Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 15:28-33

28 But if she be cleansed of her issue, then she shall number to herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean.

29 And on the eighth day she shall take unto her two turtles, or two young pigeons, and bring them unto the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

30 And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for her before the Lord for the issue of her uncleanness.

31 Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that is among them.

32 This is the law of him that hath an issue, and of him whose seed goeth from him, and is defiled therewith;

33 And of her that is sick of her flowers, and of him that hath an issue, of the man, and of the woman, and of him that lieth with her that is unclean.

Today concludes the case of women who have special conditions that cause perpetual bleeding outside of their regular menstrual cycles. After they were recovered, they would undergo the same ritual that was used for the man with a bodily discharge, and the second half of the rituals for a leper. Seven days of waiting, then on the eighth day taking two birds for a sin and a burnt offering. As mentioned before, this pattern matches that done for a newborn, signifying a rebirth into society.

This brings us to the end of the laws and rituals that govern ritual uncleanness and the return from that state. As we have observed multiple times, uncleanness did not mean sinful. Certainly, one could be unclean and sinful, but the former did not in-and-of-itself imply the latter. Being unclean was unfortunate and to some degree unavoidable. That being said, it was also a fact that those who engaged in unclean living were also likely to have some forms of ritual uncleanness more often. The same is true today, and we see how easy it becomes to judge unclean people as having done something wrong.

As with all things, this requires balance and wisdom. There isn’t anything wrong in noticing patterns and governing oneself with care, but at the same time compassion for the afflicted, whether sinful or not, must have its due, too. Especially since, as already mentioned, we all are unclean at some point. And not only innocently unclean either. We will all be in ugly, compromised, unclean states because of our selfishness, our deceit, and our sin. Obviously, that doesn’t lead us to condone it in others, but we should understand and have patience for it.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 15:25-27

25 And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she shall be unclean.

26 Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation: and whatsoever she sitteth upon shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation.

27 And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.

Yesterday we discussed the situation of a woman having her period, and the temporary uncleanness brought about by that. But that only covered the common case. There were abnormal cases also. When verse 25 says a woman might have “an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation,” it means she is having a persistent discharge of blood, and it isn’t due to her regular menstrual cycle. These are special medical conditions that we have names for today, such as Chronic Abnormal Uterine Bleeding.

This is exactly the sort of condition that the woman who “had an issue of blood twelve years” must have suffered from. She had been perpetually ritually unclean because of this condition, with all of the social and physical afflictions that would have come with that. Going out in public to touch the hem of Jesus’s garment was quite the bold action, one that could have potentially earned her revulsion and a scolding. But she trusted that it would make her whole and she dearly desired that. She was right, and Jesus was not offended that an unclean woman had touched him. Rather he commended her for her faith and told her to “go in peace.”

Like a man with an irregular discharge from his genitals, the woman with a long-standing issue of blood also required a special ritual at the temple after she became clean. In fact, it was the exact same ritual, and we will hear about it in tomorrow’s verses.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 15:19-24

19 And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean until the even.

20 And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean.

21 And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.

22 And whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.

23 And if it be on her bed, or on any thing whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean until the even.

24 And if any man lie with her at all, and her flowers be upon him, he shall be unclean seven days; and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean.

Now we shift our attention to a bodily discharge from a woman, as opposed to a man. The most obvious example of this, of course, is when she has her period. This is the situation that today’s verses cover, and we are told that she will be ritually unclean for the duration, and anyone or anything that touches her throughout this duration will need to be washed and then be clean again the next day.

It is important to note that the situation for the woman is the same as for the man. There are those that will take special offense that the Bible talks about a woman’s period as being an “unclean time,” while ignoring the fact that women were not singled out in this regard at all. We have already seen in this chapter that all people were subject to unclean times, and that there was no special shame in that condition. We even discussed yesterday how Jesus, while sinless, most probably was ritually unclean at times himself, and that is the greatest evidence of all that there is no condemnation in it.

But so far, we have talked only about a woman’s regular menstrual cycle. What if she had one of the conditions that made the discharge of blood much more prolonged, such as the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’s robes for healing? We will discuss that matter tomorrow.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Genesis 3:16

16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

Let’s face it, this is a hard verse, and it has implications that can be very hurtful. It has been used as the justification behind some truly atrocious customs, customs that have made a staggering number of women live as second-class citizens. And if all that oppression was solely the cruelty of man, that would be one thing…but does this verse suggest that it is also the will of God?!

Well, to answer that I consider my personal experiences, and I must conclude that such a notion is entirely incompatible with the God that I see loving my wife and daughter. The God that I see has just as much passion for them as He has for me and my son. He is remarkably devoted to them, He fiercely fights for them, He is near to them at every moment. I have never seen in Him a desire to subjugate them to another, but rather to free them.

So how do I resolve verses like these? I think the natural response would be to try and apologize for it, to give some interpretation that makes all of the inconvenient elements go away. And frankly yes, a number of such possible interpretations do occur to my mind, and perhaps one of those could be the correct interpretation….but also perhaps none of them are.

If I started to preach any one of those ideas as the truth, I would be putting words in God’s mouth, which I do not have any right to do. Only He can provide the perfect clarification, and thus far He has not provided that to me. And so I must conclude that I do not know how this verse is meant be read…but I do know that God loves his daughters, and that He loves them just as much as His sons.