What does it mean to be ceremonially unclean?

Ceremonial uncleanness had a large place in the Jewish ritual. Lev. 5:3. It demanded separation from the camp for a time, and in many cases an offering must be brought before there could be restoration. It is typical of the moral uncleanness that separates from communion with God and the assembly.

Various other laws also appear in this book. Defilement would disqualify one from approaching God until such time as the defilement was cleansed away by God's appointed means. The eating of unclean meats was forbidden; this symbolizes the refusal of that which is morally unclean. And leprosy, typical of the corruption of sin at work in an individual, would render him unfit for drawing near to God. So would other ceremonial uncleanness, but only because they are typical of moral uncleanness or spiritual uncleanness. We no longer observe the type, but the reality which the type is intended to impress upon us.

Aaron and his sons were always in close proximity to those things that had been separated for sacred purposes. They were therefore to be careful as to their contact with these things, lest they should profane the name of the Lord. If one had contacted any uncleanness, he must be cleansed from this before touching the holy things. A number of things are listed as to what would make one unclean.

This was only ceremonial uncleanness, but is, as we have seen before, symbolical of moral or spiritual uncleanness. Cleansing would not be complete until evening. In cases of leprosy, the time was longer, with offerings being made (Lev. 14). But in all cases one was to bathe and wash his clothes, as we find elsewhere (Lev. 15), and in some cases the time for cleansing was longer than in others.

Aaron and his sons were always in close proximity to those things that had been separated for sacred purposes. They were therefore to be careful as to their contact with these things, lest they should profane the name of the Lord. If one had contacted any uncleanness, he must be cleansed from this before touching the holy things. A number of things are listed as to what would make one unclean.

This was only ceremonial uncleanness, but is, as we have seen before, symbolical of moral or spiritual uncleanness. Cleansing would not be complete until evening. In cases of leprosy, the time was longer, with offerings being made (Lev. 14). But in all cases one was to bathe and wash his clothes, as we find elsewhere (Lev. 15), and in some cases the time for cleansing was longer than in others.

This chapter treats of a variety of ceremonial uncleannesses of a much less serious nature than leprosy. This latter would seem to be presented as the expression of the deep-seated energy of nature's evil; whereas, chap. 15 details a number of things which are merely unavoidable infirmities, but which, as being, in any measure the outflow of nature, were defiling, and needed the provisions of divine grace. 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 which, so far as man was concerned, might seem to be unavoidable weaknesses, had a defiling influence, and required cleaning, because Jehovah was in the camp. Nothing offensive, nothing unsightly, nothing in any way uncomely, should be suffered within the pure, unsullied and sacred precincts of the presence of the God of Israel. The uncircumcised nations around would have understood nothing of such holy ordinances; but Jehovah would have Israel holy, because He was Israel's God. If they were to be privileged and distinguished by having the presence of a holy God, they would need to be a holy people.

Then, if anybody contracted defilement, though it were merely through neglect, in whatever way it might be, God took account of the defilement. And this is a solemn and important fact: God provides for cleansing, but in no case can tolerate anything in His presence unsuited to it. It might seem hard in an inevitable case, as one dying suddenly in the tent. But it was to shew that for His presence God judges of what is suited to His presence. The man was defiled and he could not go into God's tabernacle.

What an illustration this affords of the nature of God! All that came into the tent, and all that was in the tent where death entered, were rendered unclean by its presence. Contact with defilement defiled, and entrance into the place where death was became a cause of defilement likewise. Inflexible was the standard of God's holiness, which must be maintained, whatever it might cost His creatures. "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts," cried the seraphim (Isa. 6:3), and here we see exemplified in some degree what that holiness is. Had it been an atrocious act of sin which called forth this stringent rule, to guard the holiness of God from being sullied by the sinner's presence, all must have agreed in the justice of his exclusion. But here, where man might not have been able to avoid it, born in God's providence into a world in which death has found an entrance, whatever excuse he might have been prepared to offer, or whatever plea of inability to have kept himself clean he might truly have urged, nothing could avail when the holy character of God was in question. Unclean he was, and unclean he must be, till the appointed epoch had passed away. God could admit of no compromise. The man had not sinned, it is true, but he was unclean, because death, the wages of sin, was there. It was no question, then, about the measure of a man's guilt, but entirely a question about the nature of God. How little, surely, is this understood even in these days.

Made to feel in himself how sin excludes from the presence of God, and how holy He must be who so jealously guarded the purity of His sanctuary, the man, whilst learning the defiling character of sin, and all connected with it, might learn also the gracious provision of His God for the effectual removal of his uncleanness by the sprinkling of the water of separation. How to be made clean when defiled he could not have discovered, but God had disclosed the means to be used, manifesting thereby the utmost care for the sanctuary, but manifesting also His real desire for the defiled one. "He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean; but, if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean." The water must be used on both days. Purified he would be if he conformed to God's law, but the full time must elapse before he could be clean. The clean person must use the water with hyssop, and twice must the unclean one be sprinkled. A little thing it might seem to touch the dead body, or to be in the tent; but the man must deeply feel what sin, and all connected with it is before God. On the third day, and on the seventh day was he sprinkled. It was no hasty work, done in a moment and forgotten. Sprinkled on the third day, he must wait till the seventh day arrived, and then be sprinkled afresh before he could be clean. The condition he was in as unclean must be pressed home on him. He must feel it fully, as a whole period of time elapsed between the act which defiled, and the final act of bathing himself on the seventh day at even. Besides this, he had to own himself indebted to a clean person for the sprinkling of that water, by which alone he could begin to emerge from his state of ceremonial uncleanness. Without the sprinkling with the water on the two separate occasions, he could not have been cleansed, and without the washing of his clothes and himself in water, the cleansing must have been imperfect.

As to this, we learn in this chapter: That the priest who sprinkled the blood, and cast the things into the burning of the heifer, was unclean until the even, and had to wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water before he could come into the camp. (v. 7.) The man who had burnt the heifer had to wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and was unclean until the even. (v. 8.) The clean man who gathered up the ashes had also to wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even. (v. 10.) The clean person who sprinkled the water of separation upon the unclean had also to wash his clothes; and he that touched the water of separation was unclean until even. (v. 21.) Surely nothing could more strikingly bring before us the solemnity of having to do with evil in others, and the need of those who are occupied in setting others right being themselves spiritual, and given to watchfulness and self-judgment; and being also in the spirit of meekness and fear, lest they themselves become defiled. Seeing, then, how difficult it is to have to do with uncleanness in anyone without becoming defiled ourselves, we do well to take heed to the apostolic injunction on this subject: "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted." (Gal. 6:1.) How forcibly this ordinance of the red heifer, reminds us that God would have the people, among whom He was dwelling, to be in that state, and to manifest that conduct, which were suited to His own holy presence

Nothing of death, no, not even the touch of a "dead body," or of "a bone of a man," could suit "the sanctuary of Jehovah;" for death in man witnessed of sin being connected with it — "By man came death," as well as sin, for death is the wages of sin. It could not possibly therefore be a light thing for any of those among whom Jehovah was dwelling to touch a dead body. We therefore read: "He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days." (v. 11.) We saw in Lev. 11, that for touching the carcase of an unclean beast the man was only unclean till even, but here for touching the dead body of a man he was unclean seven days. The reason of the difference is obvious; for man is connected with sin as well as death. For his purification God graciously provided the water of separation, of which the defiled man should avail himself; and that not only because of his personal uncleanness excluding him from the camp, but because, by his having thus contracted uncleanness, he "defileth the tabernacle of the Lord." Refusing to purify himself was a most serious delinquency. "Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of Jehovah; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him." Again it is said, "The man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of Jehovah: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean." (vv. 13, 20.) What a serious thing to be "cut off" by God

The ashes prepared, the occasion of their use is next declared — the sprinkling of any one defiled by the dead. Here also we see shadowed forth what sin is before God. "He that touches the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days." To touch the dead body of a clean beast which had died, rendered the person unclean till the evening (Lev. 11:39); to touch the dead body of a man, however good he might have been, rendered the man unclean seven days. How humbling to the pride of man! A descendant of Adam, who was made in the image of God, after His likeness, was more defiling when dead than the body of a beast. Why was this? By man came sin, and by sin came death. Death witnessed of the presence of sin, for death was the consequence of it. Surrounded with the consequences of sin, and often made to feel them keenly, as death entered the family or the tent, yet a man could not always help being in the tent where death had entered, or refrain in the call of duty from touching a dead body, or a bone, or a grave. God knew this. It might not be a wrong act on the man's part, for God did not command them to refrain from this (the priests, outside certain family relationships, excepted), yet He pronounced whoever did touch the dead body, etc., unclean for seven days. And mark this, the period of uncleanness could not be shortened; no excuse, no argument could avail to set aside God's word, or procure a relaxation of this stringent rule. On no ground could defilement by the dead be passed over as a thing of little consequence, or be excused by the exigencies of the occasion; for, even if the Passover was nigh at hand, those unclean by a dead body must wait for the following month, before they could again commemorate the redemption of the people from Egypt. Touching a dead body was a serious thing in God's sight, whatever it might have been in man's; for He judged according to the holiness of His nature, not according to the necessity of the case.

(3) ONE DEFILED BY THE DEAD. In common with those of the Gentile nations, Israelites had their families, their relatives, their neighbours, any one of whom was liable to be stricken down by death. Of every day occurrence as death must have been, and involving the handling of the bodies of the dead, every occasion of contact with death meant defilement and consequent exclusion from the camp.