Why are there commandments in the OT that are no longer valid through Jesus?

[Germanguy]

Hello,

hopy you can help me. Cause I am confused...in the OT (Book of Leviticus) it is written that women are unclean during menstruation. Couples must bathe after the sexual act and are unclean until the evening.

These rituals are no longer relevant to us with Jesus. But I wonder why God instructed Moses these commandments at that time? What was the point of washing after [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]? And why were women unclean during bleeding? After all, these are not just hygiene rules, theses are rituals. Why did God give them to the Jews? Was was the reason?

 

[dqhall]

Hello,

hopy you can help me. Cause I am confused...in the OT (Book of Leviticus) it is written that women are unclean during menstruation. Couples must bathe after the sexual act and are unclean until the evening.

These rituals are no longer relevant to us with Jesus. But I wonder why God instructed Moses these commandments at that time? What was the point of washing after [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]? And why were women unclean during bleeding? After all, these are not just hygiene rules, theses are rituals. Why did God give them to the Jews? Was was the reason?

They presumed God was talking to them, but they knew it not. Without chlorine, bromine or other water purification chemicals the bathing pools, called mikveh’s, were themselves unclean and a vector for waterborne disease transmission.

 

[Maria Billingsley]

Hello,

hopy you can help me. Cause I am confused...in the OT (Book of Leviticus) it is written that women are unclean during menstruation. Couples must bathe after the sexual act and are unclean until the evening.

These rituals are no longer relevant to us with Jesus. But I wonder why God instructed Moses these commandments at that time? What was the point of washing after [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]? And why were women unclean during bleeding? After all, these are not just hygiene rules, theses are rituals. Why did God give them to the Jews? Was was the reason?

Welcome to CF!
"God gave the Law to define sin and demonstrate our need for a Savior. Jesus is the only one who has perfectly obeyed the Law. Through His life, death, and resurrection, He fulfilled all of God’s righteous commands (Matthew 5:17–18)."
What are the 613 commandments in the Old Testament Law? | GotQuestions.org

 

[Aussie Pete]

Hello,

hopy you can help me. Cause I am confused...in the OT (Book of Leviticus) it is written that women are unclean during menstruation. Couples must bathe after the sexual act and are unclean until the evening.

These rituals are no longer relevant to us with Jesus. But I wonder why God instructed Moses these commandments at that time? What was the point of washing after [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]? And why were women unclean during bleeding? After all, these are not just hygiene rules, theses are rituals. Why did God give them to the Jews? Was was the reason?

Most of the 613 commandments were highly practical. There is evidence to suggest that Jews suffered far less from the terrible plagues because they followed God's laws with respect to hygiene and food laws. Many terrible diseases are spread by the practice of eating infected animals. That includes COVID. One of the greatest advances in health care was simply soap and water. Much suffering could have been avoided if biblical principles had been followed.

 

[Germanguy]

Thank you so much! That makes sense! So they very "just" hygiene rules.

Maybe Jesus took their relevance cause people had a more hygienic life? Between Moses and Jesus were thousands of years...

 

[RDKirk]

They presumed God was talking to them, but they knew it not. Without chlorine, bromine or other water purification chemicals the bathing pools, called mikveh’s, were themselves unclean and a vector for waterborne disease transmission.

Mikvehs were, however, supposed to be of "living water," that is, either flowing through the mikvah from a continuous source or frequently changed.

 

[RDKirk]

Most of the 613 commandments were highly practical. There is evidence to suggest that Jews suffered far less from the terrible plagues because they followed God's laws with respect to hygiene and food laws. Many terrible diseases are spread by the practice of eating infected animals. That includes COVID. One of the greatest advances in health care was simply soap and water. Much suffering could have been avoided if biblical principles had been followed.

I made that suggestion to an orthodox rabbi once, and he immediately jerked me short, saying curtly, "We don't obey God because it makes sense, we obey God because He is God."

Jews have, in fact, categorized those laws that make no sense at all by human rationale, calling those laws "chukim" decrees.

 

[RDKirk]

Hello,

hopy you can help me. Cause I am confused...in the OT (Book of Leviticus) it is written that women are unclean during menstruation. Couples must bathe after the sexual act and are unclean until the evening.

These rituals are no longer relevant to us with Jesus. But I wonder why God instructed Moses these commandments at that time? What was the point of washing after [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]? And why were women unclean during bleeding? After all, these are not just hygiene rules, theses are rituals. Why did God give them to the Jews? Was was the reason?

God states His reason:

For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth. Deuteronomy 14

The basic purpose of the law was to make the Israelited different in just about every way from the surrounding people. Yes, many of the laws were beneficial (and those that were beneficial were not always different from the surrounding people...nature is still nature for everyone), but the real purpose was to make the Israelites different.

And as well for Christians:

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light -- 1 Peter 2

The Sermon on the Mount makes us just as peculiar to the nations around us as the Mosaic Law did for the Israelites.

 

[Clare73]

Hello,
hopy you can help me. Cause I am confused...in the OT (Book of Leviticus) it is written that women are unclean during menstruation. Couples must bathe after the sexual act and are unclean until the evening.

These rituals are no longer relevant to us with Jesus. But I wonder why God instructed Moses these commandments at that time? What was the point of washing after [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]? And why were women unclean during bleeding? After all, these are not just hygiene rules, theses are rituals. Why did God give them to the Jews? Was was the reason?

The purpose of the law was not to make righteous, but to teach the meaning of sin (Romans 3:20).

The defilement laws were to teach the nature of sin as spiritual defilement, which must be cleansed
(by the blood of the Lamb shed on the cross).

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Hello,

hopy you can help me. Cause I am confused...in the OT (Book of Leviticus) it is written that women are unclean during menstruation. Couples must bathe after the sexual act and are unclean until the evening.

These rituals are no longer relevant to us with Jesus. But I wonder why God instructed Moses these commandments at that time? What was the point of washing after [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]? And why were women unclean during bleeding? After all, these are not just hygiene rules, theses are rituals. Why did God give them to the Jews? Was was the reason?

It is written in Deuteronomy that the law was given to the hebrews for their good. Many of these rules were given so they didn't die out before the birth of the Savior.

The law was a shadow pointing to Jesus. However, now that we are the body, we look towards the light, that was casting the shadow .. no longer walking as though in the dark.

 

[dqhall]

Mikvehs were, however, supposed to be of "living water," that is, either flowing through the mikvah from a continuous source or frequently changed.

I read a book by a British doctor who served at the Scots Mission Hospital in Tiberias during the late 19th and early 20th century. Dr. Torrance wrote about a cholera epidemic in Tiberias. He traced it to the ladies all washing their clothes along the same stretch of beach, so they could talk to each other. He instructed them to spread out along the beach when washing clothes to prevent the spread of cholera.

Mikvehs were common in the first century until 70 AD when the Romans defeated the Jews in a war. Mikvehs may be seen at Magdala and Sephoris in Galilee. They are around the western side of the temple mount in Jerusalem. Pilgrims wanted to use them to be purified before religious festivals. Water was not plentiful enough in Jerusalem for a constant replacement of mikveh water.

 

[Germanguy]

The purpose of the law was not to make righteous, but to teach the meaning of sin (Romans 3:20).

The defilement laws were to teach the nature of sin as spiritual defilement, which must be cleansed
(by the blood of the Lamb shed on the cross).

Oh good point, thats true! I guess my question is also...why comes Jesus thousands of years after Mose?. Why has God waited to send his son? Because humans had to learn the meaning of sin to unterstand the mercy of Jesus?

 

[HTacianas]

Oh good point, thats true! I guess my question is also...why comes Jesus thousands of years after Mose?. Why has God waited to send his son? Because humans had to learn the meaning of sin to unterstand the mercy of Jesus?

Those laws of the old testament are called "works of the law" in the new testament, see Romans 9:32, Galatians 2:16, and others, also sometimes the "law of righteousness", see Romans 9:31. They were acts of ritual purity that within Christianity have been replaced by faith. It is through faith that we become ritually pure "apart from the law", see Romans 3:21.

As far as the timing of Christ, it is only that Christ appeared "in the fullness of time", see Galatians 4:4. What that time was no one really knows.

 

[RDKirk]

I read a book by a British doctor who served at the Scots Mission Hospital in Tiberias during the late 19th and early 20th century. Dr. Torrance wrote about a cholera epidemic in Tiberias. He traced it to the ladies all washing their clothes along the same stretch of beach, so they could talk to each other. He instructed them to spread out along the beach when washing clothes to prevent the spread of cholera.

Mikvehs were common in the first century until 70 AD when the Romans defeated the Jews in a war. Mikvehs may be seen at Magdala and Sephoris in Galilee. They are around the western side of the temple mount in Jerusalem. Pilgrims wanted to use them to be purified before religious festivals. Water was not plentiful enough in Jerusalem for a constant replacement of mikveh water.

You're only pointing out that they were doing it wrong.

 

[Clare73]

Oh good point, thats true! I guess my question is also...why comes Jesus thousands of years after Mose?. Why has God waited to send his son? Because
humans had to learn the meaning of sin to unterstand the mercy of Jesus?

That would be my supposition. . .understanding of God's economy had to become their second nature... that takes lots of time.
But probably more important was the geopolitical nature of the world.

 

[dqhall]

You're only pointing out that they were doing it wrong.

This could also infer the first century practice of cleansing in a community mikveh was risky due to waterborne bacteria like Cholera. Roman baths were also a problem. Polio was spread by water and paralyzed many before the invention of the Polio vaccine. Typhoid Fever, Hepatitis A and Dysentery are among other waterborne illnesses.