Scripture Daily

Context No. 4312 of 4322 · Leviticus

Context · Reflection

Leviticus 13:53-59: in context

53“If the priest examines it, and behold, the plague hasn’t spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything of skin; 54then the priest shall command that they wash the thing that the plague is in, and he shall isolate it seven more days. 55Then the priest shall examine it, after the plague is washed; and behold, if the plague hasn’t changed its color, and the plague hasn’t spread, it is unclean; you shall burn it in the fire. It is a mildewed spot, whether the bareness is inside or outside. 56If the priest looks, and behold, the plague has faded after it is washed, then he shall tear it out of the garment, or out of the skin, or out of the warp, or out of the woof; 57and if it appears again in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in anything of skin, it is spreading. You shall burn what the plague is in with fire. 58The garment, either the warp, or the woof, or whatever thing of skin it is, which you shall wash, if the plague has departed from them, then it shall be washed the second time, and it will be clean.” 59This is the law of the plague of mildew in a garment of wool or linen, either in the warp, or the woof, or in anything of skin, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean.

This law concerns a garment infected with a spreading mildew. The priest is to have it washed and examined again; and if the contamination remains after washing, the garment, however valuable, is to be burned. Some things could be cleansed and kept, but what remained defiled and could not be cleansed had to be destroyed, however costly it was to let it go.

What stands out is the willingness to destroy even a valuable garment if the corruption would not come out. The contaminated thing was not to be kept for the sake of its value; if washing did not cleanse it, it had to be burned. Better to lose the garment than to keep a source of defilement in the household. Value did not outweigh the danger of corruption allowed to remain.

Some things in our lives can be cleansed and kept; but some things prove to be sources of defilement that will not come clean, and these we must be willing to let go entirely, however much they cost us. Jesus spoke of being willing to lose even a hand or an eye rather than let it drag us into sin. The question is whether we value our purity before God more than the defiling thing we are reluctant to give up.

Am I willing to part entirely with what corrupts me, even when it is valuable to me and costly to lose, as the defiled garment that would not come clean had to be burned, valuing my purity before God more than the defiling thing I am reluctant to give up?

Sources