Leviticus 15

• Leviticus 15: The Law Concerning Bodily Discharges

Leviticus 15: The Law Concerning Bodily Discharges

The Law Concerning Bodily Discharges

¹ And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ² “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When any man has a discharge from his body, his discharge is unclean. ³ And this shall be his uncleanness in regard to his discharge—whether his body runs with his discharge, or his body is stopped up by his discharge, it is his uncleanness. ⁴ Every bed is unclean on which he who has the discharge lies, and everything on which he sits shall be unclean. ⁵ And whoever touches his bed shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ⁶ He who sits on anything on which he who has the discharge sat shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ⁷ And he who touches the body of him who has the discharge shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ⁸ If he who has the discharge spits on him who is clean, then he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ⁹ Any saddle on which he who has the discharge rides shall be unclean. ¹⁰ Whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until evening. He who carries any of those things shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ¹¹ And whomever the one who has the discharge touches, and has not rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ¹² The vessel of earth that he who has the discharge touches shall be broken, and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.

¹³ ‘And when he who has a discharge is cleansed of his discharge, then he shall count for himself seven days for his cleansing, wash his clothes, and bathe his body in running water; then he shall be clean. ¹⁴ On the eighth day he shall take for himself two turtledoves or two young pigeons, and come before the Lord, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and give them to the priest. ¹⁵ Then the priest shall offer them, the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. So the priest shall make ^[b]atonement for him before the Lord because of his discharge.

¹⁶ ‘If any man has an emission of semen, then he shall wash all his body in water, and be unclean until evening. ¹⁷ And any garment and any leather on which there is semen, it shall be washed with water, and be unclean until evening. ¹⁸ Also, when a woman lies with a man, and there is an emission of semen, they shall bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

¹⁹ ‘If a woman has a discharge, and the discharge from her body is blood, she shall be ^[c]set apart seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening. ²⁰ Everything that she lies on during her impurity shall be unclean; also everything that she sits on shall be unclean. ²¹ Whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ²² And whoever touches anything that she sat on shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ²³ If anything is on her bed or on anything on which she sits, when he touches it, he shall be unclean until evening. ²⁴ And if any man lies with her at all, so that her impurity is on him, he shall be ^[d]unclean seven days; and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean.

²⁵ ‘If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, other than at the time of her customary impurity, or if it runs beyond her usual time of impurity, all the days of her unclean discharge shall be as the days of her customary impurity. She shall be unclean. ²⁶ Every bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her as the bed of her impurity; and whatever she sits on shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her impurity. ²⁷ Whoever touches those things shall be unclean; he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.

²⁸ ‘But if she is cleansed of her discharge, then she shall count for herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. ²⁹ And on the eighth day she shall take for herself two turtledoves or two young pigeons, and bring them to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ³⁰ Then the priest shall offer the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and the priest shall make atonement for her before the Lord for the discharge of her uncleanness.

³¹ ‘Thus you shall separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness when they defile My tabernacle that is among them. ³² This is the law for one who has a discharge, and for him who emits semen and is unclean thereby, ³³ and for her who is indisposed because of her customary impurity, and for one who has a discharge, either man or woman, and for him who lies with her who is unclean.’ ”

Menstruation and the Holy Mysteries

"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled." (Matthew 5:17-18)

"For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 5:20)

Christ does not "discontinue" the Law, but He fulfills it. What does that mean?

The word fulfill means to "make full" and He makes it very clear in Matthew 5 what He means by that.

• The Law said "Do not murder." The most simple understanding of that law is not to kill a human being. Which is obviously still true... that's still one of God's commandments. But the Lord in Matthew 5 explains how to do that Law to the fullest extent. The fulfillment of that Law... that if you even murder in your heart, you have committed murder.
• The Law said "Do not commit adultery" so the Lord explains the fulfillment of that Law... that if you even lust in your heart, you have committed adultery.

The Lord is giving them the Spirit of the Law. The Pharisees were satisfying the letter of the Law - they weren't killing anyone, and weren't committing adultery in its simplest meaning. But their hearts were not following the Spirit of the Law.

There are many things from the Old Testament that we continue to follow... We don't murder, commit adultery, lie, etc. No one will say "Jesus fulfilled those laws, so now we don't have to do them!"

1. The commandment given in Leviticus 15 is applied to discharges of men first, before women. And is applied to men until today.
   1. The discharge itself is not a sin (male or female) but is a normal bodily function
      
   2. Both discharges are related to procreation (i.e. to LIFE) and thus are a reminder of the Fall of Adam and Eve
      
      
2. Clean/Unclean
   • It is not a matter of clean or unclean. We don't have those words in Christianity. We don't even have "haram" and "halal"
   • Evidence of this is in the fact that the "ritual cleansing" of the Old Testament is gone
   • The Menstrual cycle is given by God from puberty to menopause because God enabled her to procreate and bear children. God, who gave her this, also gave the commandment not to approach His holies until the end of the menstrual cycle.
     
     
3. Men or women who have a discharge are not refused from entering the Church, attending services, prayer, worship, etc. but only from approaching the Sacraments (Eucharist and Unction of the Sick)
   • Remember the woman who had internal bleeding, and touched the hem of Christ's garment, rather than Christ, Himself
   • When the condition is due to serious chronic medical infirmity, exceptions are made for the sake of the pastoral need of the individual
     
     
4. Worthiness or Preparedness
   • "Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body." (1 Cor 11)
     
   • Orthodox Faith
   • Repentance & Confession
   • Reconciliation with Others
   • Feeling Unworthy
   • Church Rules
     1. Shoes Off
     2. Veiled Head
     3. Abstaining from food and drink
     4. Physical readiness
        • Since the Mysteries are presented to us in Physical Matter, it is necessary that we also have a Physical preparedness
     5. Early attendance of the Liturgy
        
        
5. How about our mother St Mary?
   • St Mary was not concerned with these things, but rather was obedient
   • Would anyone dare say "she was ignorant"
   • Would anyone dare say "she didn't know there was a better way"
   • Would anyone dare claim themselves "better" or "more worthy" than her?
   • If my final goal is salvation, then let me deal with those things pertaining to salvation
   • It is the devil's goal to put something between you and the Church, between you and the sacraments, between you and the priest, to make you question the Scripture, the teaching of the Church, etc.
     
     
6. From a Pastoral Perspective...
   • If the question about Menstruation and the Holy Mysteries is asked from a genuine desire to understand, the above answers will be very satisfactory. If it is asked from the perspective of "justice" and "not fair" - no answer will be satisfactory. Examine yourself to see your motives.
   • How many times did I skip communion to go on vacation? 
   • How many times did I skip communion because I need to study?
   • How many times did I skip communion because I was tired?
   • How many times did I, myself, devalue the Eucharist? But when it comes to this matter, I am concerned about missing x days per year.