Leviticus Chapter 15 · Matthew Poole

Leviticus 15:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses and to Aaron, saying, Uncleanness by issues, and their putrefaction and expiation,

Leviticus 15:1-15. Of flowing seed, its uncleanness,

Leviticus 15:16-18. Of women: their courses ordinarily,

Leviticus 15:19-24; extraordinary,

Leviticus 15:25-28. Their expiation,

Leviticus 15:29 ,30. An exhortation to cleanness, lest they die, and that they pollute not the tabernacle,

Leviticus 15:31. A repetition of the whole,

Leviticus 15:32 ,33.

No text from Poole on this verse.

Leviticus 15:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When any man hath a running issue out of his flesh, because of his issue he is unclean. His secret parts, called

flesh, Leviticus 6:10 12:3 Ezekiel 16:26 23:20.

Leviticus 15:3 And this shall be his uncleanness in his issue: whether his flesh run with his issue, or his flesh be stopped from his issue, it is his uncleanness. Or if it have run, and been stopped in great measure, either by the grossness of the humour, or by some obstruction in parts that it cannot run freely, as it did, but only droppeth.

Leviticus 15:4 Every bed, whereon he lieth that hath the issue, is unclean: and every thing, whereon he sitteth, shall be unclean. Every thing,

Heb.

vessel, by which the Hebrews understand all sorts of household stuff.

Leviticus 15:5 And whosoever toucheth his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. No text from Poole on this verse.

Leviticus 15:6 And he that sitteth on any thing whereon he sat that hath the issue shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. No text from Poole on this verse.

Leviticus 15:7 And he that toucheth the flesh of him that hath the issue shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. He that toucheth the flesh,

that is, any part of his body; the word flesh being taken otherwise here than

Leviticus 15:2; as the same word is frequently used in Scripture in differing significations in the same chapter, and sometimes in the same verse, as

Matthew 8:22.

Leviticus 15:8 And if he that hath the issue spit upon him that is clean; then he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. No text from Poole on this verse.

Leviticus 15:9 And what saddle soever he rideth upon that hath the issue shall be unclean. No text from Poole on this verse.

Leviticus 15:10 And whosoever toucheth any thing that was under him shall be unclean until the even: and he that beareth any of those things shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. No text from Poole on this verse.

Leviticus 15:11 And whomsoever he toucheth that hath the issue, and hath not rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. This may be understood, either,

1. Of the person touching, if he that hath an issue toucheth another with unwashen hands. Thus most take it. But why then should it be limited to his hands? for if he had touched him by any other part, as suppose by kissing him, he had defiled him, though his hands had been washed. Or rather,

2. Of the person touched, to whom the washing of his hands is prescribed as an easier way of cleansing himself, if speedily used; but if that was neglected or delayed, a more laborious course was enjoined him. And thus the Syriac interpreter understands it.

Leviticus 15:12 And the vessel of earth, that he toucheth which hath the issue, shall be broken: and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water. No text from Poole on this verse.

Leviticus 15:13 And when he that hath an issue is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean. Is cleansed of his issue;

when his issue is not only stopped in part, or for a season, but hath wholly ceased.

For his cleansing,

to wit, for the use of the ceremonies prescribed in such cases. See

Numbers 19:11 ,12. Shall be clean, i.e. admitted to converse with men, and with God in public ordinances.

Leviticus 15:14 And on the eighth day he shall take to him two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, and come before the LORD unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and give them unto the priest: No text from Poole on this verse.

Leviticus 15:15 And the priest shall offer them, the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD for his issue. Not as if this was in itself a sin, but only a punishment of sin; though ofttimes it was sinful, as being a fruit of a man’s intemperance and immoderate lust. See

Leviticus 14:12.

Leviticus 15:16 And if any man's seed of copulation go out from him, then he shall wash all his flesh in water, and be unclean until the even. Go out from him;

not through weakness of the parts, as that

Leviticus 15:3; but in his sleep, which is called

nightly pollution, which, though involuntary, might arise from some lustful dream or imagination. But if it was voluntary, and by a man’s own procurement when awake, it was esteemed abominable, and a degree of murder. See

Genesis 38:9.

Leviticus 15:17 And every garment, and every skin, whereon is the seed of copulation, shall be washed with water, and be unclean until the even. No text from Poole on this verse.

Leviticus 15:18 The woman also with whom man shall lie with seed of copulation, they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the even. Man,

or,

the man, to wit, that had such an issue, which is plainly to be understood out, of the whole context. For though in some special cases, relating to the worship of God, men were to forbear the use of the marriage-bed, as

Exodus 19:15 1 Samuel 21:4; yet to affirm that the use of it in other cases did generally defile the persons, and make them unclean till even, is contrary to the whole current of Scripture, which affirms the marriage-bed to be undefiled,

Hebrews 13:4, to the practice of the Jews, which is a good comment upon their own laws, and to the light of nature and reason.

Leviticus 15:19 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. Heb.

And a woman, when she shall have an issue of blood, (and because that might be at her nose or other parts, he adds,) and

her issue shall be in her flesh, i.e. in her secret parts, as the word

flesh

is taken

Leviticus 15:2. So it notes her monthly disease.

Apart, not out of the camp, as the lepers and some others, but from converse with her husband and others, and from access to the house of God.

Seven days;

for sometimes it continues so long, and it was but decent to allow some time for purification after the ceasing of her issue.

Whosoever toucheth her,

to wit, of grown persons. For the infant, to whom in that case she might give suck, was exempted from this pollution by the greater law of necessity, and by that antecedent law which required women to give suck to their own children.

Leviticus 15:20 And every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall be unclean. No text from Poole on this verse.

Leviticus 15:21 And whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. No text from Poole on this verse.

Leviticus 15:22 And whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. No text from Poole on this verse.

Leviticus 15:23 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. No text from Poole on this verse.

Leviticus 15:24 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. He shall be unclean seven days,

if he did this unwitingly; but if the man and woman did this knowingly, this was a gross sin,

Ezekiel 18:6; and they being accused and convicted were punished with death,

Leviticus 20:18; for as there was a turpitude in the action, so it was very prejudicial to the children then begotten, who were commonly weak, or leprous, or otherwise disordered; which was also an injury to the commonwealth of Israel, and redounded to the dishonour of God, and of the true religion, that the professors thereof gave such public evidence of their intemperance.

Leviticus 15:25 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. The time of her separation, to wit, the seven days mentioned

Leviticus 12:2, as suppose she had the emerods, &c.

Leviticus 15:26 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. No text from Poole on this verse.

Leviticus 15:27 And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. No text from Poole on this verse.

Leviticus 15:28 But if she be cleansed of her issue, then she shall number to herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. Seven days

from the stopping of her issue, as it is apparent. And this was for trial whether it was only a temporary obstruction, or a real cessation.

Leviticus 15:29 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. No text from Poole on this verse.

Leviticus 15:30 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. No text from Poole on this verse.

Leviticus 15:31 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. When they defile my tabernacle;

which they did both ceremonially, by coming into it in their uncleanness, and morally, by the gross neglect and contempt of God’s express and positive command to cleanse themselves.

Leviticus 15:32 This is the law of him that hath an issue, and of him whose seed goeth from him, and is defiled therewith; No text from Poole on this verse.

Leviticus 15:33 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. No text from Poole on this verse.