The rites of sacrifices in cleansing the leprosy. Leprosy in houses.
14:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
14:2. This is the rite of a leper, when he is to be cleansed. He shall
be brought to the priest:
14:3. Who going out of the camp, when he shall find that the leprosy is
cleansed,
14:4. Shall command him that is to be purified, to offer for himself
two living sparrows, which it is lawful to eat, and cedar wood, and
scarlet, and hyssop.
14:5. And he shall command one of the sparrows to be immolated in an
earthen vessel over living waters.
Living waters.... That is, waters taken from a spring, brook, or river.
14:6. But the other that is alive, he shall dip, with the cedar wood,
and the scarlet and the hyssop, in the blood of the sparrow that is
immolated:
14:7. Wherewith he shall sprinkle him that is to be cleansed seven
times, that he may be rightly purified. And he shall let go the living
sparrow, that it may fly into the field.
14:8. And when the man hath washed his clothes, he shall shave all the
hair of his body, and shall be washed with water: and being purified he
shall enter into the camp, yet so that he tarry without his own tent
seven days.
14:9. And on the seventh day he shall shave the hair of his head, and
his beard and his eyebrows, and the hair of all his body. And having
washed again his clothes, and his body,
14:10. On the eighth day, he shall take two lambs without blemish, and
an ewe of a year old without blemish, and three tenths of flour
tempered with oil for a sacrifice, and a sextary of oil apart.
A sextary.... Heb. log: a measure of liquids, which was the twelfth
part of a hin; and held about as much as six eggs.
14:11. And when the priest that purifieth the man, hath presented him,
and all these things before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of
the testimony:
14:12. He shall take a lamb, and offer it for a trespass offering with
the sextary of oil. And having offered all before the Lord,
14:13. He shall immolate the lamb, where the victim for sin is wont to
be immolated, and the holocaust, that is, in the holy place. For as
that which is for sin, so also the victim for a trespass offering
pertaineth to the priest: it is holy of holies.
14:14. And the priest taking of the blood of the victim that was
immolated for trespass, shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of
him that is cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand and the
great toe of his right foot.
Taking of the blood, etc.... These ceremonies used in the cleansing of
a leper, were mysterious and very significative. The sprinkling seven
times with the blood of the little bird, the washing himself and his
clothes, the shaving his hair and his beard, signify the means which
are to be used in the reconciliation of a sinner, and the steps by
which he is to return to God, viz., by the repeated application of the
blood of Christ: the washing his conscience with the waters of
compunction: and retrenching all vanities and superfluities, by
employing all that is over and above what is necessary in alms deeds.
The sin offering, and the holocaust or burnt offering, which he was to
offer at his cleansing, signify the sacrifice of a contrite and humble
heart, and that of adoration in spirit and truth, with gratitude and
thankfulness, for the forgiveness of sins, with which we are ever to
appear before the Almighty. The touching the right ear, the thumb of
the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot, first with the
blood of the victim, and then with the remainder of the oil, which had
been sprinkled seven times before the Lord, signify the application of
the blood of Christ, and the unction of the sevenfold grace of the Holy
Ghost; to the sinner’s right ear, that he may duly hearken to and obey
the law of God; and to his right hand and foot, that the works of his
hands, and all the steps or affections of his soul, signified by the
feet, may be rightly directed to God.
14:15. And he shall pour of the sextary of oil into his own left hand,
14:16. And shall dip his right finger in it, and sprinkle it before the
Lord seven times.
14:17. And the rest of the oil in his left hand, he shall pour upon the
tip of the right ear of him that is cleansed, and upon the thumb of his
right hand and the great toe of his right foot, and upon the blood that
was shed for trespass:
14:18. And upon his head.
14:19. And he shall pray for him before the Lord, and shall offer the
sacrifice for sin. Then shall he immolate the holocaust.
14:20. And put it on the altar with the libations thereof: and the man
shall be rightly cleansed.
14:21. But if he be poor, and his hand cannot find the things
aforesaid: he shall take a lamb for an offering for trespass, that the
priest may pray for him, and a tenth part of flour tempered with oil
for a sacrifice, and a sextary of oil:
14:22. And two turtles or two young pigeons, of which one may be for
sin, and the other for a holocaust.
14:23. And he shall offer them on the eighth day of his purification to
the priest, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony before the
Lord.
14:24. And the priest receiving the lamb for trespass, and the sextary
of oil, shall elevate them together.
14:25. And the lamb being immolated, he shall put of the blood thereof
upon the tip of the right ear of him that is cleansed, and upon the
thumb of his right hand, and the great toe of his right foot.
14:26. But he shall pour part of the oil into his own left hand,
14:27. And dipping the finger of his right hand in it, he shall
sprinkle it seven times before the Lord.
14:28. And he shall touch the tip of the right ear of him that is
cleansed, and the thumb of his right hand and the great toe of his
right foot, in the place of the blood that was shed for trespass.
14:29. And the other part of the oil that is in his left hand, he shall
pour upon the head of the purified person, that he may appease the Lord
for him.
14:30. And he shall offer a turtle, or young pigeon:
14:31. One for trespass, and the other for a holocaust, with their
libations.
14:32. This is the sacrifice of a leper, that is not able to have all
things that appertain to his cleansing.
14:33. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:
14:34. When you shall come into the land of Chanaan, which I will give
you for a possession, if there be the plague of leprosy in a house:
14:35. He whose house it is, shall go and tell the priest, saying: It
seemeth to me, that there is the plague of leprosy in my house,
14:36. And he shall command, that they carry forth all things out of
the house, before he go into it, and see whether it have the leprosy,
let all things become unclean that are in the house. And afterwards he
shall go in to view the leprosy of the house.
14:37. And if he see in the walls thereof as it were little dints,
disfigured with paleness or redness, and lower than all he rest:
14:38. He shall go out of the door of the house, and forthwith shut it
up seven days,
14:39. And returning on the seventh day, he shall look upon it. If he
find that the leprosy is spread,
14:40. He shall command, that the stones wherein the leprosy is, be
taken out, and cast without the city into an unclean place:
14:41. And that the house be scraped on the inside round about, and the
dust of the scrapings be scattered without the city into an unclean
place:
14:42. And that other stones be laid in the place of them that were
taken away, and the house be plastered with other mortar.
14:43. But if after the stones be taken out, and the dust scraped off,
and it be plastered with other earth.
14:44. The priest going in perceive that the leprosy is returned, and
the walls full of spots, it is a lasting leprosy, and the house is
unclean.
14:45. And they shall destroy it forthwith, and shall cast the stones
and timber thereof, and all the dust without the town into an unclean
place.
14:46. He that entereth into the house when it is shut, shall be
unclean until evening,
14:47. And he that sleepeth in it, and eateth any thing, shall wash his
clothes.
14:48. But if the priest going in perceive that the leprosy is not
spread in the house, after it was plastered again, he shall purify it,
it being cured.
14:49. And for the purification thereof he shall take two sparrows, and
cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop.
14:50. And having immolated one sparrow in an earthen vessel, over
living waters,
14:51. He shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet,
and the living sparrow, and shall dip all in the blood of the sparrow
that is immolated, and in the living water: and he shall sprinkle the
house seven times.
14:52. And shall purify it as well with the blood of the sparrow, as
with the living water, and with the living sparrow, and with the cedar
wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet.
14:53. And when he hath let go the sparrow to fly freely away into the
field, he shall pray for the house: and it shall be rightly cleansed.
14:54. This is the law of every kind of leprosy and stroke.
14:55. Of the leprosy of garments and houses,
14:56. Of a scar and of blisters breaking out of a shining spot, and
when the colours are diversely changed:
14:57. That it may be known when a thing is clean or unclean.