The rationale of the laws of clean and unclean in the old testament

From: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society | Date: December 1, 2000| Author: | Copyright information

Ritual cleanness and uncleanness (associated with the Heb. roots tahir and tamed represents a major theme of the Pentateuch. Purity rules describe the rituals, varying according to the "severity" of the impurity contracted, for ceremonial uncleanness due to skin disease, bodily discharges, touching unclean things, and eating unclean foods. The rationale for these laws is never clearly spelled out, but several explanations probably have some validity, including hygiene, the need to dissociate oneself from disgusting or pagan things, various other ethical lessons, the association of Yahweh with ...

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