Leviticus 15

The Old Testament laws of clean and unclean addressed issues that we might rather not discuss. The Lord had words to give to His people about bodily discharges, semen, and menstrual blood. These are issues that a person might even be embarrassed to discuss with a physician, but God cared about such matters, especially when a lack of regard for what would make a person unclean in Israel could lead to death within the congregation.

Some of the discharges in this chapter might be considered normal and healthy. Others were a sign of disease. All of them have their biological purpose for the life of the human body, but all of them also produced a condition of ceremonial uncleanness for the Israelite.

In some cases a person might have a discharge running out of his body, while in other cases a discharge might create a blockage within the body. Either way, the symptoms that indicated the presence of the discharge were enough to identify the uncleanness.

The discharge was associated with the person. “It is his uncleanness.” Yet the condition also spread to other objects and people upon contact. A bed could become unclean because of a discharge, and any person who touched that bed would become unclean. Many other examples were listed. A combination of the passage of time, washing, and the offering of sacrifices, a sin offering and a burnt offering, were necessary in order to make atonement for the discharge and to secure the resumption of normal public activities.

Semen is the male reproductive fluid which contains sperm, which together with the egg from the female is necessary for the conception of a new child. Yet this great gift of God for life could make a person unclean, as if death had infected even the most intimate building blocks of life. An emission of semen might take place with or without close contact with a woman. Either way, the man who had such an emission would become unclean as well as anyone who came in contact with that discharge. Such an event would necessitate bathing and the passage of some time before a person could be clean again.

A woman's menstrual flow was also normally an important part of the process of healthy reproductive life. Yet this discharge of blood was considered a ceremonial impurity. Once again, other objects and people became unclean through touching anything connected to this discharge, and time and washing were required for them to be declared clean again.

There might be a woman who would have abnormal bleeding beyond the typical time for the monthly menstrual cycle. We read about such a situation in Luke 8:43-48 during the public ministry of Jesus. A woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind Jesus secretly and touched the fringe of his garment. She was hoping to be healed without attracting anyone's attention. Perhaps she was embarrassed by her private shame. Surely she understood that if she touched anyone, that person would become unclean according to the book of Leviticus. Yet she took this bold step, and Jesus noticed. Rather than Him becoming unclean, the unhealthy hidden discharge of blood within her was stopped. She was immediately healed. And Jesus said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.”

This woman had spent all her living on physicians, and they were unable to help her. She had brought her uncleanness with her, by association, everywhere that she went for twelve years. If she had been healed at some point in that long process, time, washing, and sacrifices would have been required for her cleansing. But Christ had healed by the power of His own divine person. She had reached out in faith to the Son of God, hoping to keep it all a secret, but Jesus had perceived that the power to heal had gone out from Him.

This was something very new. The discharges of God's people throughout the entire era of Old Covenant experience had been a mortal threat to the entire community. They spread uncleanness by association to everyone and everything. People don't like to be public about what comes out of their bodies, especially when it would make us unacceptable to those who would quickly withdraw from our presence. Soon the whole nation became as filthy as menstrual rags.

This is what Isaiah 64:6 says about Israel, but not about her ceremonial failures or even about her immoral stains. He says that her “righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” What a hopeless situation! If this is what it was like among the Jews, how could the Gentiles ever be clean?

Christ, the Son of God changed all of this for us. He has healed us, and His righteous blood has made us safe in even the heavenly sanctuary of God. Without Him we would only defile the Lord's tabernacle, and we would be in continual risk of death. But now we have the assurance of His healing Word, and we have peace with God through the blood of our Redeemer.