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The Most Boring Book of the Bible?

I could have titled this post Why Leviticus is Awesome and Chapter 13 Alone Makes Me Think but that would have been really wordy.

The fact is that Leviticus can be a really difficult book to get through. But I am doing just that, slowly but surely. And chapter 13 is making me glad I am.

Here are my thoughts, in no particular order, as I read through this.

1. If the Old Testament ever takes over again, am I going to be forced to check out hairy moles on the people in my church? Or is that a job for the senior pastor? The Bible never mentions a 'youth priest'.

2. Weren't the priests busy enough with sacrifices? You know, the ones that involved sin.

3. Didn't the priests suffer enough? Now they have to double as medical professionals and check out infectious diseases.

4. How exactly do you examine an itch? And why would there be a black hair in it? But it gets worse... just read on...
40-44 "When a man loses his hair and goes bald, he is clean. If he loses his hair from his forehead, he is bald and he is clean. But if he has a reddish-white sore on scalp or forehead, it means a serious skin disease is breaking out. The priest is to examine it; if the swollen sore on his scalp or forehead is reddish-white like the appearance of the sore of a serious skin disease, he has a serious skin disease and is unclean. The priest has to pronounce him unclean because of the sore on his head.

45-46 "Any person with a serious skin disease must wear torn clothes, leave his hair loose and unbrushed, cover his upper lip, and cry out, 'Unclean! Unclean!' As long as anyone has the sores, that one continues to be ritually unclean. That person must live alone; he or she must live outside the camp.

5. Isn't it bad enough that the guy has gone bald? Now he discovers he does not look good bald and he has to go around looking like a crazy hobo.

Quite frankly I find all of this disturbing. And I haven't even completely read Leviticus 14, when God tells Moses there will be times when He puts a 'serious fungus' inside a person's house. Guess what? The priest is involved there as well. I guess a pastor's job is never done.

And don't even get me started on Leviticus 15.
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