And if a woman have a flux, and her flux in her flesh be blood, she shall be seven days in her separation, and whoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even.
A single verse about a woman's monthly period sits in a book full of altars, priests and sacrifice. Why would a holy God make a law about something so ordinary, and what does a person do when the uncleanness is nobody's fault?
Chapters 13 and 14 dealt with leprosy, the worst defilement of all. What follows is a lighter class, but not a negligible one.
Leviticus 15 deals with a range of lesser defilements. These meant a temporary separation and careful washings before a person could be let back into the camp and its privileges. They sprang from the weakness of human nature, and from conditions that still exist today as a result of the fall. Many of them could not be avoided. Even so, they had to be recognised as defiling and treated as such. In this way Israel was to be impressed with the holiness of their God, and with the fact that everything defiling must be removed if His presence was to be enjoyed.
Seven days, then a return. This is separation, not exclusion for life.
Nothing here is too private for God's attention.
Nothing is more likely to stir the soul's admiration than the jealous care of the LORD over all the habits and practices of His people. He guarded them at home and away, asleep and awake, by day and by night. He saw to their food. He saw to their clothing. He saw to their smallest and most private concerns.
The same nearness does not feel the same to everyone.
To someone who did not love God, this would have been an unbearable burden. To have a God of infinite holiness beside his path by day and beside his bed by night would have meant more restraint than he could bear. But to someone who truly loves holiness, who loves God, nothing could be more delightful.
The woman here has done nothing wrong. The law is not measuring her choices.
Actions we can hold back from defile us. So do workings of the body that we cannot help. Both defile in such a way and to such a degree that they need the same cleansing as deliberate acts of sin: the washing of water and the atoning blood of a sin offering. Many of the defilements in this chapter could not be avoided, but that made no difference; the person was unclean.
And uncleanness spreads. Anyone who touches her becomes unclean too.
Here we learn that human nature is an overflowing fountain of uncleanness. It is hopelessly defiled — and not only defiled, but defiling. Awake or asleep, sitting, standing or lying, nature is defiled and defiling. Its very touch spreads pollution.
The chapter does not leave the problem standing.
Blessed be the grace that has made such full provision for the defilement of our nature! That provision comes in two distinct forms, right through the book of God and through this section in particular: water and blood. Both rest on the death of Christ. The blood that makes atonement and the water that cleanses flowed from the pierced side of a crucified Christ. And the word of God cleanses our practical habits and ways. So we are kept fit for communion and worship, even while we pass through a scene where everything defiles, carrying with us a nature whose every movement leaves a stain.
The Gospels tell of a woman whose flow of blood lasted twelve years. This law describes her exact case, stretched over a lifetime. She reached out and touched Jesus in a crowd.
How great her trial and sorrow must have been during the twelve years she was unclean. Greater still was her faith, and the witness she gave to the holy Person of our Lord. Everything that touched such an unclean person became unclean. She believed both that her touch could not make Christ unclean, for He is holy, and that His power could heal her.
Her faith was right, and it reversed the direction the law had established.
Jesus is the only One who was ever here who could not be defiled. Instead of pollution passing into Him by the touch, power went out of Him to send the power of death away and blot out the stain.
God gave these rules to Israel, with His tent at the centre of the camp. They still repay reading.
The LORD would have His people feel that He takes account not only of sin at its worst. He also takes account of ordinary impurities that come back again and again, that come from men and women as they are, and that are tied to what is lawful and necessary. If that was for the earthly people, Christians may read these outward ordinances in the spirit. To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
- Touch defiles. Under this law uncleanness spread by contact. Human nature is not only defiled but defiling.
- Touch is not guilt. The woman chose nothing here. Yet water and a sin offering were still needed. That is the humbling point.
- Touch is temporary. Unlike leprosy, this meant seven days of separation and washing, then return to the camp and its privileges.
- Touch is answered. Water and blood run through the whole chapter, and both flowed from the pierced side of Christ.
- Touch is reversed. The woman with the twelve-year flow reached out, and no pollution entered Him. Power went out of Him instead, and the stain was gone.
And everything that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean; and everything that she sitteth upon shall be unclean.
Leviticus 15 leaves leprosy behind and turns to ordinary bodily conditions. Two questions follow: why does the uncleanness spread to a bed and a seat, and why call something unclean that no one chose?
These conditions are not leprosy, and the difference matters.
This chapter deals with a variety of ceremonial uncleannesses far less serious than leprosy. Leprosy seems to picture the deep-seated energy of nature's evil. Chapter 15 lists many things that are merely unavoidable weaknesses. But they flow in some measure out of nature, so they were defiling and needed the provisions of divine grace. Even things that seemed to man like unavoidable weaknesses had a defiling influence. They needed cleansing, because Jehovah was in the camp.
Nothing here was chosen. So what did such uncleanness call for?
Actions we can hold back from defile us. So do workings of nature that we cannot help. Both defile in such a way and to such a degree that they need what deliberate sins need: the cleansing of water and the atoning blood of a sin offering. Many of the defilements in this chapter could not be avoided, but that made no difference. The person was unclean.
Being unclean and being guilty are not the same thing.
We are not in any way responsible for the sinful nature we have inherited by birth. We are responsible if we let that nature show itself in sinful actions. The discharges spoken of here could not be avoided. They are meant as a reminder that we have inherited a sinful nature from Adam.
The verse follows the uncleanness from the person to the things she uses.
Human nature is the overflowing fountain of uncleanness. It is hopelessly defiled — and not only defiled, but defiling. Awake or asleep, sitting, standing, or lying, nature is defiled and defiling. Its very touch conveys pollution. This is a deeply humbling lesson for proud humanity, but so it is.
What did this mean in daily life?
Leviticus 15 deals with a variety of lesser defilements. These meant a short separation and careful washings before a person could return to the camp and its privileges. Many of them could not be avoided, but Israel still had to count them as defiling and treat them so. In this way Israel learned how holy their God is.
Why does Scripture speak so openly about such private matters?
A still larger group of these uncleannesses remains, and divine wisdom did not hesitate to mention them, however humbling to men and women. Jehovah would make His people feel that He takes account of more than sin in its most destructive shape. He also takes account of ordinary impurities that come back again and again. They come from men and women as they are, and they are tied to what is lawful and necessary. If that was so for His earthly people, Christians may read these outward ordinances in a spiritual sense.
God did not leave the problem without an answer.
But blessed be the grace that has made such full provision for nature's defilement! That provision comes in two distinct forms — water and blood. Both rest on the death of Christ. The blood that expiates and the water that cleanses flowed from the pierced side of a crucified Christ. So we are kept fit for communion and worship. We pass through a scene where everything defiles, and we carry a nature whose every movement leaves a stain behind.
One woman in the Gospels lived under this law for twelve years.
How great must have been her trial and her sorrow during the twelve years of her uncleanness. Her faith was greater still, and so was the testimony she gave to the holy Person of our Lord. Everything that came into contact with such an unclean person became unclean. She believed both that her touch could not make Christ unclean, for He is holy, and that His power could heal her.
- Source. Fallen nature is a fountain, and this verse traces its overflow. The uncleanness is not a chosen act but what we are, flowing out.
- Spread. What nature touches, it marks. The bed and the seat carry the uncleanness on.
- Separation. The answer was measured, not ruinous. A short exclusion and washing kept the camp holy, because God lived there.
- Supply. Grace answered the stain with water and blood, both flowing from the pierced side of Christ.
- Reversal. One woman under this law touched Christ in faith. Her touch could not defile Him, and His power could heal her.
And whoever toucheth her bed shall wash his garments, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
Leviticus 15 collects the laws about discharges from the body. Here the subject is a piece of ordinary furniture — the bed of a woman during her period — and the question is why touching it left a person unclean when no wrong had been done.
This chapter follows the long section on leprosy, and commentators mark the difference.
Because leprosy speaks of sin that has actually broken out, it called for strict treatment. Chapter 15 hints at nothing like that. It shows the weakness of the human body as it suffers the effects of the sin that came in through Adam, our first father. We are not responsible in any way for the sinful nature we inherited at birth. We are responsible if we let that nature show itself in sinful actions.
Yet being unavoidable changed nothing about the verdict:
It is not only actions we could have avoided that defile us. The workings of nature we cannot help defile us in the same way and to the same degree. Like deliberate acts of sin, they need the cleansing of water and the atoning blood of a sin offering. Many of the defilements in this chapter could not be avoided, but that made no difference. The person was unclean.
The verse does not name a wrong action. It names a piece of bedding and a hand that touched it.
Again, we learn that human nature is the overflowing fountain of uncleanness. It is hopelessly defiled — and not only defiled, but defiling. Awake or asleep, sitting, standing or lying down, nature is defiled and it defiles. Its very touch passes on the pollution. This is a humbling lesson for proud people, but it is the truth. The book of Leviticus holds up an honest mirror to human nature. It leaves our fallen nature nothing to boast about.
Kelly points to what God was doing by regulating such small, daily details.
He stooped to show them how He regarded their defiled condition. He went into every small detail of how they moved by day and rested by night, to impress on them what sin had brought on the guilty.
Every case in the chapter ends the same way: wash the clothes, bathe the body. Commentators read the water as a picture.
For the Jew it was water. For us it is the washing of water by the word — the water that flowed from Christ in death, which the apostle who saw it testifies to in his Gospel and his Epistle.
The chapter carries two remedies, not one. A sacrifice closes it, and washing is repeated in nearly every case.
The blood that makes atonement and the water that cleanses both flowed from the pierced side of a crucified Christ… "The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin." And the word of God cleanses our everyday habits and ways. So we are kept fit for fellowship and worship, even while we pass through a scene where everything defiles, and carry a nature whose every movement leaves a stain behind.
Forgiveness and fitness for God's company are not the same thing. This chapter is about the second.
To be born again and forgiven is not enough. God has brought us into fellowship with Himself, and He wants us to judge everything in us that does not suit it. It would be hard on us if He had not provided all that keeps us there or restores us.
The chapter itself gives the reason, in the warning about God's dwelling among them:
We learn, in a very striking way, how intense the holiness of God's presence is. Not a mark, not a stain, not a speck can be allowed there for a moment, in that most holy place. "You shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, so that they do not die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that is among them."
Later a woman who had been unclean for twelve years reached out and touched Jesus. Under this law, her touch could only pass uncleanness on.
How great her trial and her sorrow must have been during the twelve years she was unclean. Her faith was greater still… Everything that came into contact with such an unclean person became unclean. She believed both that her touch could not make Christ unclean, for He is holy, and that His power could heal her.
What happened when she touched Him ran the other way.
Instead of pollution getting into Him through the touch, power went out of Him to break the hold of death and wipe out the stain.
- Source. This chapter deals with weakness, not wilful sin. It points back to the nature we inherited from Adam, not to an outbreak like leprosy.
- Spread. What the source touches, it defiles: a bed, a seat, a hand. Nature is not only defiled but defiling.
- Remedy. Blood makes atonement and water cleanses. Both flowed from the pierced side of Christ, and the washing pictures God's word applied to daily habits.
- Reason. The washing existed because God dwelt among them — not a speck could be tolerated in His presence.
- Reversal. When faith touched Christ, it ran the other way. No uncleanness passed to Him; power passed to her.
And whoever toucheth any object that she sat upon shall wash his garments, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
Here the law covers a woman's monthly period, and it widens: she is unclean, so is the seat she used, and so is anyone who touches it. Why would God make a rule about furniture, and what does that show about Him?
This chapter deals with milder defilements than the leprosy of the chapters before it. One writer explains why weaknesses that nobody can avoid still counted as defiling:
This chapter deals with a variety of ceremonial uncleannesses that are far less serious than leprosy... Chapter 15 lists many things that are simply unavoidable weaknesses. But because they flow out of our nature in some measure, they defiled, and they needed what God's grace provided. God's presence among His people called for a high order of holiness and moral purity... Even things that looked to man like unavoidable weaknesses had a defiling influence and needed cleansing, because Jehovah was in the camp.
Nobody chooses the condition described here. Another writer separates what we inherit from what we do:
We are not in any way responsible for the sinful nature we inherited at birth. We are responsible if we let that nature show itself in sinful actions. The discharges spoken of here could not be avoided. They are meant to remind us that we have inherited a sinful nature from Adam.
Verse 22 traces a chain: the woman, the thing she sat on, the person who touched it. One writer draws a lesson from how easily defilement travels:
All through, this chapter presses on us how searching and all-inclusive the holiness of God is, and how easily defilement passes from one person to another. These are unwelcome thoughts. But if they are true, what do we gain by refusing them?... If we truly want to walk with God, two cannot walk together unless they agree. And to agree, we must come to His terms; He does not come to ours.
The same writer adds that grace does not lower the standard: "Grace is not less holy than law. It is far more holy — in fact, the perfection of holiness. The difference is that grace gives the ability for what the law, because of men's hard hearts, could not even insist upon."
The person who touched the seat was not cast out for life. The verse asks for two washings, of clothes and of body, and sets a limit: the evening. The chapter gives a short, definite way back:
Leviticus 15 deals with a variety of lesser defilements. Each one meant a temporary separation and careful washing before a person could return to the camp and its privileges... Many of them could not be avoided. Still, they had to be recognized as defiling and treated as such.
One writer points from the water of these laws to what it pictures:
But a holy God wants us to face this humbling truth... Every case called for purifying. For the Jew it was water. For us it is the washing of water by the word — the water that flowed from Christ in death.
God did not pass over these ordinary matters in silence. One writer says why:
Jehovah would make His people feel that He takes account not only of sin pictured in its most destructive form... but also of impurities of a more ordinary kind, which come often, which come from men and women as they are, and which belong to what is lawful and necessary. If these outward rules were given to His earthly people, Christians may rightly read them in a spiritual sense.
Read that way, the chapter puts a searching question to daily life:
Do you love God's presence and the holiness that His presence demands? Are you allowing anything that does not fit with the holiness of God's presence?... Remember, when you read this fifteenth chapter of Leviticus, that it was written to teach you.
In the Gospels a woman under this very law comes to Christ, and the contact runs the other way:
Her trial and her sorrow during the twelve years of her uncleanness must have been great. Greater still was her faith and the witness she bore to the holy Person of our Lord. Anyone who came in touch with such an unclean person became unclean. She believed both that her touch could not make Christ unclean, for He is holy, and that His power could heal her.
- Condition. The uncleanness here is weakness, not rebellion. Nobody can avoid it, yet God still counts it as defiling.
- Contact. It spreads by touch — even second-hand, through a seat. God's holiness is that searching.
- Cleansing. The remedy is washing and a short exclusion — clean again by evening, not shut out for life.
- Cause. God gives rules for such private matters because He lives among His people. His presence is the reason.
- Christ. Her touch could not defile Him, and His power healed her — the one touch that cleanses instead of defiling.
And if it be on the bed, or on anything whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even.
This verse ends a short run of rules about a woman's monthly uncleanness, and it goes one step further than the rules before it. A person who never touched her, but only the bed or the seat she had used, is unclean until evening. Two questions follow. Why does God's law reach into such private, ordinary things? And why does uncleanness spread from one thing to the next?
These rules mattered for one reason: who was living among the people.
This chapter treats a variety of ceremonial uncleannesses far less serious than leprosy... The divine presence in the assembly demanded a high order of holiness and moral purity. Every movement of nature had to be counteracted... Even things that seemed unavoidable had a defiling influence, and needed cleansing, because God was in the camp... Nothing offensive, nothing ugly, nothing unfitting in any way should be allowed inside the pure, spotless and sacred area where the God of Israel is present.
God's care for His people covered their whole lives. Whether that feels crushing or wonderful depends on the heart that meets it.
At home and away, asleep and awake, by day and by night, He guarded them. He saw to their food, He saw to their clothing, He saw to their smallest and most private concerns... To a person outside God's covenant people, this would have proved an unbearable burden. Having a God of infinite holiness beside his path by day and beside his bed by night would have meant restraint beyond all endurance. But to a true lover of holiness, a lover of God, nothing could be more delightful.
Nothing here describes a sin anyone chose. The chapter deals with what the body does on its own.
Leviticus 15 deals with a variety of lesser defilements. These meant a temporary separation, with careful washings, before a person could return to the camp and its privileges. These defilements came from the weakness of human nature, and from conditions as they exist today because of the fall. Many of them were unavoidable, but Israel was still to recognise them as defiling and treat them as such. In this way Israel would learn how holy their God is, and how everything defiling must be removed if His presence is to be enjoyed.
Another writer separates what we inherit from what we do:
We are not in any way responsible for the sinful nature we have inherited by birth. But we are responsible if we let that nature show itself in sinful actions.
The chapter keeps repeating one principle, and this verse puts it at its sharpest: touching the thing she touched is enough. One writer states the rule using the case of a dead body.
One is unclean by a dead body, and whatever he touches becomes unclean. The thing touched does not first need to touch the dead body to be defiled. It is defiled as soon as it touches the man who has touched the dead body.
The rule runs one way only.
Someone who is holy passes no holiness on to anything else... Someone who is defiled passes defilement on... There must be personal cleanness before anyone can act or offer rightly.
The uncleanness lasted only until evening. What cleansed it then points to what cleanses now.
But blessed be the grace that has made such ample provision for nature's defilement! Scripture presents this provision in two distinct forms: water and blood. Both rest on the death of Christ. The blood that makes atonement and the water that cleanses both flowed from the pierced side of a crucified Christ... "The blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin"... And the word of God cleanses our practical habits and ways. So we are kept fit for communion and worship. We pass through a world where everything defiles, and we carry a nature that leaves a stain with every movement.
Long after these rules were given, a woman who had been unclean for twelve years reached out and touched Jesus.
How great must have been her trial and her sorrow during the twelve years of her uncleanness. Still greater was her faith and the testimony she bore to the holy Person of our Lord. Everything that came in touch with such an unclean person became unclean. She believed both that her touch could not make Christ unclean, for He is holy, and that His power could heal her.
That touch ran the other way:
Instead of pollution getting into Him through the touch, power went out of Him to drive away the power of death and wipe out the stain.
- Presence. God was living in the camp, so even a bed and a seat came under the rule. His nearness sets the standard for everything, public or private.
- Nature. The defilement here is not a chosen sin. It is inherited weakness, unavoidable, and still counted as defiling.
- Spread. Uncleanness spreads at second hand. Touch what the unclean person touched, and you are unclean too.
- One way. Holiness does not spread like that. A clean person never makes a defiled thing clean by touching it.
- Reversal. Christ alone breaks the pattern. The woman's touch did not make Him unclean, and His power healed her.
And if a man lie with her at all, and the uncleanness of her separation come upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and every bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean.
Leviticus 15 lists the bodily discharges that made an Israelite unclean, and this verse covers the husband who takes on his wife's uncleanness and carries it for a full week. Why should something lawful and normal defile at all, and why does the defilement spread to the bed he lies on?
The chapters before this one dealt with leprosy. This chapter is not about the same kind of evil.
Because leprosy speaks of the outbreak of open sin, it needed strict treatment. Chapter 15 hints at nothing like that. It speaks instead of the weakness of the human body as it suffers the effects of the sin that came in through Adam, our first father. We are in no way responsible for the sinful nature we inherited by birth, though we are responsible if we let that nature show itself in sinful actions. The discharges spoken of here could not be avoided. So the cleansing process was not as involved as in the case of leprosy.
What this verse describes is lawful and ordinary. That is what makes the ruling surprising.
Divine wisdom did not hesitate to notice this larger group of uncleannesses, humbling as they are to men and women. The LORD would make His people feel that He takes account of more than sin in its most destructive shape, or the very bringing of a child into the world. He also takes account of impurities of a more ordinary kind, which come round often, from men and women as they are, and are tied to what is lawful and necessary.
Another writer sets deliberate sins beside what the body does on its own:
Not only actions that we can hold back from, but workings of nature that we cannot help, defile us alike. They defile in such a way and to such a degree that they need, just as deliberate acts of sin do, the cleansing of water and the atoning blood of a sin offering.
The man becomes unclean, and so does every bed he lies on. Uncleanness travels one step further; holiness does not.
Here we have two questions. First, will what is holy make holy whatever it touches? The priests answer "No." Then comes a second question: will what is unholy defile whatever it touches? The priests tell us it will. A man is unclean through a dead body, and whatever he touches becomes unclean. The thing he touches does not have to touch the dead body itself. As soon as it touches the man who has touched the dead body, it is defiled.
One writer reads this spread of defilement as a warning about the company we keep.
There is an infection or a contagion about what is evil, so that the Christian has to be on his guard as to his associations. Such scriptures as 1 Corinthians 5:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:22; 1 Timothy 5:22; 2 Timothy 2:19 are quite clear about this.
This law reaches into the most private corner of the home. How that feels depends on the person.
To a person outside the covenant this would have been an unbearable burden. To have a God of infinite holiness beside his path by day, and beside his bed by night, would have meant more restraint than he could bear. But to a true lover of holiness, a lover of God, nothing could be more delightful. Such a person rejoices in the sweet assurance that God is always near, and he delights in the holiness that God's presence both demands and secures.
The law did not treat every unclean person the same way. The remedy matched where the uncleanness came from.
God appointed one way of cleansing for those the defilement came from, and another for those who became unclean only by contact. The first had to wash, and to bring sacrifices as well — a sin offering and a burnt offering. The second only had to wash with water. So God kept His own holiness, whatever the cause of the Israelite's uncleanness, and however urgent the act that made him unclean. Yet while caring for His own holiness, the gracious Lord made full provision for His defiled creatures, so that they might in righteousness enjoy communion with Him again.
The seven days and the washings pointed forward.
How infinite is the love and work of Him who bore our sins in His body on the tree! For faith, His death has completely wiped out the evil and cleared the conscience. His resurrection has given us a new life, and a place where evil cannot come.
- Frailty, not scandal. This chapter deals with the weakness we inherit from Adam. Leprosy pictured the outbreak of sin, and it called for a heavier cleansing.
- Lawful still defiles. God takes account of what is ordinary and unavoidable. Not being able to help it did not make a person clean.
- Contact carries. The defilement moves a step further. The man is unclean for seven days, his bed becomes unclean too, and one writer applies this to the company a believer keeps.
- No private corner. God is beside our path by day and our bed by night. That weighs on a stranger and delights anyone who loves holiness.
- Provision matches the case. Contact called for washing; the source needed sacrifice too. God guards His holiness and still opens the way back, a way completed in the death and resurrection of Christ.
And if a woman have her flux of blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if she have the flux beyond the time of her separation, all the days of the flux of her uncleanness shall she be as [in] the days of her separation she is unclean.
Verse 25 covers a woman whose bleeding will not stop, and the law counts every one of those days as unclean. That raises two questions: why does God notice what no one can help, and what does He provide for it?
Leviticus 15 follows two chapters on leprosy, and the treatment is not the same:
Chapters 13 and 14 dealt with the worst form of defilement. It was usually lifelong, and it shut a person right out of the camp of Israel — the camp where God was pleased to dwell. Leviticus 15 deals with lesser defilements. These meant a temporary separation, with careful washings before a person could come back to the camp and its privileges. They came from the weakness of human nature, and from conditions as they exist today, as a result of the fall.
Verse 25 belongs to this second class: not sin committed, but weakness prolonged.
Nothing here blames the woman. The measure is not what she chose but what she was:
The whole chapter shows the sad physical condition into which sin has brought man. The discharges named here are evidence of sin in man's nature, with the curse on it, and they leave both man and woman unclean in God's sight. "It is not only the actions we can avoid that defile. The workings of nature we cannot help defile as well. They defile so deeply that they need what deliberate acts of sin need: the cleansing of water and the atoning blood of a sin offering. One could not avoid many of the defilements mentioned in this chapter, but that made no difference; he was unclean."
Why does God give laws about such private matters at all? Because of who was living among them:
Chapter 15 lists many things that are no more than unavoidable weaknesses. But since they flow out of nature in any measure, they were defiling, and they needed the provisions of divine grace. God's presence in the assembly demanded a high order of holiness and moral purity. Every movement of nature had to be countered. Even things that looked to man like unavoidable weaknesses had a defiling influence, and needed cleansing, because the Lord was in the camp... If Israel were to be privileged and marked out by having the presence of a holy God, they would need to be a holy people.
The chapter never leaves an unclean person without a way back. Two things run through it, both from one source:
But blessed be the grace that has made such full provision for nature's defilement! God gives this provision in two distinct forms, right through His book and through this section of it in particular: water and blood. Both rest on the death of Christ. The blood that expiates and the water that cleanses flowed from the pierced side of a crucified Christ... And the word of God cleanses our practical habits and ways. So we are kept fit for communion and worship, though we pass through a scene where everything defiles, and we carry with us a nature whose every movement leaves a stain behind.
The New Testament gives this law a face. One commentator connects verses 25-27 with the woman who touched Christ:
The case of the woman with an issue of blood (Matthew 9:18-26) is stated in verses 25-27. How great must have been her trial and her sorrow during the twelve years of her uncleanness. Still greater was her faith and the testimony she bore to the holy Person of our Lord. Everything that came in touch with such an unclean person became unclean. She believed both that her touch could not make Christ unclean, for He is holy, and that His power could heal her.
Some readers find it embarrassing that Scripture records such things. One commentator answers that this misses the point:
But the profit remains for those who by faith see Christ in what, without Him, is only a set of outward rules for the body. They can pity and grieve over unbelief. It is shocked that God's revelation should openly show His notice of the vile and offensive workings of our fallen nature. Here was at least a testimony to man's inborn evil, though by no means a complete and final one. Israel's relationship with the Lord called for a serious acknowledgment of these sad facts. But He gave with it a provision of His own appointing, which cleansed them for the time being, until grace and truth came in perfection.
- Weakness. These defilements come from human weakness after the fall, not from deliberate wrongdoing. Unlike leprosy, they meant a temporary separation and washing.
- Notice. What a person could not avoid still defiled — and needed the same water and blood as deliberate sin. Inability was no exemption.
- Presence. The reason for the whole code was that God dwelt in the camp; His presence set the standard of purity.
- Provision. Water and blood answer the defilement. Both come from the death of Christ: the water cleanses the daily walk, the blood atones.
- Touch. The woman in the Gospels turned this law inside out. Her touch could not defile the Holy One, but His power could heal her.
Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her flux shall be unto her as the bed of her separation; and every object on which she sitteth shall be unclean, according to the uncleanness of her separation.
Leviticus 15 turns from leprosy to the ordinary discharges of the body, and verse 26 covers a flow of blood that will not stop. Why would God make laws about a bed and a seat, and what can a person do when the uncleanness is one they never chose?
Nobody chose the conditions this chapter describes. One writer still puts them in the same class as sins a person chooses, because both need the same cleansing.
The whole chapter shows the terrible physical condition that sin has plunged man into. The discharges mentioned were therefore evidence that sin is present in man's nature, with the curse on it. They made both man and woman unclean in the sight of God. "Actions we can keep away from defile us. So do the workings of nature that we cannot help. Both defile in such a way, and to such a degree, that they need the cleansing of water and the atoning blood of a sin offering, just as much as deliberate acts of sin do. A person could not avoid many of the defilements in this chapter, but that made no difference. He was unclean."
Why would God record such private details at all? One writer answers that He would not let His people think He noticed only the worst sins.
There remains a still larger portion of these uncleannesses which divine wisdom did not hesitate to notice, however humbling to men and women... The Lord would make His people feel that He takes account of more than sin in its most destructive form, or the very bringing of a child into the world, boy or girl. He also takes account of ordinary impurities that come round again and again. These come from men and women as they are, and they belong to what is lawful and necessary.
The verse does not stop with the woman. It marks the bed she lies on and the seat she sits on, and counts every day of the long illness as a day of her ordinary separation. One writer sees in that spread a picture of human nature itself.
Again, we learn that human nature is the overflowing fountain of uncleanness. It is hopelessly defiled; and not only defiled, but defiling. Awake or asleep, sitting, standing, or lying, nature is defiled and defiling. Its very touch conveys pollution. This is a deeply humbling lesson for proud humanity, but that is how things are. The Book of Leviticus holds up a faithful mirror to nature. It leaves "flesh" nothing to boast in.
Compared with the leprosy of the two chapters before it, these rules fall far more lightly.
Chapters 13 and 14 have dealt with the worst form of defilement. It usually lasted for life, and it shut a person out of the camp of Israel completely. That was the camp where God was pleased to dwell. Leviticus 15 deals with a range of lesser defilements. These meant a temporary separation, and careful washings, before the person could return to the camp and its privileges.
Verse 26 states the problem. The chapter also holds the answer, and it comes in two forms.
But blessed be the grace that has made such full provision for nature's defilement! This provision appears in two distinct forms all through the book of God, and through this section of it above all — "water and blood." Both rest on the death of Christ. The blood that makes atonement and the water that cleanses flowed from the pierced side of a crucified Christ... So we are kept fit for communion and worship. That holds even though we pass through a scene where everything defiles, and carry a nature whose every movement leaves a stain behind.
This exact case turns up again in the Gospels. One writer reads the woman there in the light of this rule.
The case of the woman with a discharge of blood (Matthew 9:18-26) is described in verses 25-27. How great her trial and sorrow must have been during the twelve years of her uncleanness. Greater still was her faith and the testimony she bore to the holy Person of our Lord. Everything that came in contact with such an unclean person became unclean. She believed both that her touch could not make Christ unclean, for He is holy, and that His power could heal her.
- Cause. Commentators read the discharge as evidence that sin's curse rests on human nature. It was not just a private misfortune; it showed what sin has done to us all.
- Scope. What a person could not help defiled just as much as what they chose. The law had no class of excusable uncleanness.
- Reach. Defilement spread — bed, seat, whoever touched them. Human nature is not only unclean; it makes other things unclean too.
- Limit. Unlike leprosy, this shut a person out for a time only. After washing, she could come back to the camp where God dwelt.
- Remedy. Blood and water, both from the cross of Christ, answer the whole problem. The woman in the Gospels trusted exactly that: her touch could not defile Him, and His power could heal her.
And whoever toucheth them shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
Verse 27 closes the rules about a woman whose bleeding lasts past its normal time. What she sits or lies on passes her uncleanness to anyone who touches it — so why would God make a law about something nobody could see or avoid?
The verse does not describe a sin. It describes a transfer. One writer draws the lesson of the whole chapter: fallen nature does not just carry stain, it passes it on:
Again, we learn that human nature is the overflowing fountain of uncleanness. It is hopelessly defiled; and not only defiled, but defiling. Awake or asleep, sitting, standing, or lying, nature is defiled and defiling. Its very touch conveys pollution. This is a deeply humbling lesson for proud humanity; but so it is. The Book of Leviticus holds up a faithful mirror to nature. It leaves "flesh" nothing to glory in.
Neither the woman nor the person who touched her bedding chose any of this. Commentators treat that as the point, not the excuse:
The chapter mentions other cases connected with the weakness of nature. They show that, since sin has come in, everything that belongs to nature, to the flesh, defiles. No plea about weakness, or about the thing being unavoidable, changes that. If it cannot be avoided, it is still the display — or at least the unavoidable presence — of what is shameful, because the nature is fallen and sinful.
God does not scale the remedy down to match the person's innocence:
Not only actions we can avoid, but workings of nature we cannot help, defile alike. They defile in such a way and to such a degree that they need the cleansing of water and the atoning blood of a sin offering, just as deliberate acts of sin do. Many of the defilements in this chapter could not be avoided, but that made no difference; the person was unclean.
God's own presence set the standard, not what was reasonable to expect of people:
Every movement of nature had to be counteracted. Even things that looked to man like unavoidable weaknesses still defiled and needed cleansing, because the LORD was in the camp. Nothing offensive, nothing ugly, nothing unfitting in any way could be allowed inside the pure and sacred area where the God of Israel was present.
Every case in the chapter ends the same way: wash the clothes, bathe, wait until evening. Writers read that water as the pattern for how a believer stays clean day by day:
But a holy God will have us take account of the humbling truth, whether the uncleanness flows out or stays inside, by night or by day, in things or in persons. Every case demanded purifying. To the Jew it was water. To us it is the washing of water by the word — the water that flowed from Christ in death. The apostle who saw it bears witness to it in his Gospel and his Epistle.
The washing covers the clothes as well as the body, and the uncleanness ends at evening. The person is restored:
If we have had such contact with uncleanness, willingly or not, we are to judge ourselves honestly about it. Then comes a washing of our clothes (our habits), and then restoration.
These verses stand behind a famous Gospel scene. Under this law, her touch should have made Jesus unclean:
The case of the woman with a discharge of blood (Matthew 9:18-26) is set out in verses 25-27. How great must her trial and sorrow have been during the twelve years of her uncleanness. Greater still was her faith and the testimony she bore to the holy Person of our Lord. Everything that came into contact with such an unclean person became unclean. She believed both that her touch could not make Christ unclean, for He is holy, and that His power could heal her.
- Touch. Uncleanness travels through objects. A person could become unclean by touching a chair, without doing anything wrong.
- Taint. Fallen nature is not only defiled but defiling. What cannot be helped defiles as surely as what is chosen.
- Presence. God was living in the camp. His nearness set the standard, not human opinion.
- Water. Every case ends in washing. Writers read it as the word of God cleansing habits and person, flowing from Christ's death.
- Evening. The uncleanness had a time limit, and it could not touch Christ. The woman in Matthew 9 came to Him expecting cleansing to run the other way.