HarperCollins Study Bible
Page 57
13.2 A swelling…spot. A preferable translation might be “a discoloration or a scab or a shining mark.” Vv. 2–8 deal with shining marks and vv. 9–17 with discolorations. Nonspreading scabs are not impure (vv. 7–8).
13.3 Leprous disease, rather “scale disease” (so throughout; see note on 13.1–14.57).
13.43 Diseased swelling, or “discolored affliction.”
13.45 The certified scale-diseased person adopts the manner of a mourner.
13.51 Spreading, a malignant disease (also 14.44).
LEVITICUS 14
Purification of Lepers and Leprous Houses
1The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2This shall be the ritual for the leprousa person at the time of his cleansing:
He shall be brought to the priest; 3the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall make an examination. If the disease is healed in the leprousb person, 4the priest shall command that two living clean birds and cedarwood and crimson yarn and hyssop be brought for the one who is to be cleansed. 5The priest shall command that one of the birds be slaughtered over fresh water in an earthen vessel. 6He shall take the living bird with the cedarwood and the crimson yarn and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the fresh water. 7He shall sprinkle it seven times upon the one who is to be cleansed of the leprousc disease; then he shall pronounce him clean, and he shall let the living bird go into the open field. 8The one who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and bathe himself in water, and he shall be clean. After that he shall come into the camp, but shall live outside his tent seven days. 9On the seventh day he shall shave all his hair: of head, beard, eyebrows; he shall shave all his hair. Then he shall wash his clothes, and bathe his body in water, and he shall be clean.
10On the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb in its first year without blemish, and a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of choice flour mixed with oil, and one logd of oil. 11The priest who cleanses shall set the person to be cleansed, along with these things, before the LORD, at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 12The priest shall take one of the lambs, and offer it as a guilt offering, along with the loge of oil, and raise them as an elevation offering before the LORD. 13He shall slaughter the lamb in the place where the sin offering and the burnt offering are slaughtered in the holy place; for the guilt offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest: it is most holy. 14The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of the right foot. 15The priest shall take some of the logf of oil and pour it into the palm of his own left hand, 16and dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand and sprinkle some oil with his finger seven times before the LORD. 17Some of the oil that remains in his hand the priest shall put on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of the right foot, on top of the blood of the guilt offering. 18The rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed. Then the priest shall make atonement on his behalf before the LORD: 19the priest shall offer the sin offering, to make atonement for the one to be cleansed from his uncleanness. Afterward he shall slaughter the burnt offering; 20and the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. Thus the priest shall make atonement on his behalf and he shall be clean.
21But if he is poor and cannot afford so much, he shall take one male lamb for a guilt offering to be elevated, to make atonement on his behalf, and one-tenth of an ephah of choice flour mixed with oil for a grain offering and a logg of oil; 22also two turtledoves or two pigeons, such as he can afford, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. 23On the eighth day he shall bring them for his cleansing to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, before the LORD; 24and the priest shall take the lamb of the guilt offering and the logh of oil, and the priest shall raise them as an elevation offering before the LORD. 25The priest shall slaughter the lamb of the guilt offering and shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of the right foot. 26The priest shall pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand, 27and shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the LORD. 28The priest shall put some of the oil that is in his hand on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, and on the thumb of the right hand, and the big toe of the right foot, where the blood of the guilt offering was placed. 29The rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed, to make atonement on his behalf before the LORD. 30And he shall offer, of the turtledoves or pigeons such as he can afford, 31onei for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, along with a grain offering; and the priest shall make atonement before the LORD on behalf of the one being cleansed. 32This is the ritual for the one who has a leprousj disease, who cannot afford the offerings for his cleansing.
33The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:
34When you come into the land of Canaan, which I give you for a possession, and I put a leprousk disease in a house in the land of your possession, 35the owner of the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, “There seems to me to be some sort of disease in my house.” 36The priest shall command that they empty the house before the priest goes to examine the disease, or all that is in the house will become unclean; and afterward the priest shall go in to inspect the house. 37He shall examine the disease; if the disease is in the walls of the house with greenish or reddish spots, and if it appears to be deeper than the surface, 38the priest shall go outside to the door of the house and shut up the house seven days. 39The priest shall come again on the seventh day and make an inspection; if the disease has spread in the walls of the house, 40the priest shall command that the stones in which the disease appears be taken out and thrown into an unclean place outside the city. 41He shall have the inside of the house scraped thoroughly, and the plaster that is scraped off shall be dumped in an unclean place outside the city. 42They shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and take other plaster and plaster the house.
43If the disease breaks out again in the house, after he has taken out the stones and scraped the house and plastered it, 44the priest shall go and make inspection; if the disease has spread in the house, it is a spreading leprousl disease in the house; it is unclean. 45He shall have the house torn down, its stones and timber and all the plaster of the house, and taken outside the city to an unclean place. 46All who enter the house while it is shut up shall be unclean until the evening; 47and all who sleep in the house shall wash their clothes; and all who eat in the house shall wash their clothes.
48If the priest comes and makes an inspection, and the disease has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, the priest shall pronounce the house clean; the disease is healed. 49For the cleansing of the house he shall take two birds, with cedarwood and crimson yarn and hyssop, 50and shall slaughter one of the birds over fresh water in an earthen vessel, 51and shall take the cedarwood and the hyssop and the crimson yarn, along with the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird and the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times. 52Thus he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the fresh water, and with the living bird, and with the cedarwood and hyssop and crimson yarn; 53and he shall let the living bird go out of the city into the open field; so he shall make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.
54This is the ritual for any leprousm disease: for an itch, 55for leprousn diseases in clothing and houses, 56and for a swelling or an eruption or a spot, 57to determine when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the ritual for leprouso diseases.
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sp; * * *
a A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
b A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
c A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
d A liquid measure
e A liquid measure
f A liquid measure
g A liquid measure
h A liquid measure
i Gk Syr: Heb afford, 31such as he can afford, one
j A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
k A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
l A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
m A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
n A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
o A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
14.1–32 Three separate purificatory ceremonies are required for a healed scale-diseased person: for the first day (vv. 2–8; also invoked for houses, vv. 48–53), for the seventh day (v. 9), and for the eighth day (vv. 10–32). They constitute a rite of passage whereby the person is successively reintegrated into the community.
14.2 He shall…priest, preferably “When it is reported to the priest,” in view of the subsequent statement the priest shall go out of the camp.
14.4–8 The living bird, dipped in the blood of the slain bird, carries off enough ritual impurity to allow the erstwhile “leper” to reenter the camp after he shaves and bathes but not to reenter his (or any) tent lest he contaminate it (see 14.46).
14.9 After his second shaving and ablution on the seventh day, he resumes normal intercourse with family.
14.10–20 The final stage of his purification takes place the following day when he brings a reparation offering for having possibly desecrated a sacred object or space (see 5.17–19), the blood of which together with sanctified oil is smeared on his extremities to purify him (see 8.30); a purification offering (not properly sin offering) for having contaminated the sanctuary by his impurity (see esp. v. 19); and a burnt offering and a grain offering to expiate for neglected performative commandments or sinful thoughts (see 1.4).
14.16 Seven times before the LORD, to consecrate the oil (see 4.6).
14.36 Persons and objects that were in the house prior to its quarantine by the priest are declared pure.
14.46 All who enter points to the extraordinary power of the fungous house to contaminate by overhang, i.e., to contaminate anyone under its roof, proof that scale disease (and all severe impurities) emits a miasma that contaminates the sanctuary at a distance and, in the case of scale disease and corpse contamination (see Num 19.14), defiles persons and objects inside a house.
14.49–52 For the cleansing of the house only the first-day rite for scale disease (vv. 4–8) is required, since the impurity generated by the house is not strong enough to contaminate the sanctuary from afar.
LEVITICUS 15
Concerning Bodily Discharges
1The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: 2Speak to the people of Israel and say to them:
When any man has a discharge from his member,a his discharge makes him ceremonially unclean. 3The uncleanness of his discharge is this: whether his memberb flows with his discharge, or his memberc is stopped from discharging, it is uncleanness for him. 4Every bed on which the one with the discharge lies shall be unclean; and everything on which he sits shall be unclean. 5Anyone who touches his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. 6All who sit on anything on which the one with the discharge has sat shall wash their clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. 7All who touch the body of the one with the discharge shall wash their clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. 8If the one with the discharge spits on persons who are clean, then they shall wash their clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. 9Any saddle on which the one with the discharge rides shall be unclean. 10All who touch anything that was under him shall be unclean until the evening, and all who carry such a thing shall wash their clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. 11All those whom the one with the discharge touches without his having rinsed his hands in water shall wash their clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. 12Any earthen vessel that the one with the discharge touches shall be broken; and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.
13When the one with a discharge is cleansed of his discharge, he shall count seven days for his cleansing; he shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in fresh water, and he shall be clean. 14On the eighth day he shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons and come before the LORD to the entrance of the tent of meeting and give them to the priest. 15The priest shall offer them, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall make atonement on his behalf before the LORD for his discharge.
16If a man has an emission of semen, he shall bathe his whole body in water, and be unclean until the evening. 17Everything made of cloth or of skin on which the semen falls shall be washed with water, and be unclean until the evening. 18If a man lies with a woman and has an emission of semen, both of them shall bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening.
19When a woman has a discharge of blood that is her regular discharge from her body, she shall be in her impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening. 20Everything upon which she lies during her impurity shall be unclean; everything also upon which she sits shall be unclean. 21Whoever touches her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. 22Whoever touches anything upon which she sits shall wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening; 23whether it is the bed or anything upon which she sits, when he touches it he shall be unclean until the evening. 24If any man lies with her, and her impurity falls on him, he shall be unclean seven days; and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean.
25If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity, all the days of the discharge she shall continue in uncleanness; as in the days of her impurity, she shall be unclean. 26Every bed on which she lies during all the days of her discharge shall be treated as the bed of her impurity; and everything on which she sits shall be unclean, as in the uncleanness of her impurity. 27Whoever touches these things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes, and bathe in water, and be unclean until the evening. 28If she is cleansed of her discharge, she shall count seven days, and after that she shall be clean. 29On the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 30The priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall make atonement on her behalf before the LORD for her unclean discharge.
31Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness, so that they do not die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle that is in their midst.
32This is the ritual for those who have a discharge: for him who has an emission of semen, becoming unclean thereby, 33for her who is in the infirmity of her period, for anyone, male or female, who has a discharge, and for the man who lies with a woman who is unclean.
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a Heb flesh
b Heb flesh
c Heb flesh
15.1–33 Ch. 15 is composed of two sections: natural discharges of men and women (vv. 16–18, 19–24, respectively), an impurity removed simply by bathing, and pathological discharges (vv. 2–15, 25–30, respectively), which require sacrificial expiation. The eight-day ritual for the latter, as for the scale-diseased person, is a rite of passage from death to life.
15.2 Discharge, an abnormal one, usually but not exclusively identified with gonorrhea.
15.3 The loss of semen and genital blood (vv. 19–30) generates i
mpurity since it represents the loss of life and hence is opposed to the Lord, the source of holiness and life (see note on 11.1–16.34).
15.5 This extra-strength impurity, affecting persons and objects at a second (even a third, v. 23) remove, is limited to objects directly underneath those having genital discharges.
15.11 Rinsed his hands. Whoever takes this precaution may touch persons and objects. Thus he may live at home, a far-reaching leniency.
15.12 See 11.33.
15.13 Fresh water. Fresh, lit. “living,” water is also required in two other cases: corpse contamination (Num 19.17) and scale disease (Lev 14.5–6, 50–52). Together with genital discharges they comprise all the sources of severe impurity (lasting seven days or more). Since impurity is symbolic of death, its antidote is that which fosters life.
15.15 Sin offering, more accurately “purification offering” (see note on 4.1–35), for having polluted the sanctuary with his impurity. The function of the burnt offering here is to provide adequate substance for the altar, since the meat is assigned to the officiating priest (6.26). So too must every other purification-offering bird be accompanied by a burnt-offering bird (5.7;12.8; 14.30–31).
15.16 Natural emissions of semen, as opposed to pathological ones, constitute only a minor impurity of one day’s duration.
15.18 In many ancient cultures sexual intercourse disqualified a person from participating in religious ritual. The rite frequently prescribed for purification from sexual impurity is bathing, but the Bible uniquely adds one stipulation: for the impurity to be completely eliminated one must wait until evening (see 11.24). One can understand that seminal emissions, being a total loss of life-giving fluids, were regarded as impure, but what of the emission in conjugal union, the act of procreation? Obviously, the priestly legists were aware of the fact that it is the rare seed that results in procreation; mostly it is wasted.