Why does God dislike the defilement of menstruous women?

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17 Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their land, they defiled it by their conduct and deeds. In my sight their conduct was like the defilement of a menstruous woman.
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From Eze 36:17. Why did God create women this way, then dislike their defilement? Or, Eve had no monthlies at first, but the Devil added the monthlies to women in later, hopefully?
 
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The devil doesn’t add it. He doesn’t have the power to do so. It’s just a normal biological process. Although very unhygienic.

Men were also ‘unclean’ when they ejaculated. Bodily fluids in general made one unclean.
 
Needy1 said:
17 Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their land, they defiled it by their conduct and deeds. In my sight their conduct was like the defilement of a menstruous woman.
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Menstruation was part of the laws of ritual cleanliness that were prescribed to the ancient Jews. Menstruation isn’t a defilement in of itself, but a woman approaching the altar while menstruating would be a defilement.

Leprosy, unclean animals, menstruation, nocturnal emissions, mildew, and some other things were all ritually unclean.

Something such as menstruation wouldn’t be unclean in a state of Original Innocence.
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Needy1 said:
17 Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their land, they defiled it by their conduct and deeds. In my sight their conduct was like the defilement of a menstruous woman.
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If you look at the next verse, it seems to explain why "their conduct was like the defilement of a menstruous woman.

It says, 18 So I poured out My wrath upon them because of the blood they had shed on the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols.…

Bodily emissions were considered something that makes something ritually impure, meaning common or related to humans whereas things related to or set aside for God were considered sacred, holy and pure. It seems that God was voicing His displeasure that their conduct of shedding blood on the land, which according to Elliot’s Bible Commentary says “The land” is always regarded in Scripture as peculiarly consecrated to God, and defiled by the sin of the people."

Here’s a partial explanation of ritual purity from encylopedia.com followed by the link to the entire article if you wanted to read the topic in depth.

" Many scholars have noted that the physical substances and states labeled impure, and thus deemed to be anathema to God, are associated with death and procreation. The God of the Hebrew Bible does not die and does not have sexual relations. These are characteristic of humans. To be eligible to approach the sanctuary, God’s residence among the Israelites, humans must separate from that which makes them least God-like: death and procreation. The ritual purity laws requiring separation from sources of impurity are thus essential to the frequent priestly exhortation to be like God ( imitatio dei ) and to strive for holiness…"

https://www.encyclopedia.com/religi...anscripts-and-maps/purity-and-impurity-ritual
Needy1 said:
From Eze 36:17. Why did God create women this way, then dislike their defilement? Or, Eve had no monthlies at first, but the Devil added the monthlies to women in later, hopefully?
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It isn’t so much a dislike or defilement because of any moral failing or that there was something bad about the menstrual cycle that God gave to women or the emissions of men, so much as it was seen as something that was part of being a creature or created rather than being God, the creator who transcends His creation.
 
Remember that this was ritual impurity, not some sin-related impurity or condemnation of women.

It was , first of all, a commandment, which focused people on the sacredness and holiness of God.

Blood was part of the sacrifice offered to God, so any ordinary contact with blood (which was considered sacred) defiled a person.

Defilement is a concept which was really stretched, such that (in the first and second centuries AD) the books of the scripture that were considered inspired defiled a person – as I understand it.

In the New Covenant (Testament) Jesus gives us his blood to drink, to divinize us. The old commandment heightens the tension of the sacrifice Christ makes on the cross for the forgiveness of sins. The only blood that saves us is Jesus’ blood.
 
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The translation you used in the OP is not very good, and even the meaning of a better translation needs to be teased out because no one practices this stuff anymore. Here’s a good explanation of the verse from Chabad:

A Niddah?​

“…Like the uncleanness of a woman in the period of her separation was their way before Me.” (36:17)

The prophet likens the actions of Israel to the state of a niddah , a woman whose husband must distance himself from her during the period of menstruation. Now, this seems very strange. The Jews were being reprimanded here for the severest of sins—idol worship, murder and the like. Niddah is a natural occurrence that has nothing to with good or evil, and is part of life even for the most righteous of women. How could the sinners be compared to the niddah ?

Rashi explains that the comparison is not to the cause of the respective situations, but rather to their result. The separation of husband and wife during the niddah period is due only to an external circumstance. Both husband and wife yearn for the time when this condition will be lifted, so they can be fully reunited. In a similar vein, G‑d and the Jewish people are likened to husband and wife. The actions of the people had brought about a situation which compelled G‑d to separate Himself from them. But G‑d, like a husband, longs for the time He can fully return to His people
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The Torah has a view of sexuality suggesting sometimes that it should only be procreative whenever possible. Menstruous women are in a situation where pregnancy is very improbable. This is a bit different from the contemporary Church doctrine, which simply prohibits acting to frustrate procreation.

Furthermore, involving blood in sexual intercourse seems rather beastly. A temperant person tends to avoid even things that suggest something beastly, even if it is not necessarily the case in itself. After all, it is rather unclean on its face regardless. It then can help serve as an image and analogy to help us approximate what spiritual uncleanliness is, as illustrated in your quote.

Finally, just as NFP can help train spouses to say no to sexual impulses, and thus obtain more mastery over themselves, avoiding sexual activity during menstration does something similar for men in particular.
 
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In the Old and New Testaments there was a broader meaning for the word “unclean.” It does not accurately translate to the modern concept of uncleanness. To be unclean required purification. To understand how the Biblical writers used the word “unclean” we need to look at the word “purification” and how it is used.

After Holy Communion of the Most Blessed Sacrament the chalice and paten are set aside for purification.
Is this because they are dirty and unclean (in the modern sense) ?
Of course not.
That perception is not only absurd but also insulting to God.
The chalice and paten at this point contain drops and particles of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, His most Precious Body and Blood.

Now look at the examples in the Old Testament that required ritual purification after “uncleanness.”
They include the death of a person and after childbirth. Why ?
Because the hand of God had just come into “contact” with them. Even the occurrence of menstruation brings to mind how the close the event of a new life had just occurred.

This interaction with God makes them “unclean.” That is, they are so holy that ordinary men cannot touch them until they are purified out of reverence to God.
(Now, the modern use of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion does obscure this point to some degree, but purification of the chalice and paten by the priest is still required.)

Giving birth is one of the most beautiful and sacred things a woman can do. In a way she cooperates directly with the creative act of God, the Author of Life, by which a new human being is brought into the world. The woman is not dirty. She is reverenced for her interaction with God.

John
 
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Something else comes to mind. In nearby pagan cults, people would drink the blood of animals. So, the prohibition of drinking blood or more broadly any contact with blood was forbidden – to try to prevent the people from engaging in other pagan religious practices.

In John 6 Jesus is saying his followers must eat his body and drink his blood, which scandalized them and turned many away from Jesus. Scripture says the life is in the blood, so Jesus gives us his life in his body and blood.
 
In Judaism, any time body fluids are released from the body it is considered to be unclean. At death the body releases any fluids from the bowels and bladder and menstration and childbirth both contain bloody discharges. Men also needed to undergo purification after a nocturnal emission.

Most purification rites related to these activities required some type of cleansing to be able to enter the Temple or to have relations with their wife again.

It wasn’t that these things were dirty, they were just considered not clean enough to perform some activities.
 
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Blood from sacrificed animals was used to sanctify the dwelling place of God in the wilderness tabernacle. The life of something was considered to be “in” the blood.

So, a woman was ritually defiled by contact even with her own blood. This couldn’t be avoided, of course, but it served to remind women of the holiness of the dwelling place of God on Earth.

The Catholic interpretation of those scriptures invokes the typology of blood pointing to the shedding of Christ’s blood for the sins of the world. The Book of Revelation has an image of a large throng of people in white robes. John asks who these are, and the response is, these are those who have washed their robes (souls) in the Blood of the Lamb.
 
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Elizabeth3 said:
Many scholars have noted that the physical substances and states labeled impure, and thus deemed to be anathema to God, are associated with death and procreation.
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I can understand death being anathema to God, but procreation? This is how we participate in His Divine love in creating us, by creating new humans. This is something I took away from one of Jeff Cavin’s studies.
 
JoeFreedom said:
I can understand death being anathema to God, but procreation? This is how we participate in His Divine love in creating us, by creating new humans. This is something I took away from one of Jeff Cavin’s studies.
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I think what they are getting at is the next line that states “The God of the Hebrew Bible does not die and does not have sexual relations. These are characteristic of humans.”

Whereas humans are dependent on another in order to procreate, God breathes forth creation by His Word and is independent. The bodily emissions are part of being human and are what make us least like God and unclean for performing sacred rituals. At least by ancient Jewish standards and beliefs. They didn’t have the benefit of “Jeff Cavin’s studies” or the gospel for that matter. 🙂
 
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