What goes on in a person’s mind when they are isolated from society, from loved ones and from familiar places and faces? How can the thoughts derived from that time of isolation change the character of one’s heart? With the corona virus pandemic upon the world scientists and government officials have deemed that isolation and cleanliness; even quarantining people is the best practice to reduce the spread of a person to person virus; a virus that is most deadly.
Israel in the 15th century, B.C. was given the command by God through Moses to maintain a healthy clean camp for the people. If a skin condition such as boils or scabs was found, a symptom of some form of leprosy; the person or family was to report that person to Aaron the High Priest. By the command of God, Aaron was to inspect then isolate; (shut him up) the person for observation for seven days, then inspect the person and place them in seven more days of isolation giving the person 14 days to see if they were healed or not, (Leviticus 13:4-5). If you did not heal you were quarantined outside the camp and no one was permitted to be with you and you were not permitted back inside the camp of the Israelites. If you had a house filled with mildew/mold (considered another form of leprosy then) the house had to be cleaned and if it kept coming back the house would be mortared and plastered and if the mildew/mold came back again the house would be totally torn down and the contents removed and taken outside the city, (Leviticus 14:33-48). These little airborn particles can cause respiratory illnesses just as they do now. A healthy existence requires a sanitary living condition thus sanitation demands separation from disease and infections or else disease will arise and spread and kill.
God set rules for isolating and quarantining Israel as an example to the nations that separation from infections is critical to good living. More importantly this was a further lesson to Israel of keeping separated from sin. Disease and infections were always associated with the fall of mankind whether the one suffering was directly involved in sin or was indirectly involved in sin. The lesson we learn is that sin, since the fall of Adam has brought upon humankind suffering either deservedly or undeservedly, (Romans 8:18-22). A secondary lesson we can all learn from the word of God is found with the example of the coronavirus spread which we are seeing played out before us now.
God via Old Testament Scripture has shown mankind how to stop and contain the spread of infectious microbes; microbes which can be found in various forms such as bacteria, fungi, algae, and viruses. Cleanliness and isolation are shown to be fundamental to overcoming sin as well as the spread of disease. If a person dies from a disease it does not mean they were committing sin, but that death is due to the sin nature abiding in all human beings. Because of the principle and presence of the sin nature death awaits us all.
During a pandemic disease claims many lives whether those people lived good lives or not; whether they were wicked or righteous.
The Bible says the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike, (Matthew 5:45). Nothing seems fair when things are out of our control and life is not going our way, but the reality is, we are limited in our powers to control many events around the world just as we are limited in our power to overcome sin by ourselves.
For our own good what we all can do in our time of isolation is reflect on our own mortality, not deflect to someone’s inability to keep us from harm. We can reflect on our relationship to God and ask ourselves whether He sees us in the light of His righteousness, of we are trusting in our own kind of righteousness. If we were purely righteous and without sin no curse of death and disease would befall us and we would never become sick or die, “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine; the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” (Ezekiel 18:4)
The word of the Lord says; “For all have sinned and come short (missed the mark) of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) The Bible goes on to say; “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)
It is evident that disease and death are more than physical realities; for as we contemplate their existence they also show us how fragile and precious life is. They show us that physical life is temporary and often painful. The senses of our soul are awakened during a crisis where death may be upon us. With this in mind during these times we have opportunity to take stock in our eternal destiny and hopefully do so with God’s direction. A time of forewarning of our own death is an act of God’s mercy which allows us a measure of time to get our relationship to Him right before it is forever too late.
Isolation can be much more than just separation from the world and disease, but a time of reflection, appreciation and decision making. The Bible says “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13)
-Pastor John W. Reynolds, Th.D.
Faith Baptist Church, Fincastle
