Leviticus 24:10-15 “Now the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the children of Israel; and this Israelite woman's son and a man of Israel fought each other in the camp. (11) And the Israelite woman's son blasphemed the name of the Lord and cursed; and so they brought him to Moses. (His mother's name was Shelomith the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.) (12) Then they put him in custody that the mind of the Lord might be shown to them. (13) And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, (14) “Take outside the camp him who has cursed; then let all who heard him lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. (15) "Then you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: 'Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin.”
Events occurred in the Old Testament as examples for us to look at and were recorded for our admonition. In the above recorded account in scripture we see God’s judgement being pronounced on this individual for the sin that he had committed. But there is something else that we see from this incident, which is a picture of contamination. Sin is similar to a virus, and if not dealt with, it will spread just like a virus. This individual had sinned; in that he had blasphemed. But his blasphemy had been heard by others, and that had the effect of contaminating those who heard with the same sin. And so in order to cleanse Israel from the sin virus that had manifested among them the person, or carrier of the virus if you will, had to be destroyed. But at the same time the Lord had to decontaminate those who had been infected, so to speak. The Lord did that by having them lay their hands on the person who had committed the sin, and thus transferring the sin virus back to its originator. As we go through this section of the teaching on the laying on of hands, we will see the same principle being applied under the New Covenant, in that we are to treat sin as a virus that must be dealt with. Under the New Covenant however, we no longer destroy the carrier of the virus but rather we quarantine them from the rest of the body, so that the infection cannot spread to the rest of the body.
Michael E.B. Maher
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