Leviticus 15:2

2 Say to the children of Israel: If a man has an unclean flow from his flesh, it will make him unclean.

Leviticus 15:2 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 15:2

Speak unto the children of Israel
From whence we learn, says the above mentioned writer, that these uncleannesses were only usual among the children of Israel, not among the Gentiles; that is, the laws respecting them were only binding on the one, and not on the other F19:

and say unto them, when any man;
in the Hebrew text it is, "a man, a man", which the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases, a young man, and an old man:

hath a running issue out of his flesh;
what physicians call a "gonorrhoea", and we, as in the margin of our Bibles, "the running of the reins":

[because of] his issue, he [is] unclean;
in a ceremonial sense, though it arises from a natural cause; but if not from any criminal one, from a debauch, but from a strain, or some such like thing, the man was not defiled, otherwise he was; the Targum of Jonathan is,

``if he sees it three times he is unclean;''

so the Misnah F20.


FOOTNOTES:

F19 So Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Edaiot, c. 5. sect. 1.
F20 Zabim, c. 1. sect. 1. Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.

Leviticus 15:2 In-Context

1 And the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron,
2 Say to the children of Israel: If a man has an unclean flow from his flesh, it will make him unclean.
3 If the flow goes on or if the part is stopped up, to keep back the flow, he is still unclean.
4 Every bed on which he has been resting will be unclean, and everything on which he has been seated will be unclean.
5 And anyone touching his bed is to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.