But why there?

Day 43

OT Reading: Leviticus 14

NT Reading: Matthew 26:55-75

As we read through the end of Exodus and then into Leviticus, something has popped up a few times that appeared again today. It's something that struck me as odd initially, and its continued appearances have led me to try to find out why I keep seeing it. It's statements like this, "The priest is to put some of the oil remaining in his palm on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot..." (Leviticus 14:17, NIV) I had to ask myself, "Self...what in the world is going on with this right-thumb/right-big-toe/right-ear lobe thing?"

So I did some research. And what I found is that...we're not absolutely sure. No where does it seem to lay out (either in the Bible or in extra-Biblical sources) precisely what is meant by this. But what we do gather from the Bible and from history is that the right thumb, ear lobe and big toe:

* were anointed with the blood of a sacrifice when a priest was being consecrated;

* were anointed with oil when a leper was healed;

* were often the parts of the body removed from prisoners of war in several ancient conflicts.

Based on what we see there, it seems that there is a bit of symbolism taking place with these three parts of the body. By touching these three places, it symbolized everything one would hear (ear), everywhere one would walk (toe), and everything one would do (thumb). Thereby anointing the entire person. That is precisely why these were removed in conflict, because the enemy wanted to symbolically render you powerless. Therefore it was considered a shame to suffer this fate.

I wish I had a more concrete and firm answer, but this is what I've found and it seems to make sense. And if nothing else, the next time I come across some odd ceremony involving someone's right thumb, ear lobe and big toe, I'll at least have some idea as to what that is all about. And now, so will you :-).