Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 14:2
This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest:
Lev 14:2-32
The law of the leper in the day of his cleansing.
Cleansing the leper
I. The disease.
1. Its peculiar designation. Leprosy the plague of boils (Deu 28:1-68.), which applies very forcibly to sin.
2. Its distinguishing characteristics. Small in appearance; so in a vicious course of life. It gradually spread, as does sin spread over all the powers and faculties of a man.
3. Its pernicious consequences. The malady was injurious to society, as being infectious and pernicious; to the person himself, excluding him from all society, civil and religions. So sinners corrupt others, while their abominable ways shut them from the communion of the faithful.
II. The cure of the disease.
1. No human means could be availing. The leper would gladly have cured himself. No art of man was effectual (2Ki 5:7). We have no remedy of mans devising for sin (Rom 7:19; Rom 7:24).
2. If the leper was cured, it was by God alone, without the intervention of human means (Luk 17:14; Isa 51:7). Nothing was prescribed or attempted for the removal of this distemper. And none but God can remove sin, &c. (Rom 7:10; Rom 7:18; Eph 5:9; 1Pe 2:2).
3. But the cure was associated with blood and water. And to be cleansed from the leprosy of sin we must have applied the blood and spirit of Christ (1Jn 1:7; Eze 36:25).
III. The confirmation of the cure by the priest,
1. A person was not to be pronounced clean on a sudden. The priest was to use much caution and deliberation. Caution should be exercised by ministers and office-bearers in the Church towards those who are candidates for fellowship.
2. When it evidently appeared that soundness had been imparted to his disordered body, this was declared with due solemnity. Here we see the pre-eminence of our High Priest; for while the priest merely declared the leper healed, He most effectually heals. Let those infected with the leprosy apply to their souls the Divinely appointed remedy; and let those who have been cleansed from it carefully discharge the duty enjoined on them. (Lev 14:10, &c.). (W. Sleigh.)
The leper
1. How God is the Author of plagues and diseases. Not to hurt man, but to help him; for man being afflicted, is humbled; being humbled, he runs to Him who can raise him up.
2. That sin infects mens bodies, garments, and houses.
3. Of the office of ministers, in visiting the sick (Lev 14:44).
4. Of our cleansing by the blood of Christ.
5. Of the honourable calling of physicians. They should be–
(1) Skilful.
(2) Faithful to their patient.
(3) Religious, referring all to Gods glory.
(4) Not covetous. (A. Willet, D. D.)
Lessons
1. Regeneration must be total in every part.
2. That vicious persons be not with too great facility reconciled.
3. God accepts of our obedience according to our heart.
4. To give thanks to God for our health. (A. Willet, D. D.)
The leper cleansed
Although leprosy was not curable by human remedies, it did not always continue for life. It was often sent as a special judgment, as in the eases of Miriam, Azariah, and Gehazi. The Jews generally looked upon it in this light. Its very name denotes a stroke of the Lord. This of itself rather implies that it may cease with the repentance and forgiveness of the smitten offender. It was the anticipation of the healing, of at least some persons leprously affected, that formed the basis of the provisions here laid down. They constitute the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing; and if there was no possibility of cure, there was no use of this law. You will observe, however, that these regulations were not for the cure of the leper, but for his ceremonial cleansing after the cure. The disease had first to be stayed, and then began this process of cleansing off all its lingering effects and disabilities. I therefore take the deepest intention of these rites to be to illustrate the nature of sanctification. Justification is also implied, but only as connected with sanctification.
1. In the first place, it is presupposed that the lepers disease had been stayed. And this healing again points to some putting forth of Divine power and grace quite different from anything here brought to view, and far anterior to the commencement of these services. The first motion of our salvation is from God. It begins while we are yet in the very depths of our defilement and guilt. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. A full and free forgiveness of all our sins is provided. And the only remaining requirement is to go show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded.
2. The leper, finding his leprosy stayed, was to go to the judge in the case and claim exemption from the sentence that was upon him. And to render this the more easy for him, the priest had to go forth out of the camp to meet him. The very moment the sinner believes in the healing proclaimed to him in the gospel, and sets himself to move for his cleansing, Christ meets him.
3. And when the healed leper thus presented himself to the priest, there was no alternative left. He had to be pronounced cured. And so Christ hath bound Himself to acquit and absolve every sinner who thus comes to Him in the strength of the gospel message. There is no further hindrance in the way. The man is justified. The sentence that was against him is rescinded and taken away. But the mere absolution of the priest did not fully restore the leper. Though his disease was stayed, there was a taint of it remaining to be purged off before he could join the camp or the holy services. And so our whole salvation must miscarry if it does not also take in an active holiness, purifying our hearts and lives, and transforming us into the image of our Redeemer. How this sanctification is effected is what we are now to consider.
I. To cleanse the recovered leper, the first thing to be done was the procurement of two clean birds, the one of which was to be slain, and the other to be dipped in its fellows blood and set at liberty. These two doves, the gentlest of all Gods creatures, at once carry our thoughts back to Christ and His wonderful history. The fate of the one shows us how He was mangled for human guilt, crushed to death for the sins of others, and brought down to the depths of the earth. The other, coming up out of the earthern vessel, out of the blood of its fellow, shows us how Jesus rose again from the rocky sepulchre, and ascended up out of the hand of His captor on strong and joyous pinions far into the high abodes of heaven, scattering as He went the gracious drops of cleansing and salvation. The introduction of these birds, in this connection, presents a great theological fact. As they typify Christ, they show that our sanctification, as well as our justification, proceeds from His Cross and resurrection.
II. The next thing to be done for the cleansing of the recovered leper was the arrangement and use of means to apply the cleansing of blood. Christ has appointed certain instruments and agencies to convey to us the purifying elements. First of all is the cedar stem of His Word, durable, fragrant, and instinct with celestial power and life, speaking through all the visible creation, but much more distinctly and powerfully in the written Scriptures. Along with this, and fastened to it, is the scarlet wool of the holy sacraments, absorbing, as it were, the whole substance of Christ crucified, and performing an important part in the impartation of the same to our souls. And along with this scarlet wool, and bound to the same stem, are the many little aromatic stems of prayer, with the sanctifying blood running out and hanging in drops on every point, ready to flow upon and cleanse the humble worshipper.
III. A third requirement for the lepers cleansing was, that he should wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water. This was his own work. It was to be done by the leper himself. Its spiritual significance is easily understood. It refers to the sinners repentance and reformation. He must cleanse himself from all his old and base surroundings. He must separate between himself and everything suspicious.
IV. But there is another particular entering into this ritual cleansing. After everything else had been done, sacrifices were to be offered. We must wash, and repent, and reform; but it avails nought without blood. Water, the purest that ever dropped from mossy rock, or gushed from the mountain spring, is not able to cleanse a man for heaven. Tears of repentance, though pure as those which trickled down the Saviours cheeks, cannot wash out the stains of sin, except they be mingled with the blood that dripped from His wounds. And no moral improvements can entitle us to eternitys honours if they are not connected with the suretyship and sacrifice of Jesus. The source of all sanctification is in His death and resurrection. All the glories of eternal life still refer us back to Calvary. Grace in Christ Jesus commenced the work, and grace in Christ Jesus must complete it. The only peculiarity which I notice here is that some of the blood and oil was to be touched to the cleansed leper, the same as in the consecration of the priests. It points to the very culmination and crown of Christian sanctity. The blood of the trespass-offering stands for the blood of Christ, and the holy oil for the Holy Spirit. These are the two great consecrating elements of Christianity. With these our High Priest approaches us through the gospel, to complete our cleansing and ordain us to the dignities and duties of our spiritual calling.
V. There is one point more in these ceremonies to which I will call your attention. I refer to the time which they required. A leper could by no possibility get through with his cleansing under seven days. One day was enough to admit him into the camp; but seven full days were requisite to admit him to his home. There was therefore a complete period of time necessary to the entireness of his cleansing. This arrangement was not accidental. It has its full typical significance. It refers to the fact that no one is completely sanctified in the present life; and that a complete period of time must ensue before we reach the rest to which our cleansing entitles us. We have attained unto very high honours. We have secured very exalted privileges. But everything has not yet been done, and all our disabilities are not yet removed. Great services yet remain to take place when the seven days have elapsed. And until then we must patiently wait. The influences of sin still linger about the old tenement, and we must suffer the consequences of it until the term of this present dispensation ends. Then shall our High Priest come forth again, and change our vile bodies, and fashion them like unto His own glorious body. The last lurking-places of defilement shall then be cut off. The last act of the lepers cleansing was to shave off his hair. When that was done he entered upon all the high services of the Tabernacle, and went to his home a saved man. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
Ceremonies on recovery of the leper
First of all, he shall be brought unto the priest; and the priest shall go forth out of the camp, and see him; and then the priest, when he finds that he is clean, shall pronounce him clean. Next the priest was to take two birds alive and clean, and cedar-wood and scarlet, and hyssop: and the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthern vessel over running water. Now it seems absurd to speak of an earthern vessel, and water in it called running water. But all the absurdity is taken away when we recollect that the original is living water. It is the same expression that occurs in other parts of Scripture. I will give unto him living water–It shall be in him a well of living water. And the real meaning of this passage is fresh water from the fountain, and not stagnant, and unfit for physical, or for spiritual, or for ecclesiastical purposes. Then it has been supposed that the one bird that was slain was meant to describe the death of Christ; and the dismissal of the other bird, after being dipped in the blood of the slain bird, was meant to be a type and prefiguration of the resurrection. It is nowhere in Scripture said to be so, but it is obviously typical of sacrifice; and no one sacrifice, no one symbol, could set forth the completeness of the work of Christ; and therefore many symbols may have been employed and combined to set forth that great and blessed act. We read, then, that the person, after this, was still to present an offering of two he-lambs, without blemish; and to remain at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation till the priest had offered these; and by this he was to have access to the congregation. We read that the priest was to sprinkle him seven times; that is, completely, the number meant to denote perfection. He was also to touch the tip of his right ear, to denote that that ear should be opened only to all that was pure. He was also to touch the thumb of the right hand, to teach that every act was to be consistent with his character. And upon the right foot, to show that he was to walk in Gods ways, which are ways of pleasantness and of peace. So that the man should feel–what is stated by the apostle in Rom 12:1-21.
that he was to present himself, soul and body, a living sacrifice, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Now the language employed here-the hyssop, and the cedar-wood, and the sprinkling–casts light upon many passages in the Psalms, and those passages, again, cast light upon the phraseology of the New Testament. Ye are come unto the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus. We read again, in another passage, of the sprinkling of His blood, the blood of sprinkling. The meaning of that is, just as the life of the turtledove, the lamb, or the bird, was sacrificed by the shedding of its blood, and typically and ecclesiastically, or Levitically, virtue or qualification was imparted to the person related to it; so the efficacy of Christs death, represented by His blood–that is, the atoning efficacy of it–is to be applied so to our hearts and consciences that we may have peace with God, free pardon of our sins, and the hope of an inheritance among all them that are sanctified. (J. Cumming, D. D.)
Do not forget the remedy
Cecil had been a great sufferer for years, and none of his medical friends had been able to ascertain the cause. At length Mrs. Cecil was told of a physician who was extremely skilful in intricate cases, and whom she entreated him to consult. On entering the physicians room, he said, Welcome, Mr. Cecil; I know you well by character, and as a preacher. We must have some conversation after I have given you my advice. Mr. Cecil then described his sufferings. The physician considered a moment, and then said, Dear sir, there is only one remedy in such a case as yours; do first try it; it is perfectly simple, and then he mentioned the medicine. Mr. Cecil, fearing to occupy too much of his time, rose to leave, but the physician said, No, sir, we must not part so soon, for I have long wished for an opportunity of conversing with you. So they spent half an hour more, mutually delighted with each others society. On returning home, Mr. Cecil said to his wife, You sent me to a most agreeable man–such a fund of anecdote, such originality of thought, such a command of language. Well, but what did he prescribe for you? Mrs. Cecil anxiously inquired. There was a pause, and then Mr. Cecil exclaimed, I have entirely forgotten the remedy; his charms of manner and conversation put everything else out of my mind. Now, young men, said Mr. Cecil, it will be very pleasant for you if your congregations go away saying, What eloquence! what original thought! and what an agreeable deliver! Take care they do not forget the remedy, the only remedy, Christ and His righteousness, Christ and His atonement, Christ and His advocacy. (Memoir of Wm. Marston.)
The cured and uncured
Christ cared the demoniac, the paralytic, the leper. He took the most chronic and complicated diseases, and they could not stand before His fiat. To one He said, Be thou clean; to another He said, Take up thy bed and walk; to another, Damsel, arise; and all these were not only cured as to the body, but cured as to the sicknesses of the soul. A pastor went into the house where there was a young Christian dying in great triumph. He entered the room to congratulate her as she was about to enter heaven, and as he went into the room and began to talk cheerfully about the joys that were immediately before her, her sister left the room. A few weeks after the pastor was called to the same house, and this sister who had left the room was about to take her departure into the eternal world, but she was not ready. She said to the pastor, You dont remember me, do you? Oh, yes, he replied, I remember you. Do you remember when you were talking to my sister about heaven I left the room? Yes, he said, I remember that. She said, Do you know why I left? No, he replied, I dont. Well, she said, I didnt want to hear anything about my soul, or about heaven, and now I am dying. Oh, sir, it is a dreadful thing to die! Now, what was the difference between those two sisters? The one was perfectly cured of the terrible disease of sin, the other was not. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Christ the only Healer
Now, children, if my watch has lost its mainspring, where shall I go to get it mended? To the tailors? No. To the blacksmiths? No. To the watchmakers? Yes. Why? Because he makes watches, and knows how to mend them. Now, if your hearts are bad, where will you go to have them healed? To your parents? No. To the priest? No. To Jesus Christ? Yes. Why? Because Be made the heart, and knows how to heal it. (The Church Scholars Magazine.)
Christ is an Almighty Doctor
Christ is an Almighty Doctor. At midnight a sudden disease comes upon your little child. You hasten for a physician, or you telegraph for the doctor as soon as you can, and hour after hour there is a contest between science and the King of Terrors. And yet you stand there and you watch and you see the disease is conquering fortress of strength after fortress of strength, until after a while you stand over the lifeless form and have to confess that there is a limit beyond which human medicament cannot go. But I hail at this moment an Almighty Doctor, who never lost a patient. Why, a leper came out with a bandage over his mouth and utterly loathsome, so they drove him out from all society, and when he came out the people all ran, and Christ ran. But Christ ran in a different direction from the people. They all ran away from the poor man; Christ ran towards him. And then a second leper came out with a bandage over his mouth, and a third, and a fourth, and so on until there were ten lepers, and I see Christ standing among them. It is a dangerous experiment, you say. Why, if you caught the breath of one such man as that, it would be certain death. There, sublimely great in goodness, Christ stood among the ten lepers, and He cured the first, and the second, and the tenth. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Christ can remove the root of the disease of sin
Some time ago a man wished to cut down a tree in his garden, and took it in hand to do it himself. Taking a spade, he cleared away the earth from the roots, and laid them bare for the axe. He hewed all the roots and suckers he saw, and then pushed and pulled at the tree, but it remained as firm as ever. Going to his gardener, he consulted him about it, and his reply was, Ah, sir, you have not cut the tap-root. You may hack and cut away at all the rest of the roots, but unless you cut it the tree will never fall. There are hundreds of sin-sick souls who persist in pruning away this sin and that sin, but they wilfully refuse to cut the tap-root of sin.
Two birds.—
The two birds considered typically
I. In the first bird let us see the saviour.
1. The bird was to be clean. Christ perfectly holy.
2. A birds being chosen in this rite may point us whence our Saviour came–from heaven.
3. The bird was slain. Christ tasted death for us. This shows–
(1) The evil of sin.
(2) The certainty of its punishment.
(3) Gods unspeakable love.
4. As to what bird it was, we do not certainly know, but commentators tell us all the birds prescribed by Moses were common and accessible. So the Saviour is not far off, but near at hand.
5. The earthern vessel reminds us of the Saviours humanity. And the fact that it contained not only blood but also clear water, may remind us that He saves by His Spirit as well as by His blood–that His salvation includes sanctification as well as justification.
II. Let us see in the other bird the believer.
1. That the Christian is represented by a bird, just as the Saviour is, may teach us–
(1) That Jesus in some sense makes the Christian equal to Himself; and
(2) That every Christian should seek to be Christlike (see 1Jn 3:4).
2. That the Christian is represented by a clean bird teaches–
(1) That the man who believes is justified from all things; and
(2) That the Christians effort should ever be after cleanness of character as well as of condition.
3. That this bird was dipped in the blood of the slain bird shows us plainly the way of salvation–by faith.
4. That the bird on being dipped was then let loose into the open field, teaches the blessed freedom, the glorious change which immediately takes place on a mans believing.
5. May we not also learn that while the Christian is free, yet he will always use his liberty as the bird does, not to sink earthward, but to soar heavenward?
III. As the living bird seems to have been dipped into the blood of the dead by means of a cedar staff, to which, along with a bundle of hyssop, it was attached by a band of scarlet wool, we take this staff as a representation of the gospel, through the foolishness of preaching which it pleases God to save them who believe. Doing so, we learn from 1Ki 4:30, that cedar-wood and hyssop were regarded as the two extremes of vegetable creation; and so the gospel is
(1) adapted to the two extremes of men;
(2) addressed to the highest and lowest;
(3) to the best and the worst. (D. Jamison, B. A.)
The two birds
As in all the Levitical types, so in this case, at the very entrance on the redeemed life stands the sacrifice of a life, and the service of a priest as mediator between God and man. Blood must be shed if the leper is to be admitted again into covenant standing with God; and the blood of the sacrifice in the law ever points to the sacrifice of Christ. But that great Sacrifice may be regarded in various aspects. Sin is a many-sided evil, and on every side it must be met. As often repeated, because sin as guilt requires expiation, hence the type of the sin-offering; in that it is a defrauding of God of His just rights from us, satisfaction is required, hence the type of the guilt-offering; as it is absence of consecration, life for self instead of life for God, hence the type of the burnt-offering. And yet the manifold aspects of sin are not all enumerated. For sin, again, is spiritual death; and, as death, it involves corruption and defilement. It is with special reference to this fact that the work of Christ is brought before us here. In the clean bird, slain that its blood may be applied to the leper for cleansing, we see typified Christ, as giving Himself, that His very life may be imparted to us for our life. In that the blood of the bird is mingled with water, the symbol of the Word of God, is symbolised the truth, that with the atoning blood is ever inseparably united the purifying energy of the Holy Ghost through the Word. Not the water without the blood, nor the blood without the water, saves, but the blood with the water, and the water with the blood (1Jn 5:6). But the type yet lacks something for completeness; and for this reason we have the second bird, who, when by his means the blood has been sprinkled on the leper, and the man is now pronounced clean, is released and flies away heavenward. What a beautiful symbol of that other truth, without which even the atonement of the Lord were nought, that He who died, having by that death for us procured our life, was then released from the bonds of death, rising from the dead on the third day, and ascending to heaven, like the freed bird, in token that His life-giving, cleansing work was done. Thus the message which, as the liberated bird flies carolling away, sweet as a heavenly song, seems to fall upon the ear is this (Rom 4:25). (S. H. Kellogg, D. D.)
The two birds
There is nothing more suggestive than a caged bird. In the down of its breast you can see the glow of southern climes. In the sparkle of its eyes you can see the flash of distant seas. In its voice you can hear the song it learned in the wild wood. It is a child of the sky in captivity.
1. Now the dead bird of my text, captured in the air, suggests the Lord Jesus, who came down from the realms of light and glory. He once stood in the sunlight of heaven. He was the favoured of the land. He was the Kings Son. But one day there came word to the palace that an insignificant island was in rebellion, and was cutting itself to pieces with anarchy. I hear an angel say: Let it perish. The Kings realm is vast enough without the island. The tributes to the King are large enough without that. We can spare it. Not so, said the Prince, the Kings Son; and I see Him push out one day, under the protest of a great company. He starts for the rebellious island. He lands amid the execrations of the inhabitants, that grow in violence until the malice of earth has smitten Him, and the spirits of the lost world put their black wings over His dying head and shut the sun out. The hawks and vultures swooped down upon this dove of the text, until head and breast and feet ran blood–until, under the flocks and beaks of darkness the poor thing perished. No wonder it was a bird taken and slain over an earthern vessel of running water. It was a child of the skies. It typified Him who came down from heaven in agony and blood to save our souls.
2. I notice also in my text that the bird that was slain was a clean bird. The text demanded that it should be. The raven was never sacrificed, nor the cormorant, nor the vulture. It must be a clean bird, says the text, and it suggests the pure Jesus, the holy Jesus. Although He spent His boyhood in the worst village on earth, although blasphemies were poured into His ear enough to have poisoned any one else, He stands before the world a perfect Christ.
3. I remark also, in regard to this first bird, mentioned in the text, that it was a defenceless bird. When the eagle is assaulted, with its iron beak it strikes like a bolt against its adversary. This was a dove or a sparrow–most probably the former. Take the dove, or pigeon, in your hand, and the pecking of its beak upon your hand makes you laugh at the feebleness of its assault. The reindeer, after it is down, may fell you with its antlers. The ox, after you think it is dead, may break your leg in its death struggle. The harpooned whale, in its last agony, may crush you in the coil of the unwinding rope. But this was a dove–perfectly harmless, perfectly defenceless–type of Him who said, I have trod the winepress alone, and there was none to help. None to help! The murderers have it all their own way. Where was the soldier in the Roman regiment who swung his sword in the defence of the Divine Martyr? Did they put one drop of oil on His gashed feet? Was there one in all that crowd manly and generous enough to stand up for Him? Were the miscreants at the Cross any more interfered with in their work of spiking Him fast than the carpenter in his shop driving a nail through a pine board? The women cried, but there was no balm in their tears. None to help! none to help!
4. But I come now to speak of this second bird of the text. The priest took the second bird, tied it to the hyssop branch, and then plunged it in the blood of the first bird. Ah, that is my soul plunged for cleansing in the Saviours blood. There is net enough water in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to wash away our smallest sin. Sin is such an outrage on Gods universe that nothing but blood can atone for it. You know the life is in the blood, and as the life had been forfeited, nothing could buy it back but blood. What was it that was sprinkled on the door-post when the destroying angel went through the land? Blood. What was it that went streaming from the altar of ancient sacrifice? Blood. What was it that the priest carried into the Holy of Holies, making intercession for the people? Blood. What was it that Jesus sweat in the Garden of Gethsemane? Great drops of blood. What does the wine in the sacramental cup signify? Blood. What makes the robes of the righteous in heaven so fair? They are washed in the blood of the Lamb. What is it that cleanses all our pollution? The blood of Jesus Christ, which cleanses from all sin.
5. I notice now that as soon as this second bird was dipped in the blood of the first bird, the priest unloosed it, and it was free–free of wing and free of foot. It could whet its beak on any tree-branch it chose; it could pick the grapes of any vineyard it chose. It was free. A type of our souls after we have been washed in the blood of the Lamb. We can go where we will. We can do what we will. You say, Had you better not qualify that? No; for I remember in conversion the will is changed, and the man will not will that which is wrong.
6. The next thing I noticed about this bird, when it was loosed–and that is the main idea–is, that it flow away. Which way did it go? When you let a bird loose from your grasp which way does it fly? Up. What are wings for? To fly with. We should be going heavenward. That is the suggestion. But I know that we have a great many drawbacks. You had them yesterday, or the day before; and although you want to be going heavenward, you are constantly discouraged. But, I suppose, when that bird went out of the priests hands it went by inflections–sometimes stooping. A bird does not shoot directly up–but this is the motion of a bird. So the soul soars towards God, rising up in love, and sometimes depressed by trial. It does not always go just in the direction it would like to go. But the main course is right. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
Freedom and exultation of the restored life
Alas for any poor beguiled soul that turns away in scorn of the glorious gospel of the blessed God! Ye mistake it who regard it as a summons to a slavish and sorrowful life. It is a great voice out of heaven crying, Come up hither. It is a call of the radiant dayspring as it bursts on the poor bird nestling in the withering grass, revealing the grandeurs of the everlasting firmament, that it may fly–fly–fly! Let me tell you again my old story of the eagle. For many months it pined and drooped in its cage, and seemed to have forgotten that it was of the lineage of the old plumed kings of the forest and the mountain; and its bright eye faded, and its strong wings drooped, and its kingly crest was bowed, and its plumes were torn and soiled amid the bars and dust of its prison-house. So in pity of its forlorn life we carried its cage out to the open air, and broke the iron wire and flung wide the lowly door; and slowly, falteringly, it crept forth to the sultry air of that cloudy summer noon and looked listlessly about it. But just then, from a rift in an overhanging cloud, a golden sunbeam flashed upon the scene. And it was enough. Then it lifted its royal crest, the dim eye blazed again, the soiled plumes unfolded and rustled, the strong wings moved themselves, with a rapturous cry it sprang heavenward. Higher, higher, in broader, braver circles it mounted toward the firmament, and we saw it no more as it rushed through the storm-clouds and soared to the sun. And would, O ye winged spirits! who dream and pine in this poor earthly bondage, that only one ray from the blessed Sun of Righteousness might fall on you this hour! for then would there be the flash of a glorious eye, and a cry of rapture, and a sway of exulting wings, as another redeemed and risen spirit sprang heavenward unto God! (C. Wadsworth, D. D.)
Blood-washed Christians
It is said in Germany, of one Prince Henry, when a little boy, that he had a great aversion to his bath. He didnt like it, and cried and squealed every morning when the time for his ablutions came round. One morning, to his very great pleasure, the nurse said he need not have it, and he soon took to showing to the other children how he had conquered the nurse to his royal mothers aggravation. He went out for a walk later in the day, and when he entered the palace gates on the return journey, the sentinel at that point offered him no salute, and that had never happened before. Being a prince he was greatly respected, and felt proud of the salute of the soldiers. Coming up to the palace door, there the soldier stood on guard, but no salute was given. The little boy went up to the stalwart sentinel quite angry, and said, Do you know who I am? . . . Oh, yes, Prince Henry, but we never salute unwashed princes. He never said anything in reply, but passed quietly into the palace, and the next morning he took his bath as required. They did not salute unwashed princes, and the world does not salute unwashed Christian:.. You are a royal blood-washed prince if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and the world will take knowledge of you if you have been with Jesus, taking knowledge of Christ in you the hope of glory. (J. Spencer.)
Appropriate return for the Saviours blood-shedding
In an Italian hospital was a severely wounded soldier. A lady visitor spoke to him, dressed his wounds, smoothed his pillow, and made him all right for the day. When leaving she took a bouquet of flowers, and laid it beside his head. The soldier, with his pale face and eyes full of tears, looked up, and said: That is too much kindness. She was a lady with a true Italian heart, and looking back to the soldier, she quietly replied, No, not too much for one drop of Italian blood. Shall we not freely own that the consecration of all our powers of body and spirit is not too much to give in return for the shedding of our Emmanuels blood on our behalf? (S. S. Chronicle.)
Christian consecration
Did you ever hear of Hedley Vicars, that good soldier? He was once reading the Bible, and accidentally–he was not religious then, I believe–accidentally he happened to come upon the verse–The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. Be thought, Is that true? Is that true to me? Does the blood of Jesus Christ wash out all my sin? Then I resolve I will henceforth live as a man who has been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. A noble resolve! Remember it– I will live as a man ought to live who has been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. How is a man to live who has been washed in the blood of Christ? That was a noble resolve! (John Vaughan.)
Hyssop.–
A sermon to children on hyssop
(Lev 14:4.) Text chosen to illustrate one simple truth. A very little and insignificant thing may be used for very important work. Of this hyssop the Jews were to make a sort of brush to sprinkle the door-posts with. It was but a little plant, for of Solomon it is said, He spake of trees, from the cedar-tree even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall. It is a short-stemmed plant, growing in crevices like the ferns in our walls. It is bristly, and so suitable for making into a brush. It is bitter, and so it was thought to have cleansing properties; and, therefore, the Psalmist prays, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean.
1. God uses little things for His work. True He uses the great cedar for making His temple, and the acacia boards for His tabernacle; but He also uses the little hyssop. Children are but little things, and yet the Lord needs and uses them. Illustration: Naamans maid. Children at our Lords triumphal entry. The nurse who influenced the good Lord Shaftesbury.
2. God chooses the little things He wants to use. There are many little plants besides the hyssop; but only that one was chosen for this particular work. There are many sorts of grass, but only one, with specially interlacing roots, is used to keep up the great dams that hold back the sea in Holland. God will find out some particular work for each one of us; and all through life, as well as now, our joy will be to do what He finds for us to do.
3. God expects us to put something of our own into our service. The hyssop had something of its own. It put it into its work when it was used to soothe Christs pain on the Cross. It is not enough just to do right, we must try to do right earnestly, skilfully, cheerfully, prettily: putting our own best selves into the doing. We are to be Gods agents, but we must never forget this–He would have us put our love, our goodwill, our abilities, and our happy spirit, into all His work.
If he be poor.–
Provision for the poor
The poor man is often overlooked. There is always a strong tendency in the more favoured classes to pass him by, and to forget, if not to despise him. But God does not forget him. The directions for his particular case are just as special and authoritative as any contained in this ritual. The Lord would thus assure him of His care–that He feels for him the same deep interest as for others, and brings atonement equally within his reach. There is a common level in the Divine administrations, upon which the rich and poor meet together, and the Lord is the Maker of them all. The poor are His children, as well as the rich. He anointed His Son Jesus, to preach the gospel to them. And the most neglected and down-trodden child of want has just as good a right to cleansing and heaven, and may count as much upon the sympathy and grace of God, as his wealthy neighbour. If he cannot get three lambs, he is just as welcome and acceptable with one lamb and two doves. The poor widows mite cast into the treasury of the Lord receives a higher commendation than all the costly donations of the wealthy. Mary, with her two young pigeons is just as completely cleansed as she who could add thereto a lamb of a year old. But although the law favoured the leper who was poor it did not exempt him. It accommodated the burden to his strength, but it did not remove it. If he could not bring three lambs he was still bound to bring one lamb and two doves. If he could not get three deals of flour one deal had to be forthcoming. There are sore, people who make poverty a virtue, and claim exemption from everything because they are poor. But Gods commands are upon the poor as well as upon those more favoured in earthly possessions. He does not excuse them because they are indigent. They are sinners as well as other men, and must be cleansed by the same processes. There is no more merit in being poor than in being rich. Poverty cannot save a man. Beggars may go down to eternal death as well as millionaires. There is often as much crime in lags as in purple and fine linen. All classes are infected, and all classes must have recourse to the blood of the Lamb and receive upon them the same blood of sprinkling, and the same consecrating oil of the Spirit. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
Such as he can get.–
According to ability
He shalt offer. That is the law. But he shall offer only such as he can get. That is the mercy. But in mercy there is a law. Pity is not unruly, out of harmony with eternal righteousness and truth; tears are part of the Divine economy, as well as constellations. See how everywhere in the holy Book we find judgment and mercy, law and love, discipline and rest of soul. Christianity is a yoke, a burden, but light and easy. Here is the considerateness of God even in law. The law is not cast-iron; the law is not an expression of arbitrary will. The law rises high as heaven, and yet it stoops as lowly as human infirmity and need. The next verse is even more explicit in its tenderness; Lev 14:31 begins, Even such as he is able to get. The emphasis is on the word able; all the meaning is to be found in that word. Not, such as he can casually pick up; not, such as may happen to come in his way at the moment; that is not law, that is folly, h thought of that kind would wreck the order and unity of creation. How very different is the instruction or injunction, Even such as he is able to get–after he has walked ten miles, after he has done the very best in his power, after he has strained his thought to the agony of anxiety; then if his offering, how poor soever it be, shall prove to be the very best of his ability, it shall go right up into heaven and be accepted there as if it were a kings offering, without spot or blemish, without infirmity of age, or without sign of unequal conflict. Here, then, is unity combined with diversity. If you bring a thousand pounds, it may be much, it may be nothing. If you bring the smallest coin of the realm, which indeed is no coin at all but a mere token, if it be all you can do, if it be such as you are able to get, it is a mountain of fine gold and there is hardly room for such a gift in heaven. What a variety of offering may be found on the Christian altar! There is a great offering of gold. Some men have nothing but gold to give, but they give it with both hands, they give it with a blessing; they send their love with it, and love doubles every gift. Here is a great offering of work; morning, noon, and night the offerer is wondering what he can do next. All his time is Gods; he will accept any position that may be given to him. He does not elect his own place, he simply tells what his faculty is, and he is willing to give the whole of that faculty twelve hours in the day to the service of Christ. Here is a great offering of music; here is a leading voice, here is a spiritual interest in that sweet department of public worship; the voice is given, all that the voice means is joyously contributed; the giver says, I would give more if I could, but this is all I have been able to get, take it, O Christ, it is given in Thy name; receive it all. Here is a great offering of home-service. That home-church has never had its history written. The history of the home-church never can be put into words. It is the great church, it is the church out of which all other churches are cut, like palaces out of the solid rocks. Palaces owe themselves to the great quarries of the earth; they are not select, dainty, specially-jewelled stone; the great cathedrals all came out of the quarry. And the home-church is, if it may be so expressed without roughness, the quarry, the stone bed, out of which all the other churches are built, though they be called minsters and temples and cathedrals. What a great offering there is of love. Love has no hours. Love never entered into a union or a federation for the purpose of seeing how little it could do and how much it could get. Love never begins, because it never ceases. Such as he can get. Nor is this the only phrase that indicates the tenderness of law. In Lev 14:21 of this very chapter we read, And if he be poor, and cannot get so much; then, &c. We need not ask if this book is an inspired book. The righteousness, the tenderness, meet so uniquely and cooperate so perfectly that there must be more than human thought in all these economic and considerate arrangements. Points of this kind are the true arguments for inspiration. If he be poor, and cannot get so much; then, &c. Thus God makes room at the altar for the poor man, and any altar that makes room for the poor, stands on earth, but reaches up to heaven. By this sign know ye that ye are in front of Gods altar. Such as he can get often means nothing more than, Such as God has given him. What have we that we have not received? God orders the business of men. If men would recognise this they would be quieter and more thankful. There is a sense in which we can all do more. What is that sense? It is only true in so far as it proceeds out of the deeper doctrine that we can all be more. This is a question of quality; this a question of moral capacity. The great thing in this Christian education and discipline is to make the man himself more, his quality finer, his sensitiveness more exquisite, his consciousness of indebtedness to God profounder and livelier. We shall never have any revival of hand-action that is worth anything until we have a revival of heart-life, heart-love, heart-faith. Let us pray for increase of heart. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Not into the priests house, but to some place without the camp or city, Lev 13:46, which the priest shall appoint.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2, 3. law of the leper in the day ofhis cleansingThough quite convalescent, a leper was notallowed to return to society immediately and at his own will. Themalignant character of his disease rendered the greatest precautionsnecessary to his re-admission among the people. One of the priestsmost skilled in the diagnostics of disease [GROTIUS],being deputed to attend such outcasts, the restored leper appearedbefore this official, and when after examination a certificate ofhealth was given, the ceremonies here described were forthwithobserved outside the camp.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
This shall be the law of the leper, in the day of his cleansing,…. Or the rules, rites, ceremonies, and sacrifices to be observed therein. Jarchi says, from hence we learn that they were not to purify a leper in the night:
he shall be brought unto the priest: not into the camp, or city, or house, where the priest was, for till he was cleansed he could not be admitted into either; besides, the priest is afterwards said to go forth out of the camp to him; but he was to be brought pretty near the camp or city, where the priest went to meet him. As the leper was an emblem of a polluted sinner, the priest was a type of Christ, to whom leprous sinners must be brought for cleansing; they cannot come of themselves to him, that is, believe in him, except it be given unto them; or they are drawn with the powerful and efficacious grace of God, by which souls are brought to Christ, and enabled to believe in him; not that they are brought against their wills, but being drawn with the cords of love, and through the power of divine grace, sweetly operating upon their hearts, they move towards him with all readiness and willingness, and cast themselves at his feet, saying, as the leper that came to Christ, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean”, Mt 8:2 Mr 1:40; and it is grace to allow them to come near him, and amazing goodness in him to receive and cleanse them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2 This shall be the law of the leper. Moses now treats of the manner in which those who were cured of leprosy were to be cleansed and restored. Thus far he had shewn whom the priest was to admit into the holy congregation, and account to be clean; he now prescribes the rite of expiation, whereby the people might learn how greatly God abominates the uncleanness, which He commands to be purified by a solemn propitiation; and also that he who is healed may acknowledge that he is rescued from death by God’s special blessing, and may in future be more diligent in seeking to be pure. For there were two parts in the sacrifice here demanded-purification and thanksgiving. But we must ever keep in view the object which I have stated in the last chapter, that the Israelites were instructed by this ceremony to serve God in chastity and purity, and to keep far away from those defilements, whereby religion would be profaned. Since, then, leprosy was a kind of pollution, God was unwilling that those who were cured of it should be received into the holy congregation, (13) except after the offering of a sacrifice; as if the priest reconciled them after excommunication. It will now be well to discuss the points which are worthy of consideration. The office of cleansing is imposed on the priest; yet he is at the same time forbidden to cleanse any except those who were already pure and clean. In this, on the one hand, God claims for Himself the honor of the cure, lest men should assume it; and also establishes the discipline which He would have to reign in His Church. To make the matter clearer, it belongs to God only to forgive sins; what, then, remains to man, except to be the witness and herald of the grace which He confers? God’s minister can, therefore, absolve none whom God has not before absolved. In sum, absolution is not in the power or will of man: the minister only sustains an inferior part, to endorse God’s judgment, or rather to proclaim God’s sentence. Hence that remarkable expression of Isaiah, “I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions, O Israel, and none but me. ” (14) (Isa 43:25.) In which sense, too, God everywhere promises by the prophets that the people shall be clean, when He shall have cleansed them. Meanwhile, however, this does not prevent those who are called to the office of teaching from purging the uncleanness of the people in a certain peculiar way. For, since faith alone purifies the heart, in so far as it receives the testimony which God proffers by the mouth of man, the minister who testifies that we are reconciled to God, is justly reckoned to take away our pollution. This expiation is still in force, though the ceremony has long ceased to be in use. But, since the spiritual healing, which we receive by faith, proceeds from the mere grace of God, the ministry of man does not at all detract from His glory. Let us, then, remember that these two things are perfectly consistent with each other, that God is the sole author of our purity; and yet that the method, which He uses for our justification, must not on that account be neglected. And this is properly referred to discipline, that whosoever has been once cast out of the holy congregation by public authority, must not be received again except upon professing penitence and a new life. We must observe, too, that this jurisdiction was given to the priests not only on the ground that they represented Christ, but also in respect to the ministry, which we have in common with them.
(13) “ Rentrassent au rang de ses enfans;” should be restored to the rank of His children. — Fr.
(14) The words in italics seem to be added paraphrastically by C.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) This shall be the law of the leper.That is, the manner in which an Israelite cured of his leprosy shall be purified and restored to the communion of the sanctuary on the day when he is pronounced clean.
He shall be brought unto the priest.He is to be conducted from his place of seclusion (see Lev. 13:46) to an appointed place on the borders of the camp. It was this coming to the priest to which Christ referred when He said to the leper whom He had healed, Go, show thyself to the priest, and ofter the gift that Moses commanded (Mat. 8:4).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. He shall be brought unto the priest Here is intimated the intervention of a third party, a mediator, to bring the case unto the knowledge of the priest. The Holy Spirit draws penitent sinners to Jesus, the cleansing Priest. When he healed lepers in his earthly ministry he sent them to the priests, that their office might be honoured, their sacrificial perquisites secured to them, and the cure be authenticated by their endorsement.
The priest shall go forth The leper was forbidden to come into the camp until he had been officially pronounced cleansed. Jesus descended from a holy heaven to cleanse and lead once leprous souls from earth to glory.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Law of The Skin-Diseased In The Day Of His Cleansing ( Lev 14:2-20 )
Lev 14:2-4
“This shall be the law of the skin-diseased in the day of his cleansing, He shall be brought to the priest, and the priest shall go forth out of the camp, and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of suspicious skin disease be healed in the diseased person, then shall the priest command to take for him who is to be cleansed two living clean birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop.”
The first point here is the expectancy that some would recover from their suspicious skin disease. In the mercy of God it was not necessarily to be seen as the end. And then the person could send a message to the priest claiming healing. He would have been living alone outside the camp, probably provided with assistance by friends and relatives, who would, however, beware of coming too close. But now they could be messengers of the joyous news. He was healed. His skin disease had subsided.
They would hasten to the priests who would send one of their number out of the camp to check out the true situation. We have an illustration of this in Mar 1:44 where Jesus told the leper whom He had healed to show himself to the priests and make his offerings as demanded in the Law of Moses.
The priest would approach the hopefully no longer diseased man and would examine him in accordance with the criteria laid down in the previous chapter, and if he was satisfied that the man was truly healed he would command the correct procedures to begin. ‘Then shall the priest command to take for him who is to be cleansed two living clean birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop.’ This is the first stage in the process.
“This shall be the law of the skin-diseased in the day of his cleansing.” The procedures were strictly laid down. For this phrase compare Lev 11:46; Lev 12:7; Lev 13:59; Lev 14:32; Lev 14:54; Lev 14:57; Lev 15:32 also Lev 6:9 to Lev 7:37; Num 5:29; Num 6:13; Num 6:21; Num 19:14. We note that included in his cleansing are all the offerings described in detail in Leviticus 1-7. He is coming from the most appalling of conditions to total restoration by the grace of God. But first there is to be a unique ceremony.
Lev 14:5
“And the priest shall command to kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water.”
Two ‘living clean birds’ had been called for and now one was to be killed in an earthen vessel in which there was water taken from a spring. The water was to be totally pure, ‘running water’, coming from unspoiled nature. The clean bird (it was not just any bird, which confirms its sacrificial intent) would be killed in such a way that the blood mingled with the water.
The killing was a type of sacrifice, almost certainly for atonement and purification, a preliminary type of purification for sin offering. It stresses that the man’s healing and cleansing and re-acceptance can only take place through the shedding of blood. It is not complete for it is not offered on the altar (which it could not be, for until this was done the man could not enter the camp). But it was the first stage before he could enter into the camp. He could not enter the camp without some purification through the shedding of blood.
Lev 14:6-7
“As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird which was killed over the running water, and he shall sprinkle on him who is to be cleansed from the suspicious skin disease seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let go the living bird into the open countryside,”
Then the living bird which remained, together with the cedar wood, the scarlet and the hyssop will be dipped in the blood of the bird which was killed over running water, and the blood of the dead bird would be sprinkled by means of the hyssop and the scarlet wool seven times over the man who was being cleansed.
Comparison with Lev 14:51 demonstrates that they are at the same time dipped in the water, for the blood and water will have mingled.
The sevenfold sprinkling was an indication of the total application of the blood (compare Lev 4:6; Lev 4:17; Lev 8:11; Lev 16:19; Number 19:4), and was used only on very solemn occasions.
The hyssop was a plant that absorbed liquid and would be the main agent in the sprinkling. The cedar wood probably signified long and permanent life ahead, for the cedar was famed for its long life. It may also signify that he was ‘standing tall’, with his life now having again become valuable and useful. It is possible also that the hyssop was tied to it with the scarlet wool to make a ‘sprinkler’, but see Num 19:6 where it was an essential part of the ceremony. The scarlet was a reminder of the blood shed so that all could see that it was sprinkling blood. The living bird signified a new release, and the total removal of all the man’s past uncleanness away from the camp. Its release should be compared with Lev 16:21-22. It would thus seem to signify that the healed man’s sins which had been responsible for his disease, along with his disease, were now seen as despatched into ‘the open country’ so that he would no more be troubled with his disease. Now he could enter the camp, but he was still a long way from being able to come into the presence of Yahweh and become fully acceptable to Him.
Lev 14:8
“And he who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and bathe himself in water, and he shall be clean. And after that he shall come into the camp, but shall dwell outside his tent seven days.”
The man was then to remove all the earthiness and defilement of living outside the camp. He had to wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and thoroughly wash himself, before he could enter the camp. But even then he could not go to his own tent. He was not yet purified. He was still, as it were, ‘on probation’. It removed from him all outward uncleanness including that from contact with other skin diseased people. The benefits hygienically are quite clear, but to the priests and the Israelites it was only his first step towards being ‘cleansed’. He was not yet ‘clean’. It may be that this symbolised his first step in being reborn into Israel. Then he had to wait there for seven days.
We should note that the washing of himself comes last. We must not seize on that as the main picture, it is part of a whole. It is a total process of removal of all dirt, of all earthiness and hopefully of all transmittable ‘uncleanness’, ready for the coming process of cleansing.
Lev 14:9
“And it shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off, and he shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and he shall be clean.”
Then on the seventh day, after a divinely complete period in which he would no doubt be meditating on Yahweh’s deliverance, and rejoicing in the fact that he was once more in the holy camp of Israel, he had to shave all the hair of his head, and shave his beard and his eyebrows, all his hair. This was presumably so that it would be quite clear that no trace of disease remained. It may also have been because hair might have been seen as able to pass on uncleanness like the hyssop could pass on the blood. It was certainly hygienically sensible. Then he had to wash his clothes with water and wash himself, after which he would be ‘clean’, ready for the cleansing process. Clean here probably means again declared clean from his skin disease after examination (Lev 13:6; Lev 13:13; Lev 13:17 etc), for he has yet to be cleansed before Yahweh (Lev 14:11). Note again that his bathing is only a part of the process, and not the most important part. It is part of a total removal of dirt and earthiness and uncleanness.
We can compare how the new born babe has to wait seven days, before on the eighth day being circumcised (Lev 12:2-3). This man was also being reborn. He would be, as it were, ‘born again’ on the eighth day.
Lev 14:10
“And on the eighth day he shall take two he-lambs without blemish, and one ewe-lamb a year old without blemish, and three tenth parts of an ephah of fine flour for a grain offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil.”
The greatness of his deliverance is expressed by the fact that he must bring all four offerings, a guilt offering, a purification for sin offering, a whole burnt offering and a grain offering, together with oil for anointing. These are made up of two he-lambs and a ewe lamb, all ‘perfect’ or without blemish, grain and oil. The grain offering is to be mingled with oil as usual, which suggests that it was to be offered along with the whole burnt offering (contrast Lev 5:11). The young age of the sacrifices stresses the new beginning (compare Lev 9:2-3).
Thus he requires the removal of specific guilt for any particular sin of which he may have been guilty, the purification for sin which will bring overall forgiveness and atonement, a rededication of himself in praise and thanksgiving and tribute to Yahweh, again accompanied by the making of atonement, and the offering of praise and gratitude for the fact that he would now once again receive God’s blessing in the receiving from God of grain and oil. He was again a whole man.
Lev 14:11
“And the priest who cleanses him shall set the man who is to be cleansed, and those things, before Yahweh, at the door of the tent of meeting.”
The priest who is performing the cleansing will then set the man and all his offerings ‘before Yahweh’ at the door of the tent of meeting, that is, they will be brought into the tabernacle court where the altar of burnt offering is. This was only made possible because of the offering of the birds eight days before.
Lev 14:12
“And the priest shall take one of the he-lambs, and offer him for a guilt offering, and the log of oil, and wave them for a wave-offering before Yahweh,”
He then offers one of the he-lambs (young rams) as a guilt offering. This demonstrates quite clearly that in the mind of all and in the eyes of God his disease is linked with guilt for some particular sin, without necessarily defining it too closely. It may also be that he is admitting to the fact that while he has been cast out he has not been able to bring to Yahweh His dues (Lev 5:15-17). At the same time the ‘log’ (almost a pint, a little more than a litre) of oil is waved before Yahweh along with the flesh of the guilt offering. They are Yahweh’s.
“Offer him for a guilt offering.” We should note here that the methods previously described in Leviticus 1-7 were no doubt carried into effect here, before being followed by the special symbolism connected only with this ceremony.
Lev 14:13
“And he shall kill the he-lamb in the place where they kill the purification for sin offering and the whole burnt offering, in the place of the sanctuary. For as the purification for sin offering is the priest’s, so is the guilt offering. It is most holy.”
The guilt offering is slain in the place where the purification for sin offering and the whole burnt offering would be slain, to the north of the altar, in the place of the sanctuary (Lev 1:11). It shares with them in its seriousness. For as with the purification for sin offering, its flesh belongs to the priest, it is most holy.
Lev 14:14
“And the priest shall take of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on the tip of the right ear of the one who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot.”
We may probably presume that the blood is first applied to the side of the altar of burnt offering, and thrown at its base to make atonement (Lev 5:9). It is involved in the purification of a sinner. The blood of the guilt offering is then put on his extremities, the tip of his right ear, his right thumb and his right big toe. By this the whole of the newly received man is made once more fit to serve Yahweh, to hear His voice, to do His will and to walk in His ways. It is a new beginning.
Lev 14:15-16
“And the priest shall take of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand, and the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before Yahweh,”
A similar pattern is followed with the oil. It is poured by the priest into his left hand and then he dips his right finger in the oil and sprinkles it seven times before Yahweh. This is a presentation of the oil in a divinely perfect way for Yahweh to authenticate it for its use. It is directly connecting Yahweh with what is to follow.
Lev 14:17
“And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put on the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot, on the blood of the guilt offering,”
Then the rest of the oil is used to be put on the tip of the right ear, the right thumb and the right big toe which had previously had the blood of the guilt offering applied to them. Having been forgiven with regard to all his activities he is now set apart for Yahweh, the ear for hearing God’s will, the hand for doing God’s will and the toe for walking in God’s way. Anointing above all signifies being set apart to God. There are similarities between this ceremony and those of the setting apart to God of the High Priest and the priests (Leviticus 8).
The right hand and the right foot will have been seen as indicating a man’s supreme strength and ability. Most were right handed. The thumb and the toe were recognised as being essential to a man’s full ability. If you wanted to disable someone permanently you cut of his thumbs and his toes (Jdg 1:6-7).
(While anointing is sometimes accompanied by the Holy Spirit it is not necessarily so. There is never any connection between oil and the Holy Spirit in the Pentateuch. nor is there any suggestion later that anointed priests received the Holy Spirit. Anointing represented being set apart to God for a holy purpose. It would necessarily result in the Holy Spirit coming on someone when it was necessary for the fulfilment of his anointed function but it was not seen as inevitable. Of course in this present age any anointing would be accompanied by the Holy Spirit precisely because this is the age of the Spirit).
Lev 14:18
“And the rest of the oil which is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed, and the priest shall make atonement for him before Yahweh.”
Then what remains of the oil is poured on his head. He is now completely set apart in the whole of his being, from head to toe, even to his furthest extremity. After this the priest sets about making atonement for him.
Lev 14:19
“And the priest shall offer the purification for sin offering, and make atonement for him who is to be cleansed because of his uncleanness, and afterwards he shall kill the whole burnt offering,”
For after this the purification for sin offering is offered, in order to make atonement for the one who is to be cleansed, ‘because of his uncleanness’. He is being purified from sin. This is then followed by the whole burnt offering.
Lev 14:20
“And the priest shall offer the whole burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar, and the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.”
The whole burnt offering and the grain offering are then also offered to make atonement. The whole is needed in order that the man might not only be cleansed and purified, but also atoned for completely. He is now back in full fellowship with God as one of His people, with his past wholly behind him, ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven. He is at one with God and with God’s people.
This whole vivid picture is a glorious illustration of the salvation of a sinner. It commences with his state as one who is sinful and defiled, diseased and disfigured by sin. One who is unclean and cast out. It illustrates that he can only come to God through the blood of Christ, and the all sufficiency of that blood, for Christ is slain bird, guilt offering, purification for sin offering and whole burnt offering all in one. Until that is applied he is not ‘clean’. The hyssop symbolises the fact that His blood must be applied to us by His hand, as we come for cleansing. The shaving and the washing symbolises that the whole of the old life must be put aside and replaced by ‘ceasing to do evil, learning to do well’ (Isa 1:16). The oil symbolises our being totally set apart to Him. The grain offering stresses that for those who become His life begins again, that they may once again rejoice in the grain and the oil. It also symbolises the fact that we who become His priests may partake of Him, as the priests partake of the guilt offering, the sin offering and the grain offering. The live bird stresses that our sins are carried away never to return. It may also be seen as a symbol of the everlasting life that we receive, as one side of the bird partnership dies and the other is released alive, signifying life and freedom through death. So do we see what our Saviour has accomplished for us when we were so unworthy.
There are other parallels also that we can see here. The priest went to the diseased person outside the camp. So did Jesus offer Himself for us outside the camp (Heb 13:10-13), that we may enter the true camp, not the camp of an earthly Israel but the ‘continuing city’ which is to come (Heb 13:14). The second parallel is that the whole of the cleansing and redeeming work was done by the priest. In the same way we recognise that in our sinfulness we can do nothing for ourselves, He must do all. Salvation is the work of Christ from start to finish.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Lev 14:2. He shall be brought unto the priest The priests, being instructed in the diagnostics of the leprosy, are now informed, what ceremonies and sacrifices were to be used for the purification of the leper, when it appeared that his leprosy was healed. The reader will observe, what we have before remarked, that these ceremonies were not used for the purpose of healing the disorder, but for the legal purification of the leper when healed; (see Lev 14:3.) and for this reason, instead of the words cleansing and cleansed in this chapter, it would be more proper to use purifying and purified, which would be equally agreeable to the original. The leper being excluded from the camp now, as afterwards from the city, the priest was to go forth to him without the camp, and there inspect him. When our Saviour, by his omnipotent word, healed the leper, he commanded him to go, and shew himself unto the priest.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Lev 14:2 This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest:
Ver. 2. He shall be brought unto the priest. ] To teach us to go to Jesus Christ the High Priest of our profession, who healeth all our diseases. Psa 103:3 He cured the leprosy, to others altogether incurable, by a touch of his hand only. Mar 1:41 Yea, “he sent his word and healed them,” Psa 107:20 and so he doth the souls of sinners that come unto him.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the law of the leper: provides for his cleansing.
in the day = when. Compare Gen 2:17, and see App-18.
shall be brought unto the priest. Compare Mat 8:2. Mar 1:40. Luk 5:12; Luk 17:13.
brought. The leper could do nothing. He must be “brought”. The priest must go forth to him (Lev 14:3).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the law: Lev 14:54-57, Lev 13:59
in the day: Num 6:9
He shall: Mat 8:2-4, Mar 1:40-44, Luk 5:12-14, Luk 17:14
Reciprocal: Lev 14:32 – General Lev 15:32 – General Lev 22:4 – until Mat 8:4 – show Mar 1:44 – show
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Lev 14:2. He shall be brought to the priest Not to the priests tent or house, but to some place without the camp, or city, where the priest should appoint to meet him.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
14:2 This shall be the {a} law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest:
(a) Or, the ceremony which shall be used in his purgation.