Coronavirus Quarantines, Are They Biblical?
All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.
- Leviticus 13:46
"We haven't faced an enemy like we are facing today in 102 years - we are at war. In the time of war, we must make sacrifices, and I thank all of our Ohio citizens for what they are doing and what they aren't doing. You are making a huge difference, and this difference will save lives," said Governor DeWine. "Right now, we are in a crucial time in this battle. What we do now will slow this invader so that our healthcare system will have time to treat those who have contracted COVID-19 and also have time to treat those who have other medical problems. Time is of the essence." Thus reads the announcement on the Ohio.gov website where the state’s Stay At Home Order is also listed.
Clearly, Governor DeWine takes the coronavirus [the Ohio.gov website calls it COVID-19] outbreak very seriously. Note the repeated use of military terminology in the quote above. We are told that “We haven’t faced an enemy like we are facing today in 102 years” [apparently, this is a reference to the 1918 outbreak of the Spanish Flu]…“we are at war”…“In time of war”…”we are in a crucial time in this battle”…”What we do now will slow this invader.”
With all this military terminology, one wonders when the Governor plans to institute a draft. Then on second thought, in a way, he already has. As the website notes, beginning March 23, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. Ohioans are under a Stay At Home Order. This order is effective until 11:59 p.m. on April 6, 2020 “unless the order is rescinded or modified.” This order applies to everyone, and as of this writing on March 29, no recension or modification of this order has been announced. So in a way, all Ohioans already have been drafted into the Governor’s war.
One question that seems not to have been asked in the wake of Governor DeWine’s announcement is, on what authority does he give this order? Reading through the order, one finds that it contains provisions that shutter a not insignificant portion of the businesses within the state. What is the legal basis for the Governor’s order?
One possible answer is that Ohio has adopted some form of “Medical Martial Law” legislation that was propagated in the wake of the Swine Flu pandemic in 2009. Researcher James Corbett produced a video back in 2009 related to the Swine Flu pandemic which he titled Medical Martial Law and which dealt with the legislative response that followed the outbreak of that pandemic. In his video, Corbett states that something called “The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act” was drafted by the Center for Law and the Public’s Health at Georgetown University (Jesuits) and Johns Hopkins University. According to the website of The Centers for Law & the Public’s Health, the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (MSEHPA) “grants public health powers to state and local public health authorities to ensure a strong, effective, and timely planning, prevention, and response mechanisms to public health emergencies (including bioterrorism) while also respecting individual rights.”
The website boasts that forty-four states have adopted MSEHPA in whole or in part, but, curiously, Ohio is not listed among them. Neither was I able to find anything on other websites linking MSEHPA to Ohio. That being the case, this model legislation, as dangerous as it is, apparently is not the basis for the Governor’s actions.
According to the language in the Order itself, the basis for the Order is R.C. [Revised Code] 3701.13 which allows the Director of the Ohio Department of Health to “make special orders…for preventing the spread of contagious or infectious diseases.”
That said, although he doesn’t come out and say it directly, Governor DeWine and Dr. Amy Acton (Ohio’s Director of Health) seem eager for the public to see the Stay At Home Order as some form of Medical Martial Law. This can be seen from the Governor’s own words, laden as they are with military terminology.
Are Quarantines Biblical?
As Christians, we must always ask ourselves “What do the Scriptures say?” when thinking through the circumstances we come across in our lives. This includes the words and actions of civil magistrates. In this case, let us start by asking this question, are quarantines biblical?
The short answer to this question is, yes, they are. We know this from the Law of Moses which details procedures for placing in quarantine those diagnosed with certain illnesses or those who have become ceremonially unclean for some reason. There are many such passages in the Old Testament Law. Here is one example:
And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, “When a man has on the skin of his body a swelling, a scab, or a bright spot, and it becomes on the skin of his body like a leprous sore, then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests. The priest shall examine the sore on the skin of the body; and if the hair on the sore has turned white, and the sore appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is a leprous sore. Then the priest shall examine him, and pronounce him unclean. But if the bright spot is white on the skin of his body, and does not appear to be deeper than the skin, and its hair has not turned white, then the priest shall isolate the one who has the sore seven days. And the priest shall examine him on the seventh day; and indeed if the sore appears to be as it was, and the sore has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall isolate him another seven days. Then the priest shall examine him again on the seventh day; and indeed if the sore has faded, and the sore has not spread on the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him clean; it is only a scab, and he shall wash his clothes and be clean. But if the scab should at all spread over the skin, after he has been seen by the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen by the priest again. And if the priest sees that the scab has indeed spread on the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean. It is leprosy” (Leviticus 13:1-8).
Individuals who were unclean were pronounced unclean by the priest and were required to dwell outside the camp.
“Now the leper on whom the sore is, his clothes shall be torn and his head bare; and he shall cover his mustache, and cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ He shall be unclean. All the days he has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp” (Leviticus 13:45-46).
It’s worth noting that Jesus himself gave implied support to the Levitical quarantine laws in the account of his healing the ten lepers in Samaria. Luke tells us in 17:11-19 that, upon being implored by ten lepers to heal them, Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priests, which was in accordance with the laws concerning leprosy set forth in Leviticus chapter 13.
There are other examples of quarantines in Scripture, but the citations above are enough to show that quarantines themselves are not in conflict with the Bible’s teachings.
Is Ohio’s Stay At Home Order Biblical?
Although we have shown that quarantines have Biblical support, this does not necessarily mean that all quarantines meet the standards of Scripture. So let’s ask another question, is Ohio’s stay at home order biblical?
In the opinion of this author, the answer is no. Not because quarantines themselves are wrong, but because Ohio’s Stay At Home Order, which is a type of quarantine, applies too broadly. In an attempt to slow the spread of coronavirus, the Governor and Health Director have drafted an order that applies to all individuals regardless of whether they exhibit symptoms of coronavirus or have even been tested for the disease.
One way of illustrating my point is to look at the Bible’s view of criminal justice. Ask yourself this question, is the Bible’s stance on criminal justice one of crime punishment or crime prevention? The correct answer is crime punishment. Although I do not have the reference handy, this point was brought up in a lecture by John Robbins, and my remarks on the Bible’s view of criminal justice are drawn from his comments.
According to Robbins, the Bible focuses on crime punishment. In the Law of Moses there are many clear statements concerning the civil law. There were commandments on what people were to do and not to do as well as civil punishments for those who violated the law. Worth noting, although all violations of the Law of God were sinful, not all were crimes. Put another way, some sins were also crimes. The way you can tell the difference is whether there are civil penalties – e.g. restitution in the case of theft, death in cases of murder - attached to them. Those violations of the law that did not have civil penalties, while sinful, were not crimes.
But while there were laws set forth for the punishment of crimes in ancient Israel, there was no bureaucratic regulatory body set up to punish the innocent by burdening them with regulations designed to prevent crime. For example, murder was prohibited in the Ten Commandments but there was no government Sword Control Administration that, in the name of preventing murder, required people to register their swords with the government or prevented people from owning them.
If a man was accused or murder, the Law provided for due process for the accused. If found guilty, the law also provided for the punishment of the guilty individual. That was all.
Israel’s quarantine laws were similar. To be quarantined, one first had to show himself to a priest for examination. The Law laid out in great detail the process the priest was to go through, and it was only after all the steps in the process had been followed that a man could be declared unclean and quarantined outside the camp. There were no general quarantines announced in the name of preventing disease. Only those who were determined to be infected after the priest had followed due process were quarantined.
The Dangers of Ignoring Due Process
Due process is a bulwark against arbitrary government. Going back to the Biblical laws concerning leprosy. Suppose for a moment that the priestly examination process did not exist or was circumvented. One can easily see how the leprosy statue could become a political weapon. All one would have to do to have his enemy put outside the camp would be to accuse him of having leprosy, present him to a priest that was a little shady or on the take, and have him declared unclean.
In like fashion, there are those who today are greatly concerned, this author among them, that giving governments the power to shut down private businesses and essentially put people under house arrest who have never received due process to show that they are ill or are carriers of a communicable disease represents a step toward tyranny.
Now some may argue that the Governor has no intention of being a tyrant and has only the best motives. Even so, there is a problem. Going back to the Biblical example of identifying lepers, even if someone accused his neighbor of having leprosy, not having hated him in times past, and even if the priests were honest and not greedy for a bribe, lack of due process in examining possible lepers would almost certainly result in people being put outside the camp who did not deserve to be so treated. This would represent a gross injustice to them and possible financial and social ruin for the rest of the family as well.
Although I do not have estimates of how many people have been put out of work or owners who have had their businesses restricted or closed by the Governor’s Order, the number must be significant. According to the order,
All places of public amusement, whether indoors or outdoors, including, but not limited to, locations with amusement rides, carnivals, amusement parks, water parks, aquariums, zoos, museums, arcades, fairs, children's play centers, playgrounds, funplexes, theme parks, bowling alleys, movie and other theaters, concert and music halls, and country clubs or social clubs shall be closed.
Even businesses that are allowed to remain open have had restrictions placed on them. For example, I had to pay a visit to my local computer store. Upon arrival, I found on the door of the establishment that the store was prohibited from allowing more than thirty customers in the store at once. This meant that the store had to pay associates to organize incoming customers in a way that would comply with this order rather than going about their normal duties. Most likely, the store’s sales are being negatively impacted. Further, customers were forced to bear the cost of waiting in line and of delays in completing their purchases.
Now you may argue that this is a minor inconvenience, but multiply this statewide and the cost of complying with this new regulation is probably not small.
Not Just an Ohio Problem
I have written in some detail about Medical Martial Law as it has been applied in the State of Ohio, because it’s where I live. Many other states have similar or even more restrictive laws concerning the coronavirus outbreak.
Just this weekend, President Donald Trump let it be known that he was thinking about imposing a quarantine on the states of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Politico reports that the measure would have been “an enforceable quarantine.” While it’s not clear what is meant by “enforceable quarantine,” it appears to mean severely restricting movement in and out of these states. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo seemed to take it that way, asserting that the idea amounted to a “declaration of war on states.”
Outside the U.S. things aren’t any better. Several countries in Europe have been locked down as has been Australia.
Closing Thoughts
The focus of this post has been to discuss one aspect of the governmental response to coronavirus that has received little attention from pundits, namely, it is an attempt to answer the question, what do the Scriptures say about quarantines?
In the opinion of this author, there is a strong case to be made from the Bible that quarantines are permitted. But this is not to say that all quarantines meet with biblical guidelines. As the biblical approach to criminal justice is one of crime punishment, not crime prevention, so too the biblical standard for quarantine is disease “punishment” not disease prevention. As one does not regulate society to prevent crime, thus punishing the innocent, so too one does not quarantine everyone, including the healthy, to prevent the spread of disease. Just as in biblical criminal justice, punishment is meted out only after due process is given to the accused, so too the biblical approach to quarantine is to isolate only those individuals who have been found to carry the disease. If it is unjust to punish the innocent along with the guilty, so too is it unjust to quarantine the healthy along with the sick. Yet governments to a large degree have opted to do just this, quarantine the healthy along with the sick. This is unjust.