Why Does Leviticus Describe a Woman’s Period as Shameful?

The Levitical Law can be cumbersome to read, and confusing for gentiles who neither live under the law nor within the cultural context in which it was given. Without that context and understanding, it can be easy to come across a passage that seems offensive, out of place, or inappropriate by modern standards.

Many women struggle with an element of the Law that is about the menstrual cycle. In the Book of Leviticus, it says, “When a woman has a discharge, and it consists of blood from her body, she will be unclean because of her menstruation for seven days. Everyone who touches her will be unclean until evening. Anything she lies on during her menstruation will become unclean, and anything she sits on will become unclean” (Leviticus 15:19-20).

For many women, and in the church for centuries, women were supposed to feel shame for this uncleanness, even though every woman experiences it and there is nothing she can do about it. However, God made women to have a period as part of her hormonal cycle and as part of the process of human reproduction.

The Bible says menstruation is unclean for practical reasons, as well as to communicate truths symbolically about the Nation of Israel, not to express that women are lesser than men, or somehow more unclean than men.

Men and Women

God does say in Leviticus that a woman’s period is unclean. But that passage in the Law is not just focused on women, and it is a bad interpretation of Scripture to only talk about the menstruation passage, and not the preceding one.

Before God addresses what can make a woman unclean, He said, “The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: ‘Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When any man has a discharge from his member, he is unclean. This is uncleanness of his discharge: Whether his member secretes the discharge or retains it, he is unclean. All the days that his member secretes or retains anything because of his discharge, he is unclean’” (Leviticus 15:1-3).

The Law clarifies anything the man has an emission of is also unclean including the bed, clothing, a saddle, and other things. The man is also given a series of tasks he must complete to be considered clean, and what he must do to clean the items that would have been sullied by his bodily discharge.

While women were told to consider their menstruation as unclean, they were not specifically called out in a way that men were; because men and women are different, what was considered an unclean discharge is different.

Physical and Biological Reasons

God recognizes the needs of His creation, which is why He provides. Jesus explains, “Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these” (Matthew 6:26-29).

When the Lord made women, He made their hormones operate differently than men. Women’s hormones fluctuate over the course of the month, and can be divided into four overall categories: follicular phase, ovulation phase, luteal phase, and menstrual phase. Women are most physically weak, and hormones like estrogen are at their lowest during a woman’s menstrual phase, which is when she is having her period. God ordained a time of rest for women during that time so her body can recover. If a woman exercises too much during her period, she can have an excess level of the stress hormone cortisol in her blood, which can have long-term negative effects. 

Another reason the bodily discharge from a woman’s period is called unclean in the Bible is because, like any discharge of blood and waste from inside the body to outside the body, it is in fact unclean. Modern science has demonstrated that blood and waste that is outside the body needs to be disposed of carefully. Items such as clothes that come into contact with bodily waste need to be cleaned. There are times when Old Testament Law aligns with scientific discoveries. In this case, part of why the Law requires women to consider themselves unclean during their periods is because it is an expulsion of waste that should be cleaned up to prevent sickness and the spread of disease. There are more verses dedicated to what should be cleaned, than to the need for a woman to go to the Temple and make a sacrifice, supporting the idea that God’s focus is on hygiene, rather than implying that a woman is inherently more shameful or sinful than a man because she has a period. 

Spiritual Reasons

While there are practical reasons God would deem menstruation unclean, with Israel, He would often use the Law and practical realities to communicate greater spiritual truths. The practical realities of a woman’s cycle helped communicate greater truths symbolically.

First, there is something important we must understand about the context under which the Levitical Law was given. The Israelites were coming from a pagan culture with fertility deities, and were going to be surrounded by other pagan cultures with their own fertility deities and practices. Many laws given by God existed to distinguish His chosen people as set apart from the pagan people around them. In Leviticus 18, God states explicitly, “Do not follow the practices of the land of Egypt, where you used to live, or follow the practices of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. You must not follow their customs. You are to practice my ordinances and you are to keep my statutes by following them; I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 18:3-4). The Lord did not want His people behaving in a manner that would separate them from Him, and to live as an example to others. 

Examples of laws given for the purpose of setting apart the Hebrews include:

“You are not to come near any close relative for sexual intercourse; I am the Lord” (Leviticus 18:6).

“You are not to sacrifice any of your children in the fire to Molech. Do not profane the name of your God; I am the Lord” (Leviticus 18:21).

“You are not to eat anything with blood in it. You are not to practice divination or witchcraft. You are not to cut off the hair at the sides of your head or mar the edge of your beard. You are not to make gashes on your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves; I am the Lord” (Leviticus 19:26-28).

In the midst of these rules and regulations that exist to keep the Hebrew people set apart, is a reiteration of the uncleanliness of a woman’s period. God wanted men and woman to abstain from the practice of intercourse during that time in a woman’s cycle because of the practices of cultures around them.

Another spiritual reason that a woman’s period and a man’s emissions may have been spiritually unclean was to keep any blood or bodily fluids not used for sacrifices out of the Tabernacle, and eventually, the Temple. Because God’s holy presence sat in these places, sinners and people who were not spiritually clean could not approach them, or they would be struck down by God’s holiness. The Bible warned that only the Chief Priest could approach the Holy of Holies where His actual glory would rest on the Ark of the Covenant. “ The Lord said to Moses, ‘Tell your brother Aaron that he may not come whenever he wants into the holy place behind the curtain in front of the mercy seat on the ark or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud above the mercy seat” (Leviticus 16:2).

Afterward, the Lord outlined all the conditions Aaron, and future high priests, needed to meet in order to come into His presence. Cleanliness was a crucial part of it, and if blood, semen, and other bodily excretions made someone unclean, it would be important the priest not come into contact with it, even indirectly.

Conclusion

Women should not feel shame about their periods, and now that Jesus’ death and resurrection has created a new covenant, they are not obligated to undergo the same level of ritual cleanliness. They should pursue good hygiene during their monthly cycles, but there is no shame attached to menstruation. Even though the time of the Levitical Law was necessary to have a relationship with God, it was about Priestly cleanliness, not about any inherent problems with womanhood and femininity.

Sources
Carmichael, Callum. Illuminating Leviticus A Study of Its Laws and Institutions in the Light of Biblical Narratives. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006.
Feinstein, Eve Levai. “Menstruation in the Bible.” Jewish Women’s Archive. Updated June 23, 2021. https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/menstruation-in-the-bible#pid-13388.
Meyer, Jason. The End of the Law Mosaic Covenant in Pauline Theology. Nashville: B&H Publishing Groups, 2009. 

Photo credit: ©Getty Images/zoranm

Bethany Verrett is a freelance writer who uses her passion for God, reading, and writing to glorify God. She and her husband have lived all over the country serving their Lord and Savior in ministry. She has a blog on graceandgrowing.com.