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Chapter 21—Hygiene Among the Israelites
In the teaching that God gave to Israel, preservation of health
received careful attention. The people who had come from slavery,
with the uncleanly and unhealthful habits that it engenders, were
subjected to the strictest training in the wilderness before entering
Canaan. Health principles were taught and sanitary laws enforced.
Prevention of Disease
Not only in their religious service but in all the affairs of daily
life was observed the distinction between clean and unclean. All
who came in contact with contagious or contaminating diseases were
isolated from the encampment, and they were not permitted to return
without thorough cleansing of both their person and clothing. In the
case of one afflicted with a contaminating disease, the direction was
given:
““‘Every bed is unclean on which he ... lies, and everything on
which he sits shall be unclean. And whoever touches his bed shall
wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. He
who sits on anything on which he sat ... shall wash his clothes and
bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. And he who touches
the body of him ... shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be
unclean until evening. ... Whoever touches anything that was under
him shall be unclean until evening. He who carries any of those
things shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until
evening. And whomever [the one] touches, and has not rinsed his
hands in water, he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and
be unclean until evening. The vessel of earth that he ... touches
shall be broken, and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.”’”
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Leviticus 15:4-12
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The law concerning leprosy is also an illustration of the thor-
oughness with which these regulations were to be enforced:
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