The Laws of cleanliness continue in Leviticus Chapter 21. Verse 17 tells us that “none of your offspring throughout their generations who has a blemish may approach to offer the bread to his God…” There were strict cleanliness requirements for approaching God. Parents were responsible for their children. I remember my mother grabbing me on the way out the door to church in the morning exclaiming, “You can’t go to church looking like that.” She’d spit on a Kleenex and scrub my face, then grab the dish rag from the sink and scrub between my sticky fingers. I hated it, but it had to be done.
One writer refers to this as the “Laws of the face and the hands.” It goes like this: Cast your countenance upward to the light, and lift your eyes to the hills, that I may more easily wash you off. For the stains are upon you; even to the very back of your head, there is rice thereon. And in the breast pocket of your garment, and upon the tie of your shoe, rice and other fragments are distributed in a manner wonderful to see. Only hold yourself still; hold still, I say. Give each finger in its turn for my examination thereof, and also each thumb. Lo, how iniquitous they appear.
What I do is as it must be; and you shall not go hence until I have done.
Hebrews 4:16 tells us that we can “approach the throne of grace with confidence…” We’ve had our hands and faces scrubbed clean by our Father with the cleansing blood of the lamb.