August 2008 Tip Series: Personal Health

Title of the month: How does the importance of physical health parallel the importance of spiritual health?

Subheading: These are instructions for dealing with the various kinds of contagious skin disease and infectious mildew, whether in clothing, in a house, in a swollen area of skin, in a skin rash, or in a shiny patch of skin. These instructions must be followed when dealing with any contagious skin disease or infectious mildew, to determine when something is ceremonially clean or unclean. (Leviticus 14:54-57)

1. TIP: God’s concern for us covers every part of living. God told the Israelites how to diagnose infectious skin diseases and mildew so they could avoid them or treat them. These laws are given for the people’s health and protection. They helped the Israelites avoid diseases that were serious threats in that time and place. Although they wouldn’t have understood the medical reasons for some of these laws, their obedience to them made them healthier. Many of God’s laws must have seemed strange to the Israelites. His laws, however, helped them avoid not only physical contamination, but also moral and spiritual infection.

2. TIP: The Word of God still provides a pattern for physically, spiritually, and morally healthy living. We may not always understand the wisdom of God’s laws, but if we obey them, we will thrive. Does this mean we are to follow the Old Testament health and dietary restrictions? In general, the basic principles of health and cleanliness are still healthful practices, but it would be legalistic, if not wrong, to adhere to each specific restriction today. Some of these regulations were intended to mark the Israelites as different from the wicked people around them. Others were given to prevent God’s people from becoming involved in pagan religious practices, one of the most serious problems of the day. Still others related to quarantines in a culture where exact medical diagnosis was impossible. Today, for example, physicians can diagnose the different forms of leprosy, and they know which ones are contagious. Treatment methods have greatly improved, and quarantine for leprosy is rarely necessary.