Tag Archives: Menstrual cycle

What about the family purity laws?

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Here’s a question I got today from a woman about the family purity laws of Lev 12 and 15.

I have this big questionmark when it comes to purity laws. How did Yeshuah fullfill the these laws? I haven’t been able to find an answer to for a very long time and I hope you could  help.

Here’s my answer. Hopefully this will help some of you as well. (Your thoughts and comments will be appreciated!):

Shalom K—,

Let’s first establish one thing.When we say “fulfill” as per Matt 5:17, we don’t mean “to do away with” or “destroy” as the mainstream church de facto infers from this passage. The Greek word means “to bring to its fullest completion” or “to make full.” This is the opposite of rendering the laws of the Torah obsolete and irrelevant to the redeemed believer’s life. Yeshua then goes on to explain in the rest of the Sermon on the Mount how both the letter and the spirit of the law are fully applicable to the life of his disciples. Curiously, the Jewish elite of Yeshua’s day focused more on the letter of the law obedience and often missed the spirit of the law, whereas in mainstream Christianity today, the focus is often more on the spirit rather than on the letter. Men just can’t seem to get the right balance! Yet Yeshua was perfectly balanced and presented a full, complete understanding of the Torah and urged his followers to walk out both the letter and the spirit, and declared that those who do both are the most pleasing to the Father (e.g., see John 4:23–24).
Now with regard specifically to the purity laws, Yeshua didn’t come to abolish them or any other laws. Having said that, to keep any of the laws of the Torah exactly as the Israelites kept them (in a letter of the law manner) all conditions that existed then when the laws were given must be exactly the same today. What are these conditions? Women still go through their menstrual cycles. That hasn’t changed. Husbands need to refrain from physical relation with their wives during this time. This hasn’t changed. With regard to the blood touching things such as the woman, bedding, couches, or other people, some things in this arena have changed. We now have feminine hygiene products that keep the flow contained. These things didn’t exist in antiquity, so others touching the blood is no longer an issue today. We have running water, and flush toilets and lots of paper products to keep us clean. Beyond that, it’s probably a good thing for a woman to be alone during the time of her cycle due to physical and emotional issues that can make being around her rather difficult. However, with women now in the work force, it may not be possible for her to sequester herself “outside the camp” for a week or more. At the very least, her family needs to be more understanding at these times when life and death are occurring in her body, and they need to “give her space.” The caring and loving husband needs to lead by his good example in this.
There are other aspects to the family purity laws that I haven’t touched on in this brief discussion, but I hope this gives you a good basis to understand the overall subject. In brief, we do the best we can to observe these laws by maintaining good hygienic practices,husbands keeping their distance sexually from their wives during this time. The Torah teaches that blood, human and animal, needs to be respected and properly disposed of. Excellent hygienic practices is a big step in fulfilling these Torah requirements. This is my quick answer to a complex issue. 
May YHVH bless you for endeavoring to love him more fully by keeping is commandments!
 

On Family Purity

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Leviticus 15 discusses the family purity laws. This is a tough subject that spouses should discuss with each other and ask YHVH for wisdom on how to implement them. Holiness and purity is very important to YHVH in all situations. Men, at the very least, are to refrain from all physical relations with their wives during her monthly flow. Any man who has a problem with this needs to repent of selfishness, uncontrolled passions and failing to give his wife space during a difficult time in her life. Sin has consequences, whether we understand what they are or not, so why risk it? YHVH takes his laws seriously and blessings or curses befall us vis-à-vis our relationship to them. Check your heart attitude here. Are you serious about obeying YHVH? Or at this point, are you content to ignore his Word and, in effect, rip pages out of the Scriptures arrogantly saying, “It doesn’t apply to me”? Didn’t the serpent say something like this to Adam and Eve at the Tree of Knowledge about the Word of Elohim?

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Leviticus 15:1–33, Regarding bodily emissions, what lessons can we learn from these verses on how YHVH views us as being the temples of his Set-Apart Spirit? How are we to treat our bodies with respect and to care for them in a way that glorifies YHVH?

Leviticus 15:19–24, The laws of niddah apply to a women in her menstrual cycle. This is an area that many take for granted, but not YHVH in his Torah. A woman’s body produces life or death depending on whether an egg has been fertilized or not during her monthly cycle. There are many spiritual ramifications to this, and YHVH does not treat this matter lightly. While her egg is passing from her body she is in a state of impurity since, in a sense, death is occurring (an unfertilized egg is passing out). It is a time of grieving and emotional turmoil for the woman. This is NOT the time for a man to approach his wife sexually. To do so, as already noted, is strictly forbidden (Lev 18:19).

Consider the benefits to the marriage of the husband and wife separating themselves sexually and emotionally at this time each month, and how it can benefit and enrich a marriage. The man learns self control and selflessness in that he is given the opportunity to be extra solicitous of his wife’s needs without expecting anything in return. What’s more, how much sweeter their time of intimacy will be when the do come back together intimately. The old adage, absence makes the heart grow fonder, could apply here.

The Torah considers a woman to be unclean for at least seven days, even if her flow lasted only one day. So at the minimum a man is to be separated from his wife (giving her an emotional break) for at least seven days, if not longer. On the eighth day (at the minimum) or the next day after her flow has stopped, she is no longer considered unclean (The ArtScroll Tanach Series Vayikra, p. 247). Eight is the biblical number signifying new beginnings. In this case, eight relates to the new cycle of life that begins as the woman’s body begins to produce a new egg with the potential for new life to occur.