This Bible study is all about distinguishing between clean and unclean found in Leviticus 11-15, and how it impacts our lives today.
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These chapters are all about clean vs. unclean. God told the priests that their job was to be able to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between unclean and clean. Now He gives very clear guidelines as to what that looks like in everyday life. Although these chapters were written to the children of Israel, there are some applications for Christians living today.
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Read all about clean vs. unclean in Leviticus, before reflecting on it below.
Leviticus 11 – 15
The purpose of the dietary laws
The purpose of the dietary laws was threefold. First, it allowed the Israelites an opportunity to show their obedience to God. They had to adhere to a strict set of rules that would be difficult at times. It showed that they denied their flesh to serve a living God. Second, it would separate the Israelites from their surrounding neighbors because they would be unable to eat together and join in their pagan rituals. Third, following these dietary laws would protect the health of the Israelites because many of the forbidden animals have been shown to have high rates of diseases among them.
How have you seen God protecting you by giving you limitations (1 Corinthians 6:12)?
Be set apart from what is unclean
After listing clean and unclean foods, God gave the only reason for needed for compliance. “I am the Lord your God.” The Israelites could have observed other nations and deduced the three reasons for compliance. Yet God chose to emphasize that they were following HIM and therefore needed to be holy as HE is holy. It did not matter what the surrounding nations were doing, the Israelites were meant to be different. This was a tangible way for the Israelites to be set apart.
How has God called you to be set apart (1 Peter 1:14-16)?
God’s high regard for women
God also gave ceremonial laws requiring women to be unclean after childbirth. This allowed the woman time to heal and bond with her new baby. The practice of considering women unclean during this time was not due to any inherent impurity of women. Rather, it was a way to ensure that the newborn child had the best chance of survival. The time for uncleanliness was doubled for baby girls who were born. In a world where daughters were considered less valuable than sons, this period of rest allowed the woman to take a break from household chores and allowed the baby girl to have the best start in life.
How have you seen God’s goodness reflected in His law (Psalm 19:7-9)?
Leprosy, like sin, makes us unclean
The laws of the Lord regarding leprosy were very well defined. The Priests had clear criteria for diagnosing skin conditions and pronouncing if someone had leprosy. Leprosy is like sin in many ways: it begins as something so small and painless that it is hardly noticeable. Over time, the one infected begins to notice a numbness around the affected area, as it continues growing and causing decay and deformity. Eventually, it becomes so great that others around begin to notice its repulsive appearance.
Do you have an area of sin in your life that is growing and making your appearance repulsive (Galatians 5:13-26)?
Priests are to go to the unclean
If someone had been living with leprosy, and then thought themselves cured, they were not allowed to return to the city or the Tabernacle. Rather, the priest had to make the uncomfortable journey to the leper colony where the outcasts and unwanted of society lived. The priest had a responsibility to the marginalized people. If the priests did not make the journey, the leper could never be pronounced clean.
What responsibility do you have to the marginalized – to the unwanted and unloved outcasts of our society (Zechariah 7:9-10)?
The blood and the oil
Applying the blood to the right earlobe, thumb, and big toe of the leper was the same ritual that the priest had to undertake when being consecrated. The cleansed leper had the same special calling as the priest: to make the glory and goodness of God known in every aspect of his life. The leper also had oil applied to his ear, thumb, and toe. This is unique to the leper and shows that everything he did was under the anointing work of the Holy Spirit.
We were once like the leper – unclean in our sin – but God came and made us pure. How are you making the glory and goodness of God known in every aspect of your life (1 Corinthians 6:20)?
An unclean house cannot stand
After the Israelites entered Canaan and were living in houses, if one of the houses was found to have a mold, the priest was to inspect it. If, even after being shut up for seven days, the mold was still found in the house, the stones were to be removed and thrown outside the camp. If that did not get rid of the mold, the whole house would need to be demolished.
In the same way, we have a spiritual responsibility to our homes. Is there anything spiritually impure in your house that needs to be removed and thrown out (2 Timothy 22:22-26)?
Worship must be pure
In a slightly uncomfortable chapter about bodily fluids, it is important to note that the act of menstruation or semen emission (when in the context of marriage) was not unclean in itself. The surrounding pagan culture included ritual prostitution in its temple worship. So as a way to set His nation apart, God ensured that sexual activity could go nowhere near His temple, as the one who partook was unclean til evening. God wants His worship to be pure, set apart from anything that is unclean.
Is your worship to God pure, or do you bring unclean things with you while you worship (John 4:23-24, James 1:26-27)?
The unclean makes the clean unclean
In all of the talk about the clean and the unclean, it is always the unclean that contaminates the clean. The general idea throughout these chapters is that if something clean comes into contact with something unclean, that which is clean becomes unclean. The unclean is not made clean. One rotten egg will contaminate 10 fresh eggs if they are blended together. This principle is completely reversed in the work of Jesus though. Jesus – who was eternally clean – touched the unclean and they were made clean (Luke 5:12-14).
How have you been made clean by the blood of the Lamb (Hebrews 9:14)?
Reflect on how you are separate from the unclean
The priests were supposed to distinguish between the clean and the unclean, teaching the Israelites the word of God. The only way they could do that was by KNOWING the word of God. Do you know the word of God? Are you able to distinguish between clean and unclean in your life?
This Bible study was all about the laws of clean vs. unclean in Leviticus 11-15.
