I have a question on the purifying of the land described in Ezekiel 39. It says that the whole nation engages in disposing of the bodies of the invaders for seven months. After seven months, squads of people are specially employed to dispose of any remains that are found. When a bone is found, a marker is placed by it and the burying is done by specialists. One explanation I’ve heard is that the common man avoids touching the bone so he can remain ritually pure. My question is: Does this level of ritual purity exist in Israel today?
No. Every living Jew in the world today is ceremonially unclean because there is no solution of water mixed with the ashes of a red heifer with which to cleanse themselves. And unless a red heifer is found soon, it’s unlikely that they would be ceremonially clean when the battle ends. Then there’s the issue of the whole nation handling dead bodies during the burial process, something that would make them unclean if they weren’t already.
I think a more probable explanation is that the people won’t touch the bones for fear of radioactive contamination as a result of the recent Battle of Ezekiel 38, which I think could involve at least battlefield nuclear weapons.