11.1–23 Clean and unclean foods.
11.1–8 Cf. vv. 3–4 with Deut 14.4–6, where the permitted land animals are named. The classification is the result not of empirical medical knowledge but of the universal need to classify phenomena by establishing beneficent and destructive categories. Above all, the function of the following list of forbidden and defiling quadruped carcasses (vv. 4–8, 24–31) is to limit consumption to the three domestic animals permitted on the altar (i.e., God’s table): cattle, sheep, and goats.
11.2 Land animals, i.e., quadrupeds.
11.3 Divided hoofs, rather “hoofs.” Israel’s access is thus limited to the main domestic species—cattle, sheep, and goats (plus several wild but virtually unobtainable animals, Deut 14.4–5). Chews the cud excludes the pig (v. 7), regarded as an abomination particularly because it was revered in chthonic cults that penetrated into Israel as late as the sixth century BCE, arousing the wrath of prophet and priest alike (Isa 66.3, 17; cf. 65.4–5).
11.5–6 The rock badger and hare are not true ruminants, but the side-ward movement of their jaws gives them the appearance of one. Their habit of chewing their food twice also creates the impression that they are incessantly chewing food.
11.9–12 That neither prohibited nor permitted fish are enumerated (either here or in Deut 14.9) may be explained by the relatively limited variety of species of sea life in the Mediterranean prior to the construction of the Suez Canal. Fish—alone among the creatures—were not named by Adam (Gen 2.19–20).
11.13–19 No criteria are stated for birds. The fact that only impure birds are enumerated implies that the species of pure birds are innumerable (Sipre Deuteronomy 103).
11.20–23 Winged insects. The reason for exempting locusts is not clear. It may be related to Israel’s pastoral life in its presettlement period, when the community subsisted on its herds as well as on the sporadic visits of locusts, just as Bedouin do to this day (cf. Mt 3.4; Mk 1.6).
11.24–40 Impurity by contact with carcasses. This section is an insertion from another source, since it interrupts the fourfold classification (11.46) of creatures that may not be eaten. Nonporous articles polluted by cadavers of the species listed in vv. 29–30 must be washed, but contaminated earthenware (porous and absorbent, 6.28) may never be reused. Food and seed grain are immune to impurity except when moist, since water is an impurity carrier. Only the carcasses of quadrupeds and eight reptiles contaminate by touch; all others contaminate by ingestion.
11.24 Unclean until the evening. Bathing is presumed, but impurity also needs time to dissipate completely, until evening in the case of minor impurities.
11.25 Wash his clothes. Bathing is presumed.
11.29–30 These eight named land swarmers differ from the rest of their kind (vv. 41–43) in that they contaminate not only by ingestion but also by touch (v. 31), a characteristic they share with the impure quadrupeds (vv. 8, 24–28). These eight would commonly be found in the kitchen, and, being small, might be found inside vessels (vv. 32–38).
11.33 Contaminated earthenware must be broken because it absorbs impurities that cannot be removed.
11.34 Once wetted by liquid, food becomes susceptible to impurity (v. 38).
11.35 Ovens and stoves are made of earthenware.
11.36 Water sources are, however, not susceptible to impurity because they are embedded in the ground.
11.39–40 The carcasses of clean (i.e., edible) animals also defile.
11.41–42 These verses on swarming things continue 11.23.
11.43–45 Israel is enjoined to be holy. An interpolation from H (see Introduction).
11.46–47 A summary of the entire chapter.
LEVITICUS 12
Purification of Women after Childbirth
1The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: 2Speak to the people of Israel, saying: If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be ceremonially unclean seven days; as at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. 3On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. 4Her time of blood purification shall be thirty-three days; she shall not touch any holy thing, or come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purification are completed. 5If she bears a female child, she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation; her time of blood purification shall be sixty-six days.
6When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb in its first year for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. 7He shall offer it before the LORD, and make atonement on her behalf; then she shall be clean from her flow of blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, male or female. 8If she cannot afford a sheep, she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering; and the priest shall make atonement on her behalf, and she shall be clean.
next chapter
* * *
12.1–8 For seven days following the birth of a male child and fourteen days following that of a female child, no conjugal relations are allowed. For an additional period of thirty-three and sixty-six days, respectively, contact with sacred spaces and objects is proscribed. That sacrifices are brought only after the impurity has totally disappeared is proof that their function is neither apotropaic nor medicinal; only ritual impurity adheres, which time and ablutions remove. The rite is scaled to economic circumstances (5.7–13; 14.21–32).
12.2 Conceives, lit. “produces seed.”
12.3 Flesh of his foreskin, or “foreskin of his member.”
12.4 According to Luke 2.22, Joseph and Mary brought the child Jesus to the temple “when the time came for their purification.” This was on the thirty-third day after Jesus’ circumcision (or forty days after his birth). This is the basis of the Christian feast of Candlemas, celebrated on February 2. The pronoun “their” may be a textual error since only Mary required purification. On the other hand Luke, not being a Palestinian Jewish Christian, may not have been accurately informed of v. 4.
12.5 The reason for the disparity between the sexes is unknown.
12.6 The rendering sin offering seems especially misleading in this case. What sin has the new mother committed? A better rendering would be “purification offering,” merely indicating that her postpartum blood flow has engendered a ritual impurity that has contaminated the sanctuary, for which a purification offering is mandated once she is completely healed (see expressly 14.19).
12.7 Flow, lit. “source.”
LEVITICUS 13
Leprosy, Varieties and Symptoms
1The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:
2When a person has on the skin of his body a swelling or an eruption or a spot, and it turns into a leprousa disease on the skin of his body, he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests. 3The priest shall examine the disease on the skin of his body, and if the hair in the diseased area has turned white and the disease appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is a leprousb disease; after the priest has examined him he shall pronounce him ceremonially unclean. 4But if the spot is white in the skin of his body, and appears no deeper than the skin, and the hair in it has not turned white, the priest shall confine the diseased person for seven days. 5The priest shall examine him on the seventh day, and if he sees that the disease is checked and the disease has not spread in the skin, then the priest shall confine him seven days more. 6The priest shall examine him again on the seventh day, and if the disease has abated and the disease has not spread in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean; it is only an eruption; and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean. 7But if the eruption spreads in the skin after he has shown himself to the priest for his cleansing, he shall appear again before the priest. 8The priest shall make an examination, and if the eruption has spread in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a leprousc disease.
9When a person contracts a leprousd disease, he shall be brought t
o the priest. 10The priest shall make an examination, and if there is a white swelling in the skin that has turned the hair white, and there is quick raw flesh in the swelling, 11it is a chronic leprouse disease in the skin of his body. The priest shall pronounce him unclean; he shall not confine him, for he is unclean. 12But if the disease breaks out in the skin, so that it covers all the skin of the diseased person from head to foot, so far as the priest can see, 13then the priest shall make an examination, and if the disease has covered all his body, he shall pronounce him clean of the disease; since it has all turned white, he is clean. 14But if raw flesh ever appears on him, he shall be unclean; 15the priest shall examine the raw flesh and pronounce him unclean. Raw flesh is unclean, for it is a leprousf disease. 16But if the raw flesh again turns white, he shall come to the priest; 17the priest shall examine him, and if the disease has turned white, the priest shall pronounce the diseased person clean. He is clean.
18When there is on the skin of one’s body a boil that has healed, 19and in the place of the boil there appears a white swelling or a reddish-white spot, it shall be shown to the priest. 20The priest shall make an examination, and if it appears deeper than the skin and its hair has turned white, the priest shall pronounce him unclean; this is a leprousg disease, broken out in the boil. 21But if the priest examines it and the hair on it is not white, nor is it deeper than the skin but has abated, the priest shall confine him seven days. 22If it spreads in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is diseased. 23But if the spot remains in one place and does not spread, it is the scar of the boil; the priest shall pronounce him clean.
24Or, when the body has a burn on the skin and the raw flesh of the burn becomes a spot, reddish-white or white, 25the priest shall examine it. If the hair in the spot has turned white and it appears deeper than the skin, it is a leproush disease; it has broken out in the burn, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean. This is a leprousi disease. 26But if the priest examines it and the hair in the spot is not white, and it is no deeper than the skin but has abated, the priest shall confine him seven days. 27The priest shall examine him the seventh day; if it is spreading in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him unclean. This is a leprousj disease. 28But if the spot remains in one place and does not spread in the skin but has abated, it is a swelling from the burn, and the priest shall pronounce him clean; for it is the scar of the burn.
29When a man or woman has a disease on the head or in the beard, 30the priest shall examine the disease. If it appears deeper than the skin and the hair in it is yellow and thin, the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is an itch, a leprousk disease of the head or the beard. 31If the priest examines the itching disease, and it appears no deeper than the skin and there is no black hair in it, the priest shall confine the person with the itching disease for seven days. 32On the seventh day the priest shall examine the itch; if the itch has not spread, and there is no yellow hair in it, and the itch appears to be no deeper than the skin, 33he shall shave, but the itch he shall not shave. The priest shall confine the person with the itch for seven days more. 34On the seventh day the priest shall examine the itch; if the itch has not spread in the skin and it appears to be no deeper than the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean. He shall wash his clothes and be clean. 35But if the itch spreads in the skin after he was pronounced clean, 36the priest shall examine him. If the itch has spread in the skin, the priest need not seek for the yellow hair; he is unclean. 37But if in his eyes the itch is checked, and black hair has grown in it, the itch is healed, he is clean; and the priest shall pronounce him clean.
38When a man or a woman has spots on the skin of the body, white spots, 39the priest shall make an examination, and if the spots on the skin of the body are of a dull white, it is a rash that has broken out on the skin; he is clean.
40If anyone loses the hair from his head, he is bald but he is clean. 41If he loses the hair from his forehead and temples, he has baldness of the forehead but he is clean. 42But if there is on the bald head or the bald forehead a reddish-white diseased spot, it is a leprousl disease breaking out on his bald head or his bald forehead. 43The priest shall examine him; if the diseased swelling is reddish-white on his bald head or on his bald forehead, which resembles a leprousm disease in the skin of the body, 44he is leprous,n he is unclean. The priest shall pronounce him unclean; the disease is on his head.
45The person who has the leprouso disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head be disheveled; and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, “Unclean, unclean.” 46He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.
47Concerning clothing: when a leprousp disease appears in it, in woolen or linen cloth, 48in warp or woof of linen or wool, or in a skin or in anything made of skin, 49if the disease shows greenish or reddish in the garment, whether in warp or woof or in skin or in anything made of skin, it is a leprousq disease and shall be shown to the priest. 50The priest shall examine the disease, and put the diseased article aside for seven days. 51He shall examine the disease on the seventh day. If the disease has spread in the cloth, in warp or woof, or in the skin, whatever be the use of the skin, this is a spreading leprousr disease; it is unclean. 52He shall burn the clothing, whether diseased in warp or woof, woolen or linen, or anything of skin, for it is a spreading leprouss disease; it shall be burned in fire.
53If the priest makes an examination, and the disease has not spread in the clothing, in warp or woof or in anything of skin, 54the priest shall command them to wash the article in which the disease appears, and he shall put it aside seven days more. 55The priest shall examine the diseased article after it has been washed. If the diseased spot has not changed color, though the disease has not spread, it is unclean; you shall burn it in fire, whether the leproust spot is on the inside or on the outside.
56If the priest makes an examination, and the disease has abated after it is washed, he shall tear the spot out of the cloth, in warp or woof, or out of skin. 57If it appears again in the garment, in warp or woof, or in anything of skin, it is spreading; you shall burn with fire that in which the disease appears. 58But the cloth, warp or woof, or anything of skin from which the disease disappears when you have washed it, shall then be washed a second time, and it shall be clean.
59This is the ritual for a leprousu disease in a cloth of wool or linen, either in warp or woof, or in anything of skin, to decide whether it is clean or unclean.
next chapter
* * *
a A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
b A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
c A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
d A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
e A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
f A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
g A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
h A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
i A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
j A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
k A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
l A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
m A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
n A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
o A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
p A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
q A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
r A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
s A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
t A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
u
A term for several skin diseases; precise meaning uncertain
13.1–14.57 The priest is instructed to identify and isolate those afflicted with scale disease, traditionally but not properly translated “leprosy” (Hansen’s disease). It is mainly a noncontagious condition, probably vitiligo or, less likely, psoriasis. (Regarding these examples of scale disease as ritually contaminating, see note on 11.1–16.34.) Scaling is the common denominator of all the skin ailments described in ch. 13, as follows: boils (vv. 18–23); burns (vv. 24–28); scalls, i.e., infection of the hairy parts of the head (vv. 29–37); tetters and normal baldness (pure manifestations; vv. 38–41); and impure baldness (vv. 42–44). The comportment of certified scale-disease carriers is described in 13.45–46 and their purificatory rites in 14.1–20. Lev 13.47–59 describes the deterioration of garments probably because of mildew or fungus, and 14.33–53 describes the infection of houses because of the spread of saltpeter or moss, in which case quarantine procedures are also enforced. Unusual considerations for property are reflected in 14.36: the priest clears the house prior to his inspection so that the contents will not be condemned with the house. The priest is not a physician; his rituals commence only after the disease has passed. Both disease and healing stem from the one God. Chs. 13–14 are summarized in 14.54–57.
HarperCollins Study Bible Page 56