This ends the section dealing with uncleanness
Chapter 11 covered clean/unclean animals
Chapter 12 details a woman's uncleanness after birth
Chapters 13 and 14 deal with skin diseases
This chapter involves the uncleanness caused by body secretions as well as the process of restoring ritual cleanliness
Five parts:
1. Verses 1-5 Relate to a man's abnormal discharges
2. Verses 16-17 Concern a man's normal discharges
*Verse 18 Deals with both man and woman regarding sex (We'll return to that later)
3. Verses 19-30 Both abnormal and normal discharges of women. Order is reversed from the instructions for a man
4. Verses 25-30 Women's normal discharge and what's to be done
(Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:23-24, Luke 8:43-48
5. Verses 25-30 Women's abnormal discharge and what's to be done
Chiastic writing: Means two equal thoughts come together, focusing on one point. Here, men and women are treated the same in these verses. Focus is on verse 18 - the one verse relating to both regarding normal sexual relations.
*Implication is that God recognized the sexual relationship between husband and wife are a significant part of life.
(Bonus point, it also put women on equal footing with men in a time that women were considered less worthy than men)
Why do we have this chapter? Is it just private parts or whole body involved?
Verse 13 indicates whole body, talking of sickness. Is it diarrhea or gonorrhea?
Remember, at this time they've been out of Egypt for a year
Every adult had been born and raised in Egypt
Not hard to believe they still hadn't emptied their minds of heathenism
Even if they had, it's possible some are suffering from diseases they'd contracted in Egypt
These regulations would help stop the spread of disease
Verses 1-3 "Discharge" issue
Body runs or is stopped up, running issue, flow or gush
Except for Leviticus 22:4, Numbers 5:2, 2 Samuel 3:29 all usages are in this chapter
Verses 31-33 An explanation why the unclean were to be handled this way
Second, a summary of what was covered
Application - Every single facet of life was directed by God to be directed to God.
Our uncleanness today comes from within
Matthew 15:2 Pharisees condemn apostles for eating without washing hands. "Tradition of elders" He who eats with unwashed hands is as bad as he who commits fornication
Matthew 15:10-15 We get to the core of what renders one unclean before God...what's in one's heart!
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