Purity Laws

Biblical Text

The purity laws are gathered chiefly in Leviticus 11–15.

• Leviticus 11: Distinguishes between animals that may be eaten and those that may not. A similar list appears in Deuteronomy 14.
• Leviticus 12: Sets the period of purification and the purification offering for a woman who has given birth.
• Leviticus 13–14: Provides for the diagnosis of skin diseases and of marks appearing on garments and houses, along with the rites for cleansing them.
• Leviticus 15: Deals with bodily discharges of men and women.
• Numbers 19: Prescribes a rite of purification for a person made unclean by contact with a corpse, in which water mixed with the ashes of a red heifer is sprinkled on the third and seventh days.

A person who had become unclean usually washed the body and clothing with water and waited a set period (until evening, seven days, and so on), and in some cases offered a sacrifice. The task of distinguishing between clean and unclean belonged to the priests (Leviticus 10:10).

Background

The Hebrew word for "clean" is tahor, and the word for "unclean" is tame. Uncleanness does not in itself signify moral sin. A person could become unclean through things that were unavoidable or even obligatory, such as childbirth or burying the dead. An unclean person could not approach the tabernacle, where God dwelt, or later the Temple in Jerusalem. Leviticus grounds these regulations in the holiness of God: "ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy" (Leviticus 11:45).

In the New Testament

By the New Testament period, purity practices had extended into everyday life, particularly among the Pharisees, who observed the "tradition of the elders" of washing the hands before eating (Mark 7:3–4). Jesus healed a leper by touching him (Mark 1:40–42). To the woman with the issue of blood who touched his garment, he said, "Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole" (Mark 5:34). He also taught that what defiles a person is the evil that comes out of the heart. The Gospel of Mark interprets this teaching as declaring all foods clean (KJV: "purging all meats") (Mark 7:18–19).

After seeing a vision in which he was told to eat unclean animals, Peter entered the house of the Gentile Cornelius (Acts 10). The Epistle to the Hebrews draws a contrast: if the ashes of a heifer purified the flesh, the blood of Christ purges the conscience (Hebrews 9:13–14).

Interpretation and Issues

• Reasons for the laws: A hygienic explanation, holding that unclean foods were forbidden because they were harmful to health, has long been offered. The text itself, however, does not give hygiene as the reason. Some scholars read the purity laws as a symbolic system distinguishing life from death and order from chaos.
• Present-day validity: Chapter 19 of the Westminster Confession of Faith declares that such ceremonial laws have been abrogated in Christ. Protestant denominations in Korea generally hold this position. The Seventh-day Adventist Church continues to observe the food distinctions of Leviticus 11 as health principles and abstains from pork and similar foods. Judaism still keeps the dietary laws, but because there is no Temple, it does not carry out most of the purity rites connected with the Temple.
• Translation issues: The skin disease of Leviticus 13 is rendered "leprosy" in the New Korean Revised Version and "malignant skin disease" in the New Korean Standard Version. Many hold that it cannot be identified with certainty as the disease known today as Hansen's disease.