Today we'll be concluding the health class of Leviticus 15 and tomorrow we'll begin moving on into regulations that have to do with man's spiritual health and with how he is to relate with God and with his fellow man.
In yesterday's study we studied the health advice given to women when they are going through the normal monthly flow of blood that women in their childbearing years experience. Today we talk about abnormal flows of blood and how a health condition such as this would deeply affect every aspect of a woman's life.
"When a woman has a discharge of blood for many days at a time other than her monthly period or has a discharge that continues beyond her period, she will be unclean as long as she has the discharge, just as in the days of her period. Any bed she lies on while her discharge continues will be unclean, as is her bed during her monthly period, and anything she sits on will be unclean, as during her period. Anyone who touches them will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening." (Leviticus 15:25-27) There are many reasons why a woman might suffer excessive and prolonged bleeding or bleeding that occurs more frequently than it should. A few of these causes are hormone imbalances, ovarian cysts, fibroid tumors, or cancerous tumors.
In modern days most cultures do not consider a woman unclean during these times. (A few do and will subject women to inhumane living conditions during her monthly cycle but time doesn't permit us to get into that subject.) We have so many easily accessible sanitary products and so many medications available to help a woman's discomfort during these times that the monthly period has become a private health matter that no one but the woman herself even needs to know about. Most women are able to go about all their normal daily activities. We are not living in a time when keeping good hygiene is difficult, but the ancient Israelites were, and that's why the chairs and bedding a woman sat on was to be considered unclean during the time of her cycle. It was nearly impossible to completely prevent the transfer of blood from the body to items outside the body in that era.
But what about the woman who suffered from excessive bleeding? She had to observe the hygiene regulations for as long as the condition lasted, and in the Bible we find a woman whose condition lasted for twelve years. We find this story in Mark 5:25-34 and in Luke 8:43-48. Jesus is on his way to the house of Jairus, a synagogue leader, whose daughter lies dying. (In fact, she will die while Jesus stops to interact with the woman suffering from twelve years of bleeding. Jesus will raise the young girl from the dead, which I am sure He knew all along would be the case.) We don't know the name of the woman with the bleeding disorder. We don't know the cause of her chronic issue but can likely rule out cancer since she would not have survived twelve years with cancer. Mark's gospel tells us that, "She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse." (Mark 5:26) I am sure she did suffer a great deal from archaic and painful and unhelpful treatments. I don't know what methods were used in those times and how many of them were of a medical nature and how many were of a more superstitious and "witch doctor" nature, but she was desperate enough to try anything that gave her the least bit of hope.
All the treatments have failed. Jesus is her last hope. She doesn't know it yet, but He's her best hope. She hears that He's passing by and her desperation drives her to do something that it's unlawful for her to do in her condition: touch Him. Touching a man to whom she was not related was not proper to begin with. But in her condition, touching another person without their permission was to commit an offense against them. According to the regulations of Leviticus 15, this woman's touch should cause Jesus to have to bathe and wash His clothes and be ceremonially unclean until evening. But of course Jesus, the Son of God, cannot be rendered unclean by anything. We have all committed offenses against Him, yet He has never in any way been infected by our sin. Instead Jesus, the Great Physician, heals us of our sin. So the woman, having heard of the many great miracles Jesus has done, musters all the strength she has to make a final, last ditch effort to rid herself of her illness and of the perpetual state of uncleanness and isolation she's had to endure for so many years. She dares not walk up to Him and speak to Him face to face. She dares not describe her ceremonial uncleanness in front of this huge crowd that's pressing in on Him for fear they will chase her away. Instead she slips up close to Him and reaches out so her fingertips can brush the edge of His cloak as He passes by. According to the gospel accounts, immediately her body feels whole and well. She is instantly aware that she has been healed.
Jesus is also aware that someone has been healed. An enormous crowd has thronged Him so that He can barely keep putting one foot in front of the other on the way to Jairus' house. But one person has touched Him with so much faith that He can feel a miracle has taken place---a miracle He didn't even consciously perform. When He stops and starts asking, "Who touched Me?" the woman finally comes shakily forward and admits what she did. Rather than rebuke her, Jesus commends her faith in front of the whole crowd. "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace." (Mark 5:34, Luke 8:48) I think in the moment she touched His cloak, this woman had more faith than anyone else present, and her faith touched His heart.
After realizing she was healed, this is what she had to do next according to the law of Moses. "When she is cleansed from her discharge, she must count off seven days, and after that she will be ceremonially clean. On the eighth day she must take two doves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 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." (Leviticus 15:28-30) In Jesus' day it would have been the temple the woman visited, not the tabernacle, but the procedure was the same.
The cleanliness regulations served to remind the people that they are to be clean in the sight of their God from the inside out. The one true God lives and works among them and He is holy. "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." (Leviticus 15:31)
This concludes the health course of Leviticus 15 and tomorrow we'll move on and begin our study of the Day of Atonement. "These are the regulations for a man with a discharge, for anyone made unclean by an emission of semen, for a woman in her monthly period, for a man or a woman with a discharge, and for a man who has sexual relations with a woman who is ceremonially unclean." (Leviticus 15:32-33)
Some years ago Christian singer Nicole C. Mullen recorded a song about the woman of Mark 5 and Luke 8 who suffered from a bleeding disorder for twelve years. It's a beautiful song and we will close our study today with a link to it.
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