Leviticus 15:16

Lev 15:16 And if any man’s seed of copulation go out from him, then he shall wash all his flesh in water, and be unclean until the even.

Ver. 16. Go out from him.] By nocturnal pollutions, filthy dreams, &c.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lev 15:16-18. And be unclean until the even — So as that they should not dare to approach the sanctuary for that day; until even — That is, till next day began. This law served both to preserve a due regard to natural purity, and to restrain the immoderate use of the marriage-bed.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15:16-17 In the case of an emission of semen, the discharge was not a sign of illness (see study note on 15:1-33). Still, the same rule applied; the man must wash and be considered unclean until the next evening.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Meaning, all his body.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(16) And if any man’s seed.—The second case, discussed in this and the following verses, is that of an involuntary emission, as in Deu_23:10. The man who sustained it had simply to immerse his whole body in water the following morning, and remain unclean till sundown. Similar rites were performed by the ancients under the same circumstances. Thus the Egyptian priests when they were defiled by a dream purified themselves by bathing their bodies; and, according to the directions of the Koran, any faithful Mahommedan who meets with such an accident must not perform his prayers till he has gone through the prescribed oblation. (Koran, 4:46.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. A similar precept is found in Deu_23:10.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And if any man's seed of copulation go out from him,.... Not in lawful cohabitation, nor voluntarily, but involuntarily, as Aben Ezra observes; not through any disorder, which came by an accident, or in any criminal way, but through a dream, or any lustful imagination; what is commonly called nocturnal pollution (c):

then he shall wash all his flesh in water, and be unclean until the even; and so the Egyptian priests, when it happened that they were defiled by a dream, they immediately purified themselves in a laver (d) so the Jewish priests did when the like happened to them asleep in the temple (e); see Deu 23:10.

(c) "----& noctem flumine purgas." Pers. Satyr. 2. (d) Chaeremon. apud Porphyr. de Abstinentia, l. 4. c. 7. (e) Misn. Tamid. c. 1. sect. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Most of the ancient religions made a similar recognition of impurity and of the need of purfication.

Lev 15:17

Every garment - Compare Jud 1:23.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Evening, whether the action were lawful or not. (Menochius) --- Some explain this verse, of nocturnal inconveniences; and ver. 18, of the act of marriage. The latter rendered unclean only in as much as it hindered a person from partaking of any thing sacred, though he might perform the duties of life. (Calmet) --- This law was to lay some restraint on the too frequent use of marriage. (Theodoret) (Du Hamel)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Go out from him; not through weakness of the parts, as that Lev 15:3; but in his sleep, which is called nightly pollution, which, though involuntary, might arise from some lustful dream or imagination. But if it was voluntary, and by a man’s own procurement when awake, it was esteemed abominable, and a degree of murder. See Gen 38:9.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

16. Seed of copulation — In the restatement of this law in Deu_23:10, the impurity is described as involuntary. It is not an infusion, but an effusion. In Luther’s version the words im schlaf, in the sleep, are added. In the light of this precept of the law it would not seem that “the sexual impulses, and their dream images in sleep, are morally wholly indifferent.” The spirit feels disgraced, as though it had lost its kingly sceptre and had been involuntarily dragged about by the wheel of nature, as Hector was dishonoured when his feet were bound to the axle of Achilles’s chariot. Antiquity, from India to Egypt, loathes the dreamer who defiles the flesh. The form of expression, go out from him, does not seem to refer to the solitary vice, masturbation, improperly called Onanism, (Gen_38:9,) one of the most destructive crimes ever committed by fallen man; and yet it must include this vice. “In many respects,” says Dr.

A. Clarke, “it is several degrees worse than common whoredom, and has in its train more awful consequences, though practised by numbers who would shudder at the thought of criminal connexion with a prostitute. It excites the powers of nature to undue action, and produces violent secretions, which necessarily and speedily exhaust the vital energy. Appetite ceases; nutrition fails, tremors are generated; and the wretched victim, superannuated even before he had time to arrive at man’s estate, debilitated in mind to idiotism, tumbles into the grave, and his guilty soul (guilty of self-murder) is hurried into the awful presence of its Judge.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 16, 17. The second case of an issue. (cf. Lev_22:4 Deu_23:10 Gen_38:9, Gen_38:10)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Involuntary emission of seed. - This defiled for the whole of the day, not only the man himself, but any garment or skin upon which any of it had come, and required for purification that the whole body should be bathed, and the polluted things washed.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

unclean until evening

People and objects that other people must not touch are spoken of as if they were physically unclean. (See: Metaphor)

until evening

"until sunset"

Every garment ... must be washed with water

This can be translated in active form. AT: "Someone must wash with water every garment or leather on which there is semen" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

seed

had relations with

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.