UNCLEANNESS (71KUU, from the adj. NM), so frequently used in the almost technical sense of Levitical defilement, and especially in the leper's wail, Lev. xiii. 45) is the term by which, in the law of Moses, is indicated that condition which caused the temporaiy suspension of a Ilebrew man or woman from their religious and social privileges, as subjects of the Theocracy. About seventy specific cases of possible uncleanness are described, and others implied. Various modes of classifying them have been resorted to. The old Jewish writers made two classes, according to the length of the ceremonial suspension. The lighter class em braced the instances of uncleanness for the day ; the heavier class, those of a longer period (Pesictha. in Ugolino, xv. 1t48 ; Maimonides, Constitution's, in Ugol. viii. 58, where the contaminated of ll.e lighter class is called C14 de die lavandus, comp. Lightfoot, Harm.eof O. T. [Works by Pit man, ii. 122] ; only he gives four classes, accord ing to time). Other vvriters (see Corn-a-Lapide on Lev. xv. 22) make also two classes, only on a different principle : Duplex fuit immundities Hebr. Una erat peccatum, quia praecepto Dei vetita, talis erat comedere carnes immundas. Talis etiam erat pati lepram, etc. Altera non erat vetita, sed solum indicata et statuta, talis erat tangere leprosum, etc. Haec non erant peccata, sed tantum inducebant irregularitatem quandam.' Modern Jews profess to be bound only by the former of these classes. The threefold classifica tion, however, which is indicated in the law of Moses itself, seems to be most convenient, and is most conimonly adopted :—/. Every leper ;' ii. 'Every one that hath an issue ;' Who soever is defiled by the dead' (see Num. v. 2). The lawgiver, no doubt, here refers to his own enactments in Leviticus, and under the three generic phrases includes all the instances of uncleanness. (r.) He begins with Leprosy, the gravest of all in stances. A minute diagnosis of this terrible malady in its ceremonial character, and the purification which the law prescribed, are given in Lev. xiii. The reader is also referred for a full treatment of both parts of the subject to the article LEPROSY, especially sec. 2 (v0]. ii. pp. 813, 814). (2.) Under the second head, of uncleanness from 'issues,' are included all those physical emanations or bodily discharges to which both sexes are liable. They are described in their several details in the follow ing passages : [a.] The woman's perwa'ical issues in Lev. xv. 19-24, and irregwlar issues in verses 25-27. These were alike unclean in themselves (the former for seven days, the latter during the irregularity), and communicated uncleanness during the day alike to whosoever touched her," her bed,' or anything that she sat on ;' from which uncleanness they escaped 'at even,' by washing their clothes and bathing. Any man, who so far forgot decency as to lie with her, and lie stained with her menstrual taint, incurred an equally long defilement as the woman herself, and like her com municated uncleanness to the bed whereon he lay. On the day after the cessation of her issue (the eighth) the woman, for her purification, \vas to bring two turtle-doves or two young pigeons, one for a sin-offering and the other for a burnt-offering, to the priest, who was to make atonement for her before the Lord. [b.] The issues of males, two sorts of which are nientioned in Lev. xv. 3, pro duced uncleanness with effects precisely similar* to those of women (see verses 4- t2). This is not I the place to discuss the nature of these male fluxes ; Michaelis adduces strong reasons for dis puting the general opinion, which denies that the Gonorrhaw virulenta is referred to in the passage be fore us (Laws of Moses [Smith's trans.], art. ccxii.) [IssuE.] The purification prescribed for men under this defilement is identical with that for women (vers. 13-15). [e.] Sexual copulation, including conjugal intercourse, caused to both man and wo man uncleanness until the even,' from which they were to cleanse themselves and their garments by bathing and washing (vers. '6-18). [d.] The final result of the sexual act in childbirth produced a still more marked defilement (see Lev. xii.) The mother's uncleanness in this her puerperal state, on the birth of a boy, was identical in duration with that of her menstrual issues. Seven days was she unclean (ver. 2) ; on the eighth the child was circumcised (ver. 3) ; after which the mother remained in private, excluded from the sanctuary, during thirty-three days more (ver. 4). This period
of forty days' defilement* was doubled in the case of the birth of a maid child (ver. 5). The purification ritcs of the mother, however, were the same, whether observed at the end of the forty or of the eighty days. She brought a yearling lamb for a burnt-offering, and a young pigeon, or turtle-dove, for a sin-offering, unto the priest, that he might make atonement for her before the Lord, and she might be cleansed. In case of inability to bring the Iamb, the substitution of another young pigeon or turtle-dove by the mother was allowed (vers. 6-8. Comp. the Virgin Mary's bumbler offering in her low estate,' Luke ii. 22-24). In our general article on the LAWS OF MOSES, we had occasion to reniark on the probable sztbstralunt of moml and religious mystery which underlies much of the ceremonial enactments. The havoc made by sin on our human race seems most strongly indicated by the fact that the normal and inevitable candztion 0211. natural life are affected with uncleanness. The gradations of pollution from conception to parturition, and its remarkable culmination in the birth of the female child, are wonderfully significant of the original transgression,' and of woman's first and heavier share in it (r Tim. ii. 14, comp. with Gen. iii. 6, 16, 17). (3.) Equally noticeable, as might be expected, are the traces of this havoc, as displayed in the various uncleannesses of death —the third and last of our chapters of classification ; and herein we recognise the deeper implication of our human race in the ruin, above all other living beings. By the law of Moses,' says Lightfoot, nothing was unclean to be touched while it was al.:v?, but only man: a man in leprosy was un clean to be touched, and a woman in her separation ; but dogs, swine, worms, etc.. were not unclean to be touched till they were a'ead ; and there were also different degrees herein ; while touching a dead beast brought uncleanness for a day, touching a dead man produced the uncleanness of a week,' etc. (Harm. of O. T. as above). This gradation of defilement from contact with death is described— In Lev. xi. 8, r, 24, 26, 27, 31-35, 39, 40 ; xvii. 15 ; In Lev. xxii. 4-8 ; In Num. xix. tr, 16 ; iv. In Num. vi. 9. In the first of these four sections, the uncleanness arises from the dead bodies of animals, fishes, birds, and reptiles. It was the shortest in duration, lasting in every case only until even ;' and it was to be terminated uniformly by the washing of the clothes. The last statute, Lev. xvii. is, prescribed ablution of the person also, for every soul that eateth that which died of itself, or that which was torn with beasts.' In tbe second section, the same defile ment is described as incidental to the priests,* no less than to the laity, from which they must free themselves by ablution. So much for the minor un cleannesses from tbe dead. Our third and fourth sections contain the instances where the major dis ability of seven days is occasioned by contact with human dead : Whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.' As the defilement was deeper, so was the mode of purification more elaborate and solemn. For the details of the ceremony,—the sacrifice of the red heifer without the camp ; the sevenfold sprinkling of her blood before the taber nacle ; the utter consumption by fire of the slain animal ; the cedar-wood, hyssop, and scarlet cast into the burning mass ; the gathering up of the ashes ; their mixture in running water for the water of separation ;' the sprinkling of this water over the unclean person, OD the third and the last of the seven days ; his own washing of his clothes and bathing of his person, and his final cleansing on the evening of the seventh day,—the reader will consult the 19th chapter of Numbers. Our fourth section describes the interruption of the Nazarite's vow by any sudden death happening in his pre sence. This mortality lost him' all the days of his vow which had transpired, and required for its own expiation also thc usual hebdomad, on the last day of which lie was to shave his head, and on the morrow bring two young pigeons, or two turtles, to the priest, that he might present them as a sin-offering and a burnt-offering as an atone ment for the polluted.