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TYPES OF CONTAMINATION AND THROUGH-POLLUTION
Scholars have reasoned that the well educated Moses taught his people measures of ‘hygiene’, and implemented decrees of segregation or isolation to keep ‘contagion’ to a minimum. Such reasoning is not entirely aside from the facts, yet falls far short of revealing the fullness of Truth. ‘Plagues’ within the camp were so violent that it’s people were falling dead like, autumn leaves in a gale. All that was required to instantly stop such a plague was for Aaron to light an incense censer with fire from off the altar and run between the dead and the living in the Name of Yahweh! IF, then, we believe these accounts, we must realize that a Divinely led and Theocratically ruled people were in no need of ‘isolation’ practices to safeguard their health.
The Jews – as well as Christendom — have been so woefully slow to perceive that the Yahweh-delivered rules, laws and ordinances, were to speak to them and to generations unborn of GREATER TRUTHS IN GOD’S PLAN FOR MAN; while the experiences which befall them were but the DRAMATIZATION OF GOD’S WAY OF DEALING WITH ALL HIS SPIRIT CHIILDREN IN PATHWAYS OF ERROR: DRAMAS IN DIVINE JUDGEMENT ENACTED BY A GOD-DIRECTED ‘TROUPE’. Behold:”The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, `Unclean! Unclean!’ As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp.
Levit 13:45 & 46
AS we carefully study the Mosaic law and Ordinances, we find that ‘sin’ in all forms constituted a ‘defilement’ (UNcleanness) which had to be purged away. Even the priests – who were supposedly living good lives had to first WASH. and also to offer sin offerings for themselves before their intercessory rites for the people would be accepted by Yahweh. Even the touching of a dead body constituted defilement!
THAT was also the original decree: not merely the appropriating of the forbidden fruit, but even its touching became defilement unto death! (see Genesis 3:3)
Now carefully observe: so soon as Adam and Eve had disobeyed, they became UNclean in the sight of God, and immediately were DRIVEN OUT FROM GOD’S PRESENCE! THEY HAD TO DWELL OUTSIDE THE CAMP’! ‘God changes not’; neither does He cease to exploit every opportunity to teach his wayward children WHAT LIES AHEAD!
As we continue to study the entirety of the Laws and ordinances, we find that LEPROSY was the only defilement for both men and women which permanently SHUT THEM OUT OF THE CAMP. By this God has shown us that ‘leprosy was that peculiar disease and affliction which TYPIFIED ‘sin’ and that defilement which would force Him to ‘shut them (out of the camp” (of God). Nevertheless let not the reader fail to observe how the ordinances read “…All the days wherein the plague shall be in him….” That is, IF, as and when the leprous condition ceased to be in the body, THEN could the previously leprous RETURN INTO THE CAMP (after the prescribed rites of sanctification)
‘We find such cases recorded in the Old Testament. and numerous in the New — where Jesus ‘cleanses’ them. Whereupon He commanded them to fulfill the prescribed rites before the priest, and return into the camp of their peoples! Let us then not be so overfilled with Hell-venom that we postulate God shuts the sinner ‘out of His camp’ for ever AND ever. Some are not satisfied to thus deny the righteousness of God, but ascribe Him bestial devilishness!
As the ‘leprosy’ in the Bible times covered various degrees of infection, so similarly is ‘sin’ in categories of “degree of pollution”. Wherefore, we need but make a careful study of leprosy and God’s decrees pertaining thereto, in order to fully understand ‘Hell’ as well as the “Lake of Fire”.
By the previous quotation from Leviticus 13, we behold how the Lord God sought to show us His JIJDGEMENT pertaining to errant spirit-children steeped in ‘sin’, and how His inexorable decree portrays the freedom from sin as the inescapable requirement to dwell in His presence.
As to the major categories of pollution and His judgement thereon, we find the details as we proceed in His ‘LAW’. These we shall now view. And may the reader ever bear in mind that the holy Yahweh ‘CHANGES NOT!'”If any clothing is contaminated with mildew–any woolen or linen clothing, The priest is to examine the mildew and isolate the affected article for seven days. On the seventh day he is to examine it, and if the mildew has spread in the clothing, or the woven or knitted material, or the leather, whatever its use, it is a destructive mildew; the article is unclean. He must burn up the clothing, or the woven or knitted material of wool or linen, or any leather article that has the contamination in it, because the mildew is destructive; the article must be burned up.
Leviticus 13:47, 50-52
We have previously seen how man is “spirit and soul and body.” That is, a threefold being; or rather, a spirit within a twofold body: i.e. an inner and also an outer body. In Leviticus 13:45-46, God deals with the person. This, then bespeaks the indwelling spirit; for, the body without the spirit is void of life, feelings or intelligence. Wherefore, when God decrees His dealings with the ‘garment’ of a person, He is showing us His judgement on the spirit’s (person’s) finest sheathing: i.e. the human SOUL. Observe how when the priest first sees the leprosy in the ‘garment’, he shall ‘shut it up 7 days’.
Elsewhere in my writings (especially in “Number Symbolism”), it has been demonstrated how God has established a numeric relationship between body, soul and spirit: i.e. multiples of 10. Thus ‘1’ falls to the animate body, ’10’ to the soul, while ‘100’ typifies spirit.
The ‘priest’ was the appointed representative of God. Thus when the priest (God) first beholds leprosy (sin) in the human SOUL, He decrees its ‘shutting up 7 days’: that is, a period of grace in which to mend and clean up; to get rid of its contagion (of sin).
Clearly did He tell them that ‘a day shall be for a year’ (Num 14:34). Therefore since He was now dealing with a material object typifying the SOUL, we must multiply by 10. Thus the 7 days x 10 =70 years. And, whereas the Record informs us that the life span of man is reckoned as ‘threescore and ten’ (= 70), we know that was God’s way of symbolically declaring how He would be lenient unto the sin-smitten soul while “shut up” (within the body of flesh) during its normal life span on earth. But on the 7th day: that is, at the conclusion of the earth life, if the ‘leprous’ condition still exists, then that soul (‘garment’) MUST “BE BURNT IN THE FIRE!”
We may shudder, or we may scream our indignation like brattish children unwilling to yield to the parent’s better judgment, yet the errant spirit child cannot move the Divine Parent one iota. God knows what is best as well as that which becomes a MUST in His plan for man.
There is only one “SOLVENT” for the sin-smitten human soul, and that is the LIFE–SPIRIT of God Almighty. Said He: “The LIFE (spirit) is in the BLOOD.” Thus: His LIFE-spirit He has made available unto us for THE CLEANSING FROM SIN. Yet if this cleansing solvent is refused so that “the seventh day”‘ still finds us leprous with sin, then that SOUL (-body) must be wholly destroyed in ‘hell.’ Yet this is not a doctrine of annihilation. We must bear in mind that is and when a man suffered the loss of leprous garments in fire, WAS PERSONALLY STILL ALIVE AND FREE! He had merely lost a garment – WHICH COULD AGAIN BE REPLACED! Now we proceed to the next decree:”When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your possession, and I put a spreading mildew in a house in that land, the priest shall go out the doorway of the house and close it up for seven days. On the seventh day the priest shall return to inspect the house. If the mildew has spread on the walls, he is to order that the contaminated stones be torn out and thrown into an unclean place outside the town. He must have all the inside walls of the house scraped and the material that is scraped off dumped into an unclean place outside the town. the priest is to go and examine it and, if the mildew has spread in the house, it is a destructive mildew; the house is unclean. It must be torn down–its stones, timbers and all the plaster–and taken out of the town to an unclean place.
Leviticus 14:34, 38-41, 44-45
Here “the HOUSE” as the man’s outer shelter and protection, is symbolic of the spirit’s human BODY, composed both of organic (timber) and inorganic matter (stones). The stones and plaster also typify possessions, for, we see how the house would still be left standing after such nonessential had been removed.
This shows us how God classifies sin into categories. There is sin which is peculiar to the human body of flesh, but which has not entered in to the soul. In some of these it might be difficult for man to discern, and to draw the line of demarcation. Yet we can look at some of the simpler ones to illustrate. A person may have an inordinate appetite for rich food, or its excess. That is entirely peculiar to the physical body. When that is laid aside through death. the SOUL has no need of food and hence does not suffer hunger. Yet through such gluttony while on earth, a person sins against the ‘Tabernacle’ of his body, and often against others. In the pursuit’ of business as a means of livelihood, a person may develop tactics-in error for the comfort of the physical body and perhaps, for the good of his loved ones. This “tactic-in-error” might be in the form of misrepresentation (lying), or the selling of inferior or shoddy goods at the price of better. Yet the same person when not in his ‘business’ might be absolutely truthful and honest with his friends and people. Some may be dishonest in business because it is a part of their nature (soul leprosy), yet there are many exceptions to this. Others may sin through an inordinate love for their children, yet this has nothing to do with either soul or spirit, for, such offspring is purely physical.
Such are, in the category of our lesser sins. Beholding these, God decrees that we are to lose or forfeit some of our possession, for a period of 7 years, or, for “a cycle”. Yet if such time and corrective treatment has no curative effect, but rather then the ‘leprosy’ increases its power and scope, then God decrees its final and utter destruction in “an unclean place without the city.” In the final analysis, since Jerusalem was the Holy City, this “unclean place” becomes the Valley of Hinnom or ‘Gehenna.’
Again the same observation applies. Although the man may suffer the complete loss of his ‘house in an ‘unclean place,’ yet he personally remains alive, free and secure! The SPIRIT may “suffer loss,” yet is deathless through the unceasing laps of the cosmic tide.
Christians who accept Jesus’ Divinity, should bear in mind His words unto the leper: “I AM WILLING: BE CLEAN”! Even the non-Christian finds the substance of the same will of God in the Old Testament “I have no pleasure in the death of him (the wicked) that dies, says the Lord God: wherefore TURN YOURSELVES (repent), AND LIVE!!” (Ezek 23:32)
GOD WILLS OUR CLEANSING (from ‘leprosy’). In fact, it is a MUST in His plan. Wherefore, when the obstreperous and willful spirit does not yield to clemency and enter into the ‘cleansing rites’ unto a full restoration, then comes the loss of body and soul that the spirit-child shall become denuded to once more stand before the Father. Would not a son or daughter, stripped of garments, stand in grief, shame, and helpless before the father? Similarly with the denuded spirit-child!
Previously there was mention of the “willful and obstreperous.” This is shown us by the covering to be placed on the upper lip, and crying “UNclean” (Lev 13:45). The upper lip has come down through the centuries as a symbol of self will and determination. It is a part of the head into which God spoke forth of His own Spirit. Thus to the shame and sorrow of the spirit must this self-will be covered or hid and driven out from the presence of God!
In Lev 14:1-32 and 14:40-43 are detailed the CLEANSING rites for the leprous person and a smitten house. These portray the ‘means of salvation’ and cleansing from sin; but since this is not a treatise on ‘salvation,’ we shall not herein study the rites.
By Mikkel Dahl
