Lesson 3 Part 3: Hygiene Laws

Now, a note about the hygiene laws. While we have focused so far on dietary laws, healthy living involves hygiene rules also. Way before the scientific community recognized the value of cleanliness, the Israelites were following God’s guidelines on sewage disposal. Deut 23:12 says put your outhouse outside the camp.

Archaeologists have noted that during the Roman Empire, Roman cities and camps planned their sewage and cisterns in the center of their compounds which allowed contamination of the water supply and made them vulnerable to epidemics and plagues. The contrast are both Jewish and Muslim communities have been spared many of those tragedies by following the OT hygiene principles.

In fact, during the black plague that killed millions during the middle ages, the European Jews were spared the disease, and consequently suffered great persecution because they were healthy.

In the Middle Ages the common people did not have access to the scriptures. It is said that as Louis Pasteur developed his theories and learned more scientifically, his faith became stronger. His discoveries help check some of the terrible epidiemics.

Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis became known as the savior of mothers when he discovered that just by washing hands in the ob gyn ward between patients, deaths decreased significantly. His work was used by Louis Pasteur to develop the germ theory.

It was a major discussion in a scripture we’ve already looked at – Mark 7—on washing hands before eating. We also know that there were ceremonial wash stands for the priests to use. So these are just examples of God’s guidelines proved valid by scientific discovery.

There are guidelines on sexual behavior and without going specifically into each prohibition (don’t have sex with your children or homosexual behavior), we know that avoiding sex before marriage and being faithful to your spouse is good disease prevention. We have new diseases and new strains of old diseases developing because of our sexual revolution.

Perhaps a good closing Proverb is one we have already looked at

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

Please understand that many of the problems that happen to us by not following the guidelines given by God are not His punished meted out to us but a result of the natural laws resulting from His creation.

My goal here was to give you new information and new things to think about and encourage you to start or to continue a journey to healthy living so that your focus can be on serving God with the gifts he has given you.