Leviticus 15:18

18 The woman with which he is coupled fleshly (The woman with whom he is fleshly coupled), shall be washed in water, and shall be unclean till to eventide.

Leviticus 15:18 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 15:18

The woman also with whom man shall lie [with] seed of
copulation
It seems to respect any congress of a man and woman, whether in fornication or adultery, or lawful marriage, and particularly the latter; for though marriage is honourable and holy, and carnal copulation in itself lawful, yet such is the sinfulness of nature, that as no act is performed without pollution, so neither that of generation, and by which the corruption of nature is propagated, and therefore required a ceremonial cleansing: they shall [both] bathe [themselves] in water, and be unclean until
the even;
so Herodotus F6 reports, that as often as a Babylonian man lay with his wife, he had used to sit by consecrated incense, and the woman did the same: and in the morning they were both washed, and did not touch any vessel before they had washed themselves; and he says the Arabians did the like: and the same historian relates F7 of the Egyptians, that they never go into their temples from their wives unwashed; see ( Exodus 19:15 ) ( 1 Samuel 21:4 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F6 Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 198.
F7 Euterpe, sive, l. 2. c. 64.

Leviticus 15:18 In-Context

16 A man from whom the seed of lechery, either of fleshly coupling, goeth out, shall wash in water all his body (shall wash all his body in water), and he shall be unclean till to eventide.
17 He shall wash in water the cloak and (the) skin, or (the) pilch, that he hath used, (or worn, at) that time, and it shall be unclean till to eventide.
18 The woman with which he is coupled fleshly (The woman with whom he is fleshly coupled), shall be washed in water, and shall be unclean till to eventide.
19 A woman that suffereth the flowing out of blood, when the month cometh again, she shall be separated by seven days (she shall be set apart for seven days); each man that toucheth her shall be unclean till to eventide,
20 and the place in which she sleepeth either sitteth in the days of her separating, shall be defouled, (or unclean).
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.