Before we jump into the text of Leviticus 21 dealing with the Levite rules for the deceased, I need to talk a little about death.
I know this can be quite an uncomfortable topic but it can’t be ignored because it has everything to do with God’s plans for the human race.
So the first point is this: DEATH IS AN ABOMINATION TO GOD!
Most people may consider death to be a natural part of life that just needs to be accepted but from God’s perspective NOTHING could be more unnatural.
According to Scripture, death did not always exist.
The Word of God says death is the result of sin which entered the world once Adam and Eve decided to exercise their own human wisdom over God’s by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.
So what is death exactly?
To put it simply, death is the end of existence.
Physical death, when our hearts stop beating, is the end of physical existence.
However, the Bible also speaks of a spiritual death.
Spiritual death has been interpreted to mean the end of one’s spiritual existence or a permanent separation from God.
Strong arguments can be made for either viewpoint and we’re not going to debate this now.
The reason all humans experience physical death is because our bodies begin to age and decay.
And once dead, our bodies disintegrate back to the basic elements of the universe, which the Bible metaphorically calls “dust”.
“By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.“-Genesis 3:19
However, it is not just human beings who experience death.
Our Universe is also in the process of dying so to speak.
Our physical universe and everything in it is getting old and decaying.
And since everything in the universe does not have a spirit that would live on after death, the future of the universe is utter physical decay and death.
Humans are different however because we have a spirit that lives on after physical death.
Now here’s the thing.
The Universe was not suppose to operate this way and according to Scripture, eventually the Universe will cease to operate this way.
A good way to explain this in a way that would make it easier for you to understand is to think of TIME.
What is time exactly?
Time is simply the measurement of death and decay.
Hence, if there was no decay, time would NOT exist.
Let me say that again.
Since time is how death and decay are measured, minus death and decay there would be no time.
Just as inches and miles are used to measure the three dimensions of length, width, and height of physical objects, so is time used to measure the DECAY or dying process of physical objects.
We can’t measure things in the spiritual world in inches or miles because they are of a different substance than the physical objects in our universe.
And the same goes for time.
Things in the spiritual world are NOT subject to time because they don’t decay.
And what did I just say about the relationship between decay and time?
The two are inextricably linked!
You can’t have one without the other.
Actually, the best clocks we have measure time based on radioactive decay because hands down it is the most accurate method.
So what’s important to understand is that when the Bible speaks of eternity (which is a “spiritual” term by the way), it does NOT mean a super duper loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time.
It means there is no time.
Time has ceased to exist.
And again, what did I just say?
If there is no more time, what does that mean?
It means there is no more death and decay!
And this is precisely what we’re told about the new Heavens and Earth after all the elements have been melted down and remade!
This is a day that may arrive sooner than you think.
For those who are experiencing pain in this world due to the unnatural process of physical death and decay, rest assured that there is another wonderful reality that YHVH has in store for His chosen.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Yeshua said to her,
‘I am the resurrection and the life.
The one who believes in me will live,
even though they die.‘”
-John 11:25
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard
and no one’s heart has imagined
all the things that God has prepared
for those who love him.”
-1 Corinthians 2:9
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
for the old heaven
and the old earth had passed away,
and the sea was no longer there.
Also I saw the holy city,
New Yerushalayim,
coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared like a bride
beautifully dressed for her husband.
I heard a loud voice from the throne say,
“See! God’s Sh’khinah is with mankind,
and he will live with them.
They will be his people, and he himself,
God-with-them, will be their God.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
There will no longer be any death;
and there will no longer be any mourning,
crying or pain;
because the old order has passed away.”
-Revelations 21:1-4
It seems to me that you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what time is. Time is NOT the measurement of decay, it is a measurement of duration between events. How we measure those duration is by our uses of other events. Events like the rotation of the moon around the earth, the earth around the sun. We created calendars to tell time, the time of year. We measured the year first by the moon, and then by the sun. The sun’s position in the sky, which is a moving event, told us the hour on a sundial. Then we invented clocks which use the events of a gear’s turning driving by a spring one tick to the tock, a second at a time on one hand, and 1/60 of a rotation on the other hand. All driven be event we assumed to be of equal duration to measure the duration and another event, the day, which is the duration it takes for the earth to spin in its axes.
Then, because we found that the events we were using to measure time with were not as identical as we had assumed (but for ships and trains they were close enough to the same that the different in the durations of the events did not make much difference to our scheduling the events in our lives to meet our plans, like meeting the train at the station or the ship at the dock), the events we used mesure duration with to had to be much more identical when the you are scheduling other events, like GPS location determination, .that are thousands of miles apart. That is when we turned to the events of radioactive decay whose duration are much more identical than any previous events that we have used to measure duration, that is to say time.
Time is duration between events, any event. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, and years are the names we have given to certain collection of events.
Interesting thoughts and basically I wouldn’t disagree but I think the point in my article still stands and here’s why. Why do we find it necessary to measure durations of time? The reason is because we know we have LIMITED time. And what is the knowledge that we have limited time based on? It is based on the reality that on this side of heaven all things eventually decay or die! Let me put it this way, if we knew we had UNLIMITED time, would we find it necessary to even measure durations? No, we wouldn’t and why? Because we have UNLIMITED time to do anything and everything we want to. Ultimately, all time measurement is based on the fact that we’re going to die! Why are humans always stressing out to for example graduate from college, get married, have kids, get promoted, save enough money etcetera by a certain time? Why do we care about how old people are? The answer is simple. Because we know we won’t live forever. It is because the living know they will eventually die that they establish and measure the duration of events in life, whether it’s a soccer game, or how many hours they work or etcetera. No, ultimately time exists because death exists, otherwise time wouldn’t matter. I think you might be talking about a separate issue.