What stopped contagion before the microscope?
The same thing we do with a microscope: isolation.
“Quarantine” is nothing new. Separating diseased people from the rest of the population is an ancient practice beginning with God’s Law to Israel in Leviticus 13. Has anything changed? Find out by watching our Truth in Two video (full text below).
God’s order works in a disorderly world.
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Picture Credit: Luke Renoe, Snappy Goat, Scopio, Wikipedia
FULL TEXT:
One-third of Europe’s inhabitants died during the 14th century Bubonic plague. Why did so many people die? Disease was easily spread since sanitation was non-existent. Raw, human sewage freely flowed in the streets. In some cases, folks would literally throw their waste out the windows of their homes. Hearing these stories today makes us gag.
But there were Jewish neighborhoods unaffected by the plague. Why? Because Jewish households practiced the principles of First Testament teaching. Deuteronomy 23, as an example, made the practical degree: dig your latrine, your outhouse, your bathroom, away from where you live. Separating humans from their waste cut down on infection. Death from disease was limited. Confining germs kept people alive.
Around the world today we hear one word over and over: quarantine. The word means to isolate a person or a group from others. For instance, when a cruise ship loaded with people who have tested positive for a disease come to shore, they are quarantined.
Removing oneself from social interaction for cycles of 7 days (7, 14, 21) is based on ancient wisdom. Read Leviticus 13 to discover that contagious people were routinely separated from the community for the exact same periods of time. In our day, the principle has not changed. Leaders (read “priests” in Leviticus) must make serious, difficult decisions for the good of the populace.
In keeping with our own situation, separate space (the new phrase is “social distancing”) is imperative. We live during days of a disease no one saw coming. The virus has caused great distress, sadness, financial turmoil, death, and a myriad of traumas. So we should distance ourselves from others for the good of others: another statement from Leviticus.
The Levitical principle of quarantine had application in the 14th and now, in the 21st century.
For Truth in Two, this is Dr. Mark Eckel, President of the Comenius Institute, personally seeking truth wherever it’s found.