Life, Death and In-between

The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them: ‘A priest must not make himself ceremonially unclean for any of his people who die,’”   Leviticus 21:1 NIV

Ceremonially unclean – YHVH gives instructions for His priests. These are not instructions for everyone. These instructions detail exactly how priests are supposed to act in specific situations, and they get progressively restrictive for high priests. But all of us can learn something from the language about priests if we pay close attention to the purpose of these instructions.

Eve Levani Feinstein notes that “the purpose of avoiding death pollution here is manifestly to prevent contamination of the sanctum:”[1] The Hebrew word, tame, means, “to become unclean.” We are most familiar with its occurrences when it is used about foods and idolatry, but it is also applied to menstruation, semen, certain sexual relations, and death. The LXX translates this word with akathartos and akatharsia, indicating that what is involved here is defilement. What is “unclean” is defiling. As Feinstein’s work demonstrates, defilement is a form of pollution that interrupts the intended present relationship with YHVH. Of course, some forms of defilement (such as menstruation) are not sin. They are simply ordinary human occurrences that interrupt the ability to enter into sacred space. They are not permanent and the biblical texts provide cultic remedies. Even death, an inevitable human occurrence, has ritual remediation. So we should not think of defiling as if it were one uniform category always related to sinful acts.

With this in mind, we discover something important about the biblical idea of being defiled. Atonement is the solution. In other words, atonement, brought about by cultic rituals (like washing or seven days of waiting), removes the defilement. Since atonement can be accomplished by physical acts performed by human beings or by simply observing the required temporal period, we must not think of atonement as if it also always deals with sin. Atonement is cleansing. Sometimes it’s about sin. Sometimes it isn’t.

What is really important here is the connection between defilement, atonement and death. Death itself, even when it is an inevitable normal human experience, defiles. Why? If it isn’t sin, if it is simply part of what it means to be human, then why should it defile? Why should it be so important that YHVH instructs His priests not to allow themselves to become ritually unclean because of the death? The answer is this: Death is an affront to YHVH’s sovereignty and holiness. Death does not belong in the realm of the sacred and therefore must not be allowed in the presence of YHVH. But death is real. It is a sword in the side of creation. It is a jailer of everyone who lives. So YHVH must deal with more than guilt, more than the broken relationship caused by sin. He must also deal with the smear of death on His creation. And, of course, He does deal with this, doesn’t He?

Topical Index: death, defile, unclean, tame, akathartos, akatharsia, Leviticus 21:1

[1] Eve Levani Feinstein, Sexual Pollution in the Hebrew Bible, p. 97.