Leviticus 15:16

16 " 'Suppose semen flows from a man's body. Then he must wash his whole body with water. He will be "unclean" until evening.

Leviticus 15:16 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 15:16

And if any man's seed of copulation go out from him
Not in lawful cohabitation, nor voluntarily, but involuntarily, as Aben Ezra observes; not through any disorder, which came by an accident, or in any criminal way, but through a dream, or any lustful imagination; what is commonly called nocturnal pollution ^F3; then he shall wash all his flesh in water, and be unclean until the
even;
and so the Egyptian priests, when it happened that they were defiled by a dream, they immediately purified themselves in a laver ^F4 so the Jewish priests did when the like happened to them asleep in the temple ^F5; see ( Deuteronomy 23:10 Deuteronomy 23:11 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 "----& noctem flumine purgas." Pers. Satyr. 2.
F4 Chaeremon. apud Porphyr. de Abstinentia, l. 4. c. 7.
F5 Misn. Tamid. c. 1. sect. 1.

Leviticus 15:16 In-Context

14 " 'On the eighth day he must get two doves or two young pigeons. He must come to the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. There he must give the birds to the priest.

15 The priest must sacrifice them. One is for a sin offering. The other is for a burnt offering. In that way the priest will pay for the man's sin in the sight of the Lord. He will do it because the man had a liquid flow.

16 " 'Suppose semen flows from a man's body. Then he must wash his whole body with water. He will be "unclean" until evening.

17 " 'Suppose clothes or leather have semen on them. Then they must be washed with water. They will be "unclean" until evening.

18 " 'Suppose a man makes love to a woman. And suppose semen flows from his body and touches both of them. Then they must take a bath. They will be "unclean" until evening.