Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 14:17

And of the rest of the oil that [is] in his hand shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering:

Him that is to be cleansed – Of him that has been cleansed. The significance of the act is similar to that in Lev 8:11, Lev 8:15.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

i.e. Upon the place of that blood, as it is expressed Lev 14:28, or where that blood was put, Lev 14:14; or, over and besides the blood, &c.; i.e. as the blood was put in those places, so shall the oil be.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And of the rest of the oil that [is] in his hand,…. That was either in the hand of the priest that was cleansing, or in the hand of his fellow priest; such of it as was left after some of it had been sprinkled seven times before the Lord:

shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot; signifying that these parts in the leprous sinner need to be sanctified by the grace of the Spirit of God, comparable to oil, with which all the Lord’s people are anointed, and is that unction they receive from the Holy One, their great High Priest; by this the ear is sanctified so as to hear the word, so as to understand it and mix it with faith; and the thumb of the right hand having oil put on that, may signify that the actions of good men are influenced by the Spirit of God, who works in them both to will and to do, and without whose grace they can do nothing in a spiritual manner; and the great toe of the right foot, the instrument of walking, being anointed with the same, may denote that it is through the grace of God saints have their conversation in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, and as becomes the Gospel of Christ: the oil was to be put,

upon the blood of the trespass offering; that is, upon the place of the blood of it, as in Le 14:28; which is, as the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it, the place in which he put at first the blood of the trespass offering: for the Jewish writers observe z, that the log of oil depended on the trespass offering; for if the flood of the trespass offering was not first sprinkled, the sprinkling of the oil was of no avail: this shows that the blood of Christ, is the foundation of men’s receiving the grace of the Spirit, and that it is owing to that it is bestowed upon them; the application of his grace follows redemption by the blood of Christ, who gave himself to redeem them from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works; and for whomsoever expiation is made by the blood of Christ, they are sanctified by the Spirit of Christ.

z Bartenora in Misn. Zebachim, c. 4. sect. 3.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(17) And of the rest of the oil.With the rest of the oil both priests returned to the leper, when the officiating priest put it on those parts of the convalescents body on which he had previously put blood, so that the oil now actually was upon the blood of the trespass offering, on the tip of the ear, the thumb, and the toe of the cleansed leper. (See also Lev. 14:28.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

17. Upon the blood As the oil was put upon the blood of the asham, or trespass offering, so is the blood of Christ our asham, (Isa 53:10,) the divine basis of the operations of the Holy Ghost. Hence he was not given till after Christ had been glorified by the crucifixion, (Joh 7:39; Joh 12:23; Joh 17:1,) nor in Christian experience is his peculiar office of the sanctifier fulfilled until after justification through the blood of Christ. The divine order of these blessings, prefigured by the oil upon the blood, should be carefully observed, inasmuch as all legalists are forever falling into the mistake of making sanctification the ground of justification. Whereas we are cleansed by the blood of sprinkling, and then the chief work of consecration, symbolized by the oil applied, takes place. Hence we do not consecrate to God our evil things, but our good things; we abandon our evil habits and consecrate our cleansed selves unto the Lord. Says Dean Alford, “The gift of the Spirit at and since the day of Pentecost was and is something totally distinct from any thing before that time. The first reception of him must not be illogically put in place of all his indwelling and working, which are intended,” in Joh 7:39. Thus we find here strong confirmation of the Wesleyan view of entire sanctification as a distinct work, an instantaneous “change immensely greater than that wrought when the believer was justified, and infinitely greater than any before, and than any one can conceive till he experiences it.” J. Wesley.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments