Verse 1
Leviticus 14:1. The priests
having been instructed in the
foregoing chapter how to judge
of the leprosy, are here
directed concerning the kinds
and manner of those sacrifices
and ceremonies which were
requisite for the legal
purification of the leper, after
the priest judged him to be
healed, in order that he might
be readmitted to the civil and
religious privileges of the
Jewish community.
Verse 2
Leviticus 14:2. He shall be
brought to the priest — Not to
the priest’s tent or house, but
to some place without the camp,
or city, where the priest should
appoint to meet him.
Verse 3
Leviticus 14:3. Healed — By God,
for God alone did heal or
cleanse him really, the priest
only declaratively.
Verse 4
Leviticus 14:4. Two birds — The
one to represent Christ as dying
for his sins, the other to
represent him as rising again
for his purification or
justification. Alive and clean —
Allowed for food and for
sacrifice. Cedar-wood — A stick
of cedar, to which the hyssop
and one of the birds were tied
by the scarlet thread. Cedar
seems to be chosen, to denote
that the leper was now freed
from that corruption which his
leprosy had brought upon him,
that kind of wood being in a
manner incorruptible. Scarlet —
A thread of wool of a scarlet
colour, to represent both the
leper’s sinfulness, and the
blood of Christ, and the happy
change of the leper’s colour and
complexion, which before was wan
and loathsome, now sprightly and
beautiful. Hyssop — The fragrant
smell of which signified the
cure of the leper’s ill scent.
Verse 5
Leviticus 14:5. That one of the
birds be killed — By some other
man. The priest did not kill it
himself, because it was not
properly a sacrifice, as being
killed without the camp, and not
in that place to which all
sacrifices were confined. In an
earthen vessel — That is, over
running water put in an earthen
vessel. Thus the blood of the
bird and the water were mixed
together, partly for the
convenience of sprinkling, and
partly to signify Christ, who
came by water and blood, 1 John
5:6. The running water, (that
is, spring or river water,) by
its liveliness and motion, did
fitly signify the restoring of
liveliness to the leper, who was
in a manner dead before.
Verse 7
Leviticus 14:7. Into the open
field — The place of its former
abode, signifying the taking off
that restraint which was laid
upon the leper, and that he was
restored to free conversation
with his neighbours.
Verse 8
Leviticus 14:8. All his hair —
Partly to discover his perfect
soundness, partly to preserve
him from a relapse through any
relics of it which might remain
in his hair or in his clothes.
Out of his tent — Out of his
former habitation, in some
separate place, lest some of his
leprosy, yet lurking in him,
should break forth to the
infection of his family.
Verse 9
Leviticus 14:9. He shall shave
all his hair — Which began to
grow again, and now, for more
caution, is again shaved off. He
shall be clean — Legally
declared so to be, so as to be
readmitted both to his family
and the public worship.
Verse 10
Leviticus 14:10. Two he-lambs,
and one ewe-lamb — For three
kinds of sacrifice, namely, a
trespass-offering, a
sin-offering, and a
burnt-offering. Flour for a
meal-offering — For to each of
these sacrifices there was a
meal or bread- offering
appropriated, consisting of a
tenth part of an ephah of fine
flour. Mingled with oil — This
is added as a fit sign of God’s
grace and mercy, and of the
leper’s being healed. A log is a
measure containing about six
egg-shells full.
Verse 11
Leviticus 14:11. Maketh him
clean — The healing is ascribed
to God, (Leviticus 14:13,) but
the ceremonial cleansing was an
act of the priest, using the
rites which God had prescribed.
Verse 12
Leviticus 14:12. A
trespass-offering — This being
the first time of the leper’s
appearing in the assembly for
God’s worship after his
recovery, it was proper he
should pay this public testimony
of homage and gratitude to his
deliverer, beginning with an act
of humiliation for sin, which is
the source of all those pains
and diseases to which mankind
are obnoxious.
Verse 14
Leviticus 14:14. The priest
shall put it — To signify that
he was now free to hear God’s
word in the appointed places,
and to touch any person or thing
without defiling it, and to go
whither he pleased.
Verses 15-17
Leviticus 14:15-17. The oil — As
the blood signified Christ’s
blood, by which men obtain
remission of sins, so the oil
denoted the graces of the
Spirit, by which they are
renewed. Before the Lord —
Before the second veil which
covered the holy of holies. Upon
the blood — Upon the place where
that blood was put.
Verse 25
Leviticus 14:25. The priest
shall put the blood — Upon the
extremities of the body, to
include the whole. And some of
the oil was afterward put in the
same places upon the blood. That
blood seems to have been a token
of forgiveness, the oil of
healing; for God first forgiveth
our iniquities, and then healeth
our diseases. When the leper was
anointed, the oil was to have
blood under it, to signify that
all the graces and comforts of
the Spirit, all his sanctifying
influences, are owing to the
death of Christ. It is by his
blood alone that we are
sanctified.
Verse 34
Leviticus 14:34. I put the
plague of leprosy in a house —
Now they were in the wilderness,
dwelt in tents, and had no
houses; and therefore this law
is made only as an appendix to
the former laws concerning the
leprosy, because it related not
to their present state, but to
their future settlement in
Canaan. The leprosy in a house
is as unaccountable as the
leprosy in a garment: but if we
do not see what natural causes
can be assigned for it, we may
resolve it into the power of the
God of nature, who here saith, I
put the leprosy in a house, as
(Zechariah 5:4) his curse is
said to enter into a house and
consume it, with the stones and
timber thereof.
Verse 36
Leviticus 14:36. That all be not
made unclean — It is observable
here, that neither the people
nor the household stuff were
polluted till the leprosy was
discovered and declared by the
priest, to show what great
difference God makes between
sins of ignorance, and sins
against knowledge.
Verse 37
Leviticus 14:37. In the walls of
the house — This, it seems, was
an extraordinary judgment of God
peculiar to this people, either
as a punishment of their sins,
which were much more aggravated
and inexcusable than the sins of
other nations; or as a special
help to repentance, which God
afforded them above other
people; or as a token of the
mischievous nature of sin,
typified by leprosy, which did
not only destroy persons, but
their habitations also. Hollow
streaks — Such as were in the
bodies of leprous persons.
Verse 40
Leviticus 14:40. That they may
take away the stones — Some have
thought the leprosy in the house
was typical of the idolatry
which did strangely cleave to
the Jewish Church, and though
some of the reforming kings took
away the infected stones, yet
still it broke out again, till,
by the captivity in Babylon, God
took down the house and carried
it to an unclean land; and that
proved an effectual cure of
their inclination to idols, and
idolatrous worship. An unclean
place — Where they used to cast
dirt and filthy things.
Verse 57
Leviticus 14:57. To teach when
it is unclean and when it is
clean — To direct the priest
when to pronounce a person or
house clean or unclean. Upon the
whole, we may see in these laws
the religious care we ought to
take of ourselves to keep our
minds from the dominion of all
sinful affections and
dispositions, which are both
their disease and their
defilement, that we may be fit
for the service of God. We ought
also to avoid all bad company,
and, as much as may be, coming
within the danger of being
affected by it. Touch not the
unclean thing, saith the Lord,
and I will receive you. |