From the Exodus Out of Egypt to the Rejection of That Generation - Flavius Josephus

Chapter 11
The Purifications
1. Moses took out the tribe of Levi from communicating with the rest of
the people, and set them apart to be a holy tribe; and purified them by water
taken from perpetual springs, and with such sacrifices as were usually
offered to God on the like occasions. He delivered to them also the
tabernacle, and the sacred vessels, and the other curtains, which were made
for covering the tabernacle, that they might minister under the conduct of the
priests, who had been already consecrated to God.
2. He also determined concerning animals; which of them might be used
for food, and which they were obliged to abstain from; which matters, when
this work shall give me occasion, shall be further explained; and the causes
shall be added by which he was moved to allot some of them to be our food,
and enjoined us to abstain from others. However, he entirely forbade us the
use of blood for food, and esteemed it to contain the soul and spirit. He also
forbade us to eat the flesh of an animal that died of itself, as also the caul,
and the fat of goats, and sheep, and bulls.
3. He also ordered that those whose bodies were afflicted with leprosy,
and that had a gonorrhea, should not come into the city; nay, he removed the
women, when they had their natural purgations, till the seventh day; after
which he looked on them as pure, and permitted them to come in again. The
law permits those also who have taken care of funerals to come in after the
same manner, when this number of days is over; but if any continued longer
than that number of days in a state of pollution, the law appointed the
offering two lambs for a sacrifice; the one of which they are to purge by fire,
and for the other, the priests take it for themselves. In the same manner do
those sacrifice who have had the gonorrhea. But he that sheds his seed in his
57