In the biblical context, "uncleanness" refers to a state of ritual impurity that prevents individuals from participating in certain religious activities and requires specific purification rites. This concept is primarily found in the Old Testament, particularly within the Mosaic Law, and is associated with both physical and moral dimensions.

Old Testament Context

The concept of uncleanness is extensively detailed in the Pentateuch, especially in the books of Leviticus and Numbers. Uncleanness can arise from various sources, including contact with certain animals, bodily discharges, skin diseases, and contact with dead bodies. Leviticus 11-15 provides comprehensive regulations on what constitutes uncleanness and the necessary steps for purification.

For example, Leviticus 11 outlines dietary laws, declaring certain animals unclean and unfit for consumption. "You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you" (Leviticus 11:8). Similarly, Leviticus 15 addresses bodily discharges, stating, "When a man has a bodily discharge, the discharge is unclean" (Leviticus 15:2).

Uncleanness also extends to moral and ethical behavior. In Leviticus 18, God commands the Israelites to avoid the practices of the surrounding nations, which are described as defiling: "Do not defile yourselves by any of these practices, for by all these things the nations I am driving out before you have defiled themselves" (Leviticus 18:24).

Purification Rites

The process of purification from uncleanness often involved washing with water, offering sacrifices, and waiting for a specified period. For instance, after touching a dead body, an individual was required to undergo a purification process involving the ashes of a red heifer mixed with water (Numbers 19:11-13).

New Testament Perspective

In the New Testament, the focus shifts from ritual uncleanness to moral and spiritual purity. Jesus Christ challenged the Pharisaic emphasis on external rituals, emphasizing the importance of inner purity. In Mark 7:15, Jesus teaches, "Nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him, but what comes out of a man, that is what defiles him."

The Apostle Paul also addresses uncleanness, often in the context of moral impurity. In Galatians 5:19, he lists "sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery" as acts of the sinful nature. Paul urges believers to live by the Spirit and avoid such behaviors, emphasizing the transformative power of the Holy Spirit in leading a life of holiness.

Theological Significance

Uncleanness in the Bible underscores the holiness of God and the need for His people to be set apart. The laws concerning uncleanness served as a constant reminder of the separation between the holy and the profane, pointing to the need for atonement and reconciliation with God. Through Christ's atoning work, believers are cleansed from all unrighteousness, as stated in 1 John 1:9: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

The biblical teaching on uncleanness ultimately points to the necessity of a pure heart and a life dedicated to God, reflecting His holiness in both conduct and character.Uncleanness

The distinctive idea attached to ceremonial uncleanness among the Hebrews was that it cut a person off for the time from social privileges, and left his citizenship among God's people for the while in abeyance. There is an intense reality in the fact of the divine law taking hold of a man by the ordinary infirmities of flesh, and setting its stamp, as it were, in the lowest clay of which he is moulded. The sacredness attached to the human body is parallel to that which invested the ark of the covenant itself. It is as though Jehovah thereby would teach men that the "very hairs of their head were all numbered" before him and that "in his book were all their members written." Thus was inculcated so to speak a bodily holiness. Nor were the Israelites to be only "separated from other people," but they were to be "holy to God," (Leviticus 20:24,26) "a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation." The importance to physical well-being of the injunctions which required frequent ablution, under whatever special pretexts, can be but feebly appreciated in our cooler and damper climate. Uncleanness, as referred to men, may be arranged in three degrees:

1. That which defiled merely "until even." and was removed by bathing and washing the clothes at the end of it; such were all contacts with dead animals.
2. That graver sort which defiled for seven days, and was removed by the use of the "water of separation;" such were all defilements connected with the human corpse.
3. Uncleanness from the morbid perpetual or menstrual state, lasting as long as that morbid state lasted; and in the case of leprosy lasting often for life. As the human person was itself the seat of a covenant token, so male and female had each their ceremonial obligations in proportion to their sexual differences. There is an emphatic reminder of human weakness in the fact of birth and death-man's passage alike into and out of his mortal state-- being marked with a stated pollution. The corpse bequeathed a defilement of seven days to all who handled it, to the "tent" or chamber of death, and to sundry things within it. Nay, contact with one slain in the field of battle or with even a human bone or grave, was no less effectual to pollute than that with a corpse dead by the course of nature. (Numbers 19:11-18) This shows that the source of pollution lay in the mere fact of death. The duration of defilement caused by the birth of a female infant being double that due to a male, extending respectively to eighty and forty days in All, (Leviticus 12:2-5) may perhaps represent the woman's heavier share in the first sin and first curse. (Genesis 3:16; 1 Timothy 2:14) Among causes of defilement should be noticed the fact that the ashes of the red heifer burnt whole which were mixed with water and became the standing resource for purifying uncleanness in the second degree, themselves became a source of defilement to all who were clean, even as of purification to the unclean, and so the water. Somewhat similarly the scapegoat, who bore away the sins of the people, defiled him who led him into the wilderness, and the bringing forth aid burning the sacrifice on the Great Day of Atonement had a similar power. This lightest form of uncleanness was expiated by bathing the body and washing the clothes. Besides the water of purification made as afore said, men and women, in their "issues," were, after seven days, reckoned from the cessation of the disorder, to bring two turtle-doves or young pigeons to be killed by the priests. All these kinds of uncleanness disqualified for holy functions: as the layman so affected might not approach the congregation and the sanctuary, so any priest who incurred defilement must abstain from holy things. (Leviticus 22:2-8) [LEPER, LEPROSY] The religion of the persians shows a singularly close correspondence with the Levitical code.

UNCLEANNESS

un-klen'-nes:

I. TERMS

1. In the Old Testament (Hebrew)

2. In the New Testament

3. In the Septuagint

II. POSSIBLE RELATION OF ISRAEL'S LAWS ON UNCLEANNESS WITH THE LAWS OF TABOO AMONG THE NATIONS

III. TEACHING AS TO UNCLEANNESS

1. In the Old Testament

2. In the Apocrypha

3. In the New Testament

LITERATURE

I. Terms.

1. In the Old Testament (Hebrew):

Tum'ah, "uncleanness," "defilement," occurs 26 times (Leviticus 7:20, 21; Leviticus 14:19; Leviticus 15:3, 15, 26, 30, 31, etc.). niddah, "separation," "impurity," occurs in Leviticus 20:21 Ezra 9:11 Zechariah 13:1. 'erwah, occurs in Deuteronomy 23:14. 'erwath dabhar, "unclean thing" (Deuteronomy 24:1) is translated "uncleanness" in the King James Version. The adjective Tame', "defiled," "unclean," occurs 72 times (over half in Leviticus), but is never translated "uncleanness," but always "unclean." The verb Tame', "to make" or "declare unclean," occurs often. Other Hebrew verbs "to defile" are ga'al, chalal, chaneph, Tanaph, `alal, `anah.

2. In the New Testament:

The Greek word for "uncleanness" is akatharsia, which occurs 10 times (Matthew 23:27 Romans 1:24; Romans 6:19 2 Corinthians 12:21, etc.). miasmos, "pollution," occurs only in 2 Peter 2:10. The adjective akathartos, "unclean," occurs 31 times, 23 times in reference to unclean spirits (Luke once using the expression "unclean demon," 4:33), 4 times to ceremonial uncleanness (thee by Peter and one by John the revelator), and 4 times to moral uncleanness (three by Paul and one by John the revelator). Koinos, "common," "unclean," occurs 8 times in the sense of "unclean" (Mark 7:2, 5 Acts 10:14, 28; Acts 11:8 Romans 14:14 Revelation 21:27). The verb koinoo, "to defile," occurs 11 times (Matthew 15:11, 18, 20 Mark 7:15, etc.). miaino, "to defile," occurs 5 times (John 18:28 Titus 1:15 Hebrews 12:15 Jude 1:8). moluno, "to make filthy," occurs 3 times (1 Corinthians 8:7 Revelation 3:4; Revelation 14:4). spiloo, occurs twice (James 3:6 Jude 1:23) and phtheiro, "to corrupt," occurs 7 times in Greek, once in English Versions of the Bible (1 Corinthians 3:17).

3. In the Septuagint:

Akatharsia, "uncleanness," occurs 59 times in Septuagint (including many instances in apocryphal books) (1 and 2 Esdras, Tobit, 1 and 2 Maccabees, etc.). Akathartos, "unclean," occurs 134 times in the Septuagint (including one example in 1 Maccabees). Koinos, "unclean," and koinoo, "to make unclean," occur in Esther, Proverbs, Wisdom, 1, 2, 3 and 4 Maccabees). Miaino, "to defile," occurs over 100 times. Moluno, "to make filthy," occurs 18 times (both in the Old Testament and in the Apocrypha).

II. Possible Relation of Israel's Laws on Uncleanness with the Laws of Taboo among the Nations:

W. R. Smith (Lectures on the Religion of the Semites, 152-55) thinks there is a kinship between Israel's laws of uncleanness and the heathen taboo. Frazer, in The Golden Bough, shows numerous examples of the taboo among various tribes and nations which present striking similarity to some of Israel's laws on uncleanness. But does this diminish our respect for the Old Testament laws on uncleanness? Might not Yahweh use this natural religious perception of men as to an intrinsic distinction between clean and unclean in training Israel to a realization of a higher conception-the real difference between sin and holiness, i.e. between moral defilement and moral purification? The hand of Yahweh is visible even in the development of Israel's rudimentary laws on ceremonial uncleanness. They are not explicable on purely naturalistic grounds, but Yahweh is training a people to be holy, and so He starts on the lower plane of ceremonial uncleanness and cleanness (see Leviticus 11:44 as to the purpose of Yahweh in establishing these laws respecting clean and unclean animals).

III. Teaching as to Uncleanness.

1. In the Old Testament:

Each term above for uncleanness is used in two senses:

(a) to signify ceremonial uncleanness, which is the most usual significance of the term in the Old Testament;

(b) but, in the Prophets, to emphasize moral, rather than ceremonial, uncleanness. There are four principal spheres of uncleanness in the Old Testament:

(1) Uncleanness in the Matter of Food.

The law as to clean and unclean beasts is laid down in Leviticus 11:1-23. Notice that the law does not extend to vegetable foods, as does a similar law in the Egyptian religion. Four kinds of beasts are named as fit for food:

(a) among quadrupeds, those that both chew the cud and part the hoof;

(b) among fishes, only those having both fins and scales;

(c) most birds or fowls, except, in the main, birds of prey and those noted for uncleanness of habits, are permitted;

(d) of insects those that have legs above the feet to leap withal (e.g. the cricket, the grasshopper, etc.), but those that go on all four, or have many feet, or go upon the belly (e.g. worms, snakes, lizards, etc.), are forbidden.

See , further, FOOD.

(2) Uncleanness Connected with the Functions of Reproduction (Leviticus 12 and 15).

In Leviticus 15:2-18, we find the laws applied to issues of men; in 15:19;, to the issues of women. Not only is the man or woman unclean because of the issue, whether normal or abnormal, but the bed on which they lie, or whatever or whoever is touched by them while they are in this state, is unclean. The uncleanness lasts seven days from the cessation of the issue. To become clean men must wash their clothes and batheir bodies (though this requirement is not made of women), and both men and women must offer through the priest a pair of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons (Leviticus 15). According to Leviticus 13, the woman who conceives and bears a child is unclean. This uncleanness lasts seven days if the child born is a male, but 14 days if the child is a female. However, there is a partial uncleanness of the mother that continues 40 days from the birth of a male, 80 days from the birth of a female, at the end of which period she is purified by offering a lamb and a young pigeon (or turtle-dove), or if too poor to offer a lamb she may substitute one of the birds for the lamb.

(3) Uncleanness Connected with Leprosy.

According to Leviticus 14 and 15, the leper was regarded as under the stroke of God, and so was deemed unclean. The leper (so adjudged by the priest) must separate himself from others, with torn clothes, disheveled hair, and crying with covered lips, "Unclean! Unclean!" That is, he was regarded as a dead man, and therefore unclean and so must live secluded from others.

See , further, LEPER, LEPROSY.

(4) Uncleanness Associated with Death.

According to Leviticus 15:24-40, anyone who touched a dead beast, whether unclean or clean, was rendered unclean. According to Numbers 19:11-22, anyone touching the corpse of a human being is unclean. Likewise, everyone in the tent, or who enters the tent, where lies a dead man, is unclean seven days. Even the open vessels in the tent with a dead person are unclean seven days. Whoever, furthermore, touched a dead man's bone or grave was unclean seven days. Purification, in all these cases of uncleanness as related to death, was secured by sprinkling the ashes of a red heifer with living water upon the unclean person, or object, on the 3rd and 7th days.

See PURIFICATION.

2. In the Apocrypha:

In Tobit 3:7-9; 6:13, 14; 7:11; 8:1-3; 1 Maccabees 1:41-53, and in other books, we find the same laws on uncleanness recognized by the descendants of Abraham. It was regarded as abominable to sacrifice other animals (swine for instance) than those prescribed by Yahweh. There is a growing sense in Israel during this period, that all customs and all conduct of the heathen are unclean. Witness the resistance of the loyal Jews to the demands of Antiochus Epiphanes (1 Maccabees 1; 2; 6; 7). The sense of ceremonial uncleanness was still a conspicuous element in the religious consciousness of the Jews in the inter-Biblical period. But the training of God in ceremonial purification and in the moral and spiritual teachings of the prophets had prepared the way for an advance in moral cleanness (both in thought and in practice).

3. In the New Testament:

By the days of Jesus the scribes and rabbis had wrought out a most cumbrous system of ceremonial uncleanness and purification. Nor did they claim that all their teachings on this subject were found in the Old Testament. See TRADITION. This is fitly illustrated in the New Testament in the washing of hands. See UNWASHEN. When the Mishna (the collection of rabbinic teachings) was produced, the largest book was devoted to the laws of purification, 30 chapters being used to describe the purification of vessels alone.

See John 2:1-11, and note how the Jews had six stone waterpots for purification at the wedding in Cana. See John 3:25 as to the controversy on purification between John's disciples and the Jews. This question of cleanness and uncleanness was a tremendous issue with every Jew. He must keep himself ceremonially clean if he would be righteous and win the approval of God.

Jesus utterly disregarded for Himself these laws of purification, though He orders the cleansed leper to return to the priest and secure his certificate of cleansing. He did not wash His hands before eating, and His disciples followed His example. Therefore, the Pharisees challenged Him to give an account of His course and that of His disciples (Matthew 15:3-20 = Mark 7:6-23). Jesus then enunciated the great principle that there is no ceremonial, but only moral and spiritual, uncleanness. Not what goes into a man from hands that touch unclean things defiles the man, but the things that come out of his heart, evil thoughts, hatred, adultery, murder, etc., these defile the man.

Paul likewise regarded nothing as unclean of itself (Romans 14:14, 20 Titus 1:15), yet no man should violate the scruples of his own conscience or that of his brother (and thus put a stumblingblock in his way). Love, not ceremonialism is the supreme law of the Christian. Paul, in submitting to the vow of purification in Jerusalem, set an example of this principle (Acts 21:26).

See also CRIMES; PUNISHMENTS.

LITERATURE.

W. R. Smith, Lectures on the Religion of the Semites (especially pp. 152-55, on taboo, and pp. 455, 456, on the uncleanness of sexual intercourse); Frazer, The Golden Bough (examples of taboo and similar laws and customs among various nations); Frazer, article "Taboo" in Encyclopedia Britannica, 9th edition; Benzinger, Hebrew Archaeology; Nowack, Hebrew Archaeology; Kellogg, commentary on "Leviticus" (Expositor's Bible); Kalisch, Leviticus; Dillmann-Ryssel, Leviticus; Schultz, Dillmann, Smend, Marti, Davidson, in their Old Testament Theologies, give useful hints on this subject; article "Casuistry" (Hebrew) in ERE, III, is valuable.

Charles B. Williams

WATER OF SEPARATION (OR OF UNCLEANNESS)

See DEFILEMENT; SEPARATION; UNCLEANNESS.

167. akatharsia -- uncleanness
... uncleanness. Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine Transliteration: akatharsia Phonetic
Spelling: (ak-ath-ar-see'-ah) Short Definition: uncleanness, impurity Definition ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/167.htm - 7k

3394. miasmos -- the act of defiling
... uncleanness, contamination. From miaino; (morally) contamination (properly, the
act) -- uncleanness. see GREEK miaino. (miasmou) -- 1 Occurrence. 3393, 3394. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3394.htm - 6k

168. akathartes -- filthiness.
... Cognate: 168 -- properly, uncleanness due to being unpurged (unpurified); . See
169 (). Word Origin variant reading for akathartos, qv. filthiness. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/168.htm - 6k

4509. rhupos -- filth
... 4509 (a masculine noun) -- properly, "grease-filth," soiling all it touches;
(figuratively) uncleanness that results from doing what is morally unfit, ie what ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4509.htm - 6k

2932b. tomah -- uncleanness
... tomah. 2933 . uncleanness. Transliteration: tomah Short Definition: uncleanness.
Word Origin from tame Definition uncleanness NASB Word Usage uncleanness (1). ...
/hebrew/2932b.htm - 5k

2932a. tumah -- uncleanness
... 2932, 2932a. tumah. 2932b . uncleanness. Transliteration: tumah Short
Definition: uncleanness. Word Origin from tame Definition ...
/hebrew/2932a.htm - 5k

2932. tum'ah -- uncleanness
tum'ah. 2931, 2932. tum'ah. 2932a . uncleanness. Transliteration: tum'ah Phonetic
Spelling: (toom-aw') Short Definition: filthiness. filthiness, uncleanness ...
/hebrew/2932.htm - 5k

7137. qareh -- chance, accident
... Word Origin from qarah Definition chance, accident NASB Word Usage emission
(1). uncleanness by chance, accidental disqualification. ...
/hebrew/7137.htm - 6k

2398. chata -- to miss, go wrong, sin
... offered it for sin (1), offers it for sin (1), purged (1), purified (2), purified
themselves from sin (1), purify (6), purify him from uncleanness (1), purify ...
/hebrew/2398.htm - 6k

6172. ervah -- nakedness
... nakedness, shame, uncleanness. From arah; nudity, literally (especially the pudenda)
or figuratively (disgrace, blemish) -- nakedness, shame, unclean(-ness). ...
/hebrew/6172.htm - 6k

1697. dabar -- speech, word
... promise, provision, purpose, question, rate, reason, report, request, X (as hast)
said, sake, saying, sentence, + sign, + so, some (uncleanness), somewhat to ...
/hebrew/1697.htm - 8k

5079. niddah -- impurity
... 1), menstrual impurity (7), menstrual period (1), menstruation (2), menstruation*
(1), period (1), time (1), unclean (1), unclean thing (1), uncleanness (2). ...
/hebrew/5079.htm - 6k

"All Uncleanness with Greediness. "
... Homily V. Chapter XI.""All Uncleanness with Greediness.". "But let all
doors be opened to him, and let all baneful and arbitrary ...
/.../unknown/the clementine homilies/chapter xi all uncleanness with greediness.htm

A Fountain Opened for Sin and Uncleanness.
... ORIGINAL HYMNS HYMN LVII. A Fountain opened for Sin and Uncleanness. 7.7.7.7.7.7
James Montgomery. A Fountain opened for Sin and Uncleanness. ...
/.../montgomery/sacred poems and hymns/hymn lvii a fountain opened.htm

Of the Evil of Lust, --A Word Which, Though Applicable to Many ...
... Book XIV. Chapter 16."Of the Evil of Lust,"A Word Which, Though Applicable to
Many Vices, is Specially Appropriated to Sexual Uncleanness. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/augustine/city of god/chapter 16 of the evil of.htm

Whether it was Fitting that the Mother of God Should Go to the ...
... purified. For purification presupposes uncleanness. But there was no uncleanness
in the Blessed Virgin, as stated above (QQ[27],28). ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether it was fitting that 6.htm

Whether, at the Time of the Law, the Ceremonies of the Old Law had ...
... of blood and the anointing of oil; and (Lev.16:16) that, by sprinkling the blood
of the calf, the priest expiated "the sanctuary from the uncleanness of the ...
//christianbookshelf.org/aquinas/summa theologica/whether at the time of.htm

Whether Lust is a Capital vice?
... Objection 1: It seems that lust is not a capital vice. For lust is apparently the
same as "uncleanness," according to a gloss on Eph.5:3((Cf.2 Cor.12:21). ...
//christianbookshelf.org/aquinas/summa theologica/whether lust is a capital.htm

"And There is None that Calleth Upon Thy Name, that Stirreth up ...
... of evil deeds, and call them sins, but you have never taken up sin's ugly face,
never seen it in the glass of the holy law, uncleanness itself, because you do ...
/.../binning/the works of the rev hugh binning/sermon xviii and there is.htm

How all the Saints have Confessed with Truth that they were ...
... of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips." [2283] And
I fancy that perhaps even then he would not have felt the uncleanness of his ...
/.../cassian/the conferences of john cassian/chapter xvii how all the.htm

Whether the Matter of Christ's Body Should have Been Taken from a ...
... Objection 3: Further, those who are conceived of a woman contract a certain uncleanness:
as it is written (Job 25:4): "Can man be justified compared with God? ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether the matter of christs.htm

Whether Six Daughters are Fittingly Assigned to Gluttony?
... Objection 1: It would seem that six daughters are unfittingly assigned to gluttony,
to wit, "unseemly joy, scurrility, uncleanness, loquaciousness, and ...
/.../aquinas/summa theologica/whether six daughters are fittingly.htm

Uncleanness (56 Occurrences)
... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia UNCLEANNESS. ... POSSIBLE RELATION OF ISRAEL'S LAWS
ON UNCLEANNESS WITH THE LAWS OF TABOO AMONG THE NATIONS III. ...
/u/uncleanness.htm - 38k

Filthiness (16 Occurrences)
... "Filthiness" is the translation of tum'ah, "uncleanness" (ritual, Leviticus 5:3;
Leviticus 7:20, etc.), used figuratively of moral impurity, translated ...
/f/filthiness.htm - 16k

Filth (21 Occurrences)
... "Filthiness" is the translation of tum'ah, "uncleanness" (ritual, Leviticus 5:3;
Leviticus 7:20, etc.), used figuratively of moral impurity, translated ...
/f/filth.htm - 17k

Filthy (22 Occurrences)
... "Filthiness" is the translation of tum'ah, "uncleanness" (ritual, Leviticus 5:3;
Leviticus 7:20, etc.), used figuratively of moral impurity, translated ...
/f/filthy.htm - 16k

Whoredom (58 Occurrences)
... my God may humble me in regard to you, and I may bewail many of those having sinned
before, and not having reformed concerning the uncleanness, and whoredom ...
/w/whoredom.htm - 24k

Impure (28 Occurrences)
... God. (See NAS RSV NIV). 1 Thessalonians 2:3 For our exhortation is not
of error, nor of uncleanness, nor in deception. (See NIV). ...
/i/impure.htm - 14k

Impurity (42 Occurrences)
... IMPURITY. im-pu'-ri-ti. See UNCLEANNESS. Multi-Version Concordance ... 1 Thessalonians
4:7 For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. (See NAS). ...
/i/impurity.htm - 21k

Touches (55 Occurrences)
... Leviticus 5:3 "'Or if he touches the uncleanness of man, whatever his uncleanness
is with which he is unclean, and it is hidden from him; when he knows of it ...
/t/touches.htm - 22k

Lasciviousness (9 Occurrences)
... Paul (2 Corinthians 12:21) classes it with uncleanness and fornication as sins to
be repented of; also (Galatians 5:19; compare The Wisdom of Solomon 14:26 ...
/l/lasciviousness.htm - 11k

Whereby (46 Occurrences)
... Leviticus 5:3 Or when he cometh against uncleanness of man, even any of his uncleanness
whereby he is unclean, and it hath been hidden from him, and he hath ...
/w/whereby.htm - 20k

Why were a husband and wife considered unclean after they had sexual relations? | GotQuestions.org

What are the bodily discharges mentioned in Leviticus 15, and why did they make a person unclean? | GotQuestions.org

What is the meaning of impurity in the Bible? | GotQuestions.org

Uncleanness: Dictionary and Thesaurus | Clyx.com

Bible Concordance • Bible Dictionary • Bible Encyclopedia • Topical Bible • Bible Thesuarus