Vayikra 15:18

18 The isha also with whom ish shall lie with shikhvat zera, they shall both immerse themselves in mayim, and be tamei until the erev.

Vayikra 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.

Vayikra 15:18 In-Context

16 And if any ish [baal keri, a person with a discharge of semen], if his shikhvat zera (emission of semen) go out from him, then he shall immerse his entire body in mayim, and be tamei until the erev.
17 And every garment, and every skin, whereon is the shikhvat zera, shall be immersed with mayim, and be tamei until the erev.
18 The isha also with whom ish shall lie with shikhvat zera, they shall both immerse themselves in mayim, and be tamei until the erev.
19 And if an isha have a discharge, and her discharge in her body be dahm, she shall be in her state of niddah (state of menstrual separation) seven days; and whosoever toucheth her shall be tamei until the erev.
20 And everything that she lieth upon in her niddah shall be tamei; everything also that she sitteth upon shall be tamei.
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