Quirky Ponderings (Leviticus 14 & 15)

After reading Leviticus 14, 15, & 16 I decided there were too many unrelated thoughts for me to write in one post. So... you get three today! ...No it's ok, you don't have to run away!

Actually, I don't have any thoughtful insight to speak of - just a few quirky ponderings. I'm not even sure that I actually want to find the answers, so I guess this is just a glimpse into my odd way of thinking.

As I was reading about the process for cleansing infectious diseases, my mind was drawn to the practical matters that the priest may have had to deal with. For instance, the priest had just poured oil in his hand and was shortly thereafter tasked with sacrificing an animal. Was he allowed to wash in between the two actions? Having oil-slicked hands would make it very difficult to wield a knife, particularly with any accuracy, and would likely be rather dangerous.

Then reading about women's ceremonial cleansing after bleeding made me curious about how a woman's period effected her everyday life back in those times. Today we just keep a stock of feminine hygiene products in the cabinet & don't think much about it. It's simply a nuisance that we deal with for a few days of each month. What did they do before those products were invented? Did they use something akin to a cloth diaper? Did they not use anything at all and rather confined themselves to a small area so as to contain the mess? Not to mention that chapter 15 tells us of how everything a woman sits or lies on during that time becomes unclean. I imagine she wouldn't want to risk having others become unclean just because they came in contact with the things around her.

How about men being deemed unclean every time they have sex? Do you think that hindered their desire any or made them think twice before making love to their wives? You hear of how expensive it was just to be able to take a bath in colonial times here in America, and that was more than a century later. I wonder what the simple luxury of bathing entailed. If it was a costly practice, would it keep couples from sharing in marital bliss? Or am I over-thinking things again? Maybe "bathing" back then was more along the lines of washing oneself down from a pot of water?

It's just tough imagining life back then. We seem to do what we want, when we want, and don't slow down for anything. Maybe slowing down is part of how we're supposed to separate ourselves and live that different Christian life...