Laws Concerning Uncleanness of Men and Women

Continuing a chronological Bible study:

(Leviticus 15:1) And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, (2) “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘When any man has a flowing discharge from his body, because of his discharge he is unclean.'"

In the last two chapters, the Lord spoke to Moses and sometimes Aaron, as well, to give them the laws pertaining to leprosy, and how to determine when a person, garment, or house, was to be considered unclean.  He now continued speaking to both Moses and Aaron, and began with the subject of a person who was considered unclean because of a discharge from his body.  I could see how this could be any leaking discharge, oozing infection, or bleeding.  Any such discharge would make a man unclean.  However, I am inclined to believe that this referred to discharges from his most private parts, as it seems that is what is discussed for both men and women in the following verses.

(3) "‘And this shall be his uncleanness in regard to his discharge—whether his body runs with his discharge, or his body is stopped up from his discharge, it is his uncleanness.'"

What is to follow was to be the law of his uncleanness with regard to his discharge, whether it be free flowing, or whether his body had become stopped up because of it.

(4) "‘Every bed on which he who has the discharge lies, is unclean; and everything on which he sits shall be unclean.'"

Not only is the man with the discharge considered unclean, but any bed upon which he lay, and any chair (or anything, for that matter) upon which he sat, would also be considered unclean.

(5) "‘And whoever touches his bed shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening.'"

Whoever touched the unclean man's bed would also be considered unclean, and would have to wash himself and his clothes, and would still be considered unclean until the evening. 

(6) "'And he who sits on anything on which he who has the discharge sat shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.'"

Likewise, if anyone sat on the unclean man's chair or anything the man had sat upon, he would also be considered unclean, and would have to wash himself and his clothes, and be considered unclean until the evening.

(7) "‘And he who touches the body of him who has the discharge shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.'"

Additionally, anyone who touched the person himself who had the discharge, would also be considered unclean, and would have to wash himself and his clothes, and be considered unclean until evening.

(8) "'And if he who has the discharge spits on him who is clean, then he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening.'"

In most cases, I don't believe the person with the discharge would be purposely spitting on a clean person, but if his spittle accidentally landed on a person who was clean, that person would also be considered unclean then, and would have to wash himself and his clothes, and be considered unclean until evening.

(9) "‘Any saddle on which he who has the discharge rides shall be unclean. (10) And whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until the evening; and he who carries any of those things shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening.'"

Any saddle or anything upon which the man with the discharge rode or sat, would be considered unclean, and anyone who touched or carried any of those things would also be considered unclean, and would have to wash himself and his clothes, and be considered unclean until evening.

(11) "‘And whomever the one who has the discharge touches, and has not rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening.'"

If the person who had the discharge had not just washed his hands in water, then whomever he touched would have to wash himself and his clothes and be unclean until evening.  It appears that if the infected person washed his hands first, then his mere touch would not make a clean person unclean.

(12) "'And the vessel of earth that he who has the discharge touches shall be broken, and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.'"

Any earthen vessel that a person with a discharge touched was to be broken and not used again, and any wooden vessel was to be washed in water.  I'm not sure why an earthen vessel had to be broken, but a wooden one could be washed, as they both seem to be porous, but maybe the earthen vessel was more porous.  Whatever the reason, this was the law given.  Additionally, I would imagine this would not pertain to his own earthen vessel, at least not each time it was used.  He would run out of earthen vessels that way!  However, I'm sure once his disease was cured, it would have been destroyed and not used again.

(13) "‘And when he who has a discharge is cleansed of his discharge, then he shall count for himself seven days for his cleansing, wash his clothes, and bathe his body in running water; then he shall be clean.'"

When a person with a discharge was cured from the discharge, or if it stopped completely on its own, then he was to wait another seven days, wash his clothes, and bathe in running water, and then he would be clean.  The mere stopping of the discharge did not make him clean.

(14) "'And on the eighth day he shall take for himself two turtledoves or two young pigeons, and come before the LORD, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and give them to the priest.'"

On the eighth day, after waiting seven days and washing himself and his clothes, he was to take two turtledoves or two young pigeons and bring them to the Lord to the door of the tabernacle and give them to the priest.

(15) "And the priest shall offer them, the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD for his discharge.'"

The priest would offer one of the birds as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and thus the priest would make atonement for the person who had had the discharge.  The discharge may not have been caused by a direct sin of the victim, but as discussed before, all disease was originally caused by sin.

(16) "'And if any man's seed of copulation go out from him, then he shall wash all his body in water, and be unclean until the evening.'"

A man's semen was considered a discharge from his body that would make him unclean before the Lord.  He was to afterward wash his body in water and be considered unclean until the evening.

(17) "'And every garment and every skin, on which there is the seed of copulation, shall be washed with water, and be unclean until the evening.'"

Every garment or skin that got semen on it was to be washed with water and was to be considered unclean until the evening.

(18) "'The woman also with whom man shall lie with seed of copulation, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the evening.'"

Any woman with a man who had a discharge of semen was also to bathe herself in water and be considered unclean until evening.

(19) "'And if a woman has a discharge, and the discharge from her body is blood, she shall be set apart seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening.'"

The Lord now switched to the topic of a woman who had a discharge from her body, specifically blood.  This, of course, meant a discharge of blood from her private parts, not from a bloody nose or blood from a cut, etc.  She was to be set apart, not able to go into the house of the Lord, for seven days.  Whoever touched her was also considered unclean until the evening.

(20) "'And everything that she lies on during her separation shall be unclean; also everything that she sits on shall be unclean.'"

During her seven days of separation, anything the woman sat or lay upon would be considered unclean.

(21) "'And whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. (22) And whoever touches anything that she sat on shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening.'"

Anyone who touched the woman's bed or anything that she sat upon during her time of separation and uncleanness was to wash himself and his clothes and be considered unclean until evening.

(23) "'And if it be on her bed or on anything on which she sits, when he touches it, he shall be unclean until evening. (24) And if any man lies with her at all, and her impurity is on him, he shall be unclean seven days; and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean.'"

The sense here is that if someone touched the bed or seat of the unclean woman, he would be considered unclean only till the evening; however if the woman's bloody discharge itself touched him, then he would be considered unclean for seven days, and every bed he lay upon during that time would be considered unclean.

(25) "'And if a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, other than at the time of her customary impurity, or if it runs beyond her usual time of impurity, all the days of her unclean discharge shall be as the days of her customary impurity; she shall be unclean.'"

If a woman had a discharge of blood other than during her regular monthly period, or if the discharge ran longer than the usual time of her period, all the days she had the discharge would be considered as the days of her usual period, in that she would be considered unclean during that time.

(26) "‘Every bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her as the bed of her separation; and whatever she sits on shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation.'"

Just as during the time of her seven days' separation in verses 19 and 20, if her discharge ran longer than seven days, every bed and every seat she sat upon was to be considered unclean.

(27) "'And whoever touches those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening.'"

Anyone who touched the unclean bed or seat of the woman with the discharge was to wash himself and his clothes and be considered unclean until the evening.

(28) "‘But if she is cleansed of her discharge, then she shall count for herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean.'"

After the bleeding stopped or was cured, the woman was to wait seven days until she would be considered clean.

(29) "‘And on the eighth day she shall take for herself two turtledoves or two young pigeons, and bring them to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. (30) And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for her before the LORD for the discharge of her uncleanness.'"

On the eighth day the woman was to bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest to the door of the tabernacle to be used for sin and burnt offerings.  I read that these sacrifices likely were not required for a woman's regular monthly period, but only for an excessively long one or for another discharge of blood other than from her period.  I agree that it doesn't seem reasonable that a poor woman would have to bear the expense and trouble of bringing sacrifices every month.  While it is true she was considered unclean for seven days during her regular period, I don't believe she had to bring a sacrifice.  This eighth day seems to refer to the day after the seven she waited after bleeding had stopped.  When a woman's period started, she was set apart for seven days; she couldn't have been set apart for seven days after her regular bleeding stopped as the bleeding would not have started and stopped on the first day.  I believe there was an additional seven days' separation for the woman who had a bloody discharge for a reason other than her regular monthly cycle, or if her period ran longer than seven days, and then she was to offer a sacrifice.

(31) "‘Thus you shall separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness, that they not die in their uncleanness, when they defile My tabernacle that is among them.'"

In the preceding ways the children of Israel were to separate uncleanness from among them.  If contagious, this prevented spreading.  If just legally unclean, it surely brought attention to and caused less frequent touching and spreading of uncleanness among the children of Israel.  The preceding allowed for prevention of and atonement for uncleanness, so that the children of Israel did not die in their uncleanness when they defiled the Lord's tabernacle with it.  They were not allowed into the Lord's tabernacle when they were unclean, and so are we all not allowed into the kingdom of God until our uncleanness and sins are purged with the blood of Jesus Christ.

(32) "‘This is the law for one who has a discharge, and for him whose seed goes from him, and is defiled thereby, (33) And for her who is sick from her impurity, and for one who has a discharge, either man or woman, and for him who lies with her who is unclean.’”

The preceding constituted the law for the various personal discharges that might afflict men and women and thus defile them.  Just as with leprosy, these discharges are symbolic of sin, and in the same way that a cured leper or one cured from a discharge was not considered clean until he or she had washed and had offered sacrifice, so it is with sin.  A person is not made righteous by his acts or by virtue of his being healed alone. Even though he may have healed his wicked ways, he is still as filthy rags before the Lord.  Only when he is washed clean by the blood of the Lamb's sacrifice is he allowed to dwell with the Lord in His kingdom.