Why do Quarantines Work

Thursday of Holy Week, also called Maundy Thursday. This day is set aside to remember Jesus setting out the pattern for Communion at “the last supper” and Jesus’ betrayal.

In light of the current circumstances I was to talk about our quarantine and how we should feel about it as believers.

In today’s address to the State Gov DeWine announced that Ohio was below all of the projections for COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. He went on to say that all of the credit for this belonged to the people for following the self-quarantine, and social distancing guidelines that had been issued by the state and CDC.

He said that this is a “homerun”.

Ecclesiastes 1:9 says “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.”

Quarantining is nothing new.

The word “quarantine” comes from a Venetian word quarantena, meaning "forty days", used in the 14th-15th-century when ships were required to be isolated before passengers and crew could go ashore during the Black Death plague epidemic

The news says that today 3 billion out of 7.8 billion people are in quarantine lockdown around the globe.

The governments of the world are quarantining healthy people.

What should we think about this?

When and why should we self-quarantine?

Loving our neighbors and the preservation of life is at the heart of the biblical quarantine laws.

The applications are rooted in Leviticus 19:18, “love your neighbor as yourself, I am the Lord”. Jesus said the same thing in Mark 12:30-31 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Quarantines existed before the 14th century.

Numbers 5:5

People Are Sent Outside the Camp

5 The Lord told Moses to say to the people of Israel, “Put out of the camp everyone who has leprosy or a bodily discharge or who has touched a dead body. Now that I live among my people, their camp must be kept clean.”

Numbers 31:19

War with Midian

19 Then Moses said to the soldiers, “If you killed anyone or touched a dead body, you are unclean and have to stay outside the camp for seven days.

This theme goes throughout the bible. We read about Leper colonies in the Gospels, and through the whole Old Testament if you touch a dead body, you had to live outside of the camp or city for 7 days and we washed twice on the 3rd and 7th day before you could come back.

The Governor says that we have hit a home run because this has worked so well for the State of Ohio.

I would say that it has worked so well because we are using God’s principles to address a problem.

Can you imagine if we used God’s principles for a few more of our problems?

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