Ceremonially Unclean

We're going to read much about a person being "unclean" in the days and weeks to come, and while we may think it quaint and obsolete, there were perfectly logical reasons for the need to both refrain from contact with unclean people or animals and to purify themselves if it did occur.

Dr. Pratt (and I use the honorific because I am referring to him as a physician) can discuss this better, but I did sell antibiotics for quite some time and have a thorough knowledge of infectious disease and how it spreads. Prior to the antibiotic era (which would be around 1940), it was not at all unusual for people to die of things that we completely take for granted today. The Spanish flu of 1917-20 infected over 500 million people worldwide and killed between 50-100 million of them. In 1914, tuberculosis was the #2 cause of death in the U.S., followed closely by pneumonia at #3 and nephritis at #4. #1, then as now, is cardiovascular disease. Here's a quick chart, with the rates being the number of deaths per 100,000 population:

1914 1998 Cardiovascular 158.2 864.7 Tuberculosis 141.7                               ---- Pneumonia 132.4                          34.0 Nephritis 99.2 9.7

It's hard to understand the impact that antibiotics have had on life span, since the diseases that have been eliminated or greatly reduced were amongst the greatest killers of men as recently as 100 years ago, but it shows that the proper containment of bacteria with antibiotics and viruses with antivirals leads to dramatic improvement in life spans. Look at this chart of the average life span over the past 100 years:

The average life span has almost DOUBLED in one hundred years, and a huge part of that is the role of cleanliness. When the Israelites were told to not touch unclean animals (both ceremonially, and also just plain unclean), they were being protected from bacteria that could spread from animal to human. When they were told to avoid contact with unclean people (in particular, people with leprosy), they were being protected from person-to-person transmission of disease. It may seem all formal and stiff now, but in many ways, in addition to obedience, God was promoting good hygiene a solid 3,500 years prior to it being accepted as standard medical practice.
Scott