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Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, Vol. 16, No. 49, 31-45 (1991)
DOI: 10.1177/030908929101604902

Leviticus 15.18 Reconsidered: Chiasm, Spatial Structure and the Body

Richard Whitekettle

Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA

Lev. 15 addresses the impurity of reproductive physiology. The chapter is structured chiastically (A B C B' A') with verse 18 the chapter's ful crum. The organizing principle behind this structure is a homologous relationship between the reproductive system and the tabernacle. The tabernacle is conceptualized as a pure center, over against the impure, peripheral wilderness. The 'center' of reproductive physiology is sex ual intercourse (v. 18), with non-generative/waste discharges (A/A') comprising the reproductive system's 'periphery'. If sexual inter course is the reproductive 'center', why is impurity associated with it? The penis is the instrument of both urination and copula tion/ejaculation. This functional ambiguity brings an aspect of the 'periphery' (waste) to the reproductive 'center'. This may explain the impurity of sexual intercourse (Lev. 15.18).


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