Leviticus 15

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TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

Ritual Cleansing from Bodily Secretions

BACKGROUND NOTES



DOCTRINAL POINT(S)

  1. Under the Law, men were unclean when they had natural or unnatural bodily discharges.

  2. Under the Law, women were unclean when they had natural or unnatural bodily discharges.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

  1. Don’t mix the sacred with the common!

QUESTIONS

  1. Review the outline of Leviticus 11-15.

  2. Why did God include a chapter like Leviticus 15 in the Bible? List several reasons.

  3. What did a man have to do when he had bodily discharges? What is the spiritual picture?

  4. Why were the man and his wife ceremonially unclean after sexual intercourse if no sin was involved?What was a benefit of the woman being considered unclean during her menstrual cycle?

  5. What was a benefit of the woman being considered unclean during her menstrual cycle?

ANSWERS

  1. Chapter 11: Ritual Cleanliness in reference to diet Chapter 12: Ritual Cleanliness in reference to childbirth Chapter 13-14: Ritual Cleanliness in reference to skin diseases Chapter 15: Ritual Cleanliness in reference to bodily discharges

  2. 1. God was concerned with the well being of His people and these detailed laws prevented the spread of disease. 2. These laws separated God’s people from the surrounding foreign nations and their pagan practices. 3. These detailed laws separated the common from the sacred. There were certain bodily functions that were natural and not sinful, but because of these laws they would be kept separate from that which was sacred.

  3. The man had to bring sacrifices in a cleansing ritual. The emphasis is not that the man had committed some particular sin resulting in his disease, but that all unnatural bodily discharges are because of the Fall and the effects of sin.

  4. To separate the common from the sacred

  5. Again there is nothing sinful here, but by being unclean it did give the woman some rest from her normal duties and some time to renew her energy.

DISCUSS/CONSIDER

  1. Discuss the principle of separating the common from the sacred.

CHALLENGE

  1. Are you looking forward to your resurrected body? We will have no unnatural bodily discharges then, which are a result of sin coming into the world.

KEY VERSES

  • “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.” Leviticus 15:11

  • “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.” Leviticus 15:31

Leviticus, Old Testament, TalksRon ReidLEVITICUS 15