The Lord explained to Moses and Aaron which animals were clean and which animals were unclean. The Lord included every beast and bird and the animals of the waters and the animals that swarmed the ground. Moses and Aaron were told that they were only allowed to eat clean animals and couldn’t eat unclean animals including pigs, shellfish, snakes and many more.
This chapter contains the dietary restrictions that modern day Jews follow. It made me curious as to why Christians don’t follow dietary restrictions, but I found the answer in the book of Acts, chapter 10. Basically, God told Simon Peter that there should no longer be a distinction between Jew and Gentile. Although in the Old Testament the Jews are the chosen people of God, the New Testament sees with Jesus that all people are welcomed to God. Therefore, the Jews no longer have to separate themselves by dietary restrictions. Of course, modern day Jews would still follow the restrictions because they don’t recognize the news of the New Testament.
The Lord told Moses rules for women who had given birth. After childbirth, a woman was considered unclean for a certain number of days depending on the gender of the child. The woman then had to wait an additional number of days and before bringing a sacrifice in order to be made clean.
This chapter seems to say that giving birth to a daughter makes a woman more unclean that giving birth to a son. However, it doesn’t explain why daughters are considered more unclean. The good thing about these instructions is that it gives the woman some time to recover before being forced to have another child.
The Lord told Moses and Aaron rules for determining whether someone with leprous skin was clean or unclean. Also, they were told what to do with a person who had leprous skin. Finally, they were told how to determine if garments of clothing were leprous and what to do with them.
In this chapter, leprous skin is used to refer to a large number of skin conditions. However, leprosy itself was apparently unknown at that time and location. Declaring a person to be unclean doesn’t seem very nice, but I think God’s main concern was ensuring the health and success of His chosen people. Therefore, they had to protect themselves from any possible diseases.
These are my thoughts on Leviticus 11-13.
Reflections of a Christian 