Leviticus is often the book where Bible reading plans go to die; it’s full of purity laws, sacrificial rituals, and seemingly endless details that feel far removed from our everyday life. But what if those laws are the key to understanding who Jesus is and what he came to do? What if Leviticus prepares us for the moment when holiness and impurity collide, and everything changes?

The bleeding woman’s story in Mark 5 does exactly that. She had lived on the fringes of society—cut off from worship and community by Leviticus’s purity laws. At the heart of those laws is a repeated and sobering command: Do not touch. Leviticus 11–15 draws a clear divide between the holy and the unclean, between life and death.

This woman knew those laws well. She had carried their weight and understood the risk of reaching out to touch the untouchable. According to Leviticus, her act should have led to death. So, what changed between the laws given at Mount Sinai and that crowded street where she touched Jesus?

This article explores how the bleeding woman’s touch prepares us to see the person and work of Jesus Christ—and how her story becomes our own.

‘Do Not Touch’ and the Danger of Approaching the Holy

Leviticus 11–15 is placed between two stories that emphasize the danger of approaching God’s holiness improperly. In Leviticus 10, Nadab and Abihu offer “unauthorized fire before the LORD,” and they’re consumed by divine fire. Then, in Leviticus 16:1, that same event is recalled: “The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the LORD and died.” The connection is clear: Approaching God in the wrong way or while unclean leads to death.

This is the background of the purity laws. They were designed to teach Israel to “distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean” (10:10).

A person’s status, whether clean or unclean, determined where he or she could go. Entering a holy space while unclean defiled the tabernacle and led to serious consequences (15:31). To know your status and remain in the proper space wasn’t just about ritual—it was vital for life with a holy God.

‘Touch’ as a Boundary Between Life and Death

The theme of forbidden touch runs deep in Scripture. In Genesis 3:3, Eve recalls the divine prohibition not to “touch” the tree of knowledge of good and evil—showing the danger of crossing God’s boundaries. Later, in Exodus 19, the people of Israel are warned twice not to “touch” Mount Sinai when God descends on it (vv. 12–13). In both cases, touch is more than physical contact; it represents approaching the holy without permission, where the consequence is death and separation.

Leviticus 11–15 continues this theme, using the word naga (“touch”)—both as a verb and a noun—more than 80 times. Touch isn’t a trivial act; it symbolizes closeness and the transfer of impurity. The concern is serious: To touch what was holy while unclean was to risk death. The purity laws weren’t arbitrary; they served as safeguards to protect life and maintain the purity of the tabernacle.

‘Do Not Touch’ in the Purity Laws of Leviticus 11–15

Leviticus 11–15 clearly shows that “touch” is a primary means by which impurity spreads and that impurity creates distance between God and his people (Num. 5:1–4). Touching something unclean, like specific animals (Lev. 11), made a person impure until evening, and he or she had to wash before returning to worship in the tabernacle. After childbirth (Lev. 12), a woman couldn’t touch anything holy or enter the sanctuary until her purification period was over. Those with skin diseases (Lev. 13–14), if considered seriously unclean, had to live alone, untouchable, outside the camp, excluded from community and worship (13:46).

Leviticus 15 focuses on bodily discharges and how they spread impurity. Anyone with a discharge couldn’t touch others or be touched, and anything they contacted became unclean. If a woman had a prolonged discharge, she had to stay away from the tabernacle until it ended. Then she waited seven days and offered sacrifices on the eighth day before returning. Physical separation was necessary—not only to shield the community from defilement but also to protect worshipers from approaching a holy God in an unclean state.

What image does Leviticus 11–15 present to us? It shows a shift from inclusion to exclusion, from life to death. This demonstrates that individuals were temporarily separated both socially and religiously. Those with chronic conditions, like a woman with prolonged bleeding, stayed on the margins, outside the tabernacle and camp. Living on the edge became a painful reality, as they were excluded from God’s visible presence. These boundaries raised a difficult question: Who can bridge the gap between the impure and a holy God?

Restorative Touch of Holiness

Mark 5:25–34 offers a powerful christological answer to Leviticus’s lingering tension. A woman suffering from chronic bleeding for 12 years reaches out to touch Jesus—an act forbidden by Levitical law. Her condition rendered her perpetually unclean (Lev. 15:25–27), cutting her off from the sanctuary, the community, and her family.

The narrative emphasizes the word “touch”; it’s mentioned four times, by the narrator, the woman, Jesus, and the disciples. This repetition is intentional and deeply theological. Mark is highlighting a reversal: Her touch didn’t defile Jesus. Instead, his holiness overcame her impurity. Her touch results in healing, rather than death or judgment. When the bleeding woman reached out and touched Jesus by faith, she didn’t meet the same fate as Eve or Nadab and Abihu.

She’s restored, not just physically but also socially and spiritually. Jesus calls her “daughter”—a word that reclaims her identity and signals her inclusion in the new family of faith formed around Jesus. And standing nearby is Jairus, a synagogue ruler, who, after witnessing her healing, holds the authority to welcome her back into the life of worship she’d been cut off from for so long.

Holiness That Heals

The vast distance described in Leviticus is fulfilled in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The boundaries marked by “Do not touch” were never random—they point forward to the only One who could truly bridge the gap. Jesus is greater than the holy objects and tabernacle. Through Christ, the unclean can approach, touch, and be made whole through faith. The bleeding woman’s story is ours; like her, we need a way to approach a holy God and be restored.

As the book of Hebrews states, through Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice we now have confidence to approach the Most Holy Place (Heb. 10:19–22). The veil has been torn and the boundaries crossed—not by presumption but by the blood of a greater High Priest.