Meaning of UNCLEANNESS

The Law made a distinction between legal purity and holiness (Lev. 10:10). An animal, for example, is clean or unclean, which does not imply any idea of holiness or sinfulness.

Legal impurity, if acquired involuntarily, was not equated with a moral fault. Impurity caused exclusion from the sanctuary (Lev. 7:20, 21) and from the community, but it did not interrupt the relationship with God through prayer.

The prescriptions that define impurity are often reinforced by the command: "You will be holy, because I am holy" (Lev. 11:44, 45). By keeping himself from impurities, the Israelite became aware that he had been set apart to serve the Lord.

Legal impurity was a symbol of sin. The Law also distinguished between what is physically proper and ceremonial or legal purity. Hygiene was necessary for the health and community life of the Israelites regardless of ceremonial demands.

But the fundamental idea is that the children of a holy God have to get away from all spiritual and physical contamination, to approach the Lord they had to seek this double purification (Ex. 19:10-11, 14; 30:18-21; Josh. 3:5).

Causes of ceremonial impurity:

(a) Contact with a dead body (Num. 19:11-22). This infraction was the most serious, since it was related to the ultimate consequence of sin (the death of man, the dissolution of the body).

The contamination contracted made the person unclean for seven days, and could only be lifted by the water of purification. The handling of the ashes of the sorrel heifer, necessary for the preparation of that water, made the priest unclean until the evening (Num. 19:7-10); contact with an unclean man was also defiling (Num. 19:22).

(b) Leprosy was a cause of exclusion from the community (Lev. 13:14). Mold on fabrics or walls was assimilated to leprosy. The leper was separated from his family and society (Lev. 13:46). His purification required a particular rite, with a sacrifice of expiation and burnt offering.

(c) Emissions, natural or morbid, coming from the genital organs (Lev. 15). The woman was considered unclean during the days of her menstruation and the eight days following (Lev. 15:19, 25-28; 20:18).

After giving birth, sexual relations were prohibited, due to the same state of "impurity", for at least 40 days (Lev. 12:2, 4), which corresponds precisely to the recommendations of modern medicine.

As for procreation itself, it is not considered a sin at all, since it has been ordained by God (Gen. 1:27-28). However, the psalmist exclaims, "Behold, I was formed in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me" (Ps. 51:5), because because of the fall, a sinful man and woman can only have children in his likeness (cf. Jb. 14:4; Eph. 2:3).

(d) The consumption of the flesh of an unclean animal; simple contact with his carcass or with the carcass of a pure animal not slaughtered according to ceremonial ordinances (Lev. 11: 27-28).

Purification was not a mere hygiene measure, requiring washing the contaminated body or object in water (Lev. 11:28; 15:27, etc.); It constituted a religious act, based on the atonement necessary for the reestablishment of communion with the holy God.

The water of purification made from the ashes of a heifer offered as atonement has been mentioned (Num. 19:11-13). Furthermore, an individual atonement sacrifice was necessary for her who had been a mother (Lev. 12:6-8), for the leper (Lev. 14:4-20), for the sick man or woman (Lev. 15: 13-15, 28-30).

The deep meaning of all these teachings is summarized in Lev. 15:31: Believers must rid themselves of all impurity that defiles the sanctuary and leads to spiritual as well as physical death.