"These days, as the coronavirus continues to ravage the world,
infecting hundreds of thousands and killing tens of thousands, we are hearing a lot about quarantine.
Quarantine is an isolation of people from the larger population that is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pestilence. Typically, quarantine is used to isolate those who have been exposed, or might have been exposed, to a communicable disease, but do not yet have a confirmed medical diagnosis.
You’ll have noticed that the word quarantine includes the Latin root “four” (e.g., quarter, quart, etc.). That is because the term originates from quarantena, which means "forty days."
Leviticus 13 provides a protocol for dealing with skin conditions that may be infectious diseases.
As with the laws on clean and unclean animals, this protocol related to ceremonial uncleanness, but in retrospect we understand it as directed more toward public health and safety than to what we think of as religion or spirituality.
God spoke to Moses and Aaron: “When someone has a swelling or a blister or a shiny spot on the skin that might signal a serious skin disease on the body, bring him to Aaron the priest or to one of his priest sons. The priest will examine the sore on the skin. If the hair in the sore has turned white and the sore
appears more than skin deep, it is a serious skin disease and infectious. After the priest has examined it, he will pronounce the person unclean. If the shiny spot on the skin is white but appears to be only on the surface and the hair has not turned white, the
priest will quarantine the person for seven days. On the seventh day the priest will examine it again; if, in his judgment, the sore is the same and has not spread, the priest will keep him in quarantine for another seven days. On the seventh day the priest will examine him a second time; if the sore has faded and hasn’t spread, the priest will declare him clean—it is a harmless rash. The person can go home and wash his clothes; he is clean. But if the sore spreads after he has shown himself to the priest and been declared clean, he must come back again to the priest who will conduct another examination. If the sore has spread, the priest will pronounce him unclean—it is a serious skin disease and infectious. Lev. 13:1-8. (The Message, MSG).
If, after the 7 (or 14)-day period, the person was found to have an infectious disease, he was barred from participating in the tabernacle rituals and, more importantly from a modern public health perspective, he had to live outside the camp.
There is also a protocol for isolating and destroying cloth or leather clothing that might have become contaminated with mold or fungus; if the mold cannot be washed out, the garment must be burned. (Lev. 13:47-59).
This is remarkably helpful information, given what we now know about “toxic mold” and mycotoxins that can cause neurological damage and even death.
The cleansing ritual that was required to re-join the camp involved seven days of quarantine, and bathing. “Those who are being cleansed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and that evening they will be clean.” (Num. 19:19)."
Quarantine is an isolation of people from the larger population that is intended to prevent the spread of disease or pestilence. Typically, quarantine is used to isolate those who have been exposed, or might have been exposed, to a communicable disease, but do not yet have a confirmed medical diagnosis.
You’ll have noticed that the word quarantine includes the Latin root “four” (e.g., quarter, quart, etc.). That is because the term originates from quarantena, which means "forty days."
Leviticus 13 provides a protocol for dealing with skin conditions that may be infectious diseases.
As with the laws on clean and unclean animals, this protocol related to ceremonial uncleanness, but in retrospect we understand it as directed more toward public health and safety than to what we think of as religion or spirituality.
God spoke to Moses and Aaron: “When someone has a swelling or a blister or a shiny spot on the skin that might signal a serious skin disease on the body, bring him to Aaron the priest or to one of his priest sons. The priest will examine the sore on the skin. If the hair in the sore has turned white and the sore
If, after the 7 (or 14)-day period, the person was found to have an infectious disease, he was barred from participating in the tabernacle rituals and, more importantly from a modern public health perspective, he had to live outside the camp.
There is also a protocol for isolating and destroying cloth or leather clothing that might have become contaminated with mold or fungus; if the mold cannot be washed out, the garment must be burned. (Lev. 13:47-59).
This is remarkably helpful information, given what we now know about “toxic mold” and mycotoxins that can cause neurological damage and even death.
The cleansing ritual that was required to re-join the camp involved seven days of quarantine, and bathing. “Those who are being cleansed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and that evening they will be clean.” (Num. 19:19)."
