Leviticus 15--Laws About Bodily Discharges

Leviticus 15
English Standard Version

Laws About Bodily Discharges
15 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any man has a discharge from his body, his discharge is unclean. 3 And this is the law of his uncleanness for a discharge: whether his body runs with his discharge, or his body is blocked up by his discharge, it is his uncleanness. 4 Every bed on which the one with the discharge lies shall be unclean, and everything on which he sits shall be unclean. 5 And anyone who touches his bed shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 6 And whoever sits on anything on which the one with the discharge has sat shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 7 And whoever touches the body of the one with the discharge shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 8 And if the one with the discharge spits on someone who is clean, then he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 9 And any saddle on which the one with the discharge rides shall be unclean. 10 And whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until the evening. And whoever carries such things shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 11 Anyone whom the one with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 12 And an earthenware vessel that the one with the discharge touches shall be broken, and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.

13 “And when the one with a discharge is cleansed of his discharge, then he shall count for himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes. And he shall bathe his body in fresh water and shall be clean. 14 And on the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons and come before the Lord to the entrance of the tent of meeting and give them to the priest. 15 And the priest shall use them, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord for his discharge.

16 “If a man has an emission of semen, he shall bathe his whole body in water and be unclean until the evening. 17 And every garment and every skin on which the semen comes shall be washed with water and be unclean until the evening. 18 If a man lies with a woman and has an emission of semen, both of them shall bathe themselves in water and be unclean until the evening.

19 “When a woman has a discharge, and the discharge in her body is blood, she shall be in her menstrual impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening. 20 And everything on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean. Everything also on which she sits shall be unclean. 21 And whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 22 And whoever touches anything on which she sits shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 23 Whether it is the bed or anything on which she sits, when he touches it he shall be unclean until the evening. 24 And if any man lies with her and her menstrual impurity comes upon him, he shall be unclean seven days, and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean.

25 “If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity, all the days of the discharge she shall continue in uncleanness. As in the days of her impurity, she shall be unclean. 26 Every bed on which she lies, all the days of her discharge, shall be to her as the bed of her impurity. And everything on which she sits shall be unclean, as in the uncleanness of her menstrual impurity. 27 And whoever touches these things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening. 28 But if she is cleansed of her discharge, she shall count for herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. 29 And on the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons and bring them to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting. 30 And the priest shall use one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her before the Lord for her unclean discharge.

31 “Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that is in their midst.”

​32 This is the law for him who has a discharge and for him who has an emission of semen, becoming unclean thereby; 33 also for her who is unwell with her menstrual impurity, that is, for anyone, male or female, who has a discharge, and for the man who lies with a woman who is unclean.

---

This is going to wrap up this small section in Leviticus about thing that put people or objects in a state of being temporarily unclean--touching something "unclean," having "leprosy," giving birth to a child, and now having a bodily discharge (which was one of the issues behind a woman being "unclean" after having a baby, but also during her period or any other time that a woman or a man would be hemorrhaging.).  Note that the "discharge" here need not necessarily be blood, but anything that would be "seeping" or "oozing" from the body. So this could just as easily refer to a "runny nose" and might explain things like being "blocked up" by the discharge.  However, it was this issue that that woman who touched the fringe (sometimes translated hem, but probably one of the tassels hanging off of his garment, as required by the Law) in Matthew 9:20-22 and Luke 8:43-48.  She had a bodily discharge of blood that had been incurable for 12 years and had been unclean for that whole time--being isolated from God and community during this time and she broke the Law to go to Jesus--the only one who was able to make her clean and whole again simply by touching the edge of His garment.

Notice again that it is not just the person who is unclean here, but any object in which the person (and the discharge) comes in contact with, including their clothes, the bed they lay on, or anything they sit on--and anyone who touches any of those objects will then also become temporarily unclean (will have to wash their clothes and bathe and will be unclean until evening--the beginning of the next day).  Even the saliva of someone with such an issue would make a clean person become unclean (we know today there's good reason for this as saliva can carry pathogens and hemorrhaging as well as seeping or oozing of any kind is a sign of an infection of some kind that could be dangerous and deadly.)  Surprisingly enough, the answer to touching someone with an uncleanliness like this?  Wash your hands!  Who knew?  If the person who touched such a person immediately washed their hands, they would remain clean, but if they failed to wash their hands after coming in contact with such a person, they would become ceremonially unclean.  It is probably for this reason that the Pharisees habitually washed their hands on a regular basis for no good reason other than apparently being in fear that they might have accidently touched someone or something "unclean."  It is this kind of issue that Jesus addresses often with them about them washing and "cleaning" the outside but being unclean and "full of dead man's bones" (remember that carcasses were one of the things that made someone unclean) on the inside, and this was their objection once when they came to Jesus and asked Him in Matthew 15:2 (notice they cite "the tradition of the elders" and not the Law here).


Matthew 15:2
English Standard Version2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.”
We see similar rules for the period of cleansing here that we already saw for a woman who gave childbirth.  There would be a period of seven days after the birth that would be here time of being unclean (14 days if she gave birth to a girl).  We see the same thing here that the person is to wait seven days after the discharge ends, then wash their clothes and take a bath and offer the sacrifice of purification of two turtledoves or pigeons that we've seen before (one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering).

Yes, there's even rules here about if a man has a discharge of semen--it happens involuntarily sometimes, especially in a man's sleep.  In such cases any of the items that came in contact with the semen need to be washed and will be unclean until evening (the next day) and the man must also wash and will be unclean until evening (the next day).  Again, we know now that there are many diseases that can be transmitted this way, but this is also just good hygiene.

There are then rules that clarify that, yes, these rules do apply to a woman's regular menstrual cycles or any time in which a woman has a discharge of blood similar to a menstrual cycle.  The woman will then be unclean for seven days after her bleeding and discharge have ceased, and she will bathe and wash her clothes and will bring the offering of purification of two turtledoves or two pigeons (one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering) that we've already discussed.

No one who is unclean for any reason was to enter the Tabernacle (also known as the Tent of Meeting), so that their uncleanliness defile the Tabernacle or worse that they come into direct contact with the LORD's holiness and be killed.  This is the law for anyone male or female who has a bodily discharge, a man who has a discharge of semen, a woman who is having her period, or anyone who engages in intercourse (while that may not have been clear in the main part of the text it is made clear in the summery here at the end).  In any of these situations the person becomes temporarily unclean, sometimes for a day, sometimes for up to seven days (in the case of giving birth to a baby girl, we've seen it extended to fourteen days) and that the person needs to become clean on the outside (washing clothes and bathing) afterwards, but also needs to offer a sacrifice of purification to be clean on the inside as well.  These are not simply laws about good hygiene and external cleanliness as God is also concerned about the condition of the man's or woman's heart.