Leviticus 15: This chapter of Leviticus covers secret sin and Elohim’s view of it. Our secret sins can cause some very open problems.
David referred to secret sin his heart (Psalm 51:3-12).
Today’s world is trying to tell us that our secret sin shouldn’t be secret anymore. The world thinks they should be public. The world tells everyone to bring their secret sin out in the open and wear it as a badge of honor. Decades ago, people talked about a “new morality.” Nowadays the term “morality” is never even brought up. It has disappeared. It’s funny how those same old diseases haven’t disappeared. Along with some other new ones.
The promiscuous sex of today has bred new and untreatable problems. We will save the majority of our discussion of AIDS for chapter 18, but there are plenty of other diseases involved in just heterosexual promiscuity. The human papilloma virus (HPV) has a transmission rate of 100%, even when condoms are used. The HPV virus causes infections, warts, and has strong links to cancer of the cervix and penis. Many have never even heard of this venereal disease. HPV infection is now considered to be the most common sexually-transmitted infection (sexually transmitted disease, STD) in the U.S., and it is believed that at least 75% of the reproductive-age population has been infected with sexually-transmitted HPV at some point in life. It is believed that over 6 million people become infected with HPV every year in the US, and approximately 50% of those infected are between the ages of 15 and 25. For women who have HPV, it will show up in an abnormal pap smear. But for men, there is not a test for detecting the disease. If genital warts do not show up on a man (which they often don’t), then he will never know he has the disease. He will simply be carrier of the disease to spread it to every woman with whom he has sexual contact. The virus has no cure. Promiscuous sex is a very risky business.
The HIV infection rates of women whose husbands had HIV is 30% when a condom is used. The latex in a condom irritates the walls of the vagina and makes it more susceptible to infection. The rate of infection of women with HIV positive husbands was only 3% when condoms are not used.
So much for “safe sex.”
Elohim tells us to confess our sins to Him, then we are to turn away from those sins. This is for our own good and for the good of our relationship with Him and with each other.
(Lev 15:1 NASB) The LORD also spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
(Lev 15:2 NASB) “Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, ‘When any man has a discharge from his body, his discharge is unclean.
(Lev 15:3 NASB) ‘This, moreover, shall be his uncleanness in his discharge: it is his uncleanness whether his body allows its discharge to flow, or whether his body obstructs its discharge.
Lev 15:3: This refers to a discharge of disease from a man. This graphic language points to the nature of sexual sin. Yeshua said this sexual sin begins in the heart (Matt. 5:28). There are many Christians who tell us we need to follow our hearts. But that same heart they say we should follow is the place where lust and hatred are often growing and flourishing. Elohim sees our sinful hearts as something disgusting and distasteful (Matt. 15:18-19, Jer. 17:9).
Today many people have the convoluted idea that whatever a two adults do behind closed doors is only their business as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else. That is simply not true. Mankind is not a bunch of non-connected links that act independently of one another. We are all linked together in almost everything we do. Does it affect you or your family if your neighbor is a blatant homosexual? Yes it does. Does it affect you or your family if strip bars are located nearby? Yes it does. Why? Because an unclean thing will defile a clean thing on contact. It will happen every time and this is what Elohim is speaking of here.
(Lev 15:4 NASB) ‘Every bed on which the person with the discharge lies becomes unclean, and everything on which he sits becomes unclean.
(Lev 15:5 NASB) ‘Anyone, moreover, who touches his bed shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening;
(Lev 15:6 NASB) and whoever sits on the thing on which the man with the discharge has been sitting, shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening.
(Lev 15:7 NASB) ‘Also whoever touches the person with the discharge shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening.
Lev 15:7: Everything he sits on and touches is unclean. A running issue is very contagious and needs to be isolated from those that don’t have it.
(Lev 15:8 NASB) ‘Or if the man with the discharge spits on one who is clean, he too shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening.
(Lev 15:9 NASB) ‘And every saddle on which the person with the discharge rides becomes unclean.
(Lev 15:10 NASB) ‘Whoever then touches any of the things which were under him shall be unclean until evening, and he who carries them shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening.
Lev 15:10: The Torah of Elohim provides protection from many microbiological diseases including STD’s. Washing and cleanliness after being around infected people is very important.
(Lev 15:11 NASB) ‘Likewise, whomever the one with the discharge touches without having rinsed his hands in water shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening.
(Lev 15:12 NASB) ‘However, an earthenware vessel which the person with the discharge touches shall be broken, and every wooden vessel shall be rinsed in water.
Lev 15:12: This pictures the nastiness of sin by contact. The previous passage referred to contact in the home and this pertains to contact in the street. That’s why it is important to stay in the Word of Elohim (Psalm 119:9-10). Also, we are to confess our sins to Elohim and let Him clean up our guilt.
(Lev 15:13 NASB) ‘Now when the man with the discharge becomes cleansed from his discharge, then he shall count off for himself seven days for his cleansing; he shall then wash his clothes and bathe his body in running water and shall become clean.
(Lev 15:14 NASB) ‘Then on the eighth day he shall take for himself two turtledoves or two young pigeons, and come before the LORD to the doorway of the tent of meeting, and give them to the priest;
(Lev 15:15 NASB) and the priest shall offer them, one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf before the LORD because of his discharge.
Lev 15:15: The Torah commands that if a man is cured of a venereal disease, he is to clean himself in “running water.” From a medical standpoint, this is very necessary.
Cleansing comes through water and the blood. The water removes the stain of sin and the blood removes the guilt of the sin. Sexual sins are no different than any other sin in that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and merciful to forgive our sins (1 John 1:9, Psalm 32:5).
(Lev 15:16 NASB) ‘Now if a man has a seminal emission, he shall bathe all his body in water and be unclean until evening.
(Lev 15:17 NASB) ‘As for any garment or any leather on which there is seminal emission, it shall be washed with water and be unclean until evening.
Lev 15:17: This is a reference to a nocturnal emission. It is spelled out in Deut. 23:10-11.
(Lev 15:18 NASB) ‘If a man lies with a woman so that there is a seminal emission, they shall both bathe in water and be unclean until evening.
Lev 15:18: Contact with semen is a fact of life just as contact with blood is a fact of life. Both are treated in similar ways. After sex a husband and wife are to bathe.
(Lev 15:19 NASB) ‘When a woman has a discharge, if her discharge in her body is blood, she shall continue in her menstrual impurity for seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening.
Lev 15:19: In the case of a man, abnormal discharge is dealt with first, then normal discharge. With a woman, normal discharge is dealt with first, then abnormal. This is probably because the discharge from a woman is the same (being blood) whether it is normal or abnormal.
There is some debate as to what is meant by “whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening.” Some people interpret that as having any physical contact at all. However, it is more likely referring to a husband touching his wife sexually during her menstrual cycle.
(Lev 15:20 NASB) ‘Everything also on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean, and everything on which she sits shall be unclean.
(Lev 15:21 NASB) ‘And anyone who touches her bed shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening.
(Lev 15:22 NASB) ‘And whoever touches any thing on which she sits shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening.
(Lev 15:23 NASB) ‘Whether it be on the bed or on the thing on which she is sitting, when he touches it, he shall be unclean until evening.
Lev 15:23: This is referring to a woman during her menstrual period. She is unclean during this time and cannot be a part of assembly at the Temple.
(Lev 15:24 NASB) ‘And if a man actually lies with her, so that her menstrual impurity is on him, he shall be unclean seven days, and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean.
Lev 15:24: If a man has intercourse with his wife during this time, he is unclean for seven days and on every bed he lies on is also unclean.
(Lev 15:25 NASB) ‘Now if a woman has a discharge of her blood many days, not at the period of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond that period, all the days of her impure discharge she shall continue as though in her menstrual impurity; she is unclean.
(Lev 15:26 NASB) ‘Any bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her like her bed at menstruation; and every thing on which she sits shall be unclean, like her uncleanness at that time.
(Lev 15:27 NASB) ‘Likewise, whoever touches them shall be unclean and shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening.
Lev 15:27: If a woman has a cycle that lasts longer than usual or is at an unusual time, she is unclean as during her normal time of menstruation.
(Lev 15:28 NASB) ‘When she becomes clean from her discharge, she shall count off for herself seven days; and afterward she shall be clean.
Lev 15:28: After a woman has a abnormal discharge, she is unclean in the same manner as when she is in her menstrual cycle. Except now, she must wait seven more days after the bleeding stops and then she is declared clean.
(Lev 15:29 NASB) ‘Then on the eighth day she shall take for herself two turtledoves or two young pigeons, and bring them in to the priest, to the doorway of the tent of meeting.
Lev 15:29: These offerings are identical to the ones a male must make when he has an unclean abnormal discharge.
(Lev 15:30 NASB) ‘And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. So the priest shall make atonement on her behalf before the LORD because of her impure discharge.’
(Lev 15:31 NASB) “Thus you shall keep the sons of Israel separated from their uncleanness, lest they die in their uncleanness by their defiling My tabernacle that is among them.”
Lev 15:31: It is not the state of impurity that is a risk to the people. It is the fact of not dealing with that uncleanness and defiling the Tabernacle that can cause death to many. Elohim’s wrath could come against the entire community, even those even who are not involved.
(Lev 15:32 NASB) This is the law for the one with a discharge, and for the man who has a seminal emission so that he is unclean by it,
(Lev 15:33 NASB) and for the woman who is ill because of menstrual impurity, and for the one who has a discharge, whether a male or a female, or a man who lies with an unclean woman.
Lev 15:33: Sexual sins, sexual impurity, and uncleanness are the primary considerations of this chapter.
Sin such as secret sin will at least lead to us losing our fellowship with Elohim (Isa 59:2). We are to confess these sins and turn away from them.
This is a world that has gone crazy over sex. Sexual sins are rampant and venereal disease has risen to epidemic proportions. The way to prevent such diseases is to avoid sexual sins.
Patrick McGuire
Copyright 2014 Patrick McGuire and Beit Yeshua Torah Assembly All rights reserved, no portion of this Lesson may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations in articles and reviews. Beit Yeshua Torah Assembly Fort Smith, Arkansas