Leviticus 15
PATthe holy writers speak very plainly of some things, that we think it not so modest to name in that manner; yet it is observable, on the other hand, that in things of the same nature, they use circumlocutions to express them, which we stick not to speak of in blunter words. As when they say, the water of the feet, meaning urine; and call going to stool, uncovering of the feet; which shews that it is nothing but the vast difference of times and places, which makes that language seem uncivil to us, that was not so to them; and, on the contrary, made them very cautious in their expressions, where we think it unnecessary. Go out from him.’] Involuntarily; in his sleep, or otherwise, which the Hebrews call Jceri, i.e. accidental. Then he shall wash all his flesh with water, and be unclean until the even.] This was one of the smallest legal pollutions, from which they were soon cleansed without any sacrifice; and which some of them think did not oblige them to wash, unless they intended to go to the sanctuary. But though that opinion be not true, yet this rite had such a respect to the sanctuary, that now they have none, they do not think themselves bound to use it on sucli occasions.
Leviticus 15:1
JjLND the Lord spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying. For Aaron was particularly concerned to see these laws observed, as well as the foregoing. "
Leviticus 15:2
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them. Moses, it is likely, first delivered these laws* to them, in the presence of Aaron; who afterward instructed and exhorted them to the observance of them. When any man hath a running issue.] He speaks of that disease which physicians call a gonorrhoea; which commonly proceeded from an ill course of life, and had in those countries a great virulency in it. If it proceeded merely from some strain in the backi by carrying too great a burden, or by violent leaping, (and several other natural causes, which Maimonides enumerates in his Mechuss. Kapparah, cap. 2.) the man was not defiled with it, nor concerned in this law. And therefore the causes from whence it proceeded were diligently to be considered, as Maimonides there admonishes; which might be discerned by such effects, as made it a very nasty and offensive disease in those hot countries, as it is sometimes here in these colder climates. Out of his flesh.] The word flesh signifies the secret parts, as it doth Gen. vi. 10. xvii. 13. Ezek. xvi. 2G. and other places. Because of his issue he is unclean.] Upon that account alone he was to be kept from the sanctuary, and separated from company* (See ver. 31.)
Leviticus 15:3
And this shall be his uncleanness in his issue. The rule whereby to judge of it. Whether the flesh run with his issue, or his flesh be stopped from his issue, it is his uncleanness.] Whether there were a continued distillation of the corrupt matter, or it was so coagulated as to stop in the passage: cither way, it made the man unclean. Be stoppedfrom his issue.] Rather, with his isme; as thd Hebrew words will bear. 3F2 [chap. XV.
Leviticus 15:4
Every bed whereon he lieth that hath the issue is unclean: and every thing Whereon he sitteth, &c. This and the following verses unto ver. 13. are a demonstration that this disease made a man legally unclean to a very high degree:, being so offensive, that not only every thing he touched became unclean, but whosoever touched such things was made unclean also. There is little in them that needs any explication; the only difficulty was, to know whether a man laboured under this disease. Which was not wholly left unto his conscience to determine; but his countenance discovered it: the continual flux making a great alteration in the whole habit of his body. For virulent gonorrhoeas sometimes last several years (as Tho. Bartholinus saith, he knew one that had it ten years, and was reduced to skin and bone), being frequently accompanied with inflammations and ulcers in the neighbouring parts, from which the filthy humour flows,. (Bartholin. Hist. Anatom. Cent. ii. Hist, xxxvi.)., \
Leviticus 15:5
And whosoever toucheth his bed. Upon which he hath lain..Shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water; and be unclean until the even:] Which was the law in other cases, when men had touched an unclean thing, (xi. 23.) Ver. G. And he that sitteth on any thing whereon he sat that hath the issue,’] Though he did but just sit down, and did it ignorantly; presently rising up again as soon as he knew his error; he became defiled, and might not go to the sanctuary till he was purified, by washing his clothes and himself in water.
Leviticus 15:7
And he that toucheth the flesh of him that hath the issue. That is, any part of his body..'
Leviticus 15:8
And if he that hath the issue spit upon him that is clean, 8cc. By the same reason, if he blowed his nose upon htm it defiled him. * Then he shall wash his clothes.] i. e. The man upon whom the spittle fell.
Leviticus 15:9
And what saddle soever he rideth upon, &c. By the same reason that the seat he sat upon was defiled, (ver. 4.)
Leviticus 15:10
And whosoever toucheth any thing that was under him, &c. Either the saddle, or any thing else that was under him w r hen he rode.’ And he that beareth any of those things, &c] Removeth them from one place to another; though it be to carry them out of the way, that others may not be defiled by them unawares.
Leviticus 15:11
And whomsoever he toucheth that hath the issue (and hath not rinsed his hands in water) he shall wash, &c. lit is somewhat doubtful, whether these words (hath not washed his* hands in water) belong to him that had the issue, or to him that his hands touched. Most understand it of the former, that if the man who had an issue touched any other man, and had not first washed his hands, that man whom he touched should be defiled. But the Syriac takes it to refer to the man that was touched by him, who, if he did not immediately wash his hands with water, was to be cleansed after a more laborious manner, by washing his clothes, and bathing himself in water. But I do not see how washing of his hands could cleanse him; when the man that had the issue touched, perhaps, some other part of his body.
Leviticus 15:12
And the vessel of earth that he toucheth, which hath the issue, shall be broken &c. That it might not be employed hereafter to any use. (See xi. 33. vi. 18.) And every vessel ofivood shall be rinsed in water.] Such vessels were not broken, but only well washed, because they were not so easily made as the other, and were of more value. There are so many washings prescribed here, and on other occasions, that it is reasonable to believe there Mere not only at Jerusalem, and in all other cities; but in every village, several bathing-places contrived for these legal purifications, that men might, without much labour, be capable to fulfil these precepts. And one cannot but think that such frequent washings were enjoined, to admonish them how carefully they ought to preserve purity of heart and life.
Leviticus 15:13
And when he that hath an issue is cleansed of his issue. It having ceased for some time.. Tixen he shall number to himself seven days for his cleans* ing.] That there might be sufficient proof made whether the issue was stopped; that is, he was really cured. And wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh.] In the conclusion of the seventh day. • In running xuaterJ] i. e. Spring-water (as we speak), which was most pure.- River-water was the same, which comes from springs. And shall be clean.] So that he might keep company with his neighbours, but not have communion with God at the sanctuary, till after. the following sacrifices were offered: for, if in the end of the seventh day, after his washing, the flux returned again, all this labour was lost, and ho was to stay seven days more, as Maimonides observes in his treatise on this subject, cap. 3.
Leviticus 15:14
And on the eighth day. If he continued freo from the flux, after his washing on the seventh day, in the evening. He shall take to him two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons.] These were the sacrifices appointed for the meaner sort of people, who were not able to be at the chargo of a lamb, or other sacrifices of the flock or herd, (v. 7. xii. 8.) And perhaps the great trouble the man had endured, and given others, while he laboured under this disease, might be considered so far as to put him to as little charge as might be for his purification. And come before the Lord, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.] But not into the court of tho Israelites, till his sacrifices were offered.
Leviticus 15:15
And the priest shall offer them, the one for a sinoffering, and the other for a burnt-offering. As in the case of a poor leper, (xiv. 31.) who was bound also to offer a trespass-offering of greater value. And the priest shall make an atonement for him bqfore the Lord, for his issue.] Perfectly restore him to partake of holy things, of which he was debarred while he had his issue. And here it may be fit to observe, that the greater part of all the legal [defilements depended upon the seat or place of the Divine Majesty, (as the author of Sepher Cosri speaks, par. iii. sect. 49.) whose presence there made their country be called the holy land, and was the ground of all these injunctions about cleanliness: to which, he thinks, they have no obligations at this day, now that they live in an unclean land (i. e. among us gentiles), and want the presence of the Divine Majesty among them. Ver. 1G. And if any mans seed of copulation.] Though
Leviticus 15:17
And every garment, and every skin, &c. . These things were made so unclean by such accidents, that they might not be used the next day, nor till they were washed.
Leviticus 15:18
Tlie woman also with whom man shall lie with seed of copulation. It is no wonder the holy writers speak so plainly of these matters, being men of great simplicity, free from all wantonness, commonly far advanced in years; among whom marriage and a numerous issue were accounted the greatest blessings, and therefore coveted by all, and renounced by none. They shall both bathe themselves in water, &c J There is no sort of pollution in the act of marriage, which is of God’s own institution, but what this law made: and the law made it, as Theodoret thinks, that the trouble of such constant purification after it, might preserve them from the immoderate use of it. So those words of his signify, KcXeua K<xda[pE<j%ai, iva fcwAup tiiq avvovaiag to ffuve^ic* 17 Trtpi rfjv KaZagaiv cwxoXia, (Qucest. XX. in Levit.)'
Leviticus 15:19
And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in Jier flesh be blood. In the Hebrew the words run much clearer; and a woman when she shall have an issue of blood, and her issue be in her flesh. The latter part of which are added, to distinguish this from bleeding at the nose, or from the hemorrhoids (which did not pollute any body); for the word flesh here signifies, as it doth ver. 2. Slie shall be put apart seven days.] From her husband, and from the sanctuary: to which these sorts of uneleanness have a peculiar respect, as I before noted. And Maimonides here, not unfitly, observes, that whereas the Zabii accounted a man polluted if he did but speak with a menstruous woman, or if the wind, which came from the quarter where she was, blew upon him; God only required her not to meddle with holy things, nor to approach to the sanctuary. Otherwise she might eat all manner of common meat, and perform all domestic offices for her husband, as formerly; only not lie with him while she remained in this condition. So he explains this, More Nev. par. iii. cap. 47, And whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even.] If they were grown persons, as Menochius well observes; for infants were excepted from this pollution, by their age and the necessities of nature. The same is observed by Maimonides, in the chapter forenamed; that the more frequent any of these uncleannesses were, the greater and longer purifications were required. As touching of a dead body, especially of friends and neighbours, being the most usual, it could not be cleansed but by the ashes of the red heifer (which were not easily had), and not till seven days were passed. In like manner, fluxes and menstruous pollutions, because they oftener happened, and were more grievous than touching the unclean, those therefore that laboured under them, had need of seven days* purification; but they that touched them, of one day only, before they became clean.
Leviticus 15:20
And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean, &c. The very same sort of uncleanness was contracted in this case, as in the foregoing, ver. 4, &c. For if we believe some authors, it might not only be properly called her sickness; but such an one as had some infection in it (at least something offensive) in those hot countries. (See Pliny, lib.vii.5. andlib.xxviii.2.)
Leviticus 15:21
And whatsoever toucheth her bed, &c. This and the two following verses contain the very same prohibition in this ease, which were given in the other. (Seever.5,C,&c.)
Leviticus 15:24
If a man lie with her at all. i. e. Unwittingly, not knowing in what condition she was: for if he did it knowingly, both of them were liable to be cut off, (xx. 18.) He shall be unclean seven days.] As having contracted one of the greatest sorts of uncleanness, (ver. 19.) For though this flux was natural and beneficial, and therefore could have no Sort of uncleanness in it but what was made by this law: yet there was a great reason for the keeping men from the company of women in this condition, if leprosies, and such-like diseases, were thereby propagated, as Theodoret says some think; $>am yap rtvtg, Ik rfjc rotavTt\g avva
Leviticus 15:25
And if a ivoman have an issue of blood many days out of the time of her separation, &c. As before he spoke of the natural course of the blood, so here of a disease; which Procopius Gazseus calls malum immedicabile, an incurable evil. So it sometimes proved, as appears by the story of the woman in the gospel, whose case this was, (Matt. ix. 20.) All the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation.] She was to be in the same condition with the woman mentioned ver. 19. who was put apart seven days; i. e. as long as her uncleanness lasted. Which made the case of those that laboured under this infirmity very lamentable, because it continued in some many years.
Leviticus 15:26
Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation, &c. Like the bed and the seat of her mentioned ver. 20.
Leviticus 15:27
And whosoever toucheth these things shall be nnclean, &e. As in the case forementioned ver. 21.
Leviticus 15:28
But if she be cleansed of her issue. Cured of her disease.. Then shall she number to herself seven days.*] For a trial whether it was a perfect cure or not.