2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man have a flux from his flesh, because of his flux he is unclean.
3 And this shall be his uncleanness in his flux: whether his flesh run with his flux, or his flesh be closed from his flux, it is his uncleanness.
4 Every bed whereon he lieth that hath the flux shall be unclean; and every object on which he sitteth shall be unclean.
5 And whoever toucheth his bed shall wash his garments, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
6 And he that sitteth on any object whereon he sat that hath the flux shall wash his garments, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
7 And he that toucheth the flesh of him that hath the flux shall wash his garments, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
8 And if he that hath the flux spit upon him that is clean, then he shall wash his garments, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
9 And what carriage soever he rideth upon that hath the flux shall be unclean.
10 And whoever toucheth anything that was under him shall be unclean until the even; and he that carrieth them shall wash his garments, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
11 And whomsoever he toucheth who hath the flux and hath not rinsed his hands in water -- he shall wash his garments, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
12 And the vessel of earth that he toucheth who hath the flux shall be broken; and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.
13 And when he that hath a flux is clean of his flux, then he shall count seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and he shall be clean.
14 And on the eighth day he shall take two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, and come before Jehovah unto the entrance of the tent of meeting, and give them unto the priest.
15 And the priest shall offer them, one as a sin-offering, and one as a burnt-offering; and the priest shall make atonement for him before Jehovah for his flux.
16 And if any man's seed of copulation pass from him, then he shall bathe his whole flesh in water, and be unclean until the even.
17 And every garment, and every skin, whereon the seed of copulation shall be, shall be washed with water, and be unclean until the even.
18 And a woman with whom a man lieth with seed of copulation -- they shall bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
19 And if a woman have a flux, and her flux in her flesh be blood, she shall be seven days in her separation, and whoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even.
20 And everything that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean; and everything that she sitteth upon shall be unclean.
21 And whoever toucheth her bed shall wash his garments, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
22 And whoever toucheth any object that she sat upon shall wash his garments, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
23 And if it be on the bed, or on anything whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even.
24 And if a man lie with her at all, and the uncleanness of her separation come upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and every bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean.
25 And if a woman have her flux of blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if she have the flux beyond the time of her separation, all the days of the flux of her uncleanness shall she be as [in] the days of her separation: she is unclean.
26 Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her flux shall be unto her as the bed of her separation; and every object on which she sitteth shall be unclean, according to the uncleanness of her separation.
27 And whoever toucheth them shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
28 And if she be cleansed of her flux then she shall count seven days, and after that she shall be clean.
29 And on the eighth day she shall take two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, and bring them unto the priest, unto the entrance of the tent of meeting.
30 And the priest shall offer the one as a sin-offering, and the other as a burnt-offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her before Jehovah for the flux of her uncleanness.
31 And ye shall separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness, that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that is in their midst.
32 This is the law for him that hath a flux, and for the one whose seed of copulation goeth from him, and who is defiled therewith:
33 and for a woman who is sick in her separation, and for him that hath his flux; for the man and for the woman, and for him that lieth with her that is unclean.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Leviticus 15
Commentary on Leviticus 15 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
The Uncleanness of Secretions. - These include (1) a running issue from a man (Leviticus 15:2-15); (2) involuntary emission of seed (Leviticus 15:16, Leviticus 15:17), and the emission of seed in sexual intercourse (Leviticus 15:18); (3) the monthly period of a woman (Leviticus 15:19-24); (4) a diseased issue of blood from a woman (Leviticus 15:25-30). They consist, therefore, of two diseased and two natural secretions from the organs of generation.
The running issue from a man is not described with sufficient clearness for us to be able to determine with certainty what disease is referred to: “if a man becomes flowing out of his flesh, he is unclean in his flux.” That even here the term flesh is not a euphemism for the organ of generation, as is frequently assumed, is evident from Leviticus 15:13, “he shall wash his clothes and bathe his flesh in water,” when compared with Leviticus 16:23-24, Leviticus 16:28, etc., where flesh cannot possibly have any such meaning. The “flesh” is the body as in Leviticus 15:7, “whoever touches the flesh of him that hath the issue,” as compared with Leviticus 15:19, “whosoever toucheth her.” At the same time, the agreement between the law relating to the man with an issue and that concerning the woman with an issue (Leviticus 15:19, “her issue in her flesh”) points unmistakeably to a secretion from the sexual organs. Only the seat of the disease is not more closely defined. The issue of the man is not a hemorrhoidal disease, for nothing is said about a flow of blood; still less is it a syphilitic suppuration ( gonorrhaea virulenta ), for the occurrence of this at all in antiquity is very questionable; but it is either a diseased flow of semen ( gonorrhaea ), i.e., an involuntary flow drop by drop arising from weakness of the organ, as Jerome and the Rabbins assume, or more probably, simply blenorrhaea urethrae , a discharge of mucus arising from a catarrhal affection of the mucous membrane of the urethra ( urethritis ). The participle זב יהיה is expressive of continued duration. In Leviticus 15:3 the uncleanness is still more closely defined: “whether his flesh run with his issue, or his flesh closes before his issue,” i.e., whether the member lets the matter flow out or by closing retains it, “it is his uncleanness,” i.e., in the latter case as well as the former it is uncleanness to him, he is unclean. For the “closing” is only a temporary obstruction, brought about by some particular circumstance.
Every bed upon which he lay, and everything upon which he sat, was defiled in consequence; also every one who touched his bed (Leviticus 15:5), or sat upon it (Leviticus 15:6), or touched his flesh, i.e., his body (Leviticus 15:7), was unclean, and had to bathe himself and wash his clothes in consequence.
The conveyance in which such a man rode was also unclean, as well as everything under him; and whoever touched them was defiled till the evening, and the person who carried them was to wash his clothes and bathe himself.
This also applied to every one whom the man with an issue might touch, without first rinsing his hands in water.
Vessels that he had touched were to be broken to pieces if they were of earthenware, and rinsed with water if they were of wood, for the reasons explained in Leviticus 11:33 and Leviticus 6:21.
When he was cleansed, i.e., recovered from his issue, he was to wait seven days with regard to his purification, and then wash his clothes and bathe his body in fresh water, and be clean. On the eighth day he was to bring two turtle-doves or young pigeons, in order that the priest might prepare one as a sin-offering and the other as a burnt-offering, and make an atonement for him before the Lord for his issue.
Involuntary emission of seed . - This defiled for the whole of the day, not only the man himself, but any garment or skin upon which any of it had come, and required for purification that the whole body should be bathed, and the polluted things washed.
Sexual connection . “If a man lie with a woman with the emission of seed, both shall be unclean till the evening, and bathe themselves in water.” Consequently it was not the concubitus as such which defiled, as many erroneously suppose, but the emission of seed in the coitus . This explains the law and custom, of abstaining from conjugal intercourse during the preparation for acts of divine worship, or the performance of the same (Exodus 19:5; 1 Samuel 21:5-6; 2 Samuel 11:4), in which many other nations resembled the Israelites. (For proofs see Leyrer's article in Herzog's Cyclopaedia, and Knobel in loco , though the latter is wrong in supposing that conjugal intercourse itself defiled.)
The menses of a woman . - “If a woman have an issue, (if) blood is her issue in her flesh, she shall be seven days in her uncleanness.” As the discharge does not last as a rule more than four or five days, the period of seven days was fixed on account of the significance of the number seven. In this condition she rendered every one who touched her unclean (Leviticus 15:19), everything upon which she lay or sat (Leviticus 15:20), every one who touched her bed or whatever she sat upon (Leviticus 15:21, Leviticus 15:22), also any one who touched the blood upon her bed or seat (Leviticus 15:23, where הוּא and בּו are to be referred to דּם ); and they remained unclean till the evening, when they had to wash their clothes and bathe themselves.
If a man lay with her and her uncleanness came upon him, he became unclean for seven days, and the bed upon which he lay became unclean as well. The meaning cannot be merely if he lie upon the same bed with her, but if he have conjugal intercourse, as is evident from Leviticus 20:18 and Numbers 5:13 (cf. Genesis 26:10; Genesis 34:2; Genesis 35:22; 1 Samuel 2:22). It cannot be adduced as an objection to this explanation, which is the only admissible one, that according to Leviticus 18:19 and Leviticus 20:18 intercourse with a woman during her menses was an accursed crime, to be punished by extermination. For the law in Leviticus 20:18 refers partly to conjugal intercourse during the hemorrhage of a woman after child-birth, as the similarity of the words in Leviticus 20:18 and Leviticus 12:7 ( דּמיה מקור ) clearly proves, and to the case of a man attempting cohabitation with a woman during her menstruation. The verse before us, on the contrary, refers simply to the possibility of menstruation commencing during the act of conjugal intercourse, when the man would be involuntarily defiled through the unexpected uncleanness of the woman.
Diseased issue from a woman . - If an issue of blood in a woman flowed many days away from (not in) the time of her monthly uncleanness, or if it flowed beyond her monthly uncleanness, she was to be unclean as long as her unclean issue continued, just as in the days of her monthly uncleanness, and she defiled her couch as well as everything upon which she sat, as in the other case, also every one who touched either her or these things.
After the issue had ceased, she was to purify herself like the man with an issue, as described in Leviticus 15:13-15. - Obedience to these commands is urged in Leviticus 15:31 : “Cause that the children of Israel free themselves from their uncleanness, that they die not through their uncleanness, by defiling My dwelling in the midst of them.” הזּיר , Hiphil , to cause that a person keeps aloof from anything, or loosens himself from it, from נזר , Niphal to separate one's self, signifies here deliverance from the state of uncleanness, purification from it. Continuance in it was followed by death, not merely in the particular instance in which an unclean man ventured to enter the sanctuary, but as a general fact, because uncleanness as irreconcilable with the calling of Israel to be a holy nation, in the midst of which Jehovah the Holy One had His dwelling-place (Leviticus 11:44), and continuance in uncleanness without the prescribed purification was a disregard of the holiness of Jehovah, and involved rebellion against Him and His ordinances of grace.
Concluding formula . The words, “ him that lieth with her that is unclean, ” are more general than the expression, “lie with her,” in Leviticus 15:24, and involve not only intercourse with an unclean woman, but lying by her side upon one and the same bed.