Every bed whereon he lieth that hath the flux shall be unclean; and every object on which he sitteth shall be unclean.
The law now moves outward from the man's body to the things he uses. His bed and his seat carry his uncleanness. Ordinary furniture now defiles anyone who touches it.
The chapters just before this one dealt with leprosy. Chapter 15 is different. It deals with something a person could not help.
Leprosy speaks of the outbreak of open sin, so it required strict treatment. Chapter 15 suggests nothing like that. It points instead to the weakness of the human body, which suffers the effects of the contamination of sin that came through Adam, our first father. We are in no way responsible for the sinful nature we inherited at birth. But we are responsible for letting 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. So the cleansing process was not as involved as in the case of leprosy.
Being unavoidable did not make it harmless. The bed and the seat came under the rule because God's presence was among this people, and nothing defiling could remain there.
Chapters 13 and 14 dealt with the worst form of defilement. It was usually lifelong, and it shut a person out of the camp of Israel altogether — 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 a person could come back to 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, Israel had to recognize them as defiling and treat them as such. In this way Israel was to learn the holiness of their God, and that everything defiling must be removed if they were to enjoy His presence.
The verse names two postures — what he lies on and what he sits on. The defilement is not tied to one moment of the day.
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 spreads pollution. This is a deeply humbling lesson for proud humanity, but that is how it is. The Book of Leviticus holds up a faithful mirror to nature. It leaves "flesh" nothing to glory in.
Hidden or showing, the case was the same. And every case had a remedy.
But a holy God will have us face the humbling truth. It stands whether the uncleanness flows out or is held back inside, by night or by day (verses 3, 4), and it stands for things as well as persons (verses 5-12). Every case demanded purifying. For the Jew that was water. For 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 in his letter.
Holiness does not spread by touch. Uncleanness does. Two questions put to the priests settle the point.
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. This second question is the one that concerns us here. A man is made unclean by a dead body, and whatever he touches becomes unclean. The thing he touches does not need to touch the dead body itself to be defiled. The moment it touches the man who has touched the dead body, it is defiled.
Later in Scripture a woman under this very law reached out and touched Christ. By every rule of the chapter she should have made Him unclean.
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.
- Source — the trouble is not a scandal but an inherited condition; no one chose it, and no one escapes it.
- Spread — what the condition touches, it marks: the bed, the seat, the next person. Uncleanness moves by contact; cleanness never does.
- Scope — lying or sitting, flowing or blocked, by night or by day, the verdict stands. Nothing is too private to count.
- Standard — one fact makes the rule this strict. God lived in the camp, and defilement could not stay where He was.
- Solution — water under the law; the word and the death of Christ now. And one Person so holy that an unclean woman's touch healed her instead of soiling Him.
And whoever toucheth his bed shall wash his garments, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
Leviticus 15 turns from leprosy to the ordinary discharges of the body, and verse 5 widens the circle to everyone nearby. Why should a weakness no one can avoid defile at all, and why should it pass to the person who merely touches the bed?
The rules here are milder than the ones for leprosy. The difference lies in what each condition pictures.
Leprosy speaks of sin breaking out in action, so it required strict treatment. Chapter 15 suggests nothing like that. It shows instead the weakness of the human body as it suffers the effects of sin's contamination through Adam, our first father. We are in no way responsible for the sinful nature we inherited at birth. We are responsible for letting that nature show itself in sinful actions. The discharges spoken of here could not be avoided. They serve as a reminder that we have inherited a sinful nature from Adam.
These laws taught Israel to judge their own condition.
Man is not as God created him. He is fallen. Here we read how God taught the Israelite of old to judge his own condition. It was not nature, but nature ruined and unclean, and its unclean emotions are the same. They are tainted, and they defile.
That truth turns into a daily practice:
First, we learn to watch with holy care over everything that comes out of nature. Fallen human nature is an impure fountain, and all its streams pollute. It can send out nothing that is pure, holy, or good.
Verse 5 is not about the sick man but about everyone near him. The defilement travels to the things he uses.
What a humbling lesson this is for man! Think how the Israelite man or woman must have felt it. They counted as unclean because of what nature did inside them, as chapters 12 to 15 set out. And they passed that defilement on to any place or thing they touched (15:4-12)... The Israelite's nature did not defile him, but the outflow of it did. So the flesh within us does not defile us, though its actions do.
Verse 5 orders two washings: the clothes and the body. Grace had already made full provision for that defilement, and the provision came from the cross.
But blessed be the grace that has made such full provision for nature's defilement! The provision comes in two forms — 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 fellowship and worship, even while we pass through a scene where everything defiles, carrying with us a nature whose every movement leaves a stain... On the other hand, the cleansing power of the Word keeps coming in, through the ceremonial acts of "washing," "bathing," and "rinsing." "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word." Water held a very important place in Israel's system of purification. As a picture of the Word, nothing could be more interesting or instructive.
The uncleanness has a fixed end. It is real, but short — far shorter than what leprosy required.
This was only ceremonial uncleanness. But as we have seen before, it stands for moral or spiritual uncleanness. Cleansing would not be complete until evening. In cases of leprosy the time was longer, and it included offerings (Lev. 14).
Why did God legislate such small, private matters at all? Because He lived among these people.
Every movement of nature had to be countered. Even things that looked to men like unavoidable weaknesses had a defiling effect, and needed cleansing, because Jehovah was in the camp. Nothing offensive, nothing ugly, nothing improper should be allowed inside the pure, spotless and sacred space where the God of Israel was present... If they were to have the privilege and honour of a holy God among them, they would need to be a holy people.
- Source. Leprosy pictures sin breaking out in action. This chapter deals with the weakness we inherit from Adam.
- Outflow. The nature inside does not defile. What flows out of it does, because man is fallen and no longer as God made him.
- Contact. The bed carries the defilement. Touch it, and you are unclean too. It spreads without anyone meaning it to.
- Washing. Clothes and body both go under the water. Water and blood flowed from the cross, and the Word cleanses the way we live.
- Evening. The uncleanness ends at evening. God gave the remedy, and His presence in the camp is why it was needed at all.
And he that sitteth on any object whereon he sat that hath the flux shall wash his garments, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
Leviticus 15:6 widens the circle of rules about a bodily discharge: the man's uncleanness passes to his seat, and from the seat to whoever sits there next. Why should an ordinary chair carry contamination, and why does God make rules about something so private?
These rules go back to one fact. God had come to live among His people, and His nearness set the standard.
God's presence in the assembly demanded a high order of holiness and moral purity. Every movement of nature had to be counteracted. Even things that looked to man like unavoidable weaknesses had a defiling influence. They needed cleansing, because the Lord was in the camp.
William Kelly draws out the standard behind the rule.
The principle is a great one. Everything is judged, even for fallen man, according to the presence of Him who was pleased to dwell there. A human standard, if anyone claimed to have one, was good enough for a heathen. An Israelite had to submit to the God of Israel, who regulated the whole of life, public and private, of His people on earth.
The physical detail pictures something deeper. One writer draws a careful distinction here.
What a humbling lesson this is for man! How the Israelite man or woman must have felt it, counted unclean because of the working of nature within them, and passing that defilement on to any place or thing they touched (15:4-12). ... We each have within us, and are to be aware of it, that hateful defiling thing called "the flesh," which these ceremonial washings remind us of. What came out of an Israelite's flesh defiled that person. What comes out of the heart of man, the working of the evil nature within him, defiles the man (Mark 7:21). The Israelite's nature did not defile him, but the outflow of it did.
Nobody in this verse has done anything wrong. He simply sat down. One writer contrasts this chapter with leprosy.
Because leprosy speaks of the outbreak of positive sin, it required strict treatment. Nothing like this is suggested in chapter 15. Instead we see the frailty of the human body suffering the effects of the contamination of sin through Adam, our first father. 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.
And being unable to avoid it changed nothing about the verdict.
"Not only actions we can abstain from, but workings of nature we cannot help, equally defile. 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. One could not avoid many of the defilements in this chapter, but that made no difference; he was unclean." The chapter teaches us what fallen human nature is in its weakness and defilement: it is impure and polluting even in its secret workings. The blood and the water cover all this.
Nothing here is punished. The loss is of a different kind.
What makes this subject so searching is that defilement does not bring before us outward sins — offences against the moral code, such as idolatry or injustice to one's neighbour, which would bring direct and righteous penalty. It brings the solemn reminder that contact or association with what defiles disqualifies us from communion with God and from fellowship with His loyal people.
The man who caused the defilement had to bring sacrifices. The man who only sat on the seat did not.
Those from whom the defilement came had to wash, and to bring sacrifices as well — a sin offering and a burnt offering. Those made unclean only by contact had to wash with water, and nothing more. So God maintained His own holiness, whatever the cause of the Israelite's uncleanness. Yet while caring for His own holiness, the gracious Lord made full provision for His defiled creatures, so that they might enjoy fellowship with Him again in righteousness.
Kelly says what the water stands for, and why it matters to use it.
Every case demanded purifying. For the Jew it was water; for us the washing of water by the word... To be born again and forgiven is not enough. We are brought into divine fellowship, and everything unsuitable in us God will have us judge. It would be hard if He had not provided all that sustains or restores. It is careless or unholy, now that He bears the whole cost of our blessing, if we do not make conscientious use of it.
- Contact. Sitting where an unclean man sat made a clean man unclean. What defiles spreads by association, not only by choice.
- Unavoidable. No one could prevent these weaknesses. Not being able to help it did not cancel the uncleanness.
- Flesh. The Israelite's nature did not defile him; the outflow of it did. The same holds for the flesh in us.
- Water. Contact called only for washing, not sacrifice. For us the water pictures cleansing by the word.
- Communion. Nothing here is punished. What is at stake is fellowship with a God who lives among His people.
And he that toucheth the flesh of him that hath the flux shall wash his garments, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And if he that hath the flux spit upon him that is clean, then he shall wash his garments, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
Leviticus 15 shows how a bodily discharge spread uncleanness through daily life. Verse 8 puts the cost on the clean man: he is the one spat on, and he is the one who must wash and wait.
Verse 8 sits one step down from the chapters before it.
Chapters 13 and 14 dealt with the worst form of defilement. It usually lasted for life, and it shut a person out of the camp of Israel altogether — the camp where God was pleased to dwell. Leviticus 15 deals with a variety of lesser defilements. These meant a temporary separation, and careful washings before a person could return to the camp and its privileges. These defilements sprang from the weakness of human nature, and from conditions as they exist today, because of the fall. Many of them could not be avoided, yet Israel was still to recognise them as defiling and treat them so. In this way Israel was to learn how holy their God is, and that everything defiling must go if they were to enjoy His presence.
Spit is the one thing in this chapter that comes out of a person's mouth, and Kelly reads that physical picture as pointing to something deeper.
Man is not as God created him; he is fallen. Here we read how God instructed the Israelite of old to judge his state. It was not nature, but nature ruined and unclean; its unclean emotions are the same. They are tainted and they defile... The physical uncleanness speaks to us of a deeper evil. So the Lord taught even the crowd: "it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person" (Matt. 15:11).
So where does the defilement start — in what a person is, or in what comes out of him?
What came from an Israelite's flesh defiled that person. What comes from the heart of man, the working of the evil nature within him, defiles the man (Mark 7:21). The Israelite's nature did not defile him, but the outflow of it did. So the flesh within us does not defile us, though the acting of it does.
Verse 8 is not about the unclean man's own state. It is about what he passes 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.
The verse asks three things of the clean man: wash his clothes, bathe, and wait for evening. Being wronged excuses him from none of it.
Have we had such contact with uncleanness, willingly or not? Then there is to be true self-judgment about it, a washing of our clothes (our habits), and then restoration.
Every case in the chapter ends in water, and that water points forward.
But a holy God will have us take account of the humiliating truth... whether it touches things or persons (verses 5-12). 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 provision runs on two lines, not one.
But blessed be the grace that has made such full provision for nature's defilement! This 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... And the word of God cleanses our practical habits and ways. So we are kept fit for communion and worship. Yet we pass through a scene where everything defiles, and we carry with us a nature whose every movement leaves a stain behind.
- Source. Fallen human nature is a fountain that sends out only what is unclean. The nature itself did not defile the Israelite; the outflow of it did.
- Outflow. Spit comes out of the mouth. The Lord used that same picture for words: what comes out of a person defiles him.
- Spread. Nature here is not only defiled but defiling — its very touch passes pollution on to someone who was clean.
- Washing. Every case demanded purifying. The water pictures cleansing by God's word, the blood pictures atonement, and both flowed from the death of Christ.
- Restoration. Contact you never chose still calls for honest self-judgment and a washing of your habits. Then, at evening, you are clean again.
And what carriage soever he rideth upon that hath the flux shall be unclean.
Leviticus 15 turns from leprosy to ordinary conditions of the body, and verse 9 widens uncleanness past the man and his bed to the saddle he rides on. So how far does defilement travel, and what should a person who never touched him do about it?
Commentators read this chapter as a step down in seriousness from the chapters on leprosy. The defilements here are the weakness of a fallen body, not settled evil. They still mattered, because of who was present in the assembly.
This chapter deals with many kinds of ceremonial uncleanness, 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. Yet they were in some measure the outflow of nature, so they were defiling and needed the provisions of divine grace. The presence of God in the assembly demanded a high order of holiness and moral purity.
The lighter case also had a lighter remedy.
We shall find, however, that though this case is shameful, it counts as less morally serious than leprosy. In leprosy there was the display of real corruption. It already existed in the nature, and the heart had let it in. So it took a long process to purify the conscience. Here they washed only once, and they offered merely a sin offering. That let them enter into communion as they offered their burnt offering, through the sweet fragrance of Christ.
The man is unclean because of what comes out of him, not because of his nature itself. One writer draws that line, then applies it to the believer.
What came from an Israelite's flesh defiled that person. What comes from the heart of man, the working of the evil nature within him, defiles the man (Mark 7:21). The Israelite's nature did not defile him, but the outflow of it did. So the flesh within us does not defile us, though its workings do.
The Lord Jesus taught a crowd where defilement really starts.
The physical uncleanness speaks to us of a deeper evil. So the Lord taught even the crowd: "It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person" (Matt. 15:11)… The outside satisfies those who have no faith and think God is like themselves.
The rule did not stop with the man's own body.
The Israelite man or woman must have felt how humbling this was, when they were counted unclean because of nature working within them, as chapters 12 to 15 set out. They also passed defilement on to any place or thing that came into contact with them (15:4-12).
God's holiness reaches that far, and one writer asks the reader to face it.
All through this we feel how searching and all-inclusive the holiness of God is. We also see how easily defilement spreads and how easily we catch it. These are unwelcome thoughts; but if they are true, what do we gain by refusing them? What will we not gain by letting them into our hearts?
God did not treat every unclean person in the same way.
Here the reader need only recall the difference between two kinds of cleansing. One was appointed for those the defilement came from. The other was prescribed 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 sin offering came first here, because the outbreak of the flesh called for the sacrifices. The second had only to wash with water. So God maintained His own holiness, whatever the cause of the Israelite's uncleanness.
God did not leave nature's defilement without a remedy.
But blessed be the grace that has made such full provision for nature's defilement! This provision comes in two distinct forms — 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. We pass through a scene where everything defiles, and we carry a nature whose every movement leaves a stain behind.
This chapter was not written for Israel alone.
Remember, when you read this fifteenth chapter of Leviticus, that it was written for your learning. You are to read it in the Spirit, for to you it has a spiritual application.
- Source. The man's nature was not the defilement. What flowed out of it was — and the same holds for the flesh in a believer today.
- Spread. Uncleanness moved outward to the bed, the seat, the saddle. Defilement spreads far more easily than we think.
- Scale. These were unavoidable weaknesses, not leprosy's settled corruption. So the remedy was one washing, not a long process.
- Cure. The man it came from needed washing and sacrifices. The person who only touched it needed water alone.
- Result. Water and blood both flowed from the pierced side of Christ. They keep us fit for communion in a world where everything defiles.
And whoever toucheth anything that was under him shall be unclean until the even; and he that carrieth them shall wash his garments, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
Leviticus 15 deals with bodily discharges, and this verse widens the circle to whatever the man sat on and to anyone who touches or carries it. Why would God make rules about saddles and bedding, and what can second-hand contact teach us today?
The chapter follows the long section on leprosy, and the two are not on the same level.
This chapter deals with various ceremonial uncleannesses far less serious than leprosy. Leprosy seems to be presented as the expression of the deep-seated energy of nature's evil. Chapter 15 lists many things that are only unavoidable weaknesses. Yet because they are in some measure the outflow of nature, they were defiling, and needed the provisions of divine grace. God's presence in the assembly demanded a high order of holiness and moral purity. Even things that, as far as man was concerned, might seem unavoidable weaknesses had a defiling influence, and needed cleansing, because the LORD was in the camp.
Nobody chose to have a discharge, and no one could help what the man had sat on. That changed nothing.
The whole chapter shows the wretched physical condition into which sin has plunged man. "Not only actions we can avoid, but workings of nature we cannot help, defile us just the same. They defile in such a way and to such a degree that they need, exactly as deliberate acts of sin do, the cleansing of water and the atoning blood of a sin offering. No one could avoid many of the defilements mentioned in this chapter, but that made no difference; he was unclean."
The man's condition reached objects, and those objects reached other people. Commentators read it as a picture of the fallen nature we carry, and of what flows out of it.
What a humbling lesson this is for man! Think how the Israelite man or woman must have felt, counted unclean because of the working of nature within them, as set out in chapters 12 — 15. They passed defilement on, too, to any places or things they came into contact with (15:4-12)… What came from an Israelite's flesh defiled that person. What comes from the heart of man, the working of the evil nature within him, defiles the man (Mark 7:21). The Israelite's nature did not defile him, but the outflow of it did.
Israel was taught to read these conditions in the light of their relationship with God.
Other nations looked no further than natural causes. Israel was taught that, as God had to do with them in these marks of humiliation, so they had to do with Him. He stooped to show how He viewed their defiled condition. He entered into every little detail of their movements by day and their rest by night, to impress on them what sin had brought on the guilty. Their wisdom was to pay attention to these lessons, even if strangers to Him despised His word, and despised them for submitting to it.
The verse does not stop at declaring things unclean. Whoever carries them must wash his clothes, bathe, and wait until evening.
But a holy God will have us face the humbling truth, whether the uncleanness flows out or stays shut up inside, by night or by day (3, 4), and in regard to things or persons (5-12). Every case demanded purifying. To the Jew it was water; to us the washing of water by the word, the water that flowed from Christ in death.
Water was not the only provision, and both forms come from one place.
But blessed be the grace that has made such full provision for nature's defilement! This provision comes in two distinct forms — "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.
The washing in this chapter is not about getting saved. It is about staying in fellowship with a holy God.
To be born again and forgiven is not enough. We are brought into divine fellowship, and all that is unsuitable in us God will have us judge. It would be hard if He had not provided everything that sustains or restores. Now that He has paid the whole cost of our blessing, it is careless or unholy of us not to make conscientious use of it.
- The flow starts. The uncleanness here is not an outbreak of deliberate sin like leprosy. It is the ordinary outflow of a fallen nature.
- The flow spreads. What came out of the man passed into the things under him. From there it reached anyone who touched or carried them.
- The flow still counts. Unavoidable did not mean excused. The man who only lifted a saddle was unclean, because God's holiness sets the measure, not our intentions.
- God meets the flow. He gave rules for beds and seats, and entered the small details of day and night, so His people would feel what sin had brought on them.
- The flow is cleansed. Every case had its remedy: water, and sacrifice at the chapter's end. Both flow from Christ's death, so we keep fellowship, not just forgiveness.
And whomsoever he toucheth who hath the flux and hath not rinsed his hands in water -- he shall wash his garments, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the even.
Leviticus 15 moves from leprosy to smaller, everyday defilements. Verse 11 handles the moment of contact: why should the person touched pay the price, and why does it all turn on whether a pair of hands had been rinsed?
The chapters before this one dealt with a disease that shut a person out of the camp for life. This chapter drops to a lower level of trouble, but trouble all the same.
Leviticus 15 deals with a variety of lesser defilements. These brought a temporary separation and careful washings before a person could come back into the camp and its privileges. These defilements sprang from the weakness of human nature, and from conditions as they exist today, as the result of the fall. Many of them could not be avoided, but they still had to be recognized as defiling and treated as such.
The uncleanness here is not something the man swallowed or picked up. It came out of him. One commentator reads that as a picture of man's condition.
Man is not as God created him; he is fallen: and here we read how God instructed the Israelite of old to judge his state. It was not nature, but nature ruined and unclean; so are its unclean emotions. They are tainted and defile... The physical uncleanness speaks to us of a deeper evil. So the Lord taught even the crowd: "It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person" (Matt. 15:11).
Another writer follows the thought through to God's presence.
The humbling fact that from an unclean source nothing but uncleanness can come is here emphasized. "Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder," and so on. So God would close this part of the subject by pressing a great lesson on us. Holiness suits His presence, and nothing that defiles can enter there.
The English word "wash" hides something. Hebrew uses a separate verb for each action. This verse stacks three of them together: one for the hands, one for the clothes, one for the body.
"Kabas" is the last word for "wash"... The word means to "tread," and so to wash by treading. It is used only for washing clothes and other articles, or for describing the spiritual effect of cleansing... In one passage we have three words used, each in its characteristic way: rinsing the hands, washing the clothes, and bathing the person (Lev. 15:11).
The word behind the rinsing of the hands carries its own picture.
Shataph means primarily to "gush," "overflow," and to "rinse," by letting the water flow over, as over the hands. It is used this way in Lev. 15:11-12 and Lev. 6:28... All of these suggest the thorough removal or sweeping away of defilement, as by a flowing stream.
Notice what the verse implies. If the hands had been rinsed, the touch carried nothing — one of the law's rare exceptions. And where cleansing was needed here, the man saw to it himself.
Another exception is the one mentioned in Leviticus 15:11... in this case the hands were clean. The washing of garments and the bathing of the flesh do not need the help of another. The sprinkling of the water of separation demanded the service of "a clean person." The cleansing of the leper, and the other ceremonies which had a sacrifice, required the service of a priest.
The person touched had done nothing wrong, yet he was out of circulation until evening. One writer applies that to the mind.
You cannot have to do with evil without getting, in a certain sense, away from God. It may not be like the man who had to be cleansed and wait seven days; but the mind cannot touch sin without a certain removal from direct communion with God.
Every case in this chapter ends the same way — water. One commentator names what that water answers to for us.
But a holy God will have us take account of the humbling truth, whether the uncleanness flows out, or is held back within, by night or by day, and whether it touches things or persons. Every case demanded purifying. To the Jew it was water; to us the washing of water by the word, the water that flowed from Christ in death.
- Source. The defilement starts inside the man and flows out. Jesus traced the same direction: what defiles comes out of the heart, not into the mouth.
- Spread. What flows out does not stay put. An innocent neighbour becomes unclean through one unrinsed hand.
- Stop. Rinsed hands broke the chain. Water at the source spared everyone downstream.
- Cost. When no one broke the chain, the person touched paid — clothes washed, body bathed, unclean until evening. Handling evil moves a person out of direct communion with God for a time.
- Cure. Every case in the chapter ends in water, and every cleansing of ours answers to it: the washing of water by the word.
And the vessel of earth that he toucheth who hath the flux shall be broken; and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.
Leviticus 15 deals with bodily discharges. Here the law reaches past the person to the things he touches: Israel must smash the clay pot but only rinse the wooden one. Why does one touch destroy a clay pot, while the same touch leaves a wooden bowl in use after a rinse?
Chapter 15 follows the long chapters on leprosy, but it does not deal with the same thing. One writer sets the two side by side:
Leprosy speaks of sin breaking out into action, so it required strict treatment. Chapter 15 hints at nothing like that. It points instead to the weakness of the human body, which suffers the effects of the taint of sin that came through Adam, our first father. We are in no way responsible for the sinful nature we inherited at birth. We are responsible when 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 inherited a sinful nature from Adam.
The man himself is not condemned for having a body. What comes out of him is the issue, and that is where the lesson lands:
How the Israelite man or woman must have felt it! Chapters 12 — 15 count them unclean because of the working of nature within them. They also passed that defilement on to any place or thing they touched (15:4-12)... What came from an Israelite's flesh defiled that person. What comes from the heart of man, the working of the evil nature within him, defiles the man (Mark 7:21). The Israelite's nature did not defile him, but the outflow of it did. So the flesh within us does not defile us, though its workings do.
To a modern reader the detail looks excessive. The reason given is the presence of God in the middle of the camp:
The divine presence in the assembly demanded a high order of holiness and moral purity. Every movement of nature had to be counteracted. To man, some of these things looked like unavoidable weaknesses. Even so they defiled, and they needed cleansing, because the Lord was in the camp. Nothing offensive, nothing ugly, nothing out of place in any way had a place inside the pure, unstained and holy area where the God of Israel was present.
The same two-tier ruling appears in the food laws of chapter 11, and one writer draws the principle out of it. Different materials soak up defilement differently, and that difference is deliberate:
We also see how differently they affect the things they touch. Some things take in defilement more readily than others. If one of them fell dead on a wooden vessel, a garment, a skin or a sack, the owner put it into water and it was clean at evening. But the earthen vessel could only be broken... It is plain that these rules imply different degrees of openness to evil, and different ways of dealing with what was defiled. That should tell us something important.
Water cleans some things, and they stay in use. Other things must simply go.
Every case in this section ends the same way, and commentators read the water as pointing forward:
But a holy God will have us face the humbling truth, whether the uncleanness flows out or is held in, by night or by day (3, 4), and whether things or people are involved (5-12). Every case demanded 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. The apostle who saw it happen bears witness to it in his Gospel and in his Epistle.
The washing here is not about getting into God's favour. It is about staying in working touch with Him:
Our word of confession is due to God; but Christ's word has power in it through the Spirit and His own advocacy. This is how communion is maintained. To be born again and forgiven is not enough. We are brought into divine fellowship, and all that is unsuitable in us God will have us judge. It would be hard if He had not provided all that sustains or restores.
- Source. The chapter deals with inherited weakness, not deliberate sin. No one chooses this fallen nature, and no one escapes its outflow.
- Spread. That outflow does not stop at the body. It passes by contact to the places and things the person touches, and the law follows it that far.
- Sorting. Wood is rinsed; clay is broken. Things differ in how far they take in evil, so God treats them differently. Some are washed clean; some are destroyed.
- Solution. Every case, without exception, had a remedy, and it was water — answering now to the washing of water by the word.
- Purpose. The aim is not forgiveness but fellowship. Being born again and forgiven is not the end of it. God provides the cleansing that keeps communion with Him unbroken.