Leviticus 15:16-33 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Leviticus 15:16-33. Let’s go!
Leviticus 15:16-24 (NIV)
16 “‘When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean till evening.
17 Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening.
18 When a man lies with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both must bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.
19 “‘When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening.
20 “‘Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean.
21 Whoever touches her bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening.
22 Whoever touches anything she sits on must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening.
23 Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, he will be unclean till evening.
24 “‘If a man lies with her and her monthly flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days; any bed he lies on will be unclean.
On verses 16-24: Why is it that a man’s emission of semen (v16-18) would cause a man and the woman he lay with to be ceremonially unclean? Why is it that a woman’s period (v19-24) or a woman bleeding outside of her regular period (v25-27) would cause the woman and anything the woman sits on to be ceremonially unclean? Are these bodily discharges sinful in God’s eyes? No. Remember that “sinful” and “unclean” are not the same thing. To be ceremonially unclean meant that you could not enter the sanctuary where the Israelites worshipped for the period of the uncleanness.
Why would God impose such a rule on the Israelites? Many scholars say that the main purpose of these regulations was to set the Israelites apart from other nations who regularly practiced cult prostitution and engaged in fertility rituals within the temples where they would worship their gods. In other words, whereas people from other nations would have sex in the temple where they worshiped their gods as a way to activate their gods to action, God was saying, “That’s not going to happen in my sanctuary”, and these regulations would effectively keep that from happening.
What can we learn from this? God made sex and menstruation cycles to be natural parts of human life. The problem comes when we turn sex into a god and begin to worship it.
To what extent do these regulations in Leviticus apply to Christians today? We’ll look to answer this question when we look at Leviticus 19 together.
Leviticus 15:25-33 (NIV)
25 “‘When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period.
26 Any bed she lies on while her discharge continues will be unclean, as is her bed during her monthly period, and anything she sits on will be unclean, as during her period.
27 Whoever touches them will be unclean; he must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean till evening.
28 “‘When she is cleansed from her discharge, she must count off seven days, and after that she will be ceremonially clean.
29 On the eighth day she must take two doves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
30 The priest is to sacrifice one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way he will make atonement for her before the LORD for the uncleanness of her discharge.
31 “‘You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them.'”
32 These are the regulations for a man with a discharge, for anyone made unclean by an emission of semen,
33 for a woman in her monthly period, for a man or a woman with a discharge, and for a man who lies with a woman who is ceremonially unclean.
On verses 25-33: When I think about Leviticus 15:25, I think about the woman in the Gospels who had been bleeding for many days – 12 years, in fact – approaches Jesus. Since she was bleeding, she was deemed by laws like Leviticus 15:25 to be unclean, which meant that anything she touched would be considered unclean and defiled. Thus no one wanted to touch her and she was probably hesitant to touch anyone — for 12 years!
Yet this woman had unusual faith. (Sometimes desperate and unusual situations call for desperate and unusual faith.) She thinks to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.” (Matthew 9:21) When she actually does touch Jesus, Jesus was not made unclean; rather, the woman was healed and restored! And rather than condemning this “unclean” woman for touching him and making him unclean, Jesus blessed her and told her to “go in peace” (Luke 8:48).
Thank You Jesus for being willing to let us touch You, even if it meant that according to the law our own uncleanness would make you unclean. Praise You Jesus that when we touch You, rather than us making you unclean, you make us clean! In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
