Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 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.
25 30. If the issue be abnormal, it is of the nature of a disease, and is treated in the same manner as the first case ( Lev 15:2-15). The woman in the Gospel (Mat 9:20; Mar 5:25; Luk 8:43) was thus afflicted.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The time of her separation, to wit, the seven days mentioned Lev 12:2, as suppose she had the emerods, &c.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days out of the time of her separation,…. Not an ordinary but an extraordinary one, not within that time, but out of it, and which continued three days at least; so the Targum of Jonathan, and sometimes many years; as the poor woman Christ cured, which she had had twelve years,
[See comments on Mt 9:20]:
or if it run beyond the time of her separation; beyond the seven days of her separation, and so out of the usual way and time of it; whereby it appears to be somewhat extraordinary and unusual:
all the days of the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: all the while it was upon her, be it ever so many days or years, she was kept apart from her husband, and in all respects in the same condition and circumstances, as in the seven days of her separation because of her monthly courses:
she [shall be] unclean; as long as it is upon her, and neither be admitted to her husband’s bed, nor to the house of God, which made her condition a very deplorable one.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Diseased issue from a woman. – If an issue of blood in a woman flowed many days away from (not in) the time of her monthly uncleanness, or if it flowed beyond her monthly uncleanness, she was to be unclean as long as her unclean issue continued, just as in the days of her monthly uncleanness, and she defiled her couch as well as everything upon which she sat, as in the other case, also every one who touched either her or these things.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Verses 25-27:
This is the case of an excessive or an abnormal menstruation, or of a hemorrhage such as may be caused by a tumor or other disorder of the female reproductive organs. An example of such is the woman with the “issue of blood,” who was healed by the touch of Jesus, Mt 9:20; Mr 5:25; Lu 8:43. Any disease involving a hemorrhage or discharge from the reproductive organs caused the victim to be ceremonially unclean.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
DISEASED ISSUE FROM A WOMAN 15:2533
TEXT 15:2533
25
And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days not in the time of her impurity, or if she have an issue beyond the time of her impurity; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness she shall be as in the days of her impurity: she is unclean.
26
Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her impurity: and everything whereon she sitteth shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her impurity.
27
And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bath himself in water, and be unclean until the even.
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 turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, and bring them unto the priest, to the door of the tent of meeting.
30
And the priest shall offer the one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her before Jehovah 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 in the midst of them.
32
This is the law of him that hath an issue, and of him whose seed of copulation goeth from him, so that he is unclean thereby;
33
and of her that is sick with her impurity, and of him that hath an issue, of the man, and of the woman, and of him that lieth with her that is unclean.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 15:2533
328.
Read Mat. 9:20 for a woman who had the problem here described.
329.
How was healing to be effected in the days of Mosesor is there any thought of such here? Discuss.
PARAPHRASE 15:2533
If the menstrual flow continues after the normal time, or at some irregular time during the month, the same rules apply as indicated above, so that anything she lies upon during that time is defiled, just as it would be during her normal menstrual period, and everything she sits on is in a similar state of defilement. Anyone touching her bed or anything she sits on shall be defiled, and shall wash his clothes and bathe and be defiled until evening. Seven days after the menstruating stops, she is no longer ceremonially defiled. On the eighth day, she shall take two turtle-doves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance of the Tabernacle, and the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for her before the Lord, for her menstrual defilement. In this way you shall cleanse the people of Israel from their defilement, lest they die because of defiling My Tabernacle that is among them. This, then, is the law for the man who is defiled by a genital disease or by a seminal emission; and for a womans menstrual period; and for anyone who has sexual intercourse with her while she is in her period of defilement afterwards.
COMMENT 15:2533
Lev. 15:25-33 Diseased issue from a woman.If an issue of blood in a woman flowed many days away from (not in) the time of her monthly uncleanness, or if it flowed beyond her monthly uncleanness, she was to be unclean as long as her unclean issue continued, just as in the days of her monthly uncleanness, and she defiled her couch as well as everything upon which she sat, as in the other case, also every one who touched either her or these things.Lev. 15:28-30. After the issue had ceased, she was to purify herself like the man with an issue, as described in Lev. 15:13-15.Obedience to these commands is urged in Lev. 15:31 : Cause that the children of Israel free themselves from their uncleanness, that they die not through their uncleanness, by defiling My dwelling in the midst of them. Hiphil, to cause that a person keeps aloof from anything, or loosens himself from it, from Niphal to separate ones self, signifies here deliverance from the state of uncleanness, purification from it. Continuance in it was followed by death, not merely in the particular instance in which an unclean man ventured to enter the sanctuary, but as a general fact, because uncleanness was irreconcilable with the calling of Israel to be a holy nation, in the midst of which Jehovah the Holy One had His dwelling-place (chapter Lev. 11:44), and continuance in uncleanness without the prescribed purification was a disregard of the holiness of Jehovah, and involved rebellion against Him and His ordinances of grace.Lev. 15:32-33. Concluding formula. The words, him that lieth with her that is unclean, are more general than the expression, lie with her, in Lev. 15:24, and involve not only intercourse with an unclean woman, but lying by her side upon one and the same bed.
FACT QUESTIONS 15:2533
352.
Why mention this possible contingency as related to an issue of blood?
353.
Was it really very important that these regulations be observed? Discuss. 354, What one permanent moral lesson could we learn from this chapter?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(25) Have an issue . . . many days.The last case is that of a chronic issue, arising from a derangement in the constitution. This is the kind of complaint from which the woman suffered who came to Christ (Mat. 9:20; Luk. 8:44). As long as she suffered from it, which lasted sometimes for many years, she defiled and was defiling in the same way as in her menses.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
25. Issue of blood many days For the miraculous healing of the bloody flux see Mar 5:25-34, notes. Scarcely second to the physical discomfort of this ailment was the burdensomeness of the ceremonial defilement, secluding the person from society, and putting her nurses and physicians in peril of the same defilement.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
An Unusual Issue of Blood ( Lev 15:25-30 ).
The final case deals with a woman’s unusual emissions of blood. These would indicate that she was ill, and could often lead to death.
Lev 15:25
“And if a woman have an issue of her blood many days not in the time of her impurity, or if she have an issue beyond the time of her impurity, all the days of the issue of her uncleanness she shall be as in the days of her impurity. She is unclean.”
Whenever a woman’s blood is flowing for an unusual period she is to be unclean over the whole of that period. We note that they were not unaware of the difference between the time of her impurity and the unusual flow.
Lev 15:26-27
“Every bed on which she lies all the days of her issue shall be to her as the bed of her impurity, and everything on which she sits shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her impurity. And whoever touches those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening.”
The same rules apply as for her usual menstrual period. What she lies on and what she sits on becomes unclean, and anyone who touches these things must wash their clothes, wash themselves in water and be unclean until the evening. This would help to protect against any infection she might have. But the ritual purpose was the avoidance of contact with her life force, and the indication of a period of ‘imperfection’, which would be countered by the religious prescription.
Lev 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.”
Once the flow of blood permanently stops the woman can begin the period of restoration to ‘cleanness’. She must wait seven days, and then she will be clean.
It is interesting that in her case no washing is required, either of clothes or body. It may be that it is assumed.
Lev 15:29-30
“And on the eighth day she shall take to her two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, and bring them to the priest, to the door of the tent of meeting, and the priest shall offer the one for a purification for sin offering, and the other for a whole burnt offering, and the priest shall make atonement for her before Yahweh for the issue of her uncleanness.”
At that point she must make atonement, a necessity for restoration to normal worship. As in much else a sin element is seen in what has happened. As is common in the Old Testament her disease is related to sin. She needs to be purified from sin and rededicated to God. Suffering came into the world because of sin, and the disease of mankind as a whole is the result of the sin of mankind as a whole. But the disease and the sin are not necessarily present in the same proportions. Those who are most diseased are not always the most sinful. But all need atonement.
This atonement is again achieved by the offering of two turtle doves or two young pigeons. We are reminded in all this of the woman with the abnormal issue of blood who came up behind Jesus in the crowd and touched his robe (Mar 5:25-34). She should not have been in the crowd, far less have touched Jesus, but it would seem that she believed that His holiness would be sufficient to cancel out her uncleanness. She knew His power to heal and hoped that somehow it might help her. When power went out of Him and she was healed she was overjoyed. But her joy turned to fear when Jesus turned in the thronging, pressing crowd and asked who had touched Him. But she need not have feared. It was not in order to rebuke her but to commend her faith, for He recognised in her touch an acknowledgement by her of Who He was.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Lev 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.
Ver. 25. Have an issue. ] As she had in Mar 5:25 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lev 15:19-24, Mat 9:20, Mar 5:25, Mar 7:20-23, Luk 8:43
Reciprocal: Lev 12:4 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 15:25-30. Abnormal Prolongation of Discharge.Here the treatment of the patient is identical with that of the man in Lev 15:1-15. In neither case, however, is any treatment in the modern sense of the word mentioned. Even if the law is by implication hygienic, it is not medical.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
The fourth case involves a woman who had continuing menstrual problems beyond her normal period. The ritual for purification was the same as for a man with an extended sexual malady (case one above, Lev 15:13-15; cf. Mar 5:25; Luk 8:43).
Lev 15:31 explains the reason for these regulations. God gave them so the Israelites would not fall into serious sin because of ignorance of how they should behave when unclean. The rules about bodily discharges helped the Israelites appreciate the seriousness of intermarriage with the Canaanites and the prohibitions against foreign customs and religion, which conflicted with Israel’s holy calling. God discouraged certain acts by designating them as resulting in uncleanness, which undoubtedly proved helpful in the area of private morality where legal sanctions are not as effective as in public life. [Note: Douglas, p. 124.]
"The sexual processes thus make men [and women] unclean, but that is not the same as saying they are sinful. Uncleanness establishes boundaries of action, but as long as these are not transgressed no guilt is incurred." [Note: Wenham, The Book . . ., p. 220.]
What made these secretions unclean was perhaps their association with unnatural (irregular) bodily functions. Childbearing (ch. 12) and the bodily fluids involved in procreation (ch. 15) were ritually unclean because they have connection with what is abnormal in terms of regularity. They were not unclean because sex is sinful. It is not (Gen 1:28).
Note the slightly different views of two other writers. Their emphases may be part of the total answer as to why these practices rendered an Israelite unclean.
"Within this framework it becomes clear why the conditions described in Leviticus 12, 15 are polluting. They all involve the loss of ’life liquids.’ ’Life is in the blood’ (Lev 17:11; Lev 17:14). Thus a woman suffering from any bloody discharge, whether it be the puerperal discharge (Lev 12:4-5), menstruation (Lev 15:19-24), or some other malady (Lev 15:25-30), is presumed to be losing life. Bleeding may eventually lead to death. So the discharging woman is regarded as unclean in that she evidently does not enjoy perfect life: indeed unchecked her condition could end in her death. Similarly too we presume that male semen was viewed as a ’life liquid.’ Hence its loss whether long-term (Lev 15:1-15) or transient (Lev 15:16-18) was viewed as polluting." [Note: Gordon J. Wenham, "Why Does Sexual Intercourse Defile (Leviticus 15:18)?" Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 95:3 (1983):434.]
"God was teaching the household of faith the distinction between the physical and the holy. Anything connected with sexual function was part of the physical world; it was categorized as common, not holy. Sex could never be brought into the sanctuary, for unlike the Canaanite view, sexual activity was not a way to enhance spirituality or commune with God . . ." [Note: Ross, p. 311.]
Sin is wrong done to God, but ritual uncleanness was a condition that, while related to sin, was not itself sinful. Sin separated the person further from God than uncleanness did. These unclean conditions did not result in the sinfulness of the Israelite but in his or her disqualification from public worship in the nation.
Jesus’ attitude toward the laws about bodily uncleanness was the same as His attitude toward the food laws (cf. Mat 15:17-20). When He came He announced the end of their authority because God would open the church to Jews and Gentiles equally. These Israelite laws separated Jews from Gentiles by illustrating Israel’s unique function in God’s program, which ended temporarily (until the Millennium) with the death of Christ. [Note: See Rooker, pp. 207-10, for a longer explanation of how Jesus Christ fulfilled and ended these laws.]