February 18

Purity and impurity or often used as clean or unclean in Leviticus, seem to have a relationship to the natural order of human nature. Mary Douglas refers to this idea of order when she states: “uncleanness is matter out of place.” If cleanness or purity then refers to the order of human nature, sexual impurity must refer to behaving in a manner not coherent with our nature and the purpose of our sexuality.

God require us to maintain purity for the sake of communion, which he seeks to achieve throughout Leviticus. The “requirements” or commandments or instructions laid down by God are most often guidelines to how to live accordingly to our nature (which is in his image) than they are restrictions. Maintaining purity, then, is a way to maintain order. By requiring us to maintain purity, God requires us to maintain order. By maintaining order, we can achieve communion with God and successfully carry out His divine project. If there is such a thing as community, there must also be the opposite. And hence, impurity is that which represents disorder and rupture with God. 

The logic of the laws related to food and in particular the food laws have the purpose of strengthening communion and maintaining order in human life. As in the case of cooked and uncooked meals, Douglas explains that this lesson is meant for the safety of human beings. It is now common knowledge that uncooked meat carries diseases and react poorly with the digestive system. In this sense, a consequence of eating raw meat is disease, which is opposite to health. The diseases provoked by such then, were seen as a punishment from God and opposite to what he expects on us. The rules concerning what animals we can eat place us in connection with God since we think of Him and offer devotion before every meal.