Today’s Bible Reading: NUMBERS 4:1-5:31
Numbers 5:2-3 "Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone who is leprous or has a discharge and everyone who is unclean through contact with the dead. You shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell." -
We all need positive touch in our lives. We need the emotional and mental benefits that welcomed touch generates. We need the security, safety, support and sympathy that touch produces. We long for a hug or a squeeze of our hand that would convey the love and affection that we crave.
Our text presents the untouchables. These are those who have encountered or experienced something that causes them to be secluded from society. They are deemed untouchable. They cannot touch others or be touched by others. Their situation demands that they be exiled and excluded from the care and compassion of the community. They were resigned to the confines of their touchless torture.
There are three scenarios presented that would classify a person as unclean. The three are disease, discharge and death. A person would become defiled and thus would be disengaged from the community if they contacted leprosy, had a bodily discharge or if they had come in contact with a dead body. If they were affected by any of these conditions, they were considered untouchable.
The cause of their condition was not the concern. It didn’t matter if it was their fault or not. Anyone afflicted by one of these ailments would be treated as untouchables. Their situation separated them from society until their status changed. They were afforded no contact with the community. They were put outside the camp. It was only when they were pronounced to be clean that they could reenter the camp.
Imagine the stain of separation that this situation created. Families were disconnected from each other. Parents were parted from their children. Friends were detached from each other. They could not go outside the camp to hold them or hug them, because they were untouchable. Those unaffected looked on with anticipation for the quarantine period of their loved one to end so they could be reunited with them. Unfortunately for some, like those with leprosy, there was no cure and without a miraculous touch they would die disconnected from those dear to them. They needed someone with a healing touch to touch them so they could touch again.
On the horizon there was one who would come and touch the untouchables. He could touch them without himself being touched by their affliction. He was the one who would deliver them from their defilement without being defiled himself. He could heal their hurt without being hurt himself. Jesus is the one who can touch the untouchables. His touch was their cure.
The New Testament recounts several encounters that Jesus had with untouchables in all three of these scenarios. Jesus touched a leper who became clean without becoming unclean Himself (Luke 5:12-13). Jesus was touched by a woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years and it stopped. She became clean without making Jesus unclean (Luke 8:43-44). Jesus took the hand of a dead girl and she came back to life. She was made clean without making Jesus unclean. His touch delivered the defiled. The untouchables could touch again because they were touched by Jesus.
Those afflicted were sent outside the camp to recover or die. Scripture tells us that Jesus was crucified outside the gate symbolizing being outside the ‘camp” (Heb 13:11-12). Friends and family couldn’t go outside the camp to be with their loved ones. They couldn’t have contact with them. They were helpless to help them. Similar to the afflicted, we are unclean. We are defiled by our sin. We are alienated and helpless outside the camp. But Jesus died outside the camp to deliver those who were discarded to die outside the camp. His cross makes us clean. His death removes our sinful defilement. His touch makes the untouchable touch again.
Today Praise Jesus that His death delivered us from the defilement of sin. Thank Him for going outside the camp to bring you in. Rejoice that He meets you where you are, outside the camp. Praise Him that you didn’t have to clean up to come to Him, but He makes you clean when you come to Him. Thank Him that by His touch you were made whole so you can touch others.
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