Learning to relate to the holiness of God
Moses wrote instructions for the Levites on how they were to teach the people how to keep themselves set apart from the world in order to be God's people. The Lord gave Moses specific instructions regarding how to handle the carcasses of dead creatures.
There were practical reasons for the selection of certain animals (some were prone to cause allergies, some were dangerous to hunt, etc.) and the handling of carcasses (disease). objects that were porous (clay vessels) were to be broken because they couldn't completely be free from contamination. Through these examples, God wanted teach the people the differences between the clean and unclean so that they could relate to the holy and the unholy. That way they would have a better understanding of who God was and how to relate to Him as a holy people.[1]
In the same way, we are to be able to distinguish in our lives and cultural contexts what is holy and what is profane. We are not called to isolate ourselves from the world, or we wouldn't be able to help the lost and bring glory to Jesus. Neither are we to confirm to the world and become indistinguishable from it.
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[1]Roy Gane, Leviticus, Numbers, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004), 205-6.
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