Page 79 - Pentateuch - Student Textbook

changes. Movement can go in either direction. Some common items could become holy. Some common
items could become unclean. Cleanness is the normal condition of most things in life. Nothing could
make the profane into the holy, unless the item or person started out as common and has been polluted
in some way.
83

The issue of clean and unclean reminds us of the taint of sin throughout
life. Every single aspect of our daily activity has been touched by sin.
Romans 8:20-23 expresses the principle in more theological terms. “The
creation was subjected to frustration (v. 20).” “The creation itself will be
liberated from its bondage to decay (v. 21).” “The whole creation has been
groaning as in the pains of childbirth (v. 22).” God told Adam about work
being “painful toil” and the ground producing “thorns and thistles” (Gen.
3:17-18). Eve also heard about “pains in childbearing (3:16).” Life is lived
against a background of the effects of sin even in the physical world.
Fig. 52: Thorns and thistles
Some animals are not good to eat. The “natural” processes of childbirth,
while bringing the miraculous gift of a child, also involve sin. Adam and Eve had no skin defects in Eden.
Had they built a house, it would never have had mold of any kind. Even the “normal” functions of
sexuality, both male and female, have been tainted. None of these experiences are completely ruined.
God’s gifts can still be enjoyed. Yet the distinctions of clean and unclean communicate the all-pervasive
nature of sin. We cannot avoid all sin, nor is there always a one-to-one connection between sin and the
consequences of sin. To be human is to live in a sinful world.

Using just one type of clean/unclean, we can illustrate the issue. The structure of the order of animals
discussed in Leviticus 11 parallels that of Genesis 1:20-30, where the animals were divided among those
that fly across the sky, those that walk on land, and those that swim in the water. “Each sphere has a
particular set of motions and characteristics; and so creatures that correspond to their types are [clean],
whereas [unclean] animals violate the division in some way, For example, a fish without fins and scales is
unclean, off limits. Thus, cleanness of animals was symbolic of the pristine order that God wanted or,
more exactly; that God had created.”
84

Perhaps a more personal illustration will help us understand. Scholars suggest that psoriasis may be the
modern equivalent of one of the skin diseases described in chapters 13 and 14. Imagine what it might
mean to have this disease and be required to live outside the camp until it clears up. Psoriasis afflicts
85
about 3% of the population of the U.S. most often affecting adults. For ancient Israel with a total
population of over two million that would mean several thousand people affected at any given time.

Modern medicine does not thoroughly understand this disease. It is a “common skin condition that
changes the life cycle of skin cells. Psoriasis causes cells to build up rapidly on the surface of the skin.
The extra skin cells form thick, silvery scales and itchy, dry, red patches that are sometimes painful.”
86

83 Wenham, Leviticus, pp. 18-25. Further information can be found in Theological Wordbook of the Old
Testament, ed., Harris, Archer, & Waltke, in the articles “clean” and “unclean”.
84 Ross, Holiness, p. 253.
85 PubMed Health. “Plaque Psoriasis,” accessed April 30, 2016,
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMHT0022696/.
86 Mayo Clinic Patient Care and Health Information, Psoriasis, accessed April 30, 2016, retrieved from
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/psoriasis/basics/definition/CON-20030838

78