The Contagion of Death: A Shadow of the Curse Text: Leviticus 11:24-28
Introduction: The Grammar of Holiness
We come now to a portion of Leviticus that causes many modern Christians to quietly close their Bibles and move on to the Psalms. We are confronted with laws about carcasses, about touching dead things, about washing clothes, and about being unclean until evening. It all seems very strange, very arbitrary, and very distant from our concerns about mortgages, school districts, and the latest political firestorm. Why in the world would God dedicate so much inspired ink to the proper handling of dead animals?
The answer is that God was teaching His people a fundamental lesson about reality. He was teaching them the grammar of holiness. Just as a child must learn the alphabet before he can read Shakespeare, so Israel had to learn the basic, tangible distinctions between clean and unclean before they could grasp the profound difference between holiness and sin, life and death. These laws were not primarily about hygiene, though they certainly had hygienic benefits. God is not giving them a divine course in microbiology. These laws were a set of living parables, acted out daily in the life of every Israelite. They were a constant, physical reminder that God is holy, that sin brings death, and that death is a contaminant. It defiles.
We live in a culture that does everything it can to hide death. We sanitize it, medicalize it, and tuck it away in quiet, sterile rooms. But in the ancient world, death was everywhere. It was bloody, it was messy, and it was a constant threat. God takes this universal reality of death and invests it with theological meaning. He is teaching Israel that the central problem in the world is not a lack of education or a faulty economic system. The central problem is the curse of death, which entered the world through sin. And this curse is not a neutral thing; it is a spiritual contagion. It spreads. It renders a man unfit to approach a holy God.
These laws, then, are a gracious, pictorial lesson. They are a shadow, a type, pointing forward to the substance. They are designed to cultivate a deep-seated instinct in the Israelite heart: an aversion to death and defilement, and a longing for life and purity. Without this foundational lesson, the gospel of a crucified and risen Savior makes no sense. Why did Jesus have to die? To deal with the curse of death. Why was He raised? To conquer death and its defiling power. Leviticus 11 is preaching the gospel in kindergarten picture-language, and we must learn to read the pictures.
The Text
‘By these, moreover, you will be made unclean: whoever touches their carcasses becomes unclean until evening, and whoever picks up any of their carcasses shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. Concerning all the animals which divide the hoof but do not make a split hoof or which do not chew cud, they are unclean to you: whoever touches them becomes unclean. Also whatever walks on its paws, among all the creatures that walk on all fours, are unclean to you; whoever touches their carcasses becomes unclean until evening, and the one who picks up their carcasses shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening; they are unclean to you.’
(Leviticus 11:24-28 LSB)
The Principle of Defilement (v. 24-25)
We begin with the overarching principle laid down in verses 24 and 25.
"‘By these, moreover, you will be made unclean: whoever touches their carcasses becomes unclean until evening, and whoever picks up any of their carcasses shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening." (Leviticus 11:24-25)
The "these" refers to the unclean animals previously listed. The law now shifts from what may not be eaten to what may not be touched once it is dead. The central point is that contact with death defiles. A carcass, the embodiment of the curse, transmits its uncleanness to the living. This is a spiritual principle illustrated physically. Sin, which is spiritual death, is contagious. It spreads its defilement to everything it touches.
Notice the consequences. The uncleanness is temporary, lasting "until evening." This is not a moral sin requiring a blood sacrifice for atonement. It is a ceremonial uncleanness. It meant the defiled person was temporarily excluded from the life of the covenant community, specifically from worship at the tabernacle. He could not approach God. This was a tangible, daily lesson: defilement creates separation from God.
There are two levels of contact described. Simple touching results in uncleanness until evening. But "picking up" or "carrying" the carcass, a more involved contact, requires an additional step: one must "wash his clothes." This introduces the concept of cleansing. The defilement is real, and it must be dealt with. It doesn't just wear off without action. The washing of the clothes is a symbolic act of purification. It is an admission of defilement and a desire for restoration. This points us forward to the need for a greater cleansing. Our sins are not a light touch of defilement; we have carried the carcass of our rebellion. We need more than a simple washing of clothes; we need to be washed in the blood of the Lamb.
The "until evening" clause is also significant. The evening marked the end of one day and the beginning of another. The defilement had a limit. This was a picture of God's grace. The separation was not permanent. Restoration was possible. This rhythm of defilement and cleansing, of separation and restoration, day in and day out, was meant to shape the Israelite's understanding of their relationship with a holy God. It taught them that access to God is not automatic; it must be on God's terms, and purity is a non-negotiable term.
Ambiguous Creatures (v. 26)
Verse 26 gives a specific category of animals whose carcasses defile.
"Concerning all the animals which divide the hoof but do not make a split hoof or which do not chew cud, they are unclean to you: whoever touches them becomes unclean." (Leviticus 11:26 LSB)
This verse reiterates the criteria for clean land animals given earlier in the chapter: they must have a completely split hoof and chew the cud. Animals that only meet one of these criteria, like the camel or the pig, are unclean. The principle here is one of order and distinction. God's creation has a beautiful, intricate order to it. The clean animals fit perfectly within the established categories for "normal" livestock. They are peaceful, cud-chewing, split-hoofed animals. They represent the peace and order of God's ideal creation.
The unclean animals are those that blur the lines. They are ambiguous. They have some characteristics of clean animals, but not all. They don't fit the pattern. This was a lesson for Israel about the importance of avoiding mixture and syncretism. They were to be a people wholly set apart for God, not a hybrid of pagan and covenantal ways. They were not to be spiritual camels, chewing the cud of God's Word but walking with the world's feet. They were not to be spiritual pigs, having the outward form of separation (split hoof) but not inwardly digesting the truth (chewing the cud). Holiness requires integrity, a wholeness in our devotion. To be "almost" clean is to be entirely unclean.
Touching the carcass of such an animal makes one unclean. Why? Because these creatures, in their very being, represent a departure from God's perfect order. Their death is a potent symbol of the result of such departure. To touch that carcass is to identify, even ceremonially, with that which is out of place in God's world.
Creatures of Prey (v. 27-28)
The next category deals with animals that walk on paws.
"Also whatever walks on its paws, among all the creatures that walk on all fours, are unclean to you; whoever touches their carcasses becomes unclean until evening, and the one who picks up their carcasses shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening; they are unclean to you." (Leviticus 11:27-28 LSB)
Here we have another category of uncleanness. Animals that walk on paws, like lions, bears, dogs, and cats, are predators. They walk on "hands," as the Hebrew can be translated. They are associated with violence and the shedding of blood for their food. They represent a world that is "red in tooth and claw," a world under the curse. Their way of life is contrary to the peaceable kingdom God intended, symbolized by the cud-chewing herd animals.
Again, the law is about contact with their carcasses. To touch the dead body of a predator was to come into contact with a potent symbol of the violent consequences of the fall. It was a reminder that the world is not as it should be. The repetition of the consequences, uncleanness until evening and the washing of clothes for the one who carries the carcass, drives the point home. This is a serious matter. This defilement is real, and the cleansing is required.
The final phrase, "they are unclean to you," is a sovereign declaration. God does not give an exhaustive philosophical explanation for each category. He simply declares it so. This is a test of faith and obedience. The Israelite was to trust that God's definitions were good and right, even if he didn't fully understand the symbolic reasoning. Our task is not to question God's categories but to submit to them. He defines what is clean and what is unclean, what is holy and what is profane. Our job is to learn the difference and walk accordingly.
The Conquering Holiness of Christ
Now, for us, living under the New Covenant, what are we to do with all this? Do we need to worry about touching a dead raccoon on the side of the road? The answer is no, and the reason is glorious. The entire system of ceremonial purity and impurity was a shadow, and the substance has now come. That substance is Jesus Christ.
In the Old Testament, the principle was that uncleanness was contagious. If you touched a dead body, you became unclean. Holiness, by contrast, was fragile. It had to be protected behind the veil in the Holy of Holies. But when Jesus came, He turned this entire economy on its head. Jesus demonstrated a conquering, contagious holiness.
Think of His ministry. A leper, the most unclean person in Israel, comes to Him. By law, if Jesus touched him, Jesus would become unclean. But what happens? Jesus reaches out and touches him, and the leprosy flees (Matthew 8:3). Jesus' cleanness conquered the man's uncleanness. He goes to the house of Jairus, where a little girl lies dead. He takes her by the hand, touching a human carcass, the ultimate source of defilement. But instead of becoming unclean, Jesus transmits His life to her, and she is raised (Mark 5:41). He is confronted by a man possessed by a legion of demons, the epitome of spiritual filth, and with a word, He cleanses him.
This is the great reversal of the gospel. In Christ, holiness is no longer fragile and on the defensive. It is aggressive, powerful, and contagious. The flow of power has been reversed. This is why, after the resurrection, Peter is told in a vision to "kill and eat" all manner of unclean animals (Acts 10). The barrier has been broken down. The old kindergarten picture book is no longer needed because the reality it pointed to has arrived.
The true defilement, as Jesus taught, does not come from the outside in, from touching a carcass. It comes from the inside out, from the sinful heart of man (Mark 7:20-23). That is the source of the contagion. And the only cleansing for that deep defilement is the blood of Christ. He became the ultimate curse-bearer. He touched our death, our sin, our defilement on the cross. He carried the full weight of our carcass, and He was made sin for us. But death could not hold Him. His life conquered our death. And now, by faith, when we touch Him, we are not made unclean. We are made clean. His life flows into us. We are washed, we are sanctified, we are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God (1 Corinthians 6:11).
Therefore, these laws in Leviticus should drive us to Christ. They should make us profoundly grateful that we are no longer under the ministry of condemnation and death, but under the ministry of the Spirit and of life. They remind us of the horror of the curse from which we have been delivered. And they call us to walk in a new kind of holiness, not by avoiding dead animals, but by mortifying the sin that remains in our hearts and by touching a defiled world with the conquering, cleansing, life-giving holiness of Jesus Christ.