Man being holy

In the story of the creation we learn there are three kinds of plants, namely grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind whose seed is in it self. We learn there are three kinds of animals, namely creep, cattle, and beasts. And we learn there are three kinds of lights in heaven, namely stars, the moon, and the sun. In other words there is necessity, there is usefulness, and there is loveliness.

The demands of The Lord stated in the Law of Moses can be seen to be of three kinds. To man it is necessary to keep the Ten Commandments to avoid being condemned: “… the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people.” states the Law (Numbers 15:30). And it is useful, it is constructive, to follow the precepts of the Law. Paulus said: “For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.” (Romans 10:5) And finally: It is lovely to keep the Law as such. By Moses The Lord said: “Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the LORD your God.” (Leviticus 20:7)

Living by the Law is first of all to live by the Ten Commandments and by the precepts of the Law. By so doing we will please The Lord. In the same way as we might understand the light of the stars and the light of the moon to be as if spoken for, or married, by the sun, we will please The Lord when we live by the Ten Commandments and by the precepts of the Law. But to be holy unto The Lord in the moment of Truth – in daylight – one must not only be righteous but also clean. One must not feel contaminated. One must act in faith. So before particular moments, such as wars against other people, Moses let the people consecrate, or purify themselves.

In the Law The Lord states what will make us feel unclean. For example the Law states that if “… any beast, of which ye may eat, die; he that toucheth the carcase thereof shall be unclean until the even. And he that eateth of the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: he also that beareth the carcase of it shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even.” (Leviticus 11:39-40) With respect to human corpses, the Law states: “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead: Both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell.“ (Numbers 5:1-3) Outside the camp the relatively permanent unclean ones were given to cleanse themselves. Regarding everyday life, the most important rules on cleansing concerned how to cleanse oneself from the feeling of being contaminated by giving birth (Leviticus 12), by illness (Leviticus 13), by bodily discharges, by seed of copulation, and by the regular female flow of blood (Leviticus 15).

Worth pointing out today is that the woman giving birth will stay unclean for a longer period of time if she gives life to a daughter and not to a son. The Law says that if she gives birth to a son she shall be unclean for seven days (“according to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean”), and so for thirty-three days purifying herself. If, though, she gives birth to a daughter she will be unclean for not seven but for fourteen days (“as in her separation”), and the period of time for her to purify herself shall be not thirty-three but sixty-six days.

The overall importance of the rules regarding pureness might be said to be that we by them are given ways to purify ourselves so that we can be lovely to The Lord in the moment of Truth – when the sunlight reveals us. Living by the Law we will be holy unto The Lord. Even so we will not be like gods when living by the Law: God alone is good. Human beings as we are we must be given right and be justified, and the reason why things we do turn out all right is solely that Christ sees to that. In the Law especially two happenings were instituted to remind the Children of Israel of this and to please The Lord, and that was the offering of the scapegoat, unto to which Aron confessed all the iniquities of the Children of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sin, which was sent out in the desert every time the high priest Aron went behind the veil before the mercy seat in the Ark of the covenant, the other happening The Day of Atonement each year on which the Children of Israel afflicted their souls, and on which the priest even made an atonement for the holy sanctuary and for the tabernacle of the congregation, both belonging to the Ark. (Leviticus 16)