Leviticus 15:31

Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness,.... Or because of it, and while they are in it, as from other persons, even their nearest relations, and from the house of God,

Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that is among them. Thus shall ye separate ... from their uncleanness.

When they defile my tabernacle; which they did both ceremonially, by coming into it in their uncleanness, and morally, by the gross neglect and contempt of God’ s express and positive command to cleanse themselves.

Leviticus 15:31 Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that [is] among them.Ver. 31. That they die not.] Which is worse than to die in a ditch.

(31) Thus shall ye separate.—That is, according to the regulations laid down in this chapter. “Ye”—i.e., Moses and Aaron, to whom they were conjointly addressed (see Leviticus 15:1)—are to restrain the children of Israel, lest they be punished with death when they approach the Lord in a defiled state. Defile my tabernacle.—Better, my dwelling place, which can here be used, though in Leviticus 8:10, where it also occurs, the expression “dwelling-place” does not suit so well.

Verse 31. Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness] By this separation the cause became less frequent, and the contagion, if it did exist, was prevented from spreading. So pest-houses and fever-wards are constructed for the purpose of separating the infected from the sound; and thus contagion is lessened, and its diffusion prevented. That they die not] That life may be prolonged by these prudential cares; and that he who is morally and legally unclean, may not presume to enter into the tabernacle of God till purified, lest he provoke Divine justice to consume him, while attempting to worship with a polluted mind and impure hands. 1. How unpromising and how forbidding, at the first view, is this chapter! and yet how full of wise, humane, and moral regulations, manifesting at once the wisdom and kindness of the great Legislator! Every word of God is pure in itself, and of great importance to us. He who cannot derive instruction from the chapter before him, and be led by a proper consideration of its contents to adore the wisdom and goodness of God, must have either a very stupid or a very vitiated mind. 2. In all these ordinances we may plainly see that God has purity of heart continually in view - that the soul may be holy, he cuts off the occasions of sin; and that men may be obliged to keep within due bounds, and possess their vessels in sanctification and honour, he hedges up their way with briars and thorns, and renders transgression painful, shameful, and expensive. 3. Preventing grace is not less necessary than that which saves and which preserves. These three chapters, avoided and neglected by most, contain lessons of instruction for all; and though many things contained in them belong exclusively to the Jewish people as to the letter, yet in their spirit and gracious design they form a part of those revealed things which are for us and for our children; and although they cannot be made the subject of public oral instruction, yet they are highly necessary to be known, and hence the advantage of reading the Scriptures in regular order in private. May we read so as to understand, and practise what we know, that, being wise unto salvation, we may walk as children of the light and of the day, in whom there shall be no occasion of stumbling!

31. A reason for these purifications is given. my tabernacle] Another name for the tabernacle is (Heb. mishkân) dwelling, e.g. Exodus 25:9 R.V. mg. In Exodus 25-27, and in parts of 35–40 the word is used to denote the structure described in 26, 36, and distinguished as the ‘tabernacle’ from the ‘tent over the tabernacle’ (Exodus 26:7; Exodus 36:14 in R.V.). But in other passages it is used as the equivalent of the ‘tent of meeting’ for the tabernacle with its covering tent. It indicates the place where God dwells among the children of Israel according to His promise (so in Leviticus 16:16, Leviticus 26:11 f.; Exodus 29:45; cp. Exodus 25:8; Numbers 5:3; Numbers 35:34), and is used only of the tabernacle1[52] (in the plur., Numbers 24:5, it is used of Israel in poetical parallelism with ‘tents’). The combination ‘tabernacle of the tent of meeting’ occurs Exodus 40:2; Exodus 40:6; Exodus 40:29†. As the A.V. renders both ‘ohel (see on Leviticus 1:1) and mishkân by ‘tabernacle,’ the difference does not appear in that version. [52] The use of the word tabernacle of the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (see McNeile C. B. ad loc. Numbers 16:24; Numbers 16:27) is very strange, and the text must be considered doubtful.

This solemn admonition is addressed to Moses and Aaron, see Leviticus 15:1. Leviticus 15:31 My tabernacle - Strictly, “my dwelling-place” משׁכן mı̂shkān, as in Leviticus 8:10; Leviticus 17:4; Leviticus 26:11.

31. That they die not, when they defile my tabernacle — These words explain the minute requirements of this chapter.