Talk Regarding Leviticus 15 (Modified for this Blog)--The Holiness of Jehovah

Gaining Jehovah's approval and remaining in his love requires being clean inside and out. All of God's people must adhere to Jehovah’s standards of physical, moral, and spiritual cleanness regardless of how debased the world becomes (2 Timothy 3:5). Leviticus teaches all of us how to refrain from any unclean thing that would separate us from Jehovah, our holy God (Compare 2 Corinthians 6:14-18).

For example, notice the standard that Jehovah expects of men serving him: Read Leviticus 15:13-15.

How do these verses testify to Jehovah's holiness and his high standards for cleanness?

Anyone who recovered from leprosy or who made contact with things touched by those with “a running discharge,” such as a man who had an emission of semen or a woman after menstruation or hemorrhaging, or anyone having sexual intercourse was ceremonially “unclean” and had to take a ceremonial bath. (Leviticus 14:8, 9; 15:4-27)

If anyone refused to comply with these regulations, Numbers 19:20 prescribed that he or she be cut off from the congregation of Israel. In other words, the person should be put to death. These points help us to understand why it's appropriate that the Bible uses washing in a figurative sense to denote a clean standing before Jehovah. (Psalm 26:6; 73:13; Isaiah 1:16; Ezekiel 16:9) Men in Jehovah's organization must be clean both inside and outside.

Jehovah's standard of purity equally applies to women in the congregation: please turn to Leviticus 15:28-30:

In ancient Israel, women were viewed as unclean for the duration of an irregular running discharge of blood or “a flow longer than her menstrual impurity,” at which time a woman might make the articles on which she sat unclean: others could also become unclean by touching these articles. Once the abnormal discharge stopped, Israelite women were supposed to count seven days, and then they would become clean. On the eighth day, they could bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, who would then make atonement for the woman by presenting one of the birds to Jehovah as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering.

These verses show that all of God's people must be clean and Leviticus 15:31 emphasizes this point further.

The entire arrangement of the tabernacle, including the courtyard of the tabernacle and the temple courts, was a holy place. (Exodus 38:24; 2 Chronicles 29:5; Acts 21:28) The primary items located in the courtyard were the altar of sacrifice and the copper basin: these were holy objects. Only ceremonially clean people could enter into the tabernacle courtyard at any time; likewise, no one could go into the temple courts in an unclean state. For example, a woman in an unclean state could not touch any holy thing or come into the holy place of Jehovah. (Leviticus 12:2-4) Those presenting offerings for cleansing from leprosy brought their sacrifice only as far as the gate of the courtyard. (Leviticus 14:11) No unclean person could partake of a communion sacrifice at the tabernacle or the temple, on pain of death.​—Leviticus 7:20, 21. These examples illustrate the importance of being clean before Jehovah.

[Pictures and application]

Picture number 1 has a military chaplain praying with troops; however, Jehovah's people have to remain clean and without spot from the world. We avoid getting involved in worldly politics.

Picture 2 illustrates same-sex marriage taking place: the couple is wed by another religious minister. Yet we cannot lower Jehovah's standards in any way.

Picture 3 depicts what we now see around us: the celebration of holidays and picturing Jesus in a manger although he's now earth's rightful king.