20 "'Everything that she lies on in her impurity shall be unclean. Everything also that she sits on shall be unclean.
"'Every bed whereon he who has the discharge lies shall be unclean; and everything he sits on shall be unclean. Whoever touches his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. He who sits on anything whereon the man who has the discharge sat shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. "'He who touches the body of him who has the discharge shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. "'If he who has the discharge spits on him who is clean, then he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. "'Whatever saddle he who has the discharge rides on shall be unclean.
To deliver you from the strange woman, Even from the foreigner who flatters with her words; Who forsakes the friend of her youth, And forgets the covenant of her God: For her house leads down to death, Her paths to the dead. None who go to her return again, Neither do they attain to the paths of life:
For the lips of an adulteress drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil, But in the end she is as bitter as wormwood, And as sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death. Her steps lead straight to Sheol. She gives no thought to the way of life. Her ways are crooked, and she doesn't know it. Now therefore, my sons, listen to me. Don't depart from the words of my mouth. Remove your way far from her. Don't come near the door of her house, Lest you give your honor to others, And your years to the cruel one; Lest strangers feast on your wealth, And your labors enrich another man's house. You will groan at your latter end, When your flesh and your body are consumed, And say, "How I have hated instruction, And my heart despised reproof; Neither have I obeyed the voice of my teachers, Nor turned my ear to those who instructed me!
To keep you from the immoral woman, From the flattery of the wayward wife's tongue.
He won't regard any ransom, Neither will he rest content, though you give many gifts.
Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, And with crafty intent. She is loud and defiant. Her feet don't stay in her house. Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, And lurking at every corner. So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him: "Sacrifices of peace-offerings are with me. This day I have paid my vows. Therefore I came out to meet you, To diligently seek your face, And I have found you. I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, With striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let's take our fill of loving until the morning. Let's solace ourselves with loving. For my husband isn't at home. He has gone on a long journey. He has taken a bag of money with him. He will come home at the full moon." With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him. He followed her immediately, As an ox goes to the slaughter, As a fool stepping into a noose. Until an arrow strikes through his liver, As a bird hurries to the snare, And doesn't know that it will cost his life. Now therefore, sons, listen to me. Pay attention to the words of my mouth. Don't let your heart turn to her ways. Don't go astray in her paths, For she has thrown down many wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty host. Her house is the way to Sheol, Going down to the chambers of death.
The foolish woman is loud, Undisciplined, and knows nothing. She sits at the door of her house, On a seat in the high places of the city, To call to those who pass by, Who go straight on their ways, "Whoever is simple, let him turn in here." As for him who is void of understanding, she says to him, "Stolen water is sweet. Food eaten in secret is pleasant." But he doesn't know that the dead are there, That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.
If you don't have means to pay, Why should he take away your bed from under you?
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.