Leviticus 15
The bodily discharge regulations address the ritual dimension of ordinary human bodily life, distinguishing between pathological discharges (which create extended impurity) and normal bodily functions (which create brief, self-resolving impurity). The man with an unusual discharge creates impurity for everything he touches, sits on, or lies on; anyone who contacts these objects requires cloth-washing and until-evening purification. When the discharge resolves, seven days of counting are followed by the two-bird restoration offering on the eighth day. The ordinary semen emission requires only personal bathing and until-evening impurity; sexual intercourse between a husband and wife creates the same brief impurity for both. The woman's regular menstrual period creates seven days of impurity, with the same contact-impurity system as the male unusual discharge; the unusual female discharge (beyond the regular period or at other times) creates extended impurity like the male unusual discharge, with the same seven-day counting period and two-bird restoration offering. Mark 5:25–34 records the woman with twelve years of this extended female discharge — twelve years of the impurity and social exclusion these regulations describe — reaching out to touch Jesus and receiving immediate healing.
Leviticus 15:30
The priest is to sacrifice one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. In this way he will make atonement for her before the Lord for the uncleanness of her discharge. The sin offering and burnt offering for the woman's restoration are the same as for the man's (verse 15). The atonement made for the woman's discharge is the same atonement made for the man's discharge: the priestly mediation is equal and the divine acceptance is equal. The covenant's restoration path for the woman with the unusual discharge is fully parallel to the restoration path for the man.
Leviticus 15:31
You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them. The theological rationale for the entire bodily discharge regulations: the separation from uncleanness protects the Israelites from dying in their uncleanness for defiling the divine dwelling. The presence of God among the community creates both blessing and danger: the holy God who dwells in the tabernacle is the God who cannot coexist with unaddressed defilement. The discharge regulations are the covenant's provision for managing the inevitable impurities of bodily life so that the divine dwelling is not defiled and the community does not die.
Leviticus 15:32
These are the regulations for a man with a discharge, for anyone made unclean by an emission of semen. The closing summary of the male discharge regulations: unusual discharge and ordinary emission are both covered. The comprehensive coverage communicates that the male bodily discharge regulations address the full range of male discharge situations — from the pathological to the ordinary — within a consistent framework.