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.