Leviticus 15:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we have the law about ceremonial uncleanness caused by a running issue in men. In the margin of Leviticus 15:2, this is called a discharge from the reins, the lower part of the back. It was a very painful and shameful disease, usually linked with lust, impurity, and a loose way of living. Sin may promise pleasure for a time, but it leaves people with pain, shame, a ruined body, and a troubled conscience. What benefit does a sinner finally get from things that later bring such shame? (Romans 6:21)

As modesty is a beautiful ornament and a chain of honor, so chastity, or sexual purity, brings health and strength. But sexual uncleanness wounds and dishonors a person, and it often destroys the body in this life. In many cases, it becomes its own punishment before anything else happens. Sometimes God also sent this disease as a judgment for other sins. David called down such a curse on Joab's family, because Joab had murdered Abner, saying that someone with this discharge, or a leper, should not fail from his house (2 Samuel 3:29). It was a shameful disease for shameful behavior.

Anyone with this disease was unclean, as verse 2 says. He could not come near the sanctuary, or he would do so at his own risk, and he could not eat the holy food. This showed how filthy sin is, and how everything that comes from our corrupt nature makes us hateful to God's holiness and unfit for fellowship with him. A clean and guarded heart is the source of life (Proverbs 4:23), but an unclean heart produces what defiles others (Matthew 12:34-35).

He also made anyone and anything he touched unclean, or that touched him, as verses 4-12 show. His bed, chair, saddle, and everything else he used brought ceremonial uncleanness to others. That uncleanness lasted until sunset, and it could not be removed without washing his clothes and bathing his body in water. This pictured how sin spreads, how easily we can be polluted by close contact with the polluted, and how carefully we must guard ourselves against this crooked generation.

When he was healed, he still could not be clean without a sacrifice. He had to wait seven days after the disease had fully ended, and he had to wash in spring water, as verses 13-15 say. This pointed forward to the great gospel duties of faith and repentance. It also pointed to the great gospel blessings of Christ's blood applied to our souls for justification, which means being counted right with God, and his grace for sanctification, which means being made holy. God has promised to sprinkle clean water on us and cleanse us from all our uncleanness, and he calls us to wash and make ourselves clean through repentance. He has also provided a sacrifice of atonement, and he calls us by faith to trust in that sacrifice. It is the blood of Christ his Son that cleanses us from all sin and makes atonement for us, so we may come into God's presence and share in his favor.