, hoping that maybe, just maybe, this could make her well.
When we know the gravity of the law and her culture, we can see just how bold she is and the radical kindness in Jesus’s response. He doesn’t rebuke her for contaminating him. He does not treat her like something ugly and unclean. He calls her “daughter” and offers her the words she longed to hear: “Your faith has saved you” (Matthew 9:22).
How often have we seen stories like hers play out, where a good law meant to bind a community together becomes used to divide and dehumanize? It’s a story we’ve seen replay over and over in history, but once again, Jesus offers us a better way. Where human efforts can make us clean, Jesus can make us whole.
Life as a woman at that time had to be immensely difficult. On top of child rearing, cooking everything from scratch over flames, hand washing daily garments and linens, women also had days on end where they were viewed unclean without fault to themselves but simply from the human condition of menstruation and childbirth and relations with her husband. I think of the woman needing to be on top of the ceremonial washings and washing her rags for cleanliness and physical comfort but not being able to comfort her small children for fear of making them unclean as well. I wonder how life was lived under these laws, how arduous it must have been…Amazing Grace indeed that Christ took this all away for you and I
When I read Matthew 9, I picture the Jesus from the Chosen series. He was so kind to this woman who was likely shunned for 12 years. I wonder if He bathed afterwards? Lol seriously, though. Jesus was the fulfillment of the law but He followed it.
I don’t fully understand why God created such rigid rules (in my mind they are) but I know He is detailed and purposeful in all He does. There is always a reason. I pray we remember His goodness as we read what doesn’t make sense to us modern day believers.
This has been a puzzling, and I admit downright hard to understand book in the Bible. I see now the priests were also a type of doctor! My oh my. I appreciate all the commentary, thanks for your ideas that shed more light, for SRT even taking this on.
Would also request prayer as my wallet was stolen a week ago. What a stressful time this has been since! I could write for an hour about how it was accomplished nearly right under my nose, as well as what I’ve learned since, but I’ll spare you and simply ask that my family and I be covered in supernatural safety from any evil meant for harm as a result of this. And please; be aware, and safe SRT sisters~~~~~
Praying for health over your family.
First of all. This is the third time in the past month I have been brought to the bleeding woman passage. Holy significance. But, I am sitting on day 7 of a cold where just yesterday I went to the Dr. Because I wanted to wait it out, try my own remedies, and I definitely didn’t want to get stuck in the COVID quarantine for a silly cold, so I didn’t go and I got sicker. Its the first thing I thought of when I read the mildew passage, how tempting it would be to scrape it yourself, or wait it out vs go through all the trouble of waiting for the priest to come and remove all the items in your house and quarantine over potentially nothing. But God calls us to do it. With sickness, with contamination, with sin. To take these things seriously, to take time to rest and heal, to get someone else’s eyes on the problem. We can’t do it ourself. So, maybe he is saying have courage daughter, to reach out for help.
Amen
Reading this section of Leviticus with the supplemental readings fills me with thankfulness and hope. We serve a God who made a way when there seemed to be no way. We serve a risen Savior who came to fulfill the law. Today we have access to the Father and can freely worship him ♥️ This echos the previous study:
“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
From everlasting to everlasting.
AMEN & AMEN.” ~ Ps. 41:13
@Jenny Somers praying for you, your 3 yr old & your family! ❤