|
Godsaidmansaid.com is dedicated to repetitively proving scholastically and pragmatically that God is, that He authored the scriptures and that He will hold all men accountable at a soon-coming judgment day. Every Thursday evening (God willing) we launch a new subject that proves that God is. All rational thinking men and women who have taken the time to consider, will come to this same conclusion.
II Timothy, Chapter 2, Verses 11-13:
11 It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him:
12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
Whether man chooses to believe or not, God remains God. Now for today’s subject.
GOD SAID to make a difference between the clean and unclean (Leviticus 10:10). Thousands of years before man began to understand the principles of sanitation, purification and cleansing, before he began to understand the deadliness of communicable diseases, God gave perfect instruction on how to keep oneself clean and safe long before the golden age of microbiology. This kind of knowledge is what one would expect from the designer and creator of all things, and that is exactly what is found in God’s holy word.
The principle of clean or unclean in the scriptures is laid out very clearly so the faithful reader can avoid all manner of devastating communicable diseases.
If someone or something is deemed clean, it means he or it has not been exposed to a communicable disease. According to the scriptures, one can become unclean from many ways: from the seed of copulation, from the discharge during the female menstrual cycle, from certain foods, any running bodily issue, by touching a dead carcass, a contaminated house or land, etc. If someone or something is deemed unclean it means he or it has been exposed to or even acquired a communicable contamination. In all cases, a quarantine is ordered and a procedure for cleansing is followed, in order to reassimilate that person or thing (if possible) back into the community.
Uncleanness can be attached to people, to cooking utensils, pots, stoves, clothing, houses and even land, etc. So then to be unclean means something potentially carries an infectious communicable disease.
That’s what GOD SAID.
MAN SAID that the Bible was written by mere men and is not relevant to a modern society. MAN SAID that God is simply a manmade crutch.
Now THE RECORD. The history of ancient civilizations, including the vaunted Egyptian culture, shows a very poor understanding of dealing with infectious diseases. In contrast, the dictums in the word of God put obedient Jews in a very good stead and these dictums, given thousands of years ago, are very correct in today’s science.
God gave hundreds of commandments regarding this issue. Following are just a few of them:
Isaiah, Chapter 52, Verse 11:
Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.
The following verses deal with a human’s running issue. A running issue even includes the common cold, which by the way is the most communicable disease known to man.
Leviticus, Chapter 15, Verses 1-13:
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When any man hath a running issue out of his flesh, because of his issue he is unclean.
3 And this shall be his uncleanness in his issue: whether his flesh run with his issue, or his flesh be stopped from his issue, it is his uncleanness.
4 Every bed, whereon he lieth that hath the issue, is unclean: and every thing, whereon he sitteth, shall be unclean.
5 And whosoever toucheth his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
6 And he that sitteth on any thing whereon he sat that hath the issue shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
7 And he that toucheth the flesh of him that hath the issue shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
8 And if he that hath the issue spit upon him that is clean; then he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
9 And what saddle soever he rideth upon that hath the issue shall be unclean.
10 And whosoever toucheth any thing that was under him shall be unclean until the even: and he that beareth any of those things shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
11 And whomsoever he toucheth that hath the issue, and hath not rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
12 And the vessel of earth, that he toucheth which hath the issue, shall be broken: and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.
13 And when he that hath an issue is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean.
Leviticus, Chapter 11, Verses 29-35 deals with contamination caused by dead, unclean animals:
29 These also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind,
30 And the ferret, and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole.
31 These are unclean to you among all that creep: whosoever doth touch them, when they be dead, shall be unclean until the even.
32 And upon whatsoever any of them, when they are dead, doth fall, it shall be unclean; whether it be any vessel of wood, or raiment, or skin, or sack, whatsoever vessel it be, wherein any work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the even; so it shall be cleansed.
33 And every earthen vessel, whereinto any of them falleth, whatsoever is in it shall be unclean; and ye shall break it.
34 Of all meat which may be eaten, that on which such water cometh shall be unclean: and all drink that may be drunk in every such vessel shall be unclean.
35 And every thing whereupon any part of their carcase falleth shall be unclean; whether it be oven, or ranges for pots, they shall be broken down: for they are unclean, and shall be unclean unto you.
Cleansing and quarantine are addressed in Deuteronomy, Chapter 23, Verses 10-11:
10 If there be among you any man, that is not clean by reason of uncleanness that chanceth him by night, then shall he go abroad out of the camp, he shall not come within the camp:
11 But it shall be, when evening cometh on, he shall wash himself with water: and when the sun is down, he shall come into the camp again.
When Israel took the spoils of war unto themselves, they were required to sterilize and cleanse the items. Numbers, Chapter 31, Verse 23-24:
23 Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water.
24 And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean, and afterward ye shall come into the camp.
Many more commandments dealing with clean and unclean situations are outlined in the scriptures.
Deadly communicable diseases have turned into global plagues because of man’s disregard for the word of God. Because of man’s disregard of God’s cleansing, purifying and quarantining commandments, disease was passed from house to house by the very people who were attempting to stop it. Literally millions died prematurely because of man’s disregard.
During the 1800’s, a better understanding of the perfectness of God’s sanitation directives began to take hold in a renowned physician by the name of Lord Lister, a devout Quaker. Doctor Lister was the personal physician of Queen Victoria and was known as the co-founder of the germ theory. He revolutionized surgery by preventing infection in surgical wounds. Lister improved his science by maintaining a clean environment in the operating room and by sterilizing instruments. His new technique, which included thorough hand washing, meant most patients would no longer suffer from new germs introduced during surgery. The British Medical Journal wrote, "he (Lister) had saved more lives by the introduction of this system than all the wars of the 19th century together had sacrificed." You may have heard of the product that bears his name, Listerine.
During the 1800’s, a physician by the name of Ignaz Semmelweis washed his hands in a strong disinfectant and saw the occurrence of the dreaded puerperal fever decline.
Today medical science continues to validate the wisdom of God’s perfect commandments concerning sanitation, purification and cleanliness.
GOD SAID to make a difference between clean and unclean.
MAN SAID that the Bible is written by mere men and is not relevant to a modern society. MAN SAID that God is simply a manmade crutch.
Now you have THE RECORD.
References:
King James Bible
Gillen, A.L., Body by Design, Master Books.
The British Medical Journal, 1998, p 202.