Leviticus 12-14

With a casual reading of Leviticus 12-14 the treatment of those impacted by life changing circumstances beyond their control seems very calloused and extreme.  For those with a skin disease to be isolated outside of the camp comes across as inhumane.  But I wonder how such people were treated outside of the community of Israel?  I find a common picture from US history in the 1980’s.  In those early years of AIDS the reaction of many people across the USA was very calloused towards those who contracted the disease.  Ryan White became the public face of unjust treatment.  Because he regularly received blood transfusions to combat his hemophilia he became an innocent victim of AIDS and the discrimination that accompanied it.  Where the people of Kokomo Indiana failed the community of Cicero excelled.  I believe the edits of the Law where intended to reflect the attitudes and actions of the people of Cicero.  Though the infected people were separated from the community, so that the disease would not spread unchecked, they were still a part of the community.  When the camp of Israel moved those who were unclean moved with the camp.   They were not kept from collecting the manna and there is no indication that their inheritance was taken from them.  God’s Law had found a balance for maintaining human dignity and preserving life while controlling the threat of pandemic in an age with no medical practices. 

Stuart