Just some interesting tidbits

As I continue on with my Bible reading plan (which is a bit "different" to say the least), I find some rather interesting things I just didn't think about before. In Genesis 20:12, when Abraham is trying to explain himself to Abimelech as to why he said that Sarah was his sister, I learned that part of the reason (aside from fearing he would be killed because men would want her (she must have been quite special, since by the time of Genesis 20 she was 90 years old...and he was still afraid they would kill him to possess her), was that she WAS actually his sister...the daughter of his father.

Aside from the "really...?" factor of all this, it is interesting to note that 400+ years later God would relay through Moses to the people of Israel that sleeping with the daughter of one's father (much less marrying her) is an abomination that would cause the two of them to be cutoff from the sight of the children of their people (or banished from the congregation) (Leviticus 18:9, 20:17, and Deuteronomy 27:22).

So why was this not condemned in the Bible? There are some things we simply aren't told, and must simply believe that God works through the sinfulness of man sometimes to bring about his purposes. We do know that things were somewhat "colorful" in those times, and that God uses it all for his purposes. Nahor (Abraham's brother), has sex with his other brother's daughter and has a son called Bethuel, who fathers Laban (the father of Leah and Rachel whom Jacob (Issac's son) marries to setup the patriarchs of the twelve tribes).

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Another one that had me scratching my head for a while was when Jesus touches the leper in Matthew 8:2 in order to cleanse him. Just a day or two earlier I had read in Leviticus 5:3-6 that touching someone who was unclean (and lepers "qualify" for this (Leviticus 13:3 among other references)) was in itself a sin....at least according to the Law given by God to Moses, to in turn give to the children of Israel.

Scratching my head, because we are told in at least three places in the New Testament (2 Corinthians 5:21, Hebrews 4:15, and 1 Peter 2:22) that Christ did not sin while on earth.

In Haggai 2:12-13 we learn that if one touches something unclean with something holy, the holy thing doesn't make the unclean thing clean....the holy thing is defiled.

No, the only way you can touch someone or something unclean and not become unclean yourself is if you make the other person or thing clean in the process. There is only one person who can transfer cleanness, and that is God. When Jesus touched the leper, He was essentially making another claim to deity.

Jesus certainly didn't have to touch him to heal him (he performed a few long-distance healings), but he DID touch him.

Jesus, who is totally pure and holy, knowing nothing of sin himself, left the glory of heaven to become one of us, touching the foulness of humanity, but not defiling himself in the process. Instead, the uncleanness he touches, becomes clean by his power.