Laws of Purity

Moses separated the tribe of Levi from sharing in the common life of the rest of the people and set them apart to be a holy tribe. He purified them with water taken from ever-flowing springs, and with such sacrifices as were usually offered to God on similar occasions. He also handed over to them the tabernacle, the sacred vessels, and the curtains made to cover the tabernacle, so that they might serve under the direction of the priests, who had already been consecrated to God. He also laid down rules about animals: which of them might be used for food, and which they were bound to abstain from. These matters will be explained further when this work gives me occasion, and the reasons will be added that led him to allow some of them to us as food and to order us to abstain from others. But he entirely forbade us to eat blood, regarding it as containing the soul and spirit. He also forbade us to eat the flesh of an animal that had died of itself, and the fatty membrane over the entrails, and the fat of goats, sheep, and bulls.

He also ordered that those whose bodies were afflicted with leprosy, or who had a discharge of seed, should not come into the city. He even removed women during their monthly periods until the seventh day, after which he regarded them as pure and let them come in again. The law lets those who have taken care of a funeral come in the same way, once this number of days is over; but if anyone remained unclean longer than that number of days, the law required him to offer two lambs as a sacrifice, one of which they are to offer up by fire, while the priests take the other for themselves. Those who have had a discharge of seed sacrifice in the same way. But a man who has an emission of seed in his sleep, if he goes down into cold water, is in the same position as those who have had lawful intercourse with their wives. As for the lepers, he did not allow them to come into the city at all, nor to live with anyone else, as if they were in effect dead. But if anyone obtained recovery from that disease by prayer to God and regained a healthy complexion, he gave thanks to God with several kinds of sacrifices, about which we will speak later. [a]

So one cannot help smiling at those who say that Moses himself was afflicted with leprosy when he fled out of Egypt, and that he became the leader of those who were driven out of that country for the same reason and led them into the land of Canaan. If this had been true, Moses would not have made these laws to his own dishonor; it is more likely he would have opposed them if others had tried to bring them in. All the more so because there are lepers in many nations who are nevertheless held in honor, and not only are free from reproach and avoidance, but have served in the most distinguished campaigns, have been entrusted with high offices in the state, and have had the right to enter holy places and temples. So nothing would have prevented him, if either Moses himself or the people with him had been subject to such a misfortune in the color of the skin, from making laws about them for their credit and benefit, and from laying no hardship on them at all. It is plain, then, that it is only out of malice that they report these things about us. But Moses was free of any such disease, and he lived among countrymen who were free of it too, and so he made the laws concerning others who had the disease. He did this for the honor of God. But as to these matters, let everyone think of them as he pleases. [c]

As for women who have given birth, Moses forbade them to come into the temple or touch the sacrifices before forty days were over, if the child was a boy; but if she has given birth to a girl, the law is that she cannot be admitted until twice that number of days is over. And when, after the appointed time, they offer their sacrifices, the priests distribute them before God.

If anyone suspected that his wife had been guilty of adultery, he was to bring about two quarts of barley flour. They then threw one handful to God and gave the rest to the priests for food. One of the priests set the woman at the gates that face the temple, took the veil from her head, wrote the name of God on parchment, and made her swear that she had done her husband no wrong at all. She was to wish that, if she had violated her chastity, her right leg might be put out of joint, her belly might swell, and she might die in this way; but that, if her husband, through the violence of his love and the jealousy that arose from it, had been rashly moved to this suspicion, she might bear a male child in the tenth month. When these oaths were over, the priest wiped the name of God out of the parchment and wrung the water into a cup. He also took some dust from the temple, if any happened to be there, put a little of it into the cup, and gave it to her to drink. Then, if the woman had been unjustly accused, she conceived a child and carried it to term; but if she had broken her marriage vow to her husband and sworn falsely before God, she died a shameful death: her leg fell away from her, and her belly swelled with dropsy. These are the ceremonies concerning sacrifices, and the purifications that belong to them, which Moses provided for his countrymen. He also gave them the following laws. [g]