Leviticus 15:2

2 Speak ye to the sons of Israel, and say ye to them, A man that suffereth the running out of seed, shall be unclean; (Say thou to the Israelites, When a man suffereth the running out of his seed, such an issue shall be unclean;)

Leviticus 15:2 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 15:2

Speak unto the children of Israel
From whence we learn, says the above mentioned writer, that these uncleannesses were only usual among the children of Israel, not among the Gentiles; that is, the laws respecting them were only binding on the one, and not on the other ^F19:

and say unto them, when any man;
in the Hebrew text it is, "a man, a man", which the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases, a young man, and an old man:

hath a running issue out of his flesh;
what physicians call a "gonorrhoea", and we, as in the margin of our Bibles, "the running of the reins":

[because of] his issue, he [is] unclean;
in a ceremonial sense, though it arises from a natural cause; but if not from any criminal one, from a debauch, but from a strain, or some such like thing, the man was not defiled, otherwise he was; the Targum of Jonathan is,

``if he sees it three times he is unclean;''

so the Misnah ^F20.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 So Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Edaiot, c. 5. sect. 1.
F20 Zabim, c. 1. sect. 1. Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.

Leviticus 15:2 In-Context

1 And the Lord spake to Moses and Aaron, saying,

2 Speak ye to the sons of Israel, and say ye to them, A man that suffereth the running out of seed, shall be unclean; (Say thou to the Israelites, When a man suffereth the running out of his seed, such an issue shall be unclean;)

3 and then he shall be deemed to be subject to this vice, when by all moments foul humour, either moisture, cleaveth to his flesh, and groweth (al)together (or runneth continually).

4 Each bed in which he sleepeth shall be unclean, and wherever he sitteth.

5 If any man toucheth his bed, he shall wash his clothes, and he shall be washed in water, and shall be unclean till to eventide.