Leviticus 15:18
Ver. 18. The woman also with whom man shall lie [with] seed of copulation,.... It seems to respect any congress of a man and woman, whether in fornication or adultery, or lawful marriage, and particularly the latter; for though marriage is honourable and holy, and carnal copulation in itself lawful, yet such is the sinfulness of nature, that as no act is performed without pollution, so neither that of generation, and by which the corruption of nature is propagated, and therefore required a ceremonial cleansing:they shall [both] bathe [themselves] in water, and be unclean until the even; so Herodotus {f} reports, that as often as a Babylonian man lay with his wife, he had used to sit by consecrated incense, and the woman did the same: and in the morning they were both washed, and did not touch any vessel before they had washed themselves; and he says the Arabians did the like: and the same historian relates {g} of the Egyptians, that they never go into their temples from their wives unwashed; see Ex 19:15.{f} Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 198. {g} Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 64. Leviticus 15:19Ver. 19. And if a woman have an issue,.... Having finished, as Aben Ezra observes, what was to be said of the male, now the Scripture begins with the female, whose issue, of a different sort, is thus described:[and] her issue in her flesh be blood; or, "blood be her issue in her flesh"; not in any part of her, but in that which by an euphemism is so called, in the same sense as the phrase is used of men, Le 15:2; and so it distinguishes it from any flow of blood elsewhere, as a bleeding at the nose, &c.she shall be put apart seven days; not out of the camp, nor out of the house, but might not go into the house of God:whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even; the same as one that had touched a man that had an issue, Le 15:7; the pollution of the one reached to the same things as that of the other; and so, in the Misnah {h}, they are put together, and the same is ascribed to the touch of the one as of the other; it may be understood of everything as well as of every person.{h} Zabim, c. 5. sect. 6, 7. Leviticus 15:20Ver. 20. And everything that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean,.... During her being apart from her husband, with whom she might be, and do all offices for him, but not lie with him; and whatsoever she lay upon during this time, bed or couch, and the clothes upon them, were unclean:everything also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean; chair, stool, &c. as is the case of a man, Le 15:4. Leviticus 15:21Ver. 21. And whosoever toucheth her bed,.... The same thing that is said of a profluvious man, and so in Le 15:22. Leviticus 15:22Ver. 22. And whosoever toucheth anything that she sat upon,.... Which was appropriated to her to sit upon, as the Targum of Jonathan, which was her proper and peculiar seat, what she usually sat upon; such were obliged to wash their clothes and bathe, as in all the above cases. See Le 15:5. Leviticus 15:23Ver. 23. And if it [be] on [her] bed, or on anything whereon she sitteth,.... That is, if any person or thing should be upon her bed or seat; a vessel on her bed, or a vessel upon a vessel, as Aben Ezra expresses it:when he toucheth it; that person or thing that should be on her bed or seat, as well as touch her bed or seat:shall be unclean until the even; in a ceremonial sense; so defiling was a woman in such circumstances, and to whom the Scriptures often compare unclean persons and things: and Pliny {i} speaks of menstrues as very infectious, or worse, to various creatures and things, in a natural way.{i} Nat. Hist. l. 7. c. 15. Leviticus 15:24Ver. 24. And if any man lie with her at all,.... Not presumptuously but ignorantly, as Aben Ezra observes; for he was guilty of cutting off, that lay with her wilfully, Le 20:18;and her flowers be upon her; or, "her separation" {k}, her monthly courses not being ceased:he shall be unclean seven days; and be excluded from all conversation civil and religious:and all the bed whereon she lieth shall be unclean; that and every thing upon it; and this uncleanness also lasted seven days, as Aben Ezra notes, and defiled others, though it is not written.{k} htdn "menstruum ejus", Pagninus, Montanus; "separatio ejus", Drusius. Leviticus 15:25Ver. 25. And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation,.... Not an ordinary but an extraordinary one, not within that time, but out of it, and which continued three days at least; so the Targum of Jonathan, and sometimes many years; as the poor woman Christ cured, which she had had twelve years,See Gill on "Mt 9:20":or if it run beyond the time of her separation; beyond the seven days of her separation, and so out of the usual way and time of it; whereby it appears to be somewhat extraordinary and unusual:all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: all the while it was upon her, be it ever so many days or years, she was kept apart from her husband, and in all respects in the same condition and circumstances, as in the seven days of her separation because of her monthly courses:she [shall be] unclean; as long as it is upon her, and neither be admitted to her husband's bed, nor to the house of God, which made her condition a very deplorable one. Leviticus 15:26Ver. 26. Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation,.... As defiled and as defiling as that, Le 15:20;and whatsoever she sitteth upon shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation; as such were when she was in that condition, see Le 15:20. Leviticus 15:27Ver. 27. And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean,.... Her bed and seat; the Septuagint version is, "that toucheth her", see Le 15:19;and shall wash his clothes, and bathe [himself] in water, and be unclean until the even; let it be observed, that in all the above passages, where it is said, "he shall bathe [himself] in water", the Targum of Jonathan adds, in forty seahs or pecks of water; for this was done by dipping the body all over. Leviticus 15:28Ver. 28. But if she be cleansed of her issue,.... The disease is healed, or a stop is put to it; there are no signs of it remaining:then she shall number to herself seven days; from the time she observed it to cease:and after that she shall be clean; having bathed herself according to the usual manner of unclean persons, for their cleansing; when she would be fit to be admitted to her husband, though not as yet into the tabernacle, until she had offered her offering next directed to. Leviticus 15:29Ver. 29. And on the eighth day,.... From the cessation of her issue, and the healing of it, at least from the time she began to number for her cleansing:she shall take unto her two turtles, or two young pigeons; the same as the man that had an issue was obliged to bring. Now this is to be understood not of a woman that had an ordinary issue, or her monthly courses; for this would have been both troublesome and expensive to have brought every month, but of a woman that had laboured under an extraordinary one; though some think every menstruous woman was obliged to this offering:and bring them unto the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation; whither the man that had an issue brought his;See Gill on "Le 15:14". Leviticus 15:30Ver. 30. And the priest shall offer the one [for] a sin offering,.... As in the case of a man that had an issue, the offerings of one and the other were the same and for the same purpose; See Gill on "Le 15:15"; there being a legal uncleanness in their case, atonement must be made by sacrifice, typical of the atonement of Christ, who by himself has purged our sins. The design of these several laws concerning uncleanness by issues, was to set forth the filthiness of sin arising from the corruption of human nature; particularly the pollution of fleshly lusts, and the necessity of purification from them by the grace of God, and blood of Christ, and of holiness of heart and life, in order to a near approach to God, particularly in public worship, as the next words suggest. Leviticus 15:31Ver. 31. Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness,.... Or because of it, and while they are in it, as from other persons, even their nearest relations, and from the house of God, as the next clause shows; or teach them, by observing the above laws and rules, to separate themselves, and that they be careful and cautions to keep themselves apart while in such impurities; and the children of Israel are only made mention of, because these laws are only binding upon them, with their proselytes and servants, free or not free {l}, but not upon Gentiles; See Gill on "Le 15:2":that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that [is] among them; from whence it appears, that men and women, in the above circumstances, might not go into the tabernacle; and it was chiefly to prevent their access to it that these laws were given, for the greater reverence and honour of it; and that for such persons to enter there was a pollution of it, and the punishment was cutting off, or death; and for one to die in his impurity, without purification and sacrifice, was a dreadful thing, and to be deprecated, and to be guarded against by an observance of the above laws. But the Jews now say {m}, that forasmuch as the reason of these precepts was, because such persons were forbidden to enter into the temple, that being destroyed, all these precepts of uncleanness are ceased also.{l} Misn. Zabim, c. 2. sect. 1. {m} Leo Modena's History of Rites, Customs, &c. of the present Jews, par. 1. c. 8. Leviticus 15:32Ver. 32. This [is] the law of him that hath an issue,.... In Le 15:32 is a recapitulation of the several laws in this chapter, as of a man that has a "gonorrhoea":and [of him] whose seed goeth from him, and is defiled therewith; involuntarily, that suffers a nocturnal pollution. Leviticus 15:33Ver. 33. And of her that is sick of her flowers,.... Her monthly courses, for these are a sickness, Le 20:18; and make a woman languid and faint, as the word is rendered, La 1:13; or to be in pain {n}, as some render it here; and pains are reckoned among the signs of them by the Misnic doctors {o}:and of him that hath an issue, of the man, and of the woman; of both, whether the one or the other:and of him that lieth with her that is unclean; though her own husband.{n} hwdhw "et dolentis", Montanus. {o} Misn. Niddah, c. 9. sect. 8.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.