“Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even.”
Then the priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp; but the priest shall be unclean until the evening — the very priest who presides over purification becomes unclean through contact with the ritual. This paradox (tum'ah b'tahara) structures the entire ordinance: defilement and cleansing are mysteriously interconnected. The priest's ritual bath and waiting until evening prefigure the gradual restoration of ritual status.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a note on this verse
0/2000
No notes on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!