Uncleanness of Menstrual Blood in Leviticus Explained
The book of Leviticus, often attributed to Moses, details various laws concerning ritual purity and uncleanness, particularly those related to bodily discharges [4, 9]. Among these are regulations concerning menstrual blood, which rendered a woman ceremonially unclean [6, 7].
Leviticus 15:19 states that "If a woman have an issue, (if) blood is her issue in her flesh, she shall be seven days in her uncleanness." During this period, anyone who touched her, her bed, or anything she sat upon would also become unclean [10]. This uncleanness was not limited to the woman herself but extended to objects and individuals she contacted [6, 10]. The duration of seven days for menstrual uncleanness was significant, with some scholars suggesting it was fixed due to the symbolic importance of the number seven [10].
Beyond regular menstruation, Leviticus also addresses prolonged or irregular bleeding. If a woman's issue of blood flowed for many days outside her usual menstrual period, or if it continued beyond the normal duration, she was considered unclean for the entire duration of this irregular flow, similar to the days of her regular separation [1]. This condition is described in Leviticus 15:25 and is distinct from the natural monthly period [11]. Matthew Henry notes that this type of "unseasonable, excessive" bleeding was the affliction of the woman in the Gospels who touched Jesus' garment [6].
The laws of purification in Leviticus 12-15 address various forms of defilement originating from the human body, which resulted in temporary exclusion from the sanctuary and sometimes from social interaction [9]. These regulations were designed to teach the distinction between clean and unclean [3]. For example, after childbirth, a woman was also considered ceremonially unclean for a period, seven days for a male child and fourteen for a female child, with additional days for purification [2, 8]. The overall purpose of these Levitical laws was to provide a process by which an unclean person could be restored to full participation in the community and its religious life [5].
Sources
- Leviticus “Leviticus 15:25 (YLT) — `And when a woman's issue of blood floweth many days within the time of her separation, or when it floweth over her separation--all the days of the issue of her uncleanness are as the days of her separation; she <FI>is<Fi> unclean.”
- Leviticus “But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her period; and she shall continue in the blood of purification sixty-six days. -- Leviticus 12:5”
- Leviticus “Leviticus 14:57 (LEB) — to teach ⌞when something is unclean and when something is clean⌟. This is the regulation of the infectious skin disease.””
- Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Leviticus — The third book in the Pentateuch is called Leviticus because it relates principally to the Levites and priests and their services. The book is generally held to have been written by Moses. Those critics even who hold a different opinion as to the other books of the Pentateuch assign this book in the main to him. One of the most notable features of the book is what may be called its spiritual meaning. That so elaborate a ritual looked beyond itself we cannot doubt. It was a prophecy of things to come; a shadow whereof the substance was Christ and his kingdo”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Purification — The process by which a person unclean, according to the Levitical law, and thereby cut off from the sanctuary and the festivals, was restored to the enjoyment of all these privileges. The great annual purification of the people was on the Day of Atonement (q.v.). But in the details of daily life there were special causes of cermonial uncleanness which were severally provided for by ceremonial laws enacted for each separate case. For example, the case of the leper (Lev. 13, 14), and of the house defiled by leprosy (14:49-53; see also Matt. 8:2-4). Uncle”
- Leviticus (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Leviticus 15:19: This is concerning the ceremonial uncleanness which women lay under from their issues, both those that were regular and healthful, and according to the course of nature (Lev 15:19-24), and those that were unseasonable, excessive, and the disease of the body; such was the bloody issue of that poor woman who was suddenly cured by touching the hem of Christ's garment, after she had lain twelve years under her distemper, and had spent her estate upon physicians and physic in vain. This made the woman that was afflicted with it unclean (Lev 15:25) and every thing s”
- Leviticus (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Leviticus 15 (introduction): INTRODUCTION TO LEVITICUS 15 This chapter treats of uncleanness by issues in men and women; in men, a running issue, Lev 15:1, which defiles him, and everything he touches, or that touches him or them, Lev 15:4; the cleansing from which is directed to, Lev 15:13; and seed flowing from him, Lev 15:16; in women, their ordinary courses, Lev 15:19; or extraordinary ones, Lev 15:25; and the law for the cleansing of them, Lev 15:28; and a recapitulation of the whole, Lev 15:32.”
- Leviticus (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Leviticus 12:1: The law here pronounces women lying-in ceremonially unclean. The Jews say, "The law extended even to an abortion, if the child was so formed as that the sex was distinguishable." 1. There was some time of strict separation immediately after the birth, which continued seven days for a son and fourteen for a daughter, Lev 12:2, Lev 12:5. During these days she was separated from her husband and friends, and those that necessarily attended her were ceremonially unclean, which was one reason why the males were not circumcised till the eighth day, because they partic”
- Leviticus (Lutheran) “Keil & Delitzsch on Leviticus 12 (introduction): Laws of Purification - Leviticus 12-15 The laws concerning defilement through eating unclean animals, or through contact with those that had died a natural death, are followed by rules relating to defilements proceeding from the human body, in consequence of which persons contaminated by them were excluded for a longer or shorter period from the fellowship of the sanctuary, and sometimes even from intercourse with their fellow-countrymen, and which had to be removed by washing, by significant lustrations, and by expiatory sacrifices. They compri”
- Leviticus (Lutheran) “Keil & Delitzsch on Leviticus 15:19: The menses of a woman. - "If a woman have an issue, (if) blood is her issue in her flesh, she shall be seven days in her uncleanness." As the discharge does not last as a rule more than four or five days, the period of seven days was fixed on account of the significance of the number seven. In this condition she rendered every one who touched her unclean (Lev 15:19), everything upon which she lay or sat (Lev 15:20), every one who touched her bed or whatever she sat upon (Lev 15:21, Lev 15:22), also any one who touched the blood upon her bed or seat (Lev 15:”
- Leviticus (Lutheran) “Keil & Delitzsch on Leviticus 15:25: 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.”