Wedding
Leviticus 15:19--33
19 “‘When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening. 20 “‘Anything she lies on during her period will be unclean, and anything she sits on will be unclean. 21 Anyone who touches her bed will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. 22 Anyone who touches anything she sits on will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. 23 Whether it is the bed or anything she was sitting on, when anyone touches it, they will be unclean till evening. 24 “‘If a man has sexual relations with her and her monthly flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days; any bed he lies on will be unclean.
25 “‘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. 26 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. 27 Anyone who touches them will be unclean; they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening.
28 “‘When she is cleansed from her discharge, she must count off seven days, and after that she will be ceremonially clean. 29 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. 30 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.31 “‘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.’” 32 These are the regulations for a man with a discharge, for anyone made unclean by an emission of semen, 33 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.
This chapter is interestingly saying about the woman's monthly period and sexual relations with a man who has discharges or any behaviors with a woman who was bleeding in the period or in any other bleeding that's considered as unclean. In the wilderness life, this kind of cleanness could be mandatory, I guess, but I think that this kind of warning is also meaningful these days, when we are living in a modern world.
Ironically, there are more diseases with these kinds of sexual relations than those days, though I don't have any exact data. I feel like it, because a lot of people have been dead and suffering from AIDS and the other sexually transmitted disease and these happen from the unclean relations with other genders or the same sexes and also in the unhealthy state. God knew already about all these happening before we have been suffering, so He was warning us, humans, who are not easily controlled sexually or instinctively. How detailed was He teaching a sexual education to us, which I have never heard from my parents or even at school.
Yesterday was my 28th. Wedding anniversary and I couldn't forget the first night because it was very good, rather it was awful and not cozy, leaving my parents, staying in my new home, with the heating system broken, a little cold, in March, but I felt like I became an adult and an independent presence at the moment. The day was the greatest day of a new life springing out between a man and a woman, when a new creation between us, in the God's master plan, for my son and my daughter having lives.
Therefore, it was an unforgettable and amazing day of my life, as 이어령, the professor told before he died about the moment of the first night of his wedding day was the day of LIFE, which is the most important and precious time, compared to many other happenings in his toughest life, even during a war. Blood means life, so we'd better care for it more than others, like materials or nature, etc. Nowadys, there are many people dying in a war and terror, so I feel like I need to pray for them this evening, as lives are the most precious to God as well.
I pray that the war stops soon and the ones who triggered the battle could think of the meanings of lives and the penalties that would deserve for that bleeding down the road.
