16. Defilement by Corpses: Be Holy for I am Holy (Lev 11:24-47)

They should not defile themselves with animal corpses because they were chosen, for life, by the Holy God.


πŸ‘‰ Read Leviticus 11:24-47

If you touched the carcass of an animal, how long would you be unclean?


Anything a carcass of unclean animals falls on will become (           ). The wood vessel must be immersed in (            ), and the clay vessel must be (              ). But, if it falls on any sowing seed to be sown, it is (            ).


What is the reason they should not defile themselves with the unclean animals? (v44-45) (hint: the purpose of this law was to distinguish them from other nations)

 

Answers and Meditation

Until evening

And that person should wash his or her clothes.

 

Unclean, water, broken, clean

The dead bodies of the unclean animals (and even edible animals) defile everything except seeds. Before a seed is sown, the life is hidden and has not come out yet. The uncleanness hasn't touched its life. Therefore, it is clean. 

 

They are holy because God is holy. They are chosen.

 

Very long passage talks about uncleanness caused by the corpses of unclean animals and even of clean animals. Why does the Bible announce the dead body as unclean? Death is the result of sin. Sin is a violation of the order of God’s creation. Therefore, anything against God’s order in His creation is improper for His chosen people.

Any carnivore is unclean because eating other animals was not intended in the original creation. Only plants were given as their food. After the fall of Adam, animals seemed to start eating other animals. After Noah's flood, the Lord allowed man to eat meat. The mixed behavior of flying and walking is also against God’s creation order: He has made everything according to its kinds and species. The end result of such a violation of the creation order is death.

God chose the Israelites to save mankind from the fallen world filled with disfigured animals and death. They were chosen to give life and restoration to this fallen world. How could they live mingling with unclean animals, the byproduct of sin?

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