The Contagion of Holiness Text: Leviticus 15:25-30
Introduction: God's Audiovisual Aids
We come now to a passage in Leviticus that causes modern readers to shuffle their feet. We live in an age that prizes sterile environments and discreet conversations, and so a detailed discussion of bodily discharges seems, to our delicate sensibilities, somewhat out of place in a worship service. But if we think this way, we are missing the point entirely. The Bible is not a book of Victorian etiquette; it is a book about blood and guts, life and death, sin and salvation. And God, in His wisdom, uses the most basic, earthy realities of our lives to teach us the most profound spiritual truths.
The ceremonial laws of Leviticus are not arbitrary hoops for the Israelites to jump through. They are not simply ancient hygiene codes, though they certainly had that benefit. These laws are what we might call acted-out parables. They are audiovisual aids for a people being trained in the grammar of holiness. God is teaching them, and us through them, a fundamental lesson: sin is a defilement. It is a contagion. It separates. And the uncleanness described here, particularly this chronic, unresolved issue of blood, is a living, walking picture of the human condition under the curse.
This woman, described in the abstract here in Leviticus, is a type. She is a symbol of a world hemorrhaging life because of sin. She is isolated, cut off from the fellowship of God's people and, most importantly, from the presence of God in the tabernacle. Her condition is a living death. Everything she touches becomes unclean. She cannot fix herself, and the law, while it describes her condition with perfect accuracy, cannot ultimately cure her. It can only manage her isolation and point toward a future, better sacrifice.
So as we read this, do not think of it as an obscure purity regulation for a bygone era. Think of it as a divine diagnosis of your own soul apart from Christ. This is a description of all of us, spiritually speaking. We are all the woman with the issue of blood, and we are in desperate need of a physician who is not afraid of our uncleanness.
The Text
‘Now if a woman has a discharge of her blood many days, not at the period of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond that period, all the days of her unclean discharge she shall continue as though in her menstrual impurity; she is unclean. Any bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her like her bed at menstruation; and every thing on which she sits shall be unclean, like her uncleanness from her menstrual impurity. Likewise, whoever touches them shall be unclean and shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening. Now if she becomes clean from her discharge, she shall count off for herself seven days; and afterward she will be clean. Then on the eighth day she shall take for herself two turtledoves or two young pigeons and bring them in to the priest, to the doorway of the tent of meeting. And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. So the priest shall make atonement on her behalf before Yahweh because of her unclean discharge.’
(Leviticus 15:25-30 LSB)
The Spreading Stain (v. 25-27)
We begin with the description of the condition and its consequences.
"‘Now if a woman has a discharge of her blood many days, not at the period of her menstrual impurity, or if she has a discharge beyond that period, all the days of her unclean discharge she shall continue as though in her menstrual impurity; she is unclean." (Leviticus 15:25)
The law distinguishes between the normal, cyclical impurity of menstruation and this chronic, abnormal condition. This is not a punishment for being a woman. This is a picture of a world that is not the way it is supposed to be. Blood is the symbol of life; the life of the flesh is in the blood (Lev. 17:11). For blood to be continually flowing out is a picture of life draining away. This is a picture of death at work in the body. Because of the fall, our bodies are subject to decay, disorder, and death. This ceremonial uncleanness is a tangible reminder of that spiritual reality. She is declared "unclean," which means she is ceremonially unfit to approach the holy things of God.
The consequences of this uncleanness are severe and isolating, as we see in the following verses.
"Any bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her like her bed at menstruation; and every thing on which she sits shall be unclean, like her uncleanness from her menstrual impurity. Likewise, whoever touches them shall be unclean and shall wash his clothes and bathe in water and be unclean until evening." (Leviticus 15:26-27)
Notice the principle of contamination. Her uncleanness is contagious. It spreads to her bed, her chair, and then to anyone who touches those things. This is how the law works. It establishes boundaries. A holy God dwells in the midst of the camp, and therefore the camp must be kept holy. Uncleanness cannot be allowed to spread unchecked until it reaches the tabernacle. This woman, through no moral fault of her own, becomes a source of spreading defilement.
This is a powerful illustration of how sin works. Sin is never a private affair. It always affects others. It defiles relationships, families, and communities. The sinner, like this woman, spreads his spiritual uncleanness to everything he touches. The law's response is quarantine. Separation. The person who touches her or her things is himself made unclean "until evening." He is temporarily cut off. This entire system is designed to teach Israel the profound otherness of God and the seriousness of any impurity that would approach Him.
The Temporary Remedy (v. 28-30)
The law then provides a way back, a path to restoration, should the physical ailment cease.
"Now if she becomes clean from her discharge, she shall count off for herself seven days; and afterward she will be clean. Then on the eighth day she shall take for herself two turtledoves or two young pigeons and bring them in to the priest, to the doorway of the tent of meeting." (Leviticus 15:28-29)
The healing itself is outside the scope of the law. The law doesn't heal her; it simply states, "if she becomes clean." When the flow stops, a process begins. There is a seven-day waiting period, a full week of separation, to ensure the healing is real. Then, on the eighth day, the day of new beginnings, she is to come to the very threshold of the tabernacle, the place from which she had been barred. She is to bring the offering of the poor, two turtledoves or pigeons. This tells us that this path to restoration is open to everyone, regardless of station.
The purpose of these two birds is specified in the final verse.
"And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. So the priest shall make atonement on her behalf before Yahweh because of her unclean discharge.’" (Leviticus 15:30)
Here we see the heart of the matter. The physical healing is not enough. The ceremonial defilement must be dealt with through blood sacrifice. One bird is a sin offering. This is not to say she sinned by having this condition, but rather that her condition was a manifestation of the fallenness of the world, a world broken by sin. The sin offering purifies from the defilement. The second bird is a burnt offering, or more accurately, an "ascension offering." This offering was wholly consumed on the altar, ascending to God as a sweet-smelling aroma. It signified total consecration and acceptance. After the purification of the sin offering, the worshipper is now welcomed back and rededicated to God through the ascension offering.
The priest makes atonement for her. He stands as a mediator between her and a holy God. But we must see that this whole process, while gracious, is also limited. It is temporary. It is external. It is a shadow, a type, a pointer to a greater reality. It points to a woman who would suffer under this very law for twelve long years, and who would find a final and ultimate cure.
The Gospel Reversal
This entire chapter of Leviticus is the necessary background for one of the most beautiful encounters in the Gospels. In Mark chapter 5, we meet the living embodiment of Leviticus 15.
"And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse." (Mark 5:25-26)
For twelve years, she was unclean. For twelve years, she was an outcast. For twelve years, she could not enter the temple. For twelve years, every bed she slept in, every chair she sat on, was unclean. For twelve years, she could not have the normal comfort of a hug from a friend or a family member without making them unclean. She was destitute, having spent all her money on cures that did not work. She is the picture of humanity under the law: broken, isolated, and without hope in herself.
But then she hears of Jesus. And in desperation and faith, she breaks through the crowd, violating the law of quarantine, and reaches out to touch the hem of His garment. Now, according to Leviticus 15, what should happen? According to the law, her uncleanness should transfer to Jesus. He should become unclean. That is how the contagion of sin works.
But with Jesus, the flow is reversed. His holiness is more contagious than her uncleanness. When she touches Him, power flows out of Him and into her. He is not made unclean; she is made clean. Instantly. Completely.
Jesus stops. "Who touched me?" He is not looking to rebuke her; He is looking to restore her publicly. He wants to bring her out of the shadows. She comes, trembling, and falls at His feet, telling Him the whole truth. And what does He say? "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease." He calls her "daughter," welcoming her back into the family of God. He sends her away in "peace," the very thing the fellowship offerings pointed to. He heals her completely.
Do you see the glory of this? Jesus is the Great High Priest who does not become defiled by our sin, but rather cleanses us from it. He is the final sin offering, whose blood purifies not just ceremonially, but cleanses the conscience from dead works. He is the ultimate ascension offering, who presents us as holy and acceptable to God. The entire Levitical system finds its fulfillment, its terminus, in Him.
The law said, "If you are unclean, stay away." Jesus says, "If you are unclean, come to me." The law quarantined the sick; Jesus seeks them out. The law managed the problem of defilement; Jesus eradicates it. We are all this woman. We are all hemorrhaging life, spiritually broken, and unable to heal ourselves. Our good works, our religious efforts, are like the physicians who took all her money and left her worse than before. The only cure is to press through the crowd of our fears and our pride, and to reach out and touch the hem of His garment. His power is sufficient. His grace is a holy contagion. And He is still in the business of making the unclean, clean.