When I had my fourth child, I developed a condition that required me to remain in the hospital for eight days. I got to keep my sweet baby girl with me, but I had to leave our three energetic little boys at home with Daddy and Grandma. I really missed my home and family, but I sure did enjoy the bonding time with my daughter. It was also a blessing to be confined to bed so I could get rested up before I went back to the hectic routine of homemaking and childcare.

I had two more weeks of complete bed rest after I got home and friends and family continued to pitch in until I was allowed to get back on my feet. While I wouldn’t have chosen to be confined that way, I was blessed by the support I got as a fourth-time mom. I loved the time with my baby and I was pretty much recovered from childbirth by the time I got back up.

Laws for Mothers and Babies

God built into the Law a requirement that a woman be regarded as unclean for 40 to 80 days after giving birth. She was confined to her room (or tent) for 40 days after giving birth to a boy and 80 days after giving birth to a girl.

The Bible doesn’t say why confinement for a baby girl was twice as long as confinement for a boy. It doesn’t say that a baby of either gender was unclean. The uncleanness was related to the flow of the mother’s blood following childbirth. As long as it continued, she was unclean. There’s no proof that the flow lasts longer following the birth of a daughter than a son, and God didn’t give reasons for the differences in time, but I think mothers may have welcomed the extra time for recovery and bonding after childbirth. It was almost a reward!

When the mother completed her time of confinement, she returned to tabernacle worship by bringing a lamb as a burnt offering and a young pigeon as a sin offering. Or if she was poor, she could bring two pigeons or doves, one for the burnt offering, one for the sin offering. That’s what Mary, the mother of Jesus did (Luke 2:21-24)

Mary and Joseph kept all of the laws concerning their baby boy Jesus. In Luke 2 they provided for Jesus’ circumcision (vs. 21), Mary’s purification (vss. 22, 24), and Joseph’s presentation of Mary’s first-born son (vs. 23). Because Jesus was born in Bethlehem and Mary’s confinement kept the family there, they were close enough to go to the Temple in Jerusalem for these important rituals. How memorable and wonderful that was for them!

The laws concerning childbirth were not particularly oppressive. They brought the family together and provided opportunities for many small celebrations.

Laws for Skin Diseases

The laws concerning skin disorders were pretty challenging. Most scientists and doctors today think that the diseases described in Leviticus 13 refer to relatively common disorders such as psoriasis, eczema or vitiligo (where the skin loses its pigment and becomes white). Boils or burns that became infected were also included, but leprosy was very rare in that part of the ancient world.

According to the Law any of these skin disorders made the sufferer unclean and sent them into isolation.

Some of the skin diseases resolved over time and the priest could clear the person to return to the community after making the proper offerings at the tabernacle. The priest kept track of these cases by confining the person for seven days at a time and re-examining the condition each week.

Sent Outside the Camp

Persistent cases led to sufferers being sent to live alone outside the camp. That was probably as awful as it sounds. They lived as if there had been a death in the family. They tore their clothes and let their hair go uncombed. They covered their upper lip and cried, “Unclean, unclean,” whenever anyone came near them. They couldn’t participate in tabernacle worship. No more sin offerings, burnt offerings, or peace offerings for them. No festivals or celebrations. I’m sure that their families provided for their needs and came out to see them as much as was safe, but they couldn’t touch anyone.

People of Faith Outside the Camp

The laws for people with skin diseases are hard to come to terms with. Were these people cut off from God’s grace because they couldn’t participate in worship at the tabernacle? They were certainly removed from God’s presence there. How could they deal with their sin without making animal sacrifices at the altar?

What mattered to God was obedience and the people who stayed outside the camp were obedient to the laws concerning their condition. Their obedience was costly to them, but as long as they persisted in it, they honored God. God understood why they couldn’t come to the tabernacle.

The Bible doesn’t say that the skin condition was the consequence of sin. Sufferers were not labeled sinners and there was no guilt offering for a skin condition. If they got well, they could go back to offering regular sacrifices just as if they had never been afflicted.

The priests were not doctors and they did not treat skin diseases. They only diagnosed them for the purposes of enforcing the laws regarding the clean and unclean. They also did not accuse the person with a skin condition of sin. G. J. Wenham says they were like health inspectors who simply reported on the condition and followed the laws concerning it.

People outside the camp couldn’t make animal sacrifices offered at the tabernacle, but animal sacrifices didn’t save anyone anyway. Offering them simply demonstrated the faith and obedience of the offerers. People outside the camp also demonstrated their faith, by obeying God right where they were.

The Once for All Sacrifice

Here is the good news for all of us; those of us who worshiped at the old tabernacle, those who were banned from it, and those who never even saw the tabernacle. We are all saved by the same wonderful Savior and what he did covered the sins of all of us. The author of Hebrews explains it well.

“When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not part of this creation. He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” Hebrews 9:11-14

All are saved by Christ, whether the person of faith lived in the Old Testament or is alive today, it is by his death that we are saved.

Laws that Limit Destruction

 God knew his creation was going to be subject to conditions that would mar, scar, and threaten it so he gave laws to limit their spread. He wasn’t put off by these conditions; he never got tired of meeting people right where they were and showing them how to make things better, and he addressed both people and their belongings. He wanted their bodies, clothing and homes to be safe. He also wanted them to know that his holiness demanded that they obey his laws.

Jesus Went Outside the Camp

God knew that there were going to be people who didn’t get better. There are people all around us today who live “outside the camp” due to sin, social isolation, illness, addictions or disabilities. Sometimes they went there without meaning to. Maybe their condition crept up on them, and now they find themselves cut off and outside the camp.

But God is out there with them. He loves them and he wants them to know that he joins them in looking ahead to better things.

Here is what Hebrews 13:12-15 says:

“And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God the sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess his name. ”

Jesus went to those who are outside the city gate, so they could come to him. He went among the castoffs, the lost, and the cut-off people so he could point them toward paradise.

Sometimes, outside the camp, the only offering people have for God is their praise, the fruit of lips that confess his name . . . and Jesus tells us that is enough, because he has already done all the rest for us.