Haggai 2:10–14 presents an interesting torah case study: Can the garment of someone carrying holy meat transfer holiness to those with whom it comes into contact? For the priests, the answer is a simple “no,” most likely considering the realities of texts like Lev 6:24–30. On the contrary, though, can the touching of a dead body transfer uncleanness? For the priests, the answer is a simple “yes,” most likely considering the realities of texts like Lev 22:4, Num 19:11–13, and Num 19:22. In Haggai’s eyes, Israel has a holiness problem. Holiness only travels in one direction, and they are an unclean people (Hag 2:14).
Yet God still promises to bless the people (Hag 2:18–19). How can he make such a promise? Israel needs, in the words of C. S. Lewis, a “good infection.” They need someone to come in and reverse the transmission of holiness. They need holiness to overcome uncleanness, and not the other way around.
This situation makes reading Mark 5:21–43 quite interesting. In this paper, I argue that Mark intentionally presents Jesus as reversing the object lesson of Hag 2:10–14. This unappreciated allusion is built on the interpretive link of touching garments, dead bodies, and declarations of healing, with undertones of clean/unclean language.
First, with the woman healed from her flow of blood, two links stand out related to touching, garments, and healing:
• She intentionally comes up to touch (ἅπτω) his garment (ἱμάτιον) (Mark 5:27; cf. Hag 2:12);
• She is told to “be healed” (ἴσθι ὑγιὴς) after already receiving healing (cf. Lev 13:10, 15–16)
Second, with the young girl raised from death, two links stand out related to her dead body and touching:
• When Jesus arrives to the house, he declares that the young girl “is not dead (οὐκ ἀπέθανεν) but sleeping” (Mark 5:39), bringing her current state to the forefront, even to the point of being mocked.
• When he comes to the child, the first thing he does is seize (κρατέω) “her by the hand” (Mark 5:41; cf. the emphasis in Matt 5:18, 25 on laying his hand on her and touching (ἅπτω) her by the hand).
What does paying attention to Mark’s allusion to Haggai do in helping us understand the meaning of these New Testament texts? These texts are about holiness. In particular, they highlight Jesus’s reversal of holiness transmission. He is the holy meat (meat sacrificed on the altar), and those who come in contact with him do not cause him to be unclean. Rather, he now brings them holiness and life. Interpreters would do well to notice and appreciate this allusion.