Okay, I'm not quite through with this subject yet.
During the current and unprecidented "stay at home" time that most of us have succumbed to in the hope of helping to level the Coronavirus curve, I find it interesting to take a look at the bible's Third Book of Moses called Leviticus.
Truth be known, I can't remember the last time I actually referred to Leviticus looking for answers to present day issues. The book however focuses on, among other things, offerings and purity. Chapters 13 & 14 of Leviticus especially deal with diseases, swells, rashes, and discolorations. Scholars have noted that the writing style of these chapters is medical and “modeled on Mesopotamian diagnostic treatises.”
While most people believe the disease spoken about in these chapters is leprosy, we know that the term in the Hebrew refers to a certain “group of diseases,” whatever they are. We see instructions as to what to do when you find physical evidence of a disease (depending on where you find it and when you find it), when you should go to the priest to examine it, and when the priest will declare it unclean or clean. I found such strange parallels between our social distancing and the order in Leviticus 13:45 that someone with a disease should have to call out “Unclean! Unclean!,” identifying themselves as contagious so that others will stay away. Those that are “unclean” are to “dwell apart,” “outside the camp.”
Additionally, I found myself impressed with the detail that the book goes into when attempting to identify and diagnose diseases inside the camp. The priests, in this Israelite culture, were the medical professionals. They examined the markings or signs and decided if it was contagious, dangerous, or if the subject was ready to return to the camp. But feelings of being impressed quickly depart when we read on into Chapter 14 of Leviticus, where the “cures” and “cleansing” explanations were given.
i.e. "Then shall the priest command for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop..."
When you have a moment in the next little while, I seriously recommend taking the time to read Chapter 14 of Leviticus to get a better feeling for the exhausting sacrificial cleansing ritual that followed.
It is unsettling to read how this primitive culture attempted to cleanse itself of a disease it did not understand… Bathed in theology and cultic ritual, this priestly culture knew nothing of bacteria or viruses, the causes or the cures. They stumbled blindly through makeshift solutions, sometimes accidentally hitting the mark, like separating the ill from the healthy or closing a house with a plague found inside it. But we watch from above, reading the pages, with pity and awe, wishing we could educate these ancient writers with what we know now.
It is an apt reminder, given our current situation, of the importance of distinguishing between the experts and those who think they are experts. In the book of Leviticus, the priests were, unfortunately, both. They were the only experts of the time that we are able to see. But in today’s world, we should, and can, know the difference between the trained medical professionals, and other leaders, and we should watch what kind of advice we take from the latter, especially politicians.
It is unsettling to read how this primitive culture attempted to cleanse itself of a disease it did not understand… Bathed in theology and cultic ritual, this priestly culture knew nothing of bacteria or viruses, the causes or the cures. They stumbled blindly through makeshift solutions, sometimes accidentally hitting the mark, like separating the ill from the healthy or closing a house with a plague found inside it. But we watch from above, reading the pages, with pity and awe, wishing we could educate these ancient writers with what we know now.
It is an apt reminder, given our current situation, of the importance of distinguishing between the experts and those who think they are experts. In the book of Leviticus, the priests were, unfortunately, both. They were the only experts of the time that we are able to see. But in today’s world, we should, and can, know the difference between the trained medical professionals, and other leaders, and we should watch what kind of advice we take from the latter, especially politicians.
It is disturbing to read about pastors and religious leaders still attempting to hold services in person, telling their members to shake hands, or even stating through television appearances that they will heal people if only they would send a few dollars. Likewise, there are those in our country that have no medical training that are telling us what we should or shouldn’t do. Their advice is often countered by the medical professionals, doctors, and scientists. And yet, unfortunately, too many are listening to the wrong people. With the same pity and awe with which we read of the priests’ actions in Leviticus, today we watch as people defy social distancing mandates or take unapproved medications.
Unlike in Leviticus, however, it does not have to be this way. Recently, Politico Magazine talked to 34 big thinkers about how the Coronovirus will impact us in the future. They shared their predictions in their article, Coronavirus Will Change the World Permanently. Here’s How. One thinker, Tom Nichols, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College and author of The Death of Expertise, stated the following:
"America for several years has become a fundamentally unserious country. This is the luxury afforded us by peace, affluence and high levels of consumer technology. We didn’t have to think about the things that once focused our minds—nuclear war, oil shortages, high unemployment, skyrocketing interest rates. Terrorism has receded back to being a kind of notional threat for which we dispatch volunteers in our military to the far corners of the desert as the advance guard of the homeland."
In light of that mentality, Nichols sees the following:
First, it has already forced people back to accepting that expertise matters. It was easy to sneer at experts until a pandemic arrived, and then people wanted to hear from medical professionals. Second, it may—one might hope—return North Americans to a new seriousness, or at least move them back toward the idea that government is a matter for serious people.
It is hoped that both come true. That instead of putting trust in the priests, those who believe themselves to be experts, performing actions that are symbolic and of no real value, that instead we turn to the medical professionals, the true experts in these times, and in the future. True, the work of the Levitical priests most likely made people feel better, emotionally. They believed this would be the cure, and that they had done the right thing. But that is because they did not have access to true expertise to juxtapose the false hope and empty archaic rituals.
Unlike in Leviticus, however, it does not have to be this way. Recently, Politico Magazine talked to 34 big thinkers about how the Coronovirus will impact us in the future. They shared their predictions in their article, Coronavirus Will Change the World Permanently. Here’s How. One thinker, Tom Nichols, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College and author of The Death of Expertise, stated the following:
"America for several years has become a fundamentally unserious country. This is the luxury afforded us by peace, affluence and high levels of consumer technology. We didn’t have to think about the things that once focused our minds—nuclear war, oil shortages, high unemployment, skyrocketing interest rates. Terrorism has receded back to being a kind of notional threat for which we dispatch volunteers in our military to the far corners of the desert as the advance guard of the homeland."
In light of that mentality, Nichols sees the following:
First, it has already forced people back to accepting that expertise matters. It was easy to sneer at experts until a pandemic arrived, and then people wanted to hear from medical professionals. Second, it may—one might hope—return North Americans to a new seriousness, or at least move them back toward the idea that government is a matter for serious people.
It is hoped that both come true. That instead of putting trust in the priests, those who believe themselves to be experts, performing actions that are symbolic and of no real value, that instead we turn to the medical professionals, the true experts in these times, and in the future. True, the work of the Levitical priests most likely made people feel better, emotionally. They believed this would be the cure, and that they had done the right thing. But that is because they did not have access to true expertise to juxtapose the false hope and empty archaic rituals.
In today’s world, we have what we need to stay safe, if only we would use it. We can no longer afford to be swamped by too much information, not able to distinguish what is true and what is not. We must find the real experts in our world and listen to their diagnoses, projections, and predictions. Anything else is unhelpful, as unhelpful as the slaughtering of two live birds on an altar.
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