Leviticus 15 is another one of those chapters that fundamentalists pretend doesn't exist. We get that the priestly rituals detailed in Leviticus ended with the destruction of the second temple. Rather odd, if they were so important to God, that he lost interest at that point. (We'll get to more on that next week.) But at least it's proffered as an explanation. Nothing happened to cancel this out, however. The part at the end about menstruation orthodox Jews still pay partial attention to.
15 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2 “Say to the people of Israel, 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 stopped from discharge, it is
uncleanness in him. 4
Commentators universally agree that this is circumspect language that actually means to refer specifically to discharge from the male member, not just any old suppurating or pustulent lesion. As far as I know (I'm not a medical doctor) this is probably gonorrhea. Now, for those who try to justify this as hygienic, for the most part it is not. To get gonorrhea you really need to have sex with the guy, although if you did get the discharge on your hands and touch your eye you could get it that way. Otherwise none of this is necessary. And you can be infected, and either asymptomatic or have symptoms other than discharge, and still spread it by sexual contact. So this is really just another example of arbitrary ritual impurity. No, I don't know what it means that "his body is stopped from discharge." Nowadays, of course, you'd just get a shot of ceftriaxone.
Every bed on which he who has the discharge lies shall be unclean; and everything on which he sits shall be unclean. 5 And any one 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 he who has 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 him who has the discharge shall wash his
clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. 8 And
if he who has the discharge spits on one 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 he who has the discharge rides shall be unclean. 10 And
whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until the
evening; and he who carries such a thing shall wash his clothes, and
bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening. 11 Any
one whom he that has 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
the earthen vessel which he who has the discharge touches shall be
broken; and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.
13 “And
when he who has 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 running water, and shall be clean. 14 And on the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, and come before the Lord to the door of the tent of meeting, and give them to the priest; 15 and
the priest shall offer 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 “And 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.
The exact meaning of this is unclear. Verse 16 probably refers to masturbation. Verse 18 seems to refer to coitus interruptus? Note this proves that Onan's sin, which was a capital offense, was not as many presume either of these, but rather refusing to fulfill his duty to father a child in his brother's place. Otherwise all he would have had to do is take a bath.
19 “When
a woman has a discharge of blood which is her regular discharge from
her body, she shall be in her impurity for seven days, and whoever
touches her shall be unclean until the evening. 20 And everything upon which she lies during her impurity shall be unclean; everything also upon 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 upon 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 upon which she sits, when he touches it he shall be unclean until the evening. 24 And
if any man lies with her, and her impurity is on him, he shall be
unclean seven days; and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean.
For some reason menstruating women are ritually impure in many cultures, including some Hindu sects. Back then they didn't have modern sanitary pads or tampons but I would imagine there would have been some form of cloth protection available.
25 “If
a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her
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 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 young pigeons,
and bring them to the priest, to the door of the tent of meeting. 30 And
the priest shall offer 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.
Nowadays as I understand it orthodox Jewish women take a ritual bath following menstruation. This tradition must have arisen later. The bath, or Mikveh, substitutes for the sacrificial rituals of Leviticus under certain other circumstances as well, depending on the specific community. To this degree the concept of ritual impurity survives.
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 sick with her impurity; that is, for any one, male or
female, who has a discharge, and for the man who lies with a woman who
is unclean.
3 comments:
I'm wondering if Verse 18 does not, in fact, refer to coitus interruptus, but to any coitus at all:
"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."
I mean, sex is dirty, right, and full of sin? Funny that that's how we procreate ... are the flowers righteous because they reproduce asexually, or are they just as shameful because they have stamens and pistils?
If sex had not been taught to me to be "dirty," I think I would have had a much healthier relationship to it.
Yes,the language is not entirely clear. On the other hand, bathing -- or in USA Today taking a shower -- after fucking is not unusual. I don't think modern readers actually have any evidence about what this really means. As far as I know there isn't any independent evidence about actual practice during the second temple period, which is the time to which all this actually applies. But yeah, the idea that normal bodily functions and sexual activities are "unclean" and require purification is deeply ingrained in the culture.
Yes, body negativity is so deeply ingrained in western culture. Try thinking of even one name that we call other drivers in traffic from inside our cars (or heads) that isn't body negative!
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