Prepare‘I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful…’ (Psalm 139:14). Take time to thank God for your body and rededicate it to his service.
Bible passageLeviticus 15:1–33Discharges causing uncleanness
15 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2 ‘Speak to the Israelites and say to them: “When any man has an unusual bodily discharge, such a discharge is unclean. 3 Whether it continues flowing from his body or is blocked, it will make him unclean. This is how his discharge will bring about uncleanness:
4 ‘“Any bed the man with a discharge lies on will be unclean, and anything he sits on will be unclean. 5 Anyone who touches his bed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. 6 Whoever sits on anything that the man with a discharge sat on must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.
7 ‘“Whoever touches the man who has a discharge must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.
8 ‘“If the man with the discharge spits on anyone who is clean, they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.
9 ‘“Everything the man sits on when riding will be unclean, 10 and whoever touches any of the things that were under him will be unclean till evening; whoever picks up those things must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.
11 ‘“Anyone the man with a discharge touches without rinsing his hands with water must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.
12 ‘“A clay pot that the man touches must be broken, and any wooden article is to be rinsed with water.
13 ‘“When a man is cleansed from his discharge, he is to count seven days for his ceremonial cleansing; he must wash his clothes and bathe himself with fresh water, and he will be clean. 14 On the eighth day he must take two doves or two young pigeons and come before the Lord to the entrance to the tent of meeting and give them to the priest. 15 The priest is to sacrifice them, the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way he will make atonement before the Lord for the man because of his discharge.
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 has sexual relations with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both of them 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 Anyone who touches her bed will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. 22 Anyone who touches anything she sits on will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. 23 Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, they will be unclean till evening.
24 ‘“If a man has sexual relations with her and her monthly flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days; any bed he lies on will be unclean.
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 Anyone who touches them will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.
28 ‘“When she is cleansed from her discharge, she must count 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 has sexual relations with a woman who is ceremonially unclean.
New International Version - UK (NIVUK) Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. ExploreNo one can accuse the Bible of being prudish! Various kinds of male and female bodily fluids are described as causes of uncleanness. Remedies are given for becoming clean again, including washing and offering sacrifices (vs 13–15,28–30).
Sex, semen and periods (vs 16–19) are very ‘earthy’ – God’s gifts for the survival of the human race. And perhaps that is the point. It’s not that they are sinful, but that they are symbolic of our physicality and mortality – our very humanness. These laws reminded the Israelites just how different they were from God, and how attentive they needed to be to that chasm as they approached him in worship.
In the Old Testament world, that chasm was bridged by laws and ritual, generously given to human beings by God. Our access as Christians is now secured by the cleansing of Jesus. Our challenge today is not in making our humanity acceptable to God (Jesus has done that), but rather in remembering how big a gap Jesus has spanned for us – and how holy is the God who welcomes us (Hebrews 10:19–22).
Author: David Lawrence RespondTurn the words of this old hymn into your prayer: ‘Oh, the love that drew salvation’s plan! Oh, the grace that brought it down to man! Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span, At Calvary!’ (William R Newell, 1895).
Deeper Bible study‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.’1 Pray for wisdom to take all necessary steps to keep yourself in good physical and spiritual health.
We cannot equate ancient medicine with ours today, and God’s dealings with Israel reflect the times. This chapter contains instructions for dealing with the discharge of bodily fluids, both the natural and the unusual, in both men and women. In a world without antibiotics, there was very little that medical science had to offer to patients should such fluids be infected. Notice how often the word ‘wash’ occurs in the text. The main strategy was to take hygienic precautions by keeping body, utensils and clothing as clean as was possible under the prevailing conditions, and to avoid all physical contacts.
This was the world of the woman who had a flow of blood for 12 years before she was healed by Jesus. She had suffered many things from physicians and had spent all she had to no avail.2 We are not told that the woman’s illness had anything to do with personal sin. There is a link, however, between all illnesses and the fallen nature of our world – a good reason for the sin offering required in this and other similar laws (vs 15,30,31). Evidently, God links all of this with his holiness and the standard of purity he expects from those who belong to him.
The people of Israel were to separate themselves ‘from things that make them unclean’ (v 31). The same is true of us as the community of God’s people and also as individual followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. According to the writer of Jude, it involves ‘hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh’.3
‘Come out from them and be separate’.4 In what ways are these words relevant to us today?
1 Benjamin Franklin, 1706–90 2 Mark 5:25–34 3 Jude 23 4 2 Cor 6:17
Author: Emmanuel Oladipo Bible in a yearRead the Bible in a year: Exodus 19,20; Matthew 25
Pray for Scripture UnionGive thanks for good relationships and connections between Faith Guides in Portsmouth and Southampton areas that Mission Enabler Jenni Whymark has developed. Please pray for continued friendships to be built between the workers and for High Tide (interchurch youth services) as they expand across the area.
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