Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Leviticus 14:33
And the LORD spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
Leprosy in houses (33 53)
Nothing definite is known about these appearances on the walls of a house, which are here described as leprosy. It was regarded as a special visitation of God (Lev 14:34, ‘I put the plague’); the Jews believed that the plague was peculiar to Palestine and the chosen people, and was not found in the houses of foreigners. The owner of the house must say ‘There seemeth to me ’ ( Lev 14:35): the decision whether the house is leprous rests with the priest. The order to empty the house before the priest comes to inspect shews that there is no fear of contagion. It has been suggested that the appearances were due to damp, or decay, or the growth of some vegetable matter. The diagnosis is similar to that for leprosy in man; the remedy is to remove the stones in which the plague is, and to scrape and plaister the house. If the plague is not stayed, the house must be pulled down. The method of purification if the house be pronounced clean is the same as that prescribed for the leper in Lev 14:4-7. Further regulations are found in Negim, chs. 12, 13.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
This section is separated from that on leprosy in clothing Lev 13:47-59 with which it would seem to be naturally connected, and is placed last of all the laws concerning leprosy, probably on account of its being wholly prospective. While the Israelites were in the wilderness, the materials of their dwellings were of nearly the same nature as those of their clothing, and would be liable to the same sort of decay. They were therefore included under the same law.
I put the plague – Yahweh here speaks as the Lord of all created things, determining their decay and destruction as well as their production. Compare Isa 45:6-7; Jon 4:7; Mat 21:20.
Lev 14:37
Hollow strakes … – Rather, depressed spots of dark green or dark red, appearing beneath (the surface of) the wall.
Lev 14:49
Cleanse the house – Strictly, purge the house from sin. The same word is used in Lev 14:52; and in Lev 14:53 it is said, and make an atonement for it. Such language is used figuratively when it is applied to things, not to persons. The leprosy in houses, the leprosy in clothing, and the terrible disease in the human body, were representative forms of decay which taught the lesson that all created things, in their own nature, are passing away, and are only maintained for their destined uses during an appointed period, by the power of Yahweh.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron,…. At the same time as the above laws were delivered concerning the leper, and the cleansing of him, or however immediately upon that; the affair of the leprosy of houses being what belonged to the priest to examine into and cleanse from:
saying; as follows.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The law concerning the leprosy of houses was made known to Moses and Aaron, as intended for the time when Israel should have taken possession of Canaan and dwell in houses. As it was Jehovah who gave His people the land for a possession, so “putting the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of their possession” is also ascribed to Him (Lev 14:34), inasmuch as He held it over them, to remind the inhabitants of the house that they owed not only their bodies but also their dwelling-places to the Lord, and that they were to sanctify these to Him. By this expression, “ I put, ” the view which Knobel still regards as probable, viz., that the house-leprosy was only the transmission of human leprosy to the walls of the houses, is completely overthrown; not to mention the fact, that throughout the whole description there is not the slightest hint of any such transmission, but the inhabitants, on the contrary, are spoken of as clean, i.e., free from leprosy, and only those who went into the house, or slept in the house after it had been shut up as suspicious, are pronounced unclean (Lev 14:46, Lev 14:47), though even they are not said to have been affected with leprosy. The only thing that can be gathered from the signs mentioned in Lev 14:37 is, that the house-leprosy was an evil which calls to mind “the vegetable formations and braid-like structures that are found on mouldering walls and decaying walls, and which eat into them so as to produce a slight depression in the surface.”
(Note: Cf. Sommer (p. 220), who says, “The crust of many of these lichens is so marvellously thin, that they simply appear as coloured spots, for the most part circular, which gradually spread in a concentric form, and can be rubbed off like dust. Some species have a striking resemblance to eruptions upon the skin. There is one genus called spiloma (spots); and another very numerous genus bears the name of lepraria.”)
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
33 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 34 When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession; 35 And he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague in the house: 36 Then the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest go into it to see the plague, that all that is in the house be not made unclean: and afterward the priest shall go in to see the house: 37 And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish, which in sight are lower than the wall; 38 Then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days: 39 And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house; 40 Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city: 41 And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place: 42 And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the house. 43 And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plastered; 44 Then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house: it is unclean. 45 And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the mortar of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place. 46 Moreover he that goeth into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the even. 47 And he that lieth in the house shall wash his clothes; and he that eateth in the house shall wash his clothes. 48 And if the priest shall come in, and look upon it, and, behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house was plastered: then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. 49 And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: 50 And he shall kill the one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water: 51 And he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times: 52 And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet: 53 But he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open fields, and make an atonement for the house: and it shall be clean.
This is the law concerning the leprosy in a house. Now that they were in the wilderness they dwelt in tents, and had no houses, and therefore the law is made only an appendix to the former laws concerning the leprosy, because it related, not to their present state, but to their future settlement. The leprosy in a house is as unaccountable as the leprosy in a garment; but, if we see not what natural causes of it can be assigned, we may resolve it into the power of the God of nature, who here says, I put the leprosy in a house (v. 34), as his curse is said to enter into a house, and consume it with the timber and stones thereof, Zech. v. 4. Now, 1. It is supposed that even in Canaan itself, the land of promise, their houses might be infected with a leprosy. Though it was a holy land, this would not secure them from this plague, while the inhabitants were many of them so unholy. Thus a place and a name in the visible church will not secure wicked people from God’s judgments. 2. It is likewise taken for granted that the owner of the house will make the priest acquainted with it, as soon as he sees the least cause to suspect the leprosy in his house: It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague in the house, v. 35. Sin, where that reigns in a house, is a plague there, as it is in a heart. And masters of families should be aware and afraid of the first appearance of gross sin in their families, and put away the iniquity, whatever it is, far from their tabernacles, Job xxii. 23. They should be jealous with a godly jealousy concerning those under their charge, lest they be drawn into sin, and take early advice, if it but seem that there is a plague in the house, lest the contagion spread, and many be by it defiled and destroyed. 3. If the priest, upon search, found that the leprosy had got into the house, he must try to cure it, by taking gout that part of the building that was infected, Lev 14:40; Lev 14:41. This was like cutting off a gangrened limb, for the preservation of the rest of the body. Corruption should be purged out in time, before it spread; for a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off. 4. If yet it remained in the house, the whole house must be pulled down, and all the materials carried to the dunghill, Lev 14:44; Lev 14:45. The owner had better be without a dwelling than live in one that was infected. Note, The leprosy of sin, if it be obstinate under the methods of cure, will at last be the ruin of families and churches. If Babylon will not be healed, she shall be forsaken and abandoned, and (according to the law respecting the leprous house), they shall not take of her a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations,Jer 51:9; Jer 51:26. The remainders of sin and corruption in our mortal bodies are like this leprosy in the house; after all our pains in scraping and plastering, we shall never be quite clear of it, till the earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved and taken down; when we are dead we shall be free from sin, and not till then, Rom. vi. 7. 5. If the taking out the infected stones cured the house, and the leprosy did not spread any further, then the house must be cleansed; not only aired, that it might be healthful, but purified from the ceremonial pollution, that it might be fit to be the habitation of an Israelite. The ceremony of its cleansing was much the same with that of cleansing a leprous person, v. 49, c. This intimated that the house was smitten for the man’s sake (as bishop Patrick expresses it), and he was to look upon himself as preserved by divine mercy. The houses of Israelites are said to be dedicated (Deut. xx. 5), for they were a holy nation, and therefore they ought to keep their houses pure from all ceremonial pollutions, that they might be fit for the service of that God to whom they were devoted. And the same care should we take to reform whatever is amiss in our families, that we and our houses may serve the Lord see Gen. xxxv. 2. Some have thought the leprosy in the house was typical of the idolatry of the Jewish church, which did strangely cleave to it; for, though some of the reforming kings took away the infected stones, yet still it broke out again, till by the captivity of Babylon God took down the house, and carried it to an unclean land; and this proved an effectual cure of their inclination to idols and idolatrous worships.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verses 33-42:
This text provides the manner of determining “leprosy” of a house, and its cleansing.
At the time this law was given, Israel lived in tents, not in houses. This law provided for the time when they would possess the Land, and live in permanent houses in it.
The “leprosy” of the house was likely a fungus, in appearance like leprosy in a human being. The exact nature of this plague is unknown.
The owner of the house first reported to the priest his suspicion of a plague in it. The priest then ordered all contents of the house to be removed before he entered for his investigation. He then examined the plague, and ordered the house shut and quarantined for seven days. If at the end of this time the plague had spread, the affected stones were removed from the walls, and deposited in an “unclean” area outside the city. The plaster was scraped from the walls and the scrapings were disposed of in the same manner as were the stones. Other stones were put in the place of those removed, and the walls were re-plastered. The house then was ready for occupancy once more.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
THE LAWS CONCERNING THE LEPROSY OF HOUSES 14:3357
TEXT 14:3357
33
And Jehovah spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
34
When ye are come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession;
35
then he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, There seemeth to me to be as it were a plague in the house.
36
And the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest goeth in to see the plague, that all that is in the house be not made unclean: and afterward the priest shall go in to see the house:
37
and he shall look on the plague; and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow streaks, greenish or reddish, and the appearance thereof be lower than the wall;
38
then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days.
39
And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look; and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house;
40
then the priest shall command that they take out the stones in which the plague is, and cast them into an unclean place without the city:
41
and he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the mortar, that they scrape off, without the city into an unclean place;
42
and they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the house.
43
And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken out the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plastered;
44
then the priest shall come in and look; and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house: it is unclean.
45
And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the mortar of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place.
46
Moreover he that goeth into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the even.
47
And he that lieth in the house shall wash his clothes; and he that eateth in the house shall wash his clothes.
48
And if the priest shall come in, and look, and, behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house was plastered; then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed.
49
And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:
50
and he shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water:
51
and he shall take the cedar-wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times:
52
and he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar-wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet:
53
but he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open field: so shall he make atonement for the house; and it shall be clean.
54
This is the law for all manner of plague of leprosy, and for a scall,
55
and for the leprosy of a garment, and for a house,
56
and for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright spot;
57
to teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean: this is the law of leprosy.
THOUGHT QUESTIONS 14:3357
300.
Now Aaron is again included in the address of God. Why?
301.
Are we to conclude from Lev. 14:34 that God expected them to soon be in Canaan?
302.
We must necessarily accept the fact that God visited some houses with leprosy as a punishment. Discuss.
303.
Why the hesitancy on the part of the owner of the house to identify leprosy?
304.
From the fact that items of furniture could be removed from a home with leprosy and yet be considered clean would seem to indicate leprosy was not contagious. Is this true?
305.
What are the symptoms of the disease in the house?
306.
What will happen during the seven days to decide the case of leprosy?
307.
Who is the they of Lev. 14:40? Why take the stones out? Why not scrape them?
308.
Why did God send this plague upon these people?
309.
In fourteen days the whole house could be torn down and removed. Under what conditions?
310.
During the quarantine of the house certain penalties are attached to those who are in it. What are they?
311.
It does seem strange to make a sacrifice to cleanse the houseit is inanimate and has no choice. Discuss.
PARAPHRASE 14:3357
Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, When you arrive in the land of Canaan which I have given you, and I place leprosy in some house there, then the owner of the house shall come and report to the priest, It seems to me that there may be leprosy in my house! The priest shall order the house to be emptied before he examines it, so that everything in the house will not be declared contaminated if he decides that there is leprosy there. If he finds greenish or reddish streaks in the walls of the house which seem to be beneath the surface of the wall, he shall close up the house for seven days, and return the seventh day to look at it again. If the spots have spread in the wall, then the priest shall order the removal of the spotted section of wall, and the material must be thrown into a defiled place outside the city. Then he shall order the inside walls of the house scraped thoroughly, and the scrapings dumped in a defiled place outside the city. Other stones shall be brought to replace those that have been removed, new mortar used, and the house replastered. But if the spots appear again, the priest shall come again and look, and if he sees that the spots have spread, it is leprosy, and the house is defiled. Then he shall order the destruction of the houseall its stones, timbers, and mortar shall be carried out of the city to a defiled place. Anyone entering the house while it is closed shall be defiled until evening. Anyone who lies down or eats in the house shall wash his clothing. But if, when the priest comes again to look, the spots have not reappeared after the fresh plastering, then he will pronounce the house cleansed, and declare the leprosy gone. He shall also perform the ceremony of cleansing, using two birds, cedar wood, scarlet thread, and hyssop branches. He shall kill one of the birds over fresh water in an earthenware bowl, and dip the cedar wood, hyssop branch, and scarlet thread, as well as the living bird, into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water, and shall sprinkle the house seven times. In this way the house shall be cleansed. Then he shall let the live bird fly away into an open field outside the city. This is the method for making atonement for the house and cleansing it. These, then, are the laws concerning the various places where leprosy may appear: In a garment or in a house, or in any swelling in ones skin, or a scab from a burn, or a bright spot. In this way you will know whether or not it is actually leprosy. That is why these laws are given.
COMMENT 14:3357
Lev. 14:33-57 We trust by this juncture the reader of this text will conclude that we are much more interested in his knowledgeable understanding of the divine word than we are in producing another commentary among the many that are already available. For this reason it is important that all questions be answered fully; it is also important that the reader acquaint himself with the several other works on Leviticus (we hope to introduce not less than twenty-five of them). We quote here from Jamieson, Fausset and Brown (p. 96):
Leprosy in a houseThis law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, I put the leprosy, has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in His providence to be done. Assuming it to have been a natural disease, a new difficulty arises as to whether we are to consider that the house had become infected by the contagion of leprous occupiers; or that the leprosy was in the house itself. It is evident that the latter was the true state of the case, from the furniture being removed out of it on the first suspicion of the disease on the walls. Some have supposed that the name of leprosy was analogically applied to it by the Hebrews, as we speak of cancer in trees when they exhibit corrosive effects similar to what the diseased so named produces on the human body; while others have pronounced it a mural efflorescence or species of mildew on the wall apt to be produced in very damp situations, and which was followed by effects so injurious to health as well as to the stability of a house, particularly in warm countries, as to demand the attention of a legislator. Moses enjoined the priests to follow the same course and during the same period of time for ascertaining the true character of this disease as in human leprosy. If found leprous, the infected parts were to be removed. If afterwards there appeared a risk of the contagion spreading, the house was to be destroyed altogether and the materials removed to a distance. The stones were probably rough, unhewn stones, built up without cement in the manner now frequently used in fences and plastered over, or else laid in mortar. The oldest examples of architecture are of this character. The very same thing has to be done still with houses infected with mural salt. The stones covered with the nitrous incrustation must be removed, and if the infected wall is suffered to remain, it must be plastered all over anew. (4857) The priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healedThe precautions here described show that there is great danger in warm countries from the house leprosy, which was likely to be increased by the smallness and rude architecture of the houses in the early ages of the Israelitish history. As a house Could not contract any impurity in the sight of God, the atonement which the priest was to make for it must either have a reference to the sins of its occupants or to the ceremonial process appointed for its purification, the very same as that observed for a leprous person. This solemn declaration that it was clean, as well as the offering made on the occasion, was admirably calculated to make known the fact, to remove apprehension from the public mind, as well as relieve the owner from the aching suspicion of dwelling in an infected house.
FACT QUESTIONS 14:3357
334.
In what way was this law prospective?
335.
Was this or was this not a judicial infliction from heaven? Discuss.
336.
Did leprous occupants infect the house? 337. What were the symptoms of this leprosy?
338.
How cleansed?
339.
For what benefit were offerings made?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(33) And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron.Whilst the law about the cleansing of restored lepers was addressed to Moses alone (see Lev. 14:1), the regulations about leprous houses, like those with regard to leprous garments and persons, are for the same reason delivered to Moses and Aaron conjointly. (See Lev. 13:1.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
SIGNS OF LEPROSY IN A HOUSE, Lev 14:33-45.
The nature of house leprosy is a great mystery. If it proceeded from a natural cause we should expect to find the same cause productive of a like effect in modern Palestine. But travellers report no instances. The most prevalent theory, having a slight scriptural basis (see Lev 14:34, note) is, that it was a supernatural plague. This is the opinion of Patrick, Aberbanel, and many rabbins. The author of Sepher Cosri says, “God inflicted the plague of leprosy upon houses and garments as a punishment for lesser sins, and when the parties continued to multiply transgressions, it invaded their bodies.” Maimonides specifies the sin of which this is the punishment to be an evil tongue. The Targum of Palestine says that the plague was because the house was “built by rapine.” Michaelis has suggested, as a natural cause, a nitrous efflorescence produced by saltpetre, or rather an acid containing it, and issuing in red spots. He cites the case of a house in Lubeck. But this does not counterbalance the absence of such phenomena in the Holy Land in modern times. Says Dr. W.M. Thomson, “I have suspected that this disease is caused by living and self-propagating animalculae; and thus I can conceive it possible that these might fasten on a wall, especially if the cement were mixed with sizing, as is now done, or other gelatinous or animal glues. Still, the most cursory reference to the best of medical works shows how little is known about the whole subject of contagion, and its propagation by fomites. One finds in them abundant and incontestable instances of the propagation of many terrible constitutional maladies, in the most inexplicable manner, by garments, leather, wood, and other things, the materies morbi meantime eluding the most persevering and vigilant search, aided by every appliance of modern science, chemical or optical.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Law Of Cleansing In Respect of a Plagued House ( Lev 14:33-53 ).
Dealing with plagued garments was included after the descriptions with regard to discerning of the clean and the unclean with regard to skin diseases in 13:1-46, now dealing with plagued houses is dealt with after the descriptions of the restoration of the unclean who were healed of a skin disease. In the camp He plagued their clothes, in the land He would plague their houses.
Yet we saw in the first the first indication of hope, for the diseased person. With the garments some could be restored! Was it not then so with people? And this had indeed then led on to the description of the triumphant restoration of some of the skin diseased people.
Now we see in the second that if a whole house is diseased once they have come into the land, the whole must be destroyed. But on the other hand that in some cases, with drastic treatment, it might be restored. It would depend on the severity of the plague. It thus follows that if the whole of a man’s house is involved in evil, using the term in both senses of the word ‘house’, hope has gone, unless full restoration and rebuilding takes place.
The restoration of Israel was regularly spoken of in terms of a rebuilding (2Sa 7:13; Psa 69:35; Psa 102:16; Isa 58:12; Isa 60:10; Isa 61:4; Jer 24:6; Jer 31:4; Jer 33:7; Eze 28:26; Amo 9:11; Amo 9:14), a theme continued in the New Testament. The house would have to be destroyed and rebuilt because it would become unclean.
In view of the early Genesis theme that runs through these laws on uncleanness we are probably to see in this house that was discovered to be unclean, a reminder of Cain who ‘built a city’ (Lev 4:17). Cities always tended to be seen as ‘unclean’, they were ever illustrative of rebellion against God, and the great cities were regularly used as examples of those totally depraved. If so this passage carries the message that even the plagued city can be made clean by a rooting out of uncleanness and a rebuilding under God.
But in this example there is an even deeper import. In all the previous descriptions there has been no suggestion that it was Yahweh Who had made the person or clothing diseased. But here God specifically says, ‘If I put the plague of mould in a house.’ There is here thus an indication that in the end this, and all plague, comes from God. It is He Who forms the light and creates darkness, Who makes peace and creates catastrophe (Isa 45:7) which is then followed by the assurance of abundant salvation resulting in righteousness (Isa 45:8). But as with the curse in the Garden it is not here depicted as being directed at man, although man cannot help being involved.
Thus there is here the delicately stated reminder that behind all that happens is God. The writer had not wanted to say that every skin-diseased person had been made so by God, as though they were worse than all others, but he does want us to recognise that in fact, that, along with all else, is in the last analysis from God. Nothing can happen without it being drawn in as part of His plan, and it all happens on the basis of the principles which God has established for the running of the world. He does not shy from bringing God into the equation.
Lev 14:33
“And Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
This message too comes to both Moses and Aaron, and is specifically from Yahweh. Firstly it contains the assurance that they will come into the land of Canaan which He will give them for a possession. This is so certain that He is already declaring what will be in that day. But it then contains the warning that when they do so come into possession of the land He will be watching over them in order to plague their houses if they are unfaithful to Him, as previously their clothes had been allowed to be plagued. Like the camp the land will be holy to God. But that means that all seen as deserving of the plague will have to be cast out.
(We note that God is not said to have plagued the clothing, but is said to have plagued the houses. Was this because God was seen as having provided the clothing for man, but man (like Cain) as having provided the houses? Because clothing was seen as ‘natural’ for man, but housing was not? That housing was rather seen as being in danger of being the beginnings of man’s rebellion as he gathered into cities).
Lev 14:34
“When you are come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of mould in a house of the land of your possession,”
In a way this is an astonishing statement. In the land to be given to them by God as a possession there will be plagued houses! And when this happens they are to recognise that He has done it. It is He who will have put the plague of mould into their houses. The message is that if they misuse what God gives them to possess, it will be taken away from them. Again it is not so much a case of individual sin, but of the sin of the whole (there is no suggestion of purification for sin and guilt offerings on the altar of burnt offerings). Each plagued house will be a reminder of the sin of the whole of Israel, and of what could happen to all.
Their houses would be of stone, mud-brick, timber and plaster (compare Amo 5:11) but in many cases would simply look like a small huddle; although the more wealthy had more sophisticated houses, mainly in the western quarter so as to escape the effect of the prevailing wind. Apart from the more sophisticated cities they would usually be crowded together without much planning, with the only space being the ‘square’ in front of the town gates, and possibly a ‘street’ running round the wall, which would also have houses built on it. The houses of the poor would comprise one room, with a small courtyard. Cooking, sleeping and storage would all occur within it, and domestic animal might be kept there. The larger houses would have a main room with surrounding small rooms.
Lev 14:35
“Then he who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, There seems to me to be as it were a plague in the house.”
Once a ‘plague’ is spotted in a house, whether it be mould, mildew or rot, or whatever, the owner must go to the priest, for if the house is ‘unclean’ it affects the holiness of all. It is thus a bounden duty. There will be a temptation not to do so. A house was then, as now, a valued property. It could even be all that they had, and they would not be sure of the outcome. It would not be insured!.
Lev 14:36
“And the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest goes in to see the plague, that all that is in the house be not made unclean, and afterwards the priest shall go in to see the house,”
The priest’s first step is to command them to empty the house, for anything that is in the house once it is declared unclean, will itself be unclean. The assumption is that the plague will not really yet have taken hold. It is a merciful provision. They may lose the house, but at least not their treasured possessions.
Lev 14:37-38
“And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague is in the walls of the house with hollow streaks, greenish or reddish, and its appearance is lower than the wall, then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days.”
The priest will then examine the house. This may well involve the scraping off of some of the plaster to see how deep the plague has gone, which again makes us realise why the possessions in the house needed to be removed lest they be defiled. Scraped plaster goes everywhere. The plague that is to be condemned is one that produces greenish or reddish hollow streaks and has penetrated below the surface (is ‘lower than the wall’). We do not know what exactly this was, but it was clearly something very unpleasant and no doubt with equally unpleasant effects.
If the priest found it he would lock or seal the door and the house would be shut up for seven days.
Lev 14:39-40
“And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look, and, behold, if the plague is spread in the walls of the house, then the priest shall command that they take out the stones in which the plague is, and cast them into an unclean place outside the city,”
After seven days the priest will come to check the house again. If the plague has spread on the stones, all the affected stones are to be removed, and put in an unclean place outside the city, probably in this case a recognised rubbish dump.
We too need to examine our lives carefully, and must learn to be equally drastic with the sins that beguile us.
Lev 14:41
“And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the mortar that they scrape off, outside the city into an unclean place,”
Then he will cause all the mortar on the walls inside the house to be scraped off, and that too will be taken to the unclean place outside the city. Later in Jerusalem it would be the Valley of Hinnom.
Lev 14:42
“And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones, and he shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the house.”
After which the stones that have been taken out will be replaced with other stones, and the house will be replastered. The hope is that the plague has been got rid of by the drastic action taken. There has been a new rebuilding.
Lev 14:43-45
“And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after he has taken out the stones, and after he has scraped the house, and after it is plastered, then the priest shall come in and look, and, behold, if the plague is spread in the house, it is a fretting mould in the house, it is unclean. And he shall break down the house, its stones, and its timber, and all the mortar of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place.”
But if the plague comes again after this thorough treatment it is clearly a spreading plague, and the house is therefore ‘unclean’. It is unsuited to the holiness of God or of Israel. The whole of the house from top to bottom is to be pulled down, broken up and carried to the tip outside the city in an unclean place.
Lev 14:46
“Moreover he who goes into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the even.”
Moreover anyone who goes into the house while it is shut up will also be unclean, but only until the evening. The aim is to stop people going into it, lest in some way they are affected by the uncleanness of the house and carry it with them.
Lev 14:47
“And he who lies in the house shall wash his clothes, and he who eats in the house shall wash his clothes.”
And anyone who lies in the house or eats there is not only made unclean until the evening because they have entered the house, but must also wash their clothes. They have been affected by uncleanness, and must rid even their clothing of it. It would also be hygienically wise, but they did not know this.
Lev 14:48
“And if the priest shall come in, and look, and, behold, the plague has not spread in the house, after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed.”
But if the priest discovers on examination that his work has been successful, and that the plague has not spread after the replastering of the house, he will declare the house clean. It will mean that the plague is healed.
Lev 14:49-51
“And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop, and he shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water, and he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times.”
We note that for the house the ritual is only the initial part of that for the cleansing of a man or woman. There are no offerings made in the sanctuary in this case. There is no question here of guilt, or direct human sin. Nevertheless atonement has to be made demonstrating that as ever sin is lurking in the background.
The same procedure as before is carried through only this time it is the house that is sprinkled. It would seem probable that this was an ancient rite of purification.
Lev 14:52
“And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet,”
The combination of all parts of the ritual, each part being important, will successfully cleanse the house. It is now acceptable again for use by God’s holy nation without defiling them.
Lev 14:53
“But he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open countryside, so shall he make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.”
Here the letting go of the living bird is again an essential part of the atoning work. The bird carries away all taint of uncleanness. Thus do we see the ritual for the house as very similar for that to the healed man. This would seem to stress the connection of this plagued house with sin. The plagued man and the plagued house are seen as especially tainted by sin to such an extent that this unusual treatment is required, almost parallel to that on the Day of Atonement.
We may note in this regard that a family were always described in terms of their ‘house’. Thus it would be simple for the Israelite to make a transference of thought. The idea of the plaguing of ‘houses’, signifying people, is used and described in Gen 12:17. They could therefore see in these descriptions a hidden message that more than the stonework was in mind. They must watch their houses well, in both senses, or God would visit them with the plague.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Leprosy in a House
v. 33. And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, v. 34. When ye be come in to the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, v. 35. and he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague in the house, v. 36. then the priest shall command that they empty the house, v. 37. and he shall look on the plague, v. 38. then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house and shut up the house seven days.
v. 39. And the priest shall come again the seventh day, v. 40. then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, v. 41. And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, v. 42. and they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the house.
v. 43. And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plastered, v. 44. then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house, v. 45. And he shall break down the house, v. 46. Moreover, he that goeth into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the even.
v. 47. And he that lieth in the house, v. 48. And if the priest shall come in and look upon it, and, behold, the plague hath not spread in the house after the house was plastered, v. 49. And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop; v. 50. and he shall kill the one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water; v. 51. and he shall take the cedar-wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird and in the running water, v. 52. And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar-wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet; v. 53. but he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open fields, and make an atonement for the house, v. 54. This is the law for all manner of plague of leprosy, and scall v. 55. and for the leprosy of a garment, and of a house, v. 56. and for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright spot, v. 57. to teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean; this is the law of leprosy,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
THE LEPROSY OF A HOUSE, AND ITS CLEANSING (Lev 14:33-53). The subject of leprosy in houses must be regarded from the same point of view as that of leprosy in clothes. The regulations respecting it are not sanitary laws, as Lange represents them, but rest, as Keil argues, upon an ideal or symbolical basis. The same thought is attached to all species of uncleanness. Somethingit matters not whatproduces a foul and repulsive appearance in the walls of a house. That is in itself sufficient to make that house unclean; for whatever is foul and repulsive is representative of moral and spiritual defilement, and therefore is itself symbolically defiling and defiled. It has been suggested that the special cause of the affection of the houses in Canaan was saltpetre exuding from the materials employed in their building, or iron pyrites in the stone used. This may have been so, or more probably it was the growth of some fungus. Whatever it was, the appearance created by it was so similar to that of leprosy in the human body, as to derive its name from the latter by analogy.
Lev 14:34
When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession. This is the first instance of a law being given which has no bearing on the present condition of the Israelites. but is to regulate their conduct when they had come into the promised land. From the time of Abraham downwards, the assurance of their entrance into that land had been possessed by the people of Israel (Gen 17:8), and the expectation of the speedy fulfillment of that promise had been quickened by their exodus from Egypt, and the preparations made to march through the wilderness. There would, therefore, be nothing surprising to them in receiving instructions to guide their conduct when the entrance should have been effected. As the question is one of leprosy, it is natural that it should be treated of with the leprosy of the human subject and the leprosy of garments; but as it is not of immediate application, it is placed at the end, and dealt with after the rest of the subject has been discussed, being appended to the law of cleansing the leper, instead of preceding it. And I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession. This expression has led to the idea that the leprosy of houses was a special infliction at God’s hand in a manner different flora other inflictions or diseases; but the words do not mean that. All that is done is in a sense done by God, inasmuch as his providence rules over all; and, therefore, by whatever secondary cause a thing may be brought about, it is he that does it. It is God that feeds the birds (Luk 12:24), God that clothes the grass (Luk 12:28), nor does one sparrow fall to the ground without him (Mat 10:29). It is he, therefore, that puts the plague in a house, as the Lord of all things (cf. Isa 45:6, Isa 45:7, “I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things”). The expression militates, though not strongly, against the notion that the house caught the leprosy from the leper that lived in it.
Lev 14:35-44
The examination of the suspected house by the priest. First, the house is to be emptied of its furniture, lest the latter should contract a ceremonial uncleanness in case the house were found to be leprous, but not, it will be noted, lest it should convey contagion or infection. Then the priest is to examine the discolouration, and if it bear a suspicious appearance, the house is to be shut up for seven days. It at the end of that time the spot has spread, he is to have the part of the wall in which it shows itself taken down and carried away, and built up again with new stones and mortar and plaster, the parts adjoining to the infected place having been first well scraped. If this treatment does not succeed in getting rid of the mischief, the priest is to determine that it is a fretting leprosy in the house: it is unclean.
Lev 14:45
As the leper was removed from the camp, so the leprous house is to be utterly pulled down; the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the morter of the house; and all its materials carried forth eat of the city into an unclean place.
Lev 14:46, Lev 14:47
The leprous house conveys uncleanness to those that enter it, but of so slight a nature that it ceases with the evening, and requires only that the clothes of the wearer be washed. Such a regulation would have been ineffectual for preventing the spread of infection, if that had been its purpose.
Lev 14:48-53
The ceremony of cleansing the house is as similar to that of cleansing the leper as circumstances will permit. In case there is no reappearance of the mischief after the new stones and plastering have been put in, the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. First, the priest assures himself that the plague is healed, then he pronounces the house clean, and still after that the cleansing is to take place (cf. Lev 14:3, Lev 14:7, Lev 14:8). The cleansing is effected by the same ceremony as that of the leper himself, by the two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. The use of this ceremony in the cleansing of a house shows that, in the case of the leper, the symbolical meaning of letting go the living bird out of the city into the open fields cannot be, as has been maintained, the restoration of the cleansed man to his natural movements of liberty in the camp. If a bird’s flight represents the freedom of a man going hither and thither as he will, it certainly does not represent any action that a house could take.
Lev 14:54-57
These verses contain the concluding formula for Lev 13:1-59, Lev 14:1-57. The various names of leprosy and its kindred diseases are resumed from Lev 13:2.
HOMILETICS
Lev 14:33-53
On uncleanness in houses.
There are two metaphors commonly used in Holy Scripture for designating God’s covenant people. They are
(1) God’s household;
(2) God’s house.
I. GOD‘S HOUSEHOLD. As the household of God the Father,” of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named” (Eph 3:15), they are the members of that august brotherhood gathered together in Christ, of which God himself is the spiritual Father, into which all that are adopted in Christ are incorporated, ceasing to be “strangers and foreigners,” and becoming “fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God” (Eph 2:19).
II. GOD‘S HORSE. The representation that God’s people form his house is of a more singular character, and less capable of bring immediately grasped. It is even more commonly employed than the other. In the Epistle to the Corinthians, we read of Christians, that is, the collective body of Christians, being “God’s temple” (1Co 3:16); “for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (2Co 6:16). In the Epistle to the Ephesians, St. Paul dwells at length on the idea of the Christian Church being built up of living stones into a temple for God’s Spirit: “Ye are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being himself the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Eph 2:20-22). And in the Epistle to Timothy, he speaks of “the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1Ti 3:15). Similarly, the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, having described Christ” as a Son over his own house,” continues, “whose house are we” (Heb 3:6); and St. Peter writes, “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house” (1Pe 2:3). Just as God’s Spirit dwells within the heart of each individual Christian, so, and in a more special manner, he dwells within the Church, his house not being made by hands, or constituted of wood and stone, but of the spirits of those who form the Church.
III. GOD‘S HOUSE MAY NEVER BE DESTROYED, BUT IT MAY BE DEFILED. “Upon this rock” (that is, upon himself as confessed by St. Peter), “I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mat 16:18). But though not destructible by the power of evil, it may yet be defiled. “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are” (1Co 3:17). That which defiles God’s house is unrighteousness and falsehood, just as physical and ceremonial uncleanness defiles the camp (Deu 23:12). If the latter be allowed to continue in the carol, God will symbolically “turn away” from it; “for the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of the camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee” (Deu 23:14). If the former be found, “the Holy Spirit of God” will be “grieved” (Eph 4:30), and “vexed,” so that God is turned into an “enemy” (Isa 63:10).
IV. THE CLEANSING OF GOD‘S HOUSE. As soon as there is a prima facie appearance of immorality, or irreligiousness, or superstition in a National Church, a diligent examination should be made by those placed in authority by God. Perhaps it is only an appearance, which will die away of itself. If it does so, no further measures are needed. But “if the plague spread in the walls of the house; then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city: and he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place.” Those whose office it is, must not shrink from removing the stones in which the mischief is found, that is, of casting out those who are incurably affected with irreligion, immorality, or superstition. “And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other morter, and shall plaister the house.” Discipline must be exercised by substituting sound teachers and members of the flock for those that have become unsound. This is the work of reformation. This is what was done for the Jewish Church by Joash, when he “was minded to repair the house of the Lord So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in his state, and strengthened it” (2Ch 24:4-13); and by Hezekiah, when he said unto the Levites, “Sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God, and have forsaken him And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron” (2Ch 29:5-16); and by Josiah, when “he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem when he had purged the land and the house he sent to repair the house Of the Lord his God and they gave the money to the workmen that wrought in the house of the Lord, to repair and amend the house: even to the artificers and builders gave they it, to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed” (2Ch 34:3-11). And this is what was done for the greater part of the Christian Church in the West in the sixteenth century. But if these measures prove ineffective, “if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house and after it is plaistered; then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house: it is unclean. And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the morter of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place.” So it was with the Jewish Church. The reformations of Joash, of Hezekiah, of Josiah, were ineffectual, and the Babylonian captivity followed. And so it will be with the various National Churches of Christendom: any one of them to which the taint of impurity in life or doctrine obstinately adheres, will be destroyed utterly when God’s forbearance shall have at length come to an end.
V. WARNING. “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent” (Rev 2:5). “Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth” (Rev 2:16). “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee” (Rev 3:3). “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Rev 3:19, Rev 3:20).
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
Lev 14:33-53
Cleansing the corrupt house.
That the Divine Lawgiver should, in this tabernacle period of Israel’s history, anticipate a time when their future houses would be affected by some disorder similar to leprosy in the human skin, and that he should direct a treatment of such houses closely corresponding with that of the human leper, is exceedingly remarkable. Nothing could possibly impress the Hebrew mine[ more powerfully with the idea that “the face of the Lord was against’ that spiritual evil of which leprosy was the chosen type. How direct the argument and forcible the conclusion that, if not only every remotest particle of leprosy itself was to be ruthlessly put away but also anything which to the bodily eye had even a near resemblance to it, and was thus suggestive of it,how offensive, how intolerable, in the sight of God must that evil thing itself be held! Here are
I. THREE MAIN PRINCIPLES ON THE SUBJECT OF CORRUPTION. In God’s view, as we gain it from his Word,
1. Corruption (impurity) may attach to the “house” or community as well as to the individual. We read of “the iniquity of the house of Israel,” and of “the iniquity of the house of Judah” (Eze 4:5, Eze 4:6); of “the house of Israel dealing treacherously with God” (Jer 3:20), etc.
2. That earnest effort should be made to cleanse it from corruption. The leprous house of stone was to be cleansed: the stones in which the plague was were to be taken away (Lev 14:40); the house was to be scraped round about, and its unclean dust cast out of the camp (Lev 14:41); other stones were to be placed and other mortar used instead (Lev 14:42): the leprous part was to be removed and the house renovated. So must the contaminated community purify itself, removing that from it which is evil and corrupting its Achan, its Ananias and Sapphira, its Simon the sorcerer, its guilty member (1Co 5:1-13), etc.
3. That, all efforts failing, the house will be destroyed. “He shall break down the house, the stones of it,” etc. (Lev 14:45). A community of any kind that is incurably corrupt
(1) had better be broken up deliberately by the hand of man; but if no
(2) will certainly be dissolved in time by the hand of God. The history of the world abounds in proofs that moral and spiritual corruption lead on to feebleness, decay, dissolution.
II. THREE MAIN APPLICATIONS OF THE PRINCIPLES. To any leprous “house,” to any community into which seeds of corruption have been introduced, these principles will apply. They may with peculiar appropriateness be referred to:
1. The nation. The “house of Judah” and the “house of Israel” were continually warned that they had erred from the ways of the Lord and become corrupt, that they must cleanse themselves from their impurities, or that they would be abandoned by God to their doom. Assyria, Judaea, Egypt, Greece, Rome, the Ottoman Empire, provide striking and eloquent illustrations.
2. The family. The “house of Eli” and the “house of Saul” illustrate the principles of the text; so also many a “house” in Christian times that has risen to honour and influence, that has grown leprous (corrupt), that has not heeded the warnings of the Word of God to put away the evil of its doings, and that has fallen into decay and has disappeared.
3. The Church. This is the “house of God” on earth (1Ti 3:15; 2Ti 2:20; Eph 2:19; Heb 3:6). This house may show signs of leprosy; and in individual Churches corruption may break outin doctrine (Galatia), in public worship (Corinth), in morals (Pergamos, Thyatira), in spiritual life (Ephesus, Sardis, Laodicea). The corrupt Church must be cleansed, or it will be disowned of the Divine Lord, and it will perish in his high displeasure (Rev 2:5, Rev 2:16, Rev 2:23, Rev 2:27; Rev 3:3, Rev 3:17-19).C.
HOMILIES BY J.A. MACDONALD
Lev 14:33-57
Leprosy in a house.
From the first of these verses it is concluded that leprosy was not an ordinary disease, but a plague inflicted immediately by a judgment from God. That it was so inflicted in some instances upon persons cannot be disputed (see Num 12:10; 2Ki 5:27; 2Ki 15:5), and God threatens to curse the house of the wicked with such a plague (Zec 5:4). The Jews view it in this light, and consequently regard leprosy as incurable except by the hand of God. But in Scripture, what God permits is often represented as his doing; and evils that Satan inflicts may require the power of God to remove.
I. WHAT ARE WE TO UNDERSTAND BY THE HOUSE?
1. There is the obvious literal meaning. It is an ordinary habitation (differing, indeed, from the tents in which the Israelites sojourned in the wilderness), composed of stones, and mortar, and wood, and plaster.
2. It must also have a moral interpretation.
(1) If in the person leprosy has a twofold meaning, viz. a literal and moral; and if the garment plagued with leprosy has a moral as well as a literal meaning, so, by parity of reason, must the house.
(2) It cannot be supposed that for sanitary reasons simply the leprosy in the house should occupy the space it takes in the Scriptures.
(3) Over and above the sanitary regulations, we find regulations for the ceremonial cleansing, in which are sacrifices and sprinklings, “to make an atonement for the house” (Lev 14:48-53). These in other cases are admitted to have reference to the provisions of the gospel for moral purposes, and therefore should be so considered here.
3. It should be taken to represent a community.
(1) It is used sometimes to describe a family. Thus we read. of the “house of Cornelius,” and of Noah saving “his house” (Act 10:2; Heb 11:7).
(2) It is also used. to express a lineage. Thus we read of a long war raging between the “house of Saul” and the “house of David” (2Sa 3:1).
(3) The larger community of a nation is called a “house.” Thus we read repeatedly of the “house of Israel,” the “house of Judah,” and Egypt is spoken of as the “house of bondage” (Deu 8:14).
(4) An ecclesiastical community is in like manner described as a house. Paul speaks of the “house of God, which is the Church of the living God” (1Ti 3:15; see also Heb 3:2-6; Heb 10:21; 1Pe 4:17).
4. A leprous house is a demoralized community.
(1) Thus a family of wicked persons, or in which are members scandalous for irreligion and vice, is morally a leprous house. Such was the house of Eli.
(2) A lineage of wickedness also is a leprous house. Such was the house of “Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin.” Such that of Omri.
(3) A nation given to idolatry such as Israel became before the Assyrian captivity, and Judah before the Babylonish, may be regarded as a leprous house. So are modern nations demoralized by atheism, infidelity, sabbath desecration, drunkenness, and dissipation, leprous houses.
(4) A Church holding out the poison cup of “damnable heresy” to intoxicate nations, encouraging vice by “indulgences,” and “red” with the “blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus,” is a house fearfully smitten with the plague of leprosy.
II. WHAT TREATMENT SHOULD IT RECEIVE?
1. The leprosy should be reported to the priest (Lev 14:34, Lev 14:35).
(1) The Priest is Christ, to whom we must carry all our concerns in prayerdomestic, political, ecclesiastical. The voice of suffering cries to him for judgment upon oppressors (Jas 5:4), and the voice from the ashes of the martyrs loudly imprecates judgment upon their persecutors (Rev 6:9-11).
(2) Faithful ministers of Christ should be apprised of the symptoms of the plague of heresy or immorality, that they might use their good offices and influence to stop the mischief.
(3) Any of the spiritual priesthood, persons of recognized sanctity and probity, might be informed of the spreading of moral leprosy, whether it be in the family, or State, or Church.
2. Warning should be given to those concerned.
(1) The priest himself gives the warning. The premonitions of Jesus are written in his Word. It tells us of days of judgment upon nations, upon Churches, upon individuals.
(2) Faithful ministers of Christ will utter his words. No false notions of “charity” will prevent them from sounding the alarm.
(3) The use of the warning is to have everything removed from the leprous house before the priest’s inquisition for judgment; for whatever he finds in the unclean house will be concluded to be unclean (see Rev 18:4).
3. It will be duty inspected.
(1) Christ moves in all communities, though unseen, and more particularly amongst the candlesticks, or Churches. His eyes are as flames of fire, searching into all secrets of the “reins and hearts” (Rev 1:12-16, 23).
(2) The light of God’s Word should be let in to discover the heresy that may plague any Church, and to rebuke the laxity of discipline which may connive at licentiousness (Rev 2:14-16, Rev 2:20-23).
4. It will be shut up for seven days.
(1) The priest himself withdraws. Jesus cannot abide in a foul community.
(2) Whoever enters it during this interval becomes unclean (Lev 14:46). Where Jesus cannot abide, his people should not go.
(3) He that lieth in the house or eateth in it shall wash his clothes (Lev 14:47). Fellowship in such a community compromises righteousness. What is the condition of those who are perverted to heresy!
5. Efforts towards a reformation should be made.
(1) Where the plague may appear superficial, the place must be scraped; where it has eaten deeply, the stones affected must be removed and new ones substituted, and the whole plastered afresh.
(2) However painful the process, the scraping of discipline must be endured (Job 22:23). There must be an excision of scandalous offenders (1Co 5:13).
6. The sequel.
(1) If the plague remain through the days of trial, breaking out afresh, notwithstanding the efforts for reformation, when the case is hopeless, then comes the visitation of judgment. The house is demolished and the wreck carried outside the city to an unclean place (see Rev 22:15).
(2) If the reformation has proved successful, the house abides. The ceremonies of the shedding and sprinkling the sacrificial blood (Lev 14:48-53) show that salvation is through faith in the merits of Christ. To those merits we are indebted for a present and an everlasting salvation.J.A.M.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
The law concerning the leprosy of an house is the same as that respecting an individual; and the same cleansing must be adopted. Nations and families in this respect, come under the same character. For all have sinned, and come short of GOD’S glory. There is no remedy for either, but in the blood of CHRIST. Hence the same ceremony in cleansing the house, as in the cleansing an Israelite, is appointed. Some have thought that the house of Israel was particularly alluded to, in this precept of taking down the leprous house, and which was literally fulfilled, when Israel was carried away into Babylon. But it should rather seem to refer to our nature universally. The remains of indwelling sin, in our poor corrupt and fallen bodies after all our scraping within and without, plainly shows that like the ivy in the wall, the root is in the heart of the building; and until the wall falls down altogether, there will be many buddings of it. Blessed JESUS! how precious here again, is the view of thy tender love to our nature. When we drop these bodies in the earth, we shall through thy complete salvation drop sin with them forever. And when thou comest to raise us from the grave, then shall we arise a glorified body, without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. Thou will change them, that they may be fashioned like unto thy glorious body, according to the working whereby thou art able even to subdue all things unto thyself.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
spake. See note on Lev 5:14. The law of cleansing persons addressed to Moses alone; that about houses, &c, addressed to Aaron as well.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Lev 14:33-53. Ceremonies for a Leprous House.Doubtless the result of the working of analogy; a secondary section, like Lev 13:47 ff. When Yahweh puts the plague of leprosy upon a house (cf. Amo 3:6), the house is to be emptied, for ritual purposes, and if suspicion is aroused by the priests inspection, the house is sealed up for a week. If on a further inspection the infection is still there, the mortar is to be scraped off, and the stones of the infected place removed. The house is then repaired, but if the plague appear again, the house is torn down and its materials carted away. Palestinian houses, as is shown by the debris on excavated sites, were built of stones loosely put together with mortar (not always properly tempered; cf. Eze 13:10). It was not, therefore, difficult to dig through and remove (cf. Eze 12:5, Mat 6:19) part of the wall; though when a house was destroyed, the debris was generally left on the spot, to serve for a fresh building. Entering the house involves uncleanness, and when the house is pronounced clean, the older rite is prescribed for the ratification of its habitability (birds, cedar, running water, etc.), and by it is made the atonement which for a human being is made by the three kinds of offerings.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
The ritual cleansing of abnormalities in houses 14:33-53
The fact that certain abnormal conditions afflicted houses as well as persons reminded the Israelites that their dwelling places as well as their bodies needed to be holy. This law anticipated life in Canaan when the Israelites would live in houses rather than tents. God would "put" the abnormal condition on a house as He did on a person. It did not just pass from person to dwelling by contagion (Lev 14:34). God prescribed the same rite of purification for a house as for a person (Lev 14:49-53). He did not require sacrifices because buildings simply have to be clean.
". . . although it is primarily in the human body that sin manifests itself, it spreads from man to the things which he touches, uses, inhabits, though without our being able to represent this spread as a physical contagion." [Note: Bush, 2:391.]
Wholeness and holiness are not the same, but wholeness reflects holiness.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
OF LEPROSY IN A GARMENT OR HOUSE
Lev 13:47-59; Lev 14:33-53
“The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it be a woollen garment, or a linen garment; whether it be in warp, or woof; of linen, or of woollen; whether in a skin, or in any thing made of skin; if the plague be greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the skin, or in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it is the plague of leprosy, and shall be shewed unto the priest: and the priest shall look upon the plague, and shut up that which hath the plague seven days: and he shall look on the plague on the seventh day: if the plague be spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in the skin, whatever service skin is used for; the plague is a fretting leprosy; it is unclean. And he shall burn the garment, whether the warp or the woof, in woollen or in linen, or any thing of skin, wherein the plague is: for it is a fretting leprosy; it shall be burnt in the fire. And if the priest shall look, and, behold, the plague be not spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin then the priest shall command that they wash the thing wherein the plague is, and he shall shut it tip seven days more: and the priest shall look, after that the plague is washed: and, behold, if the plague have not changed its colour, and the plague be not spread, it is unclean thou shalt burn it in the fire; it is a fret, whether the bareness be with n or without. And if the priest look, and, behold, the plague be dim after the washing thereof, then he shall rend it out of the garment, or out of the skin, or out of the warp, or out of the woof: and if it appear still in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin, it is breaking out: thou shalt burn that wherein the plague is with fire. And the garment, either the warp, or the woof, or whatsoever thing of skin it he, which thou shalt wash, if the plague be departed from them, then it shall be washed the second time, and shall be clean. This is the law of the plague of leprosy in a garment of woollen or linen, either in the warp, or the woof, or any thing of skin, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession; then he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, There seemeth to me to be as it were a plague in the house: and the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest go in to see the plague, that all that is in the house be not made unclean: and afterward the priest shall go in to see the house: and he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish, and the appearance thereof be lower than the wall; then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days: and the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house; then the priest shall command that they take out the stones in which the plague is, and cast them into an unclean place without the city: and he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the mortar that they serape off without the city into an unclean place: and they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other mortar and shall plaister the house. And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken out the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plaistered; then the priest shall come in and look, and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house: it is unclean. And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the mortar of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place. Moreover he that goeth into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the even. And he that lieth in the house shall wash his clothes; and he that eateth in the house shall wash his clothes. And if the priest shall come in, and look, and, behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house was plaistered; then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: and he shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water: and he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times: and he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet: but he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open field: so shall he make atonement for the house: and it shall be clean.”
There has been much debate as to what we are to understand by the leprosy in the garment or in a house. Was it an affection identical in nature with the leprosy of the body? or was it merely so called from a certain external similarity to that plague?
However extraordinary the former supposition might once have seemed, in the present state of medical science we are at least able to say that there is nothing inconceivable in it. We have abundant experimental evidence that a large number of diseases, and, not improbably, leprosy among them, are caused by minute parasitic forms of vegetable life; and, also, that in many cases these forms of life may, and do, exist and multiply in various other suitable media besides the fluids and tissues of the human body. If, as is quite likely, leprosy be caused by some such parasitic life in the human body, it is then evidently possible that such parasites, under favourable conditions of heat, moisture, etc., should exist and propagate themselves, as in other analogous cases, outside the body; as, for instance, in cloth, or leather, or in the plaster of a house; in which case it is plain that such garments or household implements, or such dwellings, as might be thus infected, would be certainly unwholesome, and presumably capable of communicating the leprosy to the human subject. But we have not yet sufficient scientific observation to settle the question whether this is really so; we can, however, safely say that, in any case, the description which is here given indicates a growth in the affected garment or house of some kind of mould or mildew; which, as we know, is a form of life produced under conditions which always imply an unwholesome state of the article or house in which it appears. We also know that if such growths be allowed to go on unchecked, they involve more or less rapid processes of decomposition in that which is affected. Thus, even from a merely natural point of view, one can see the high wisdom of the Divine King of Israel in ordering that, in all such cases, the man whose garment or house was thus affected should at once notify the priest, who was to come and decide whether the appearance was of a noxious and unclean kind or not, and then take action accordingly.
Whether the suspicious spot were in a house or in some article it contained, the article or house (the latter having been previously emptied) was first shut up for seven days. {Lev 13:50, Lev 14:38} If in the garment or other article affected it was found then to have spread, it was without any further ceremony to be burnt. {Lev 13:51-52} If it had not spread, it was to be washed and shut up seven days more, at the end of which time, even though it had not spread, if the greenish or reddish colour remained unchanged, it was still to be adjudged unclean, and to be burned. {Lev 13:55} If, on the other hand, the colour had somewhat “dimmed,” the part affected was to he cut out; when, if it spread no further, it was to be washed a second time and be pronounced clean. {Lev 13:58} If, however, after the excision of the affected part, the spot appeared again, the article, without further delay, was to be burned. {Lev 13:57}
The law, in the case of the appearing of a leprosy in a house, {Lev 14:33-53} was much more elaborate. As in the former case, when the occupant of the house suspects, “as it were a plague in the house,” he is to go and tell the priest; who is, first of all, to order the emptying of the house before he goes in, lest that which is in the house, should it prove to be the plague, be made unclean (Lev 14:36). The diagnosis reminds us of that of the leprosy in the body; greenish or reddish streaks, in appearance “lower than the wall,” i.e., deep seated (Lev 14:37). Where this is observed, the empty house is to be shut up for seven days (Lev 14:38-39); and at the end of that time, if the spot has spread, “the stones in which the plague is” are to be taken out, the plaster scraped off the walls of the house, and all carried out into an unclean place outside of the city, and new stones and new plaster put in the place of the old (Lev 14:40-42). If, after this, the plague yet reappear, the house is to be adjudged unclean, and is to be wholly torn down, and all the material carried into an unclean place without the city (Lev 14:44-45). If, on the other hand, after this renewal of the interior of the house, the spots do not reappear, the priest “shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed” (Lev 14:48). But, unlike the case of the leprous garment, this does not end the ceremonial. It is ordered that the priest shall take to cleanse (lit. “to purge the house from sin”) (Lev 14:49) two birds, scarlet, cedar, and hyssop, which are then used precisely as in the case of the purgation of the leprous man; and at the end, “he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open field: so shall he make atonement for the house: and it shall be clean” (Lev 14:50-53).
For the time then present, one can hardly fail to see in this ceremonial, first, a merciful sanitary intent. By the observance of these regulations not only was Israel to be saved from many sicknesses and various evils, but was to be constantly reminded that Israels God, like a wise and kind Father, had a care for everything that pertained to their welfare; not only for their persons, but also for their dwellings, and even all the various articles of daily use. The lesson is always in force, for God has not changed. He is not a God who cares for the souls of men only, but for their bodies also, and everything around them. His servants do well to remember this, and in this imitate Him, as happily many are doing more and more. Bibles and tracts are good, and religious exhortation; but we have here left us a Divine warrant not to content ourselves with these things alone, but to have a care for the clothing and the homes of those we would reach with the Gospel. In all the large cities of Christendom it must be confessed that the principle which underlies these laws concerning houses and garments, is often terribly neglected. Whether the veritable plague of leprosy be in the walls of many of our tenement houses or not, there can be no doubt that it could not be much worse if it were; and Christian philanthropy and legislation could scarcely do better in many cases than vigorously to enforce the Levitical law, tear down, replaster, or, in many cases, destroy from the foundation, tenement houses which could, with little exaggeration, be justly described as leprous throughout.
But all which is in this law cannot be thus explained. Even the Israelite must have looked beyond this for the meaning of the ordinance of the two birds, the cedar, scarlet, and hyssop, and the “atonement” for the house. He would have easily perceived that not only leprosy in the body, but this leprosy in the garment and the house, was a sign that both the man himself, and his whole environment as well, was subject to death and decay; that, as already he would have learned from the Book of Genesis, even nature was under a curse because of mans sin; and that, as in the Divine plan, sacrificial cleansing was required for the deliverance of man, so also it was somehow mysteriously required for the cleansing of his earthly abode and surroundings, in default of which purgation they must be destroyed.
And from this to the antitypical truth prefigured by these laws it is but a step; and a step which we take with full New Testament light to guide us. For if the leprosy in the body visibly typified the working of sin and death in the soul of man, then, as clearly, the leprosy in the house must in this law be intended to symbolise the working of sin in the material earthly creation, which is mans abode. The type thus brings before us the truth which is set forth by the Apostle Paul in Rom 8:20-22, where we are taught in express words that, not man alone, but the whole creation also, because of sin, has come under a “bondage of corruption.” “The creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” This is one truth which is shadowed forth in this type.
But the type also shows us how, as Scripture elsewhere clearly teaches, if after such partial purgation as was effected by means of the deluge the bondage of corruption still persist, then the abode of man must itself be destroyed; “the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” {2Pe 3:10} Nothing less than fire will suffice to put an end to the working in material nature of this mysterious curse. And yet beyond the fire is redemption. For the atonement shall avail not only for the leprous man, but for the purifying of the leprous abode. The sprinkling of sacrificial blood and water by means of the cedar, and hyssop, and scarlet, and the living bird, which effected the deliverance of the leper, are used also in the same way and for the same end, for the leprous house. And so “according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness”; {2Pe 3:13} and it shall be brought in through the virtue of atonement made by a Saviour slain, and applied by a Saviour alive from the dead; so that, as the free bird flies away in token of the full completion of deliverance from the curse, so “the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God”. {Rom 8:21}
But there was also a leprosy of the garment. If the leprosy in the body typified the effect of sin in the soul, and the leprosy in the house, the effect of sin in the earthly creation, which is mans home; the leprosy of the garment can scarcely typify anything else than the presence and effects of sin in those various relations in life which constitute our present environment. Whenever, in any of these, we suspect the working of sin, first of all we are to lay the case before the heavenly Priest. And then, if He with the “eyes like a flame of fire” {Rev 1:14; Rev 2:16} declare anything unclean, then that in which the stain is found must be without hesitation cut out and thrown away. And if still, after this, we find the evil reappearing, then the whole garment must go, fair and good though the most of it may still appear. In other words, those relations and engagements in which, despite all possible care and precaution, we find manifest sin persistently reappearing, as if there were in them, however inexplicably, an ineradicable tendency to evil, -these we must resolutely put away, “hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”
The leprous garment must be burnt. For its restoration or purification the law made no provision. For here, in the antitype, we are dealing with earthly relationships, which have only to do with the present life and order. “The fashion of this world passeth away”. {1Co 7:31} There shall be “new heavens and a new earth,” but in that new creation the old environment shall be found no longer. The old garments, even such as were best, shall be no longer used. The redeemed shall walk with the King and Redeemer, clothed in the white robes which He shall give. No more leprosy then in person, house, or garment! For we shall be set before the presence of the Fathers glory, without blemish, in exceeding joy, “not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.” Wherefore “to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and power, before all time, and now, and forevermore. Amen.”