Cleanness, Holiness, & Forbidden Mixtures

The Levitical system views the world in terms of four basic categories:

• clean,

• unclean,

• common, and

• holy.

These are often thought of in terms of a three-tier hierarchy (with ‘unclean’ omitted for some reason)—viz. ‘common’ ⇒ ‘clean’ ⇒ ‘holy’—, which is a nice idea because quite a few other things in Scripture involve a three-tier system.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t fit the Biblical data. Cleanness-versus-uncleanness and commonness-versus-holiness aren’t rungs on a ladder. They’re two separate dimensions.

Any given thing/person can be in one of four different states, viz.,

• clean-and-common,

• clean-and-holy,

• unclean-and-common, and

• unclean-and-holy,

and movements between these boxes are described by means of four different verbs:

• Q-D-SH = ‘to make holy’ (common ⇒ holy),

• T-M-’ = ‘to make unclean’ (clean ⇒ unclean),

• T-H-R = ‘to make clean’ (unclean ⇒ clean), and

• KH-L-L = ‘to make common’ (holy ⇒ common).

Let’s consider some examples.

The seventh day started off like any other day, but God then decided to Q-D-SH it, and it hence became holy (qadosh). That is to say, the seventh day transitioned from ‘common status’ (just like the other days of the week) to ‘holy status’. It thus became a Sabbath—a day specially set aside for God’s purposes. Consequently, the verb Q-D-SH is normally translated as ‘sanctify’.

As a different example, consider the Levites. The Levites started off life like any other tribe, but when God chose them to be ‘holy to him’, they acquired a new status (Lev. 21.7–8). They went from ‘common’ to ‘holy’. Note, however, the all-important qualification. The Levites’ status as holy doesn’t tell us anything about their *cleanness/uncleanness*. Cleanness is a different dimension altogether.

If a Levite touched a dead body, he became unclean (like everyone else did). Consequently, Levites were only permitted to make themselves unclean by contact with the dead in special circumstances, viz. to attend to the dead body of a close relative (Lev. 21.1–4).

In terms of our four status-boxes, then, a priest who touched a dead body moved from ‘holy-and-clean’ to ‘holy-and-unclean’. Then, when he cleansed himself, he became ‘holy-and-clean’ again. That is to say, he moved from the top right box to the bottom right box, and then back to the top right box again.

The verb used to describe the first of these state-transitions is T-M-’ (‘to be made unclean’). A Levite who touched his dead father’s body made himself unclean (יִטַּמָּא). As a result, he’d need to be ‘cleansed’ at some later point in time (cp. Lev. 17.15), which would involve a different process and verb, viz. T-H-R = ‘to cleanse’ (sometimes translated as ‘purify’).

A non-Levite would undergo similar state-transitions, but in the context of the left two boxes.

Of course, at times things are a bit more complicated. Some of the transitions mentioned above can be of unspecified duration, with no clear Levitical precedent. For instance, the people of Israel ‘consecrated themselves’ (Q-D-SH) in preparation for YHWH’s descent on Mount Sinai, which required them to wash their garments and abstain from sex (Exod. 19.10ff.). David’s men did something similar when they went to war (I Sam. 21.6), as did Nazirites (Num. 6).

On other occasions, verbs like Q-D-SH don’t describe *technical* transitions. Rather, they refer to how someone has *behaved* or how someone/something has been *treated*. For instance, people who worked on the Sabbath ‘made it common’ (KH-L-L)—a verb sometimes translated as ‘desecrated’ or ‘profaned’. That’s not to say they (objectively) desecrated the holiness of the Sabbath (which remained holy to the Lord). Rather, they treated the Sabbath like it was any other day (Exod. 31.14). Similarly, a woman who became a prostitute became ‘common’ (KH-L-L) (Lev. 19.29). She wasn’t ‘holy/dedicated’ (Q-D-SH) to a particular husband. Rather, she was treated (by sinful men) as if she was common property.

With the odd exception, however, the basic idea is as we’ve outlined it above.

So, what are we to make of the four-box view? Well, as far as I know, it’s not too common (!), but it does seem to have considerable merit. For a start, it’s able to parse some otherwise awkward notions, such as the notion of a holy-yet-unclean Levite. It also makes sense of the holy-and-thus-forbidden mixtures described in Deuteronomy 22. Here’s how.

Suppose you’re a common Israelite. By that token you can enjoy whatever’s clean-and-common in state (Box 1). You can plant trees, grow wheat, make bread, drink wine, travel, hunt, marry, worship at the Temple, etc.

Things can be ‘out of bounds’ to you, however, for one of two reasons. First, they can be unclean-and-thus-forbidden (e.g., pork, ostrich meat, etc.). Second, they can be holy-and-thus-forbidden.

Hence, priests were anointed with a holy oil, but non-priests weren’t allowed to be anointed with it (or even to make it) ‘because it was holy’ (Exod. 30.31ff.); Aaron and his sons were permitted to eat the sacrifices offered for their ordination, but outsiders weren’t ‘because the sacrifices were holy’ (Exod. 29.33); the censers which came into contact with the fire of God (when he destroyed Korah and his men) became holy and had to be deposited at the altar (Num. 16.38); and so on.

The same logic underlies the forbidden mixtures described in Deuteronomy 22.

Per the stipulations of Deuteronomy 22.9–11:

• a vineyard sown with two kinds of seed yields a ‘holy’ (Q-D-SH) crop (Deut. 22.9)—a crop which a common Israelite is not permitted to eat (hence Q-D-SH is translated as ‘forfeit’ in the ESV);

• by implication, a field plowed with an ox and donkey yoked together is also holy;

• and the same is true of a garment made from a mixture of wool and linen.

That all of these mixtures yield holy produce is confirmed by an important consideration: God chose to make use of them in the accomplishment of his purposes.

• The land of Israel was God’s vineyard (Isa. 5), which was sown with all kinds of different seeds.

• God worked his land with an ox and a donkey yoked together: Ephraim is described as an ox (shor) (in Deut. 33.17); Judah is said to be an owner of donkeys (in Gen. 49.10); and, in Hosea 10.11, God said he would put Ephraim and Judah to the yoke and use them to plough his land.

• And, finally, God clothed himself with a garment of wool and linen insofar as he had the curtains of the tabernacle made from linen and scarlet wool. (In ancient times, ‘scarlet cloth’ typically meant ‘scarlet wool’ because wool was easier to dye: cp. Exod. 36.8 with Heb. 9.19.)

The stipulations of Deuteronomy 22.9–11 thus move from lesser to greater holiness. They begin with the land of Israel, move to the people of Israel, and climax with the God of Israel, the root and source of all holiness.

In sum, then, our four-box view of cleanness and holiness has considerable merit as well as some important theological implications (to be explored some other time).