1 And the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron,
2 Say to the children of Israel: If a man has an unclean flow from his flesh, it will make him unclean.
3 If the flow goes on or if the part is stopped up, to keep back the flow, he is still unclean.
4 Every bed on which he has been resting will be unclean, and everything on which he has been seated will be unclean.
5 And anyone touching his bed is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening.
6 And he who has been seated on anything on which the unclean man has been seated is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening.
7 And anyone touching the flesh of the unclean man is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening.
8 And if liquid from the mouth of the unclean man comes on to him who is clean, then he is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening.
9 And any leather seat on a horse on which the unclean man has been seated will be unclean.
10 And anyone touching anything which was under him will be unclean till the evening; anyone taking up any of these things is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening.
11 And anyone on whom the unclean man puts his hands, without washing them in water, is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening.
12 And any vessel of earth which has been touched by the unclean man will have to be broken and any vessel of wood washed.
13 And when a man who has a flow from his body is made clean from it, he is to take seven days to make himself clean, washing his clothing and bathing his body in flowing water, and then he will be clean.
14 And on the eighth day he is to take two doves or two young pigeons and come before the Lord to the door of the Tent of meeting and give them to the priest:
15 And they are to be offered by the priest, one for a sin-offering and one for a burned offering, and the priest will take away his sin before the Lord on account of his flow.
16 And if a man's seed goes out from him, then all his body will have to be bathed in water and he will be unclean till evening.
17 And any clothing or skin on which the seed comes is to be washed with water and be unclean till evening.
18 And if a man has sex relations with a woman and his seed goes out from him, the two of them will have to be bathed in water and will be unclean till evening.
19 And if a woman has a flow of blood from her body, she will have to be kept separate for seven days, and anyone touching her will be unclean till evening.
20 And everything on which she has been resting, while she is kept separate, will be unclean, and everything on which she has been seated will be unclean.
21 And anyone touching her bed will have to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening.
22 And anyone touching anything on which she has been seated will have to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening.
23 Anyone touching anything on the bed or on the thing on which she has been seated, will be unclean till evening.
24 And if any man has sex relations with her so that her blood comes on him, he will be unclean for seven days and every bed on which he has been resting will be unclean.
25 And if a woman has a flow of blood for a long time, not at the time when she generally has it, or if the flow goes on longer than the normal time, she will be unclean while the flow of blood goes on, as she is at other normal times.
26 Every bed on which she has been resting will be unclean, as at the times when she normally has a flow of blood, and everything on which she has been seated will be unclean, in the same way.
27 And anyone touching these things will be unclean, and his clothing will have to be washed and his body bathed in water and he will be unclean till evening.
28 But when her flow of blood is stopped, after seven days she will be clean.
29 And on the eighth day let her get two doves or two young pigeons and take them to the priest to the door of the Tent of meeting,
30 To be offered by the priest, one for a sin-offering and one for a burned offering; and the priest will take away her sin before the Lord on account of her unclean condition.
31 In this way may the children of Israel be made free from all sorts of unclean conditions, so that death may not overtake them when they are unclean and when they make unclean my holy place which is among them.
32 This is the law for the man who has a flow from his body, or whose seed goes from him so that he is unclean;
33 And for her who has a flow of blood, and for any man or woman who has an unclean flow, and for him who has sex relations with a woman when she is unclean.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Leviticus 15
Commentary on Leviticus 15 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 15
Le 15:1-18. Uncleanness of Men.
2. When any man hath a running issue—This chapter describes other forms of uncleanness, the nature of which is sufficiently intelligible in the text without any explanatory comment. Being the effects of licentiousness, they properly come within the notice of the legislator, and the very stringent rules here prescribed, both for the separation of the person diseased and for avoiding contamination from anything connected with him, were well calculated not only to prevent contagion, but to discourage the excesses of licentious indulgence.
9. what saddle … he rideth upon that hath the issue shall be unclean—(See on Ge 31:34).
12. the vessel of earth, that he toucheth which hath the issue, shall be broken—It is thought that the pottery of the Israelites, like the earthenware jars in which the Egyptians kept their water, was unglazed and consequently porous, and that it was its porousness which, rendering it extremely liable to imbibe small particles of impure matter, was the reason why the vessel touched by an unclean person was ordered to be broken.
13, 14. then he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing—Like a leprous person he underwent a week's probation, to make sure he was completely healed. Then with the sacrifices prescribed, the priest made an atonement for him, that is, offered the oblations necessary for the removal of his ceremonial defilement, as well as the typical pardon of his sins.
Le 15:19-33. Uncleanness of Women.
19. if a woman have an issue—Though this, like the leprosy, might be a natural affection, it was anciently considered contagious and entailed a ceremonial defilement which typified a moral impurity. This ceremonial defilement had to be removed by an appointed method of ceremonial expiation, and the neglect of it subjected any one to the guilt of defiling the tabernacle, and to death as the penalty of profane temerity.
31-33. Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness—The divine wisdom was manifested in inspiring the Israelites with a profound reverence for holy things; and nothing was more suited to this purpose than to debar from the tabernacle all who were polluted by any kind of uncleanness, ceremonial as well as natural, mental as well as physical. The better to mark out that people as His family, His servants and priests, dwelling in the camp as in a holy place, consecrated by His presence and His tabernacle, He required of them complete purity, and did not allow them to come before Him when defiled, even by involuntary or secret impurities, as a want of respect due to His majesty. And when we bear in mind that God was training a people to live in His presence in some measure as priests devoted to His service, we shall not consider these rules for the maintenance of personal purity either too stringent or too minute (1Th 4:4).