Year 7, Day 134: Numbers 19

Theological Commentary: Click Here

There is lots of talk about dead bodies in this passage.  While it may feel odd to wonder why God spends time giving out instructions, I think the study of these passages can benefit us.  We can get both literal and figurative understandings from these words.

Let’s deal with the obvious first.  Literally, these passages help with cleanliness among the people.  When people die, their bodies immediately start to decay.  That means that there are germs, disease, and bacteria forming.  In the ancient world, with their obvious lack of refrigeration, those bacteria would form quickly.  Coming in contact with a dead body was literally a time of impurity.  The people would want to be careful with their bathing and cleaning after dealing with the dead.

There is a neat spiritual learning that we can get from this more literal understanding.  Because of the chance for impurity, God could have simply banned the contact with the dead.  God could have told the people to avoid the dead at all costs.  This is not how God works, however.  God knows that dealing with the dead is a vital role in community.  Therefore, God makes provision for the action, even though the action directly leads to impurity.  God understands that the high road is not always possible in society.  Sometimes we must take the road of impurity, go among sickness, and come out the other side knowing that we need to take care of any purity issues that we might face.  There is a clear analogy from this literal scenario to the spiritual call of living in the world but always remembering to not be of the world.

Let’s now move on to a more figurative learning that we can gather.  I think that it is interesting that God gives a timeline for the purity.  After all, if this chapter was just about the literal concern for disease and bacteria, why would seven days and multiple washings be needed?  One good washing will take care of any external bacteria.  I believe what God is doing here is teaching the people that there is a time for mourning and then there is a definite time for moving on. Many people and many cultures – for example the Egyptians from whom the Hebrew people are fleeing – mourn their beloved dead ones until they turn their mourning into a sort of ritualistic worship.  In many people, dead loved ones almost become little gods in their eyes.  In this passage, God is reminding us that there absolutely is a time for mourning the dead.  But we need to move along in our lives and go forward in life.  There is a time to remember that it is God who is the source of life, not the loved one who is not blessedly dead.

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