Is it clean or unclean?
Although in the Hebrew laws and traditions there were godly instructions that outlined some of the do’s and don’ts and there were many very practical reasons for the rules regarding things that were considered unclean it seems there may have been more intense behavior than was intended. Many other laws we find in the Old Testament were expanded by the people to protect themselves against accidently breaking the law. These ideas of being unclean might also generate fear that would make the concern greater than the law intended– such as the rules regarding lepers. Leprosy was frightening and the fear of contracting leprosy would have made the instructions not to touch someone with the disease more intense and might have brought greater ostracism than was necessary. With both the fear of breaking God’s law and the fear of the practical human consequences there must have been a constant awareness of clean and unclean people and things and behaviors. For those who were serious about keeping the law this would have been a constant threat to their own physical and spiritual cleanness living everyday with the question – is it clean or unclean?