December 8, 2022
Passage Read: Leviticus 11-14
Meditation Verses: 13:43-46
Thought
It is interesting that the priests are given responsibilities beyond sacrifices and spiritual things. The priests have medical duties, specifically to determine whether a member of the community has an infectious skin disease, or if clothing or homes have destructive mildew. These are health and safety issues, and priests, not elders or civil officials, are made responsible. Any of these things can harm people, so they are matters of neighborly love. It is also interesting that the Lord appears to be concerned only about infectious skin diseases, not respiratory diseases. Skin diseases can require a week's isolation for determination, but they can result in long-term isolation if the person is found to have an infectious skin disease. But respiratory diseases are usually short-lived; they are usually dangerous only to the elderly or the very young, but rarely become chronic. They come and go quickly. By the time a week's quarantine is over, it is gone. It is a kindness if we try not to spread respiratory diseases, but they are not usually as dangerous as skin diseases.
Application
The Lord was concerned about infectious skin diseases, but not much else in terms of other diseases. The threat of skin diseases was apparently far greater than other diseases, so only skin diseases can make a person unclean and therefore need to continually isolate. The sick person was to isolate, not the healthy. The healthy maintained their rights to go about their daily life in the community; the diseased person was to surrender that right for the good of his neighbors. Respiratory diseases come and go quickly, usually without a manifestation in the skin. If there's no symptom in the skin, the disease was not worth isolating for; either because it would come and go too quickly to bother with a seven day isolation or because it was not a serious disease. While the principle of loving your neighbor and staying clear of them when sick is valid and honorable, it is the responsibility of the sick person to isolate; I shouldn't isolate out of fear of possibly contracting the disease.