Obeying without Fully Understanding – The Seventh Commandment

Obeying without Fully Understanding

The Seventh Commandment

God has His reasons, and that’s enough for us.

Leviticus 18:19

“You shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness while she is in her menstrual uncleanness.”

Leviticus 20:18

 “If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and uncovers her nakedness, he has made naked her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. Both of them shall be cut off from among their people.”

In this instance “uncovering nakedness” is equated with fornication. It’s not clear to me why this particular example of uncovering nakedness had to be singled out, except that a woman would be less likely to conceive during her menstrual period, and might be tempted, as might a man, to try to take advantage of this time for an illicit sexual liaison.

Presumably, however, this would also apply to married couples. The idea of making “naked her fountain” is mysterious; nevertheless, while we may not completely understand the rationale for this, the plain meaning is unmistakable. We don’t have to understand all God’s commands completely in order to obey them faithfully.

We are now accepting registrations for the course, Spiritual Maturity 1: Revival. This free, six-session course by T. M. Moore allows you to study by yourself or with a mentor, and includes free resources from Patrick, Columbanus, Luther, and Edwards, among others. Visit The Ailbe Seminary for more information on this training opportunity.

–

In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.