What does Clean and Unclean mean in Leviticus?

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For example, in Leviticus 15, a discharge from a man’s body makes him unclean or a woman who is menstruating is unclean and the bed is unclean etc… What does this mean and why?
 
It had to do with purity. In the case of Lev. that you mentioned, it may also have had to do with life force, for want of a better phrase. Blood was the force of life. A man’s emisions, also contained the seed of life. In the OT, in order to enter the temple, you had to be pure and there were rituals and sacrifices you had to offer to obtain that purity. They had to be offered before you entered the temple to worship. Historically, looking back, many of the regulations for pure and (name removed by moderator)ure were health related. For example, look at the dietary regulations. Ever eat undercooked pork? Or eat a pound of bacon a day and see what your doctor says a few years from now. Now we no longer have to offer the blood of sacrifice to obtain purity because Jesus offered himself “once for all”. Hope this helps.
Kris
 
Jews were obsessed with cleanliness. It is partly why they survived fairly well at that time. There was no plumbing, anti-bacterial agents, water treatment plants etc that we take for granted tody to keep ourselves clean. Germs killed many people in those days, the Jews were very smart and figured this out. If you look at many of the Jewish laws, you will see 3 themes that are obvious after you think about them, Cleanliness, Spiritual education based on history, and very psychologically sound ritual behaviors (such as how to grieve and for how long). All in all Jews were very enlightened in their time. These principles not only preserved their lives but that of the Jewish community as a whole. That being said, they considered all this a part of their religion and had laws about them for that reason and it really wasn’t unusual for it to be recorded in the old testament as it is about Jewish life and laws.
 
Hi all!
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klm:
It had to do with purity. In the case of Lev. that you mentioned, it may also have had to do with life force, for want of a better phrase. Blood was the force of life. A man’s emisions, also contained the seed of life. In the OT, in order to enter the temple, you had to be pure and there were rituals and sacrifices you had to offer to obtain that purity. They had to be offered before you entered the temple to worship.
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This is pretty good. 🙂

“Spiritual purity” & “spiritual impurity” (or “clean” and “unclean” as per some translations) are the usual terms that correspond to the Hebrew taharah and tumah (respectively, to use the noun forms). This beingjewish.com/kresel/facts.html is a pretty good explanation. As she explains, health had/has nothing to do with it.

Questions?

Be well!

ssv (who is thinking Black and Gold thoughts!) 👋
 
Here’s my take on it. In chapter 12 of Leviticus we know that ancient peoples saw “anything to do with reproduction as being very mysterious” and that “sexual irregularities were regarded as impure and obscene”. Israel was no different in this case. But “in Israel a high ethical and moral sense in things sexual was developed”. Males could not have any contact with a woman when in active service. In the case of 1 Sam 21:5-7, it was regarded that wars against pagans were something holy and an “unclean man could not fight in the holy name of God”. By our standards that seems a bit strange, try telling that to the people of that time. These people honestly believed this. Of course, if one reads Leviticus superficially, one could get the impression that this is one difficult book to understand. You could say, “what does this have to do with me”. If you go beneath the surface a little more and see the unique perspective this book contains, you will see that this book of Leviticus contains a religious meaning. All of Leviticus, beneath all the sacrifices or offerings it describes, lies a “deep conviction that God is the Lord of all creation”. “Man’s physical needs serve as recourse to God by means of rites and offerings that are in connection with the world in which he lives in”. Keep mind when your a nomadic person, sacrifices consisted of animals taken from the flock. Later on of course, when becoming tillers of the soil others were added on. The sacrificing of animals was considered the highest act of worship, which was one’s way of expressing to God his feelings in terms of adoration, recognition, gratitude and supplication.
 
Based on what I just heard Jimmy Akin say last week on CA Live, clean and unclean do not have to do with morality, they are a “legal designation” - he gave the example it’s like being in the state of “illegitimate”, it is no bearing on the person’s morality or spirituality, it’s a “legal” disposition. He said that Catholics believe the Mary, for example, was likely unclean at times, even though she was without sin. She was clearly in an unclean state when she was holding the body of Jesus, once He had died.
 
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