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Leviticus 14:1-57 Darby English Bible (DARBY)

1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

2 This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: he shall be brought unto the priest,

3 and the priest shall go out of the camp; and when the priest looketh, and behold, the sore of leprosy is healed in the leper,

4 then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two clean living birds, and cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop.

5 And the priest shall command that one bird be killed in an earthen vessel over running water:

6 as to the living bird -- he shall take it, and the cedar-wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water;

7 and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field.

8 And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his garments, and shave all his hair, and bathe in water, and he shall be clean; and afterwards shall he come into the camp, and shall abide outside his tent seven days.

9 And it shall come to pass on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair, his head, and his beard, and his eyebrows, even all his hair shall he shave, and he shall wash his garments, and shall bathe his flesh in water, and he is clean.

10 And on the eighth day he shall take two he-lambs without blemish, and one yearling ewe-lamb without blemish, and three tenth parts of fine flour mingled with oil, for an oblation, and one log of oil.

11 And the priest that cleanseth [him] shall present the man that is to be cleansed and those things before Jehovah, at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

12 And the priest shall take one he-lamb, and present it for a trespass-offering, and the log of oil, and wave them as a wave-offering before Jehovah.

13 And he shall slaughter the he-lamb at the place where the sin-offering and the burnt-offering are slaughtered, in a holy place; for as the sin-offering, so the trespass-offering is the priest's: it is most holy.

14 And the priest shall take of the blood of the trespass-offering, and the priest shall put it on the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot.

15 And the priest shall take of the log of oil, and pour it into his, the priest's, left hand;

16 and the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before Jehovah.

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

18 And the remainder of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall put upon the head of him that is to be cleansed, and the priest shall make atonement for him before Jehovah.

19 And the priest shall offer the sin-offering, and make atonement for him that is to be cleansed from his uncleanness; and afterwards shall he slaughter the burnt-offering.

20 And the priest shall offer the burnt-offering and the oblation upon the altar; and the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.

21 But if he be poor, and his hand be not able to get it, then he shall take one lamb for a trespass-offering, for a wave-offering, to make atonement for him; and one tenth part of fine flour mingled with oil for an oblation; and a log of oil,

22 and two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, as his hand may be able to get: the one shall be a sin-offering, and the other a burnt-offering.

23 And he shall bring them on the eighth day of his cleansing unto the priest, unto the entrance of the tent of meeting, before Jehovah.

24 And the priest shall take the he-lamb of the trespass-offering, and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them as a wave-offering before Jehovah.

25 And he shall slaughter the he-lamb of the trespass-offering; and the priest shall take of the blood of the trespass-offering, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot.

26 And the priest shall pour of the oil into [his], the priest's, left hand,

27 and the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before Jehovah.

28 And the priest shall put of the oil that is in his hand upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot, upon the place of the blood of the trespass-offering.

29 And the remainder of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall put upon the head of him that is to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before Jehovah.

30 And he shall offer one of the turtle-doves, or of the young pigeons, of what his hand was able to get;

31 of what his hand was able to get shall the one be a sin-offering, and the other a burnt-offering, with the oblation; and the priest shall make atonement for him that is to be cleansed before Jehovah.

32 This is the law for him in whom is the sore of leprosy, whose hand cannot get what is [regularly prescribed] in his cleansing.

33 And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

34 When ye come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put a leprous plague in a house of the land of your possession,

35 then he whose house it is shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to me like a plague in the house;

36 and 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 afterwards the priest shall go in to see the house.

37 And when he looketh on the plague, and behold, the plague is in the walls of the house, greenish or reddish hollows, and their look is deeper than the surface of the wall,

38 then the priest shall go out of the house to the entrance of the house, and shut up the house seven days.

39 And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and when he looketh, and behold, the plague hath 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 out of the city, in an unclean place.

41 And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the mortar that they have scraped off, out of the city in an unclean place.

42 And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and they shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the house.

43 And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after 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 when he looketh, and behold, the plague hath spread in the house, it is a corroding leprosy in the house: it is unclean.

45 And they shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the mortar of the house, and shall carry them forth out of the city to an unclean place.

46 And he that goeth into the house as long as it is shut up shall be unclean until the even.

47 And he that sleepeth in the house shall wash his garments, and he that eateth in the house shall wash his garments.

48 But if the priest shall come in and look, and behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house hath been plastered, the priest shall pronounce the house clean; for the plague is healed.

49 And he shall take, to purge the house from the defilement, two birds, and cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop;

50 and he shall kill one bird 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 bird that was killed, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times;

52 and he shall purge the house from the defilement 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 and he shall let the living bird loose out of the city into the open field; and he shall make atonement for the house, and it is clean.

54 This is the law for every sore of leprosy, and for the scall,

55 and for the leprosy of garments, and of houses,

56 and for the rising, and for the scab, and for the bright spot,

57 to teach when there is uncleanness, and when it is purified: this is the law of leprosy.

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Leviticus 14

Commentary on Leviticus 14 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary


Verses 1-32

Purification of the leper , after his recovery from his disease. As leprosy, regarded as a decomposition of the vital juices, and as putrefaction in a living body, was an image of death, and like this introduced the same dissolution and destruction of life into the corporeal sphere which sin introduced into the spiritual; and as the leper for this very reason as not only excluded from the fellowship of the sanctuary, but cut off from intercourse with the covenant nation which was called to sanctification: the man, when recovered from leprosy, was first of all to be received into the fellowship of the covenant nation by a significant rite of purification, and then again to be still further inducted into living fellowship with Jehovah in His sanctuary. Hence the purification prescribed was divided into two acts, separated from one another by an interval of seven days.

Leviticus 14:2-8

The first act (Leviticus 14:2-8) set forth the restoration of the man, who had been regarded as dead, into the fellowship of the living members of the covenant nation, and was therefore performed by the priest outside the camp.

Leviticus 14:2-4

On the day of his purification the priest was to examine the leper outside the camp; and if he found the leprosy cured and gone ( מן נרפּא , const. praegnans , healed away from, i.e., healed and gone away from), he was to send for (lit., order them to fetch or bring) two living ( חיּות , with all the fulness of their vital power) birds (without any precise direction as to the kind, not merely sparrows), and (a piece of) cedar-wood and coccus (probably scarlet wool, or a little piece of scarlet cloth), and hyssop (see at Exodus 12:22).

Leviticus 14:5-7

The priest was to have one of the birds killed into an earthen vessel upon fresh water (water drawn from a fountain or brook, Leviticus 15:13; Genesis 26:19), that is to say, slain in such a manner that its blood should flow into the fresh water which was in a vessel, and should mix with it. He was then to take the (other) live bird, together with the cedar-wood, scarlet, and hyssop, and dip them (these accompaniments) along with the bird into the blood of the one which had been killed over the water. With this the person cured of leprosy was to be sprinkled seven times (see Leviticus 4:6) and purified; after which the living bird was to be “let loose upon the face of the field,” i.e., to be allowed to fly away into the open country. The two birds were symbols of the person to be cleansed. The one let loose into the open country is regarded by all the commentators as a symbolical representation of the fact, that the former leper was now imbued with new vital energy, and released from the fetters of his disease, and could now return in liberty again into the fellowship of his countrymen. But if this is established, the other must also be a symbol of the leper; and just as in the second the essential point in the symbol was its escape to the open country, in the first the main point must have been its death. Not, however, in this sense, that it was a figurative representation of the previous condition of the leper; but that, although it was no true sacrifice, since there was no sprinkling of blood in connection with it, its bloody death was intended to show that the leper would necessarily have suffered death on account of his uncleanness, which reached to the very foundation of his life, if the mercy of God had not delivered him from this punishment of sin, and restored to him the full power and vigour of life again. The restitution of this full and vigorous life was secured to him symbolically, by his being sprinkled with the blood of the bird which was killed in is stead. But because his liability to death had assumed a bodily form in the uncleanness of leprosy, he was sprinkled not only with blood, but with the flowing water of purification into which the blood had flowed, and was thus purified from his mortal uncleanness. Whereas one of the birds, however, had to lay down its life, and shed its blood for the person to be cleansed, the other was made into a symbol of the person to be cleansed by being bathed in the mixture of blood and water; and its release, to return to its fellows and into its nest, represented his deliverance from the ban of death which rested upon leprosy, and his return to the fellowship of his own nation. This signification of the rite serves to explain not only the appointment of birds for the purpose, since free unfettered movement in all directions could not be more fittingly represented by anything than by birds, which are distinguished from all other animals by their freedom and rapidity of motion, but also the necessity for their being alive and clean, viz., to set forth the renewal of life and purification; also the addition of cedar-wood, scarlet wool, and hyssop, by which the life-giving power of the blood mixed with living (spring) water was to be still further strengthened. The cedar-wood, on account of its antiseptic qualities ( ἔχει ἄσηπτον ἡ κέδρος , Theodor. on Ezekiel 17:22), was a symbol of the continuance of life; the coccus colour, a symbol of freshness of life, or fulness of vital energy; and the hyssop ( βοτάνη ῥυπτική , herba humilis, medicinalis, purgandis pulmonibus apta: August . on Ps 51), a symbol of purification from the corruption of death. The sprinkling was performed seven times, because it referred to a readmission into the covenant, the stamp of which was seven; and it was made with a mixture of blood and fresh water, the blood signifying life, the water purification.

Leviticus 14:8

After this symbolical purification from the mortal ban of leprosy, the person cleansed had to purify himself bodily, by washing his clothes, shaving off all his hair - i.e., not merely the hair of his head and beard, but that of his whole body (cf. Leviticus 14:9), - and bathing in water; and he could then enter into the camp. But he had still to remain outside his tent for seven days, not only because he did not yet feel himself at home in the congregation, or because he was still to retain the consciousness that something else was wanting before he could be fully restored, but, as the Chaldee has explained it by adding the clause, et non accedat ad latus uxoris suae , that he might not defile himself again by conjugal rights, and so interrupt his preparation for readmission into fellowship with Jehovah.

Leviticus 14:9-12

The second act (Leviticus 14:9-20) effected his restoration to fellowship with Jehovah, and his admission to the sanctuary. It commenced on the seventh day after the first with a fresh purification; viz., shaving off all the hair from the head, the beard, the eyebrows - in fact, the whole body, - washing the clothes, and bathing the body. On the eighth day there followed a sacrificial expiation; and for this the person to be expiated was to bring two sheep without blemish, a ewe-lamb of a year old, three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a meat-offering, and a log (or one-twelfth of a hin, i.e., as much as six hens' eggs, or 15·62 Rhenish cubic inches) of oil; and the priest was to present him, together with these gifts, before Jehovah, i.e., before the altar of burnt-offering. The one lamb was then offered by the priest as a trespass-offering, together with the log of oil; and both of these were waves by him. By the waving, which did not take place on other occasions in connection with sin-offerings and trespass-offerings, the lamb and oil were transferred symbolically to the Lord; and by the fat that these sacrificial gifts represented the offerer, the person to be consecrated to the Lord by means of them was dedicated to His service again, just as the Levites were dedicated to the Lord by the ceremony of waving (Numbers 8:11, Numbers 8:15). But a trespass-offering was required as the consecration-offering, because the consecration itself served as a restoration to all the rights of the priestly covenant nation, which had been lost by the mortal ban of leprosy.

(Note: Others, e.g., Riehm and Oehler , regard this trespass-offering also as a kind of mulcta , or satisfaction rendered for the fact, that during the whole period of his sickness, and so long as he was excluded from the congregation, the leper had failed to perform his theocratical duties, and Jehovah had been injured in consequence. But if this was the idea upon which the trespass-offering was founded, the law would necessarily have required that trespass-offerings should be presented on the recovery of persons who had been affected with diseased secretions; for during the continuance of their disease, which often lasted a long time, even as much as 12 years (Luke 8:43), they were precluded from visiting the sanctuary or serving the Lord with sacrifices, because they were unclean, and therefore could not perform their theocratical duties.)

Leviticus 14:13-14

After the slaying of the lamb in the holy place, as the trespass-offering, like the sin-offering, was most holy and belonged to the priest (see at Leviticus 7:6), the priest put some of its blood upon the tip of the right ear, the right thumb, and the great toe of the right foot of the person to be consecrated, in order that the organ of hearing, with which he hearkened to the word of the Lord, and those used in acting and walking according to His commandments, might thereby be sanctified through the power of the atoning blood of the sacrifice; just as in the dedication of the priests (Leviticus 8:24).

Leviticus 14:15-18

The priest then poured some oil out of the log into the hollow of his left hand, and dipping the finger of his right hand in the oil, sprinkled it seven times before Jehovah, i.e., before the altar of burnt-offering, to consecrate the oil to God, and sanctify it for further use. With the rest of the oil he smeared the same organs of the person to be consecrated which he had already smeared with blood, placing it, in fact, “ upon the blood of the trespass-offering, ” i.e., upon the spots already touched with blood; he then poured the remainder upon the head of the person to be consecrated, and so made atonement for him before Jehovah. The priests were also anointed at their consecration, not only by the pouring of oil upon their head, but by the sprinkling of oil upon their garments (Leviticus 8:12, Leviticus 8:30). But in their case the anointing of their head preceded the consecration-offering, and holy anointing oil was used for the purpose. Here, on the contrary, it was ordinary oil, which the person to be consecrated had offered as a sacrificial gift; and this was first of all sanctified, therefore, by being sprinkled and poured upon the organs with which he was to serve the Lord, and then upon the head, which represented his personality. Just as the anointing oil, prepared according to divine directions, shadowed forth the power and gifts of the Spirit, with which God endowed the priests for their peculiar office in His kingdom; so the oil, which the leper about to be consecrated presented as a sacrifice out of his own resources, represented the spirit of life which he had received from God, and now possessed as his own. This property of his spirit was presented to the Lord by the priestly waving and sprinkling of the oil before Jehovah, to be pervaded and revived by His spirit of grace, and when so strengthened, to be not only applied to those organs of the person to be consecrated, with which he fulfilled the duties of his vocation as a member of the priestly nation of God, but also poured upon his head, to be fully appropriated to his person. And just as in the sacrifice the blood was the symbol of the soul, so in the anointing the oil was the symbol of the spirit. If, therefore, the soul was established in gracious fellowship with the Lord by being sprinkled with the atoning blood of sacrifice, the anointing with oil had reference to the spirit, which gives life to soul and body, and which was thereby endowed with the power of the Spirit of God. In this way the man cleansed from leprosy was reconciled to Jehovah, and reinstated in the covenant privileges and covenant grace.

Leviticus 14:19-20

It was not till all this had been done, that the priest could proceed to make expiation for him with the sin-offering, for which the ewe-lamb was brought, “on account of his uncleanness,” i.e., on account of the sin which still adhered to him as well as to all the other members of the covenant nation, and which had come outwardly to light in the uncleanness of his leprosy; after which he presented his burnt-offering and meat-offering, which embodied the sanctification of all his members to the service of the Lord, and the performance of works well-pleasing to Him. The sin-offering, burnt-offering, and meat-offering were therefore presented according to the general instructions, with this exception, that, as a representation of diligence in good works, a larger quantity of meal and oil was brought than the later law in Numbers 15:4 prescribed for the burnt-offering.

Leviticus 14:21-32

In cases of poverty on the part of the person to be consecrated, the burnt-offering and sin-offering were reduced to a pair of turtle-doves or young pigeons, and the meat-offering to a tenth of an ephah of meal and oil; but no diminution was allowed in the trespass-offering as the consecration-offering, since this was the conditio sine qua non of reinstatement in full covenant rights. On account of the importance of all the details of this law, every point is repeated a second time in Leviticus 14:21-32.


Verse 33-34

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 (Leviticus 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 (Leviticus 14:46, Leviticus 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 Leviticus 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 .”)


Verse 35-36

When the evil showed itself in a house, the owner was to send this message to the priest, “ A leprous evil has appeared in my house, ” and the priest, before entering to examine it, was to have the house cleared, lest everything in it should become unclean. Consequently, as what was in the house became unclean only when the priest had declared the house affected with leprosy, the reason for the defilement is not to be sought for in physical infection, but must have been of an ideal or symbolical kind.


Verses 37-42

If the leprous spot appeared in “ greenish or reddish depressions, which looked deeper than the wall, ” the priest was to shut up the house for seven days. If after that time he found that the mole had spread on the walls, he was to break out the stones upon which it appeared, and remove them to an unclean place outside the town, and to scrape the house all round inside, and throw the dust that was scraped off into an unclean place outside the town. He was then to put other stones in their place, and plaster the house with fresh mortar.


Verses 43-45

If the mole broke out again after this had taken place, it was a malicious leprosy, and the house was to be pulled down as unclean, whilst the stones, the wood, and the mortar were to be taken to an unclean place outside the town.


Verse 46-47

Whoever went into the house during the time that it was closed, became unclean till the evening and had to wash himself; but whoever slept or ate therein during this time, was to wash his clothes, and of course was unclean till the evening. אתו הסגּיר (Leviticus 14:46) may be a perfect tense, and a relative clause dependent upon ימי , or it may be an infinitive for הסגּיר as in Leviticus 14:43.


Verses 48-53

If the priest should find, however, that after the fresh plastering the mole had not appeared again, or spread (to other places), he was to pronounce the house clean, because the evil was cured, and (Leviticus 14:49-53) to perform the same rite of purification as was prescribed for the restoration of a man, who had been cured of leprosy, to the national community (Leviticus 14:4-7). The purpose was also the same, namely, to cleanse ( חטּא cleanse from sin) and make atonement for the house, i.e., to purify it from the uncleanness of sin which had appeared in the leprosy. For, 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.


Verses 54-57

Leviticus 14:54-57 contain the concluding formula to ch. 13 and 14. The law of leprosy was given “to teach in the day of the unclean and the clean,” i.e., to give directions for the time when they would have to do with the clean and unclean.