Leviticus 15:16

16 And if any man's seed of copulation shall go from him, then he shall wash all his flesh in water, and be unclean until the 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 And on the eighth day he shall take to him two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, and come before the LORD to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and give them to the priest:

15 And the priest shall offer them, the one [for] a sin-offering, and the other [for] a burnt-offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD for his issue.

16 And if any man's seed of copulation shall go from him, then he shall wash all his flesh in water, and be unclean until the evening.

17 And every garment, and every skin on which is the seed of copulation, shall be washed with water, and be unclean until the evening.

18 The woman also with whom man shall lie [with] seed of copulation, they shall [both] bathe [themselves] in water, and be unclean until the evening.