Abstract
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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