Part II of 365 Day Bible Plan

Tammy and I are almost through Numbers in our Bible reading and before I move on to other things I wanted to add something about the Levitical law that I have always found fascinating. Along with holiness there is a huge emphasis on clean and unclean. Leviticus 11 and clean and unclean animals has always been interesting to me. One of my favorite commentaries I think I ever read was Gordon Wenham's commentary on Leviticus. I went back and re-read his notes on Chapter 11 and he mentions Mary Douglas anthropological approach to understanding it. Mary Douglas said holiness wasn't just about what should not be done but also about wholeness or integrity. Thus the animal world is divided into spheres where each sphere had a particular mode of motion associated with it. Those animals in a sphere that did not adhere to a particular motion were unclean. Now this explanation does not entirely help to explain the clean and unclean animals but I was struck by the notion of holiness as wholeness or integrity. It reminds me that holiness isn't about a set of rules and regulations but God's desire to see his people complete and whole. In this broken world its nice to know that one day God will make all things new and restore the World through Christ.