Leviticus 15:18

18 "When a man has sexual intercourse with a woman and has an emission of semen, they must wash themselves. They will be unclean until evening.

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 "If a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body. He will be unclean until evening.
17 Any clothes or any leather with semen on it must be washed. It will be unclean until evening.
18 "When a man has sexual intercourse with a woman and has an emission of semen, they must wash themselves. They will be unclean until evening.
19 "When a woman has her monthly period, she will be unclean for seven days. Those who touch her will be unclean until evening.
20 Everything she lies on or sits on during her period will be unclean.
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