Is it possible for the physical to be unclean and the spiritual to be clean? That question is why YHVH provided the Book of Leviticus. That is also why He separated the darkness from the light. We can get very confused in our modern day thought processes when we try to mix the two. The two what? The Spiritual with the Physical and the Clean with the Unclean. All of this is connected, but in our linear Greek thinking minds, (Todah, Brad), we find it best to separate each element as they stand rather than articulate the nuances of the topics.
Discussing Clean and Unclean seems to conger up vibrant discussion. In the beginning of my transformation from dogmatic repertoire of Scripture by man to the loving embrace of Torah, I had difficulty coming to terms with the simplicity of the Written Word. I failed to see clean and unclean as simple as the following statement. Should the Cohen HaGadol have a sip of wine on the day of his service, he, the Cohen HaGadol would be deemed unclean! (See Lev 10:8-10) There was little difficulty in expressing the difference between clean and unclean foods… that is, foods determined by Torah for consumption. I learned early on just because it is consumable, does not render it clean. Lets not even bring up "certified" Kosher, when it can still be unclean! (Case in point, maraschino cherries. The red coloring is made from bugs, consumption of which is prohibited by Torah.) And if it ain’t scripturally Kosher, it ain’t food! Another topic for another day.
When it comes to physical versus spiritual cleanness/uncleanness, for me the easy way to stay on topic is to realize that Clean equates to Holy. So for now, put away the ritual hand-washing. Traditions are nice but sometimes we can mix them with reality and then the debate begins. Unclean can be determined as unholy. Can a Holy person be Unclean? Yes. Until sundown in most cases….we can be physically dirty, and still be determined clean. Interesting note: many years ago, while in the Navy, we washed our clothes in a bucket by hand. Sometimes the grime would not come out, but the garment (the uniform item) would be considered clean. We would refer to the pesky stain as "clean dirt."
Something declared by YHVH as unclean can never be Holy unless YHVH deems it so. Cleanness is a conditional state. We are supposed to be imitating Him; He said so. Do you think that our Heavenly Father would declare that something He has determined to be unholy should be imitating Him? He says we are to be Holy as He is Holy. If it were not possible, He would not have said so. So, this implies our basic state is that of being clean (holy). We cannot be that which we are not. I love the statement “Return to Me”…this means that we were at some time with Him, otherwise we would not be returning…we would be simply ‘turning to Him’. Read the words closely and see how many times you find Him saying ‘return’ and how many times we are told by the cohanim ‘turn to…’.
This past Shabbat I listened to an awesome d’rash on clean/unclean and niddah. A fantastic topic to use to pursue the true meaning of clean –vs- unclean. Just to make a few comments and not start a complete make-over of a great discussion and investigation; in Lev 11:47 we are told the purpose of this chapter is to help us make determination between clean and unclean as well as what is food and not food. It is the first step in understanding what is considered Holy for YHVH and what is not. We go all the way to Acts 10 and 11 and find great upheaval about who is permitted to worship based on the clean and unclean. An understanding of the Book of Leviticus helps before we take this journey.
When YHVH spoke to Aharon, (Lev 11) we can see that Aharon now holds the status of High Priest. It is the Priest who will determine what is clean and unclean with the person. (Remember the statement above; When YHVH says something is unclean, it remains unclean until He says otherwise? This task of mediating a misdemeanor rests with the Priest. Lev 11 is about misdemeanors). If we have doubts, we ask the Priest. Right now, our High Priest is preparing a place for us so we can join Him. We are this day supposed to be a nation of priests. We are supposed to judge ourselves before we go to Him. Physically, if we are doing all that we know we can to be clean (holy), then we can declare within our Spirit, that we are obedient. A few thousand years ago, with millions in the camp, sanitation was not as easily achieved as it is today. The guidelines were explicit for the time of niddah. The cultural guidelines are explicit today. It is within the spirit of the woman to determine that she has done all she can do to ensure she is physically clean. There should be no public evidence of her ‘state’ of being in niddah. Can she say, within her own self (spirit) that she is compliant and not committing a misdemeanor? Then I believe she is not only as physically clean as she can be (clean dirt) but is also Spiritually Clean. There are some I know who choose to not gather for worship services during their cycle and there are some I know who no one knows when their cycle is, aside from themselves and the Father. We get so hung up on the word 'unclean' that we do not realize that this time of separation is given so that the woman can rest and get through the bodily process of purging and cleansing. It's a gift, not a curse!
I do not have answers to right and wrong. The Torah does that. I only know that Torah is simplistic so that even a child can understand. We are the children. Let us not be caught up in man’s rulings, let us make decisions for ourselves based upon His rulings. Just as with the Seder, YHVH leaves it up to the individual to make the decision. We pray we make the right one.
Lev 15:31 says that by following His rulings, the people of Israel will be separated from their uncleanness. This means all uncleanness. In regards to the woman’s cycle, keep in mind that hygiene has progressed to fantastic levels. The intent of the ruling during niddah was to prevent the discharge from touching anything that the woman may have touched and left signs of her cycle. This is not about not touching another person. This is about not permitting the discharge to touch another person. That is why He says no sexual relations during the cycle. A few thousand years ago, before modern sanitation practices, the woman was separated from man and separated to YHVH. (I heard that some place and I like it). Today, she is equipped to not leave a sign for anyone to know anything this personal about her. Again, she is separated from man and separated to YHVH. YHVH knows all about her. Yes, this is my opinion. I cannot find where Scripture gives guidance for sanitary napkins. That does not mean 'don’t use them'. He gives us common sense.
When we start mixing up our thinking from the physical to the spiritual, we can drive our selves crazy. When we forget that there is no stone and mortar temple, that we are the living temple, we can drive ourselves nuts. During Temple times, the woman was separated because of the sanitation practices of that day and concern for the possible defiling of the Temple. With the understanding that we are the Living Temple, how can you separate yourself from yourself? When we overlook the simplicity of His Word, and incorporate man’s distortions as gospel, we become subdued and oftentimes wonder "what’s the use in trying?". When we fail to accept that Torah is now, and can still be honored, we are heading for trouble. We do not have to do all that is in Torah, but all that we do, must align with Torah. Read that again and make sure it is not misunderstood. When we discount Torah by shrugging away and only haphazardly attempt to be Torah compliant, we are not fully committed and therefore find little or no here-and-now meaning in His word. This last phase makes it much easier to really turn away and come up with the most ridiculous reasons for being disobedient. The first sign begins with failure to come together and that is closely followed with reluctance to ask about that which we are confounded. (I use the word confounded rather than confused…confused implies we see a choice and can’t make up our minds which one we want….confounded implies there are several variables and they all make sense…and we believe we can only have one)
For the new born in this walk, do not be reluctant to seek counsel with those who have gone before you. We all have to learn and this journey can be quite overwhelming as we shed the distorted doctrines that motivated us to seek the truth. No one person knows it all, and we all may be off track. But if we do not gather together to seek His Word, we are left to our own imaginations and that can be “unimaginable”. Together we can speak freely and not be afraid to worship YHVH in Spirit and in Truth.
Does this leave you confused? Confounded? Dismayed? Enlightened? Ready to shout for YHVH? Or just wondering …………………………….
Shalom for now….
Pinchas a/k/a Frankly Speaking
