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
Israel’s 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 man’s 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 man’s
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 man’s
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
Father’s 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."
THE CLEANSING OF THE LEPER
Lev 14:1-32 THE ceremonies for the restoration of the
leper, when healed of his disease, to full covenant privileges, were
comprehended in two distinct series. The first part of the
ceremonial took place without the camp, and sufficed only to
terminate his condition as one ceremonially dead, and allow of his
return into the camp, and his association, though still under
restriction, with his fellow Israelites. The second part of the
ceremonial took up his case on the eighth day thereafter, where the
former ceremonial had left him, as a member, indeed, of the holy
people, but a member still under defilement such as debarred him
from approach to the presence of Jehovah; and, by a fourfold
offering and an anointing, restored him to the full enjoyment of all
his covenant privileges before God.
This law for the cleansing of the leper certainly implies that the
disease, although incurable by human skill, yet, whether by the
direct power of God, as in several instances in Holy Scripture, or
for some cause unknown, might occasionally cease its ravages. In
this case, although the visible effects of the disease might still
remain, in mutilations and scars, yet he would be none the less a
healed man. That occasionally instances have occurred of such arrest
of the disease, is attested by competent observers, and the law
before us thus provides for the restoration of the leper in such
cases to the position from which his leprosy had excluded him.
The first part of the ceremonial (Lev 14:3-9) took place without the
camp; for until legally cleansed the man was in the sight of the law
still a leper, and therefore under sentence of banishment from the
congregation of Israel. Thus, as the outcast could not go to the
priest, the priest, on receiving word of his desire, went to him.
For the ceremony which was to be performed, he provided himself with
two living, clean birds, and with cedar wood, and scarlet, and
hyssop; also he took with him an earthen vessel filled with living
water, -i.e., with water from some spring or flowing stream, and
therefore presumably pure and clean. One of the birds was then
killed in such a manner that its blood was received into the vessel
of water; then the living bird and the hyssop-bound, as we are told,
with the scarlet band to the cedar wood-were dipped into the mingled
blood and water, and by them the leper was sprinkled therewith seven
times by the priest, and was then pronounced clean; when the living
bird, stained with the blood of the bird that was killed, was
allowed to fly away. Thereupon, the leper washed his clothes, shaved
off all his hair, bathed in water, and entered the camp. This
completed the first stadium of his restoration.
Certain things about this symbolism seem very clear. First of all,
whereas the leper, afflicted, as it were, with a living death, had
become, as regards Israel, a man legally dead, the sprinkling with
blood, in virtue of which he was allowed to take his place again in
the camp as a living Israelite, symbolised the impartation of life;
and, again, inasmuch as death is defiling, the blood was mingled
with water, the uniform symbol of cleansing. The remaining symbols
emphasise thoughts closely related to these. The cedar wood (or
juniper), which is almost incorruptible, signified that with this
new life was imparted also freedom from corruption. Scarlet, as a
colour, is the constant symbol, again, like the blood, of life and
health. What the hyssop was is still in debate; but we can at least
safely say that it was a plant supposed to have healing and
purifying virtues.
So far all is clear. But what is the meaning of the slaying of the
one bird, and the loosing afterward of the other, moistened with the
blood of its fellow? Some have said that both of the birds
symbolised the leper: the one which was slain, the leper as he was,
-namely, as one dead, or under sentence of death by his plague; the
other, naturally, then, the leper as healed, who, even as the living
bird is let fly whither it will, is now set at liberty to go where
he pleases. But when we consider that it is by means of being
sprinkled with the blood of the slain bird that the leper is
cleansed, it seems quite impossible that this slain bird should
typify the leper in his state of defilement. Indeed, if this bird
symbolised him as under his disease, this supposition seems even
absurd; for the blood which cleansed must then have represented his
own blood, and his blood as diseased and unclean!
Neither is it possible that the other bird, which was set at
liberty, should represent the leper as healed, and its release, his
liberation; however plausible, at first thought, this explanation
may seem. For the very same ceremony as this with. the two birds was
also to be used in the cleansing of a leprous house (Lev 14:50-53),
where it is evident that the loosing of the living bird could not
have any. such significance; since the notion of a liberty given
would be wholly inapplicable in the case of a house. But whatever
the true meaning of the symbolism may be, it is clear that it must
be one which will apply equally well in each of the two cases, the
cleansing of the leprous house, no less than that of the leprous
person.
We are therefore compelled to regard the slaying of the one bird as
a true sacrifice. No doubt there are difficulties in the way, but
they do not seem insuperable, and are, in any case, less than those
which beset other suppositions. It is true that the birds are not
presented before Jehovah in the tabernacle; but as the ceremony took
place outside the camp, and therefore at a distance from the
tabernacle, this may be explained as merely because of the necessity
of the case. It is true, again, that the choice of the bird was not
limited, as in the tabernacle sacrifices, to the turtledove or
pigeon; but it might easily be that when, as in this case, the
sacrifice was elsewhere than at the tabernacle, the rules for
service there did not necessarily apply. Finally and decisively,
when we turn to the law for the cleansing of the leprous house, we
find that atoning virtue is explicitly ascribed to this rite with
the birds (Lev 14:53): "He shall make atonement for the house."
But sacrifice is here presented in a different aspect from elsewhere
in the law. In this ceremonial the central thought is not
consecration through sacrifice, as in the burnt offering; nor
expiation of guilt through sacrifice, as in the sin offering; nor
yet satisfaction for trespass committed, as in the guilt offering.
It is sacrifice as procuring for the man for whom it is offered
purity and life, which is the main thought.
But, according to Lev 14:52-53, the atonement is made with both the
dead and the living bird. The special thought which is emphasised by
the use of the latter, seems to be merely the full completeness of
the work of cleansing which has been accomplished through the death
of the other bird. For the living bird was represented as ideally
identified with the bird which was slain, by being dipped in its
blood; and in that it was now loosed from its captivity, this was in
token of the fact that the bird, having now given its life to impart
cleansing and life to the leper, has fully accomplished that end.
Obviously, this explanation is one that will apply no less readily
to the cleansing of the leprous house than of the leprous person.
For the leprosy in the house signifies the working of corruption and
of decay and death in the wall of the house, in a way adapted to its
nature, as really as in the case of the person; and the ceremonial
with the birds and other material prescribed means the same with it
as with the other, -namely, the removal of the principle of
corruption and disease, and impartation of purity and wholesomeness.
In both cases the sevenfold sprinkling, as in analogous cases
elsewhere in the law, signified the completeness of the cleansing.
to which nothing was lacking, and also certified to the leper that
by this impartation of new life, and by his cleansing, he was again
brought into covenant relations with Jehovah.
With these ceremonies, the leper’s cleansing was now in so far
effected that he could enter the camp; only he must first cleanse
himself and his clothes with water and shave his hair, -ceremonies
which, in their primary meaning, are most naturally explained by the
importance of an actual physical cleansing in such a case. Every
possible precaution must be taken that by no chance he bring the
contagion of his late disease into the camp. Of what special
importance in this connection, besides the washing, is the shaving
of the hair, will be apparent to all who know how peculiarly
retentive is the hair of odours and infections of every kind.
The cleansed man might now come into the camp; he is restored to his
place as a living Israelite. And yet he may not come to the
tabernacle. For even an Israelite might not come, if defiled for the
dead; and this is precisely the leper’s status at this point. Though
delivered from the power of death, there is yet persisting such a
connection of his new self with his old leprous self as precludes
him from yet entering the more immediate presence of God. The
reality of this analogy will appear to anyone who compares the rites
which now follow (Lev 14:10-20) with those appointed for the
Nazarite, when defiled by the dead. {Num 6:9-12}
Seven days, then, as in that case, he remains away from the
tabernacle. On the seventh day, he again shaves himself even to the
eyebrows, thus ensuring the most absolute cleanness, and washes
himself and his clothes in water. The final restoration ceremonial
took place on the eighth day, -the day symbolic of the new creation,
-when he appeared before Jehovah at the tent of meeting with a
he-lamb for a guilt offering, and another for a sin offering, and an
ewe-lamb for a burnt offering; also a meal offering of three
tenth-deals, one tenth for each sacrifice, mingled with oil, and a
log (3.32 qts.) of oil. The oil was then waved for a wave offering
before the Lord, as also the whole lamb of the guilt offering (an
unusual thing), and then the lamb was slain and offered after the
manner of the guilt offering.
And now followed the most distinctive part of the ceremonial. As in
the case of the consecration of the priests was done with the blood
of the peace offering and with the holy oil, so was it done here
with the blood of the guilt offering and with the common oil-now by
its waving consecrated to Jehovah-which the cleansed leper had
brought. The priest anoints the man’s right ear, the thumb of his
right hand, and the great toe of his right foot, first with the
blood of the guilt offering, and then with the oil, having
previously sprinkled of the oil seven times with his finger before
the Lord. The remnant of the oil in the hand of the priest he then
pours upon the cleansed leper’s head; then offers for him the sin
offering, the burnt offering, and the meal offering; and therewith,
at last, the atonement is complete, and the man is restored to his
full rights and privileges as a living member of the people of the
living God.
The chief significance of this ceremonial lies in the prominence
given to the guilt offering. This is evidenced, not only by the
special and peculiar use which is made of its blood, in applying it
to the leper, but also in the fact that in the case of the poor man,
while the other offerings are diminished, there is no diminution
allowed as regards the lamb of the guilt offering, and the log of
oil. Why should the guilt offering have received on this occasion
such a place of special prominence? The answer has been rightly
given by those who point to the significance of the guilt offering
as representing reparation and satisfaction for loss of service due.
By the fact of the man’s leprosy, and consequent exclusion from the
camp of Israel, God had been, for the whole period of his excision,
defrauded, so to speak, of His proper dues from him in respect of
service and offerings; and the guilt offering precisely symbolised
satisfaction made for this default in service which he had otherwise
been able to render.
Nor is it a fatal objection to this understanding of the matter
that, on this principle, he also that for a long time had had an
issue should have been required, for his prolonged default of
service, to bring a guilt offering in order to his restoration;
whereas from him no such demand was made. For the need, before the
law, for the guilt offering lay, not in the duration of the leprosy,
as such apprehend it, but in the nature of the leprosy, as being,
unlike any other visitation, in a peculiar sense, a death in life.
Even when the man with an issue was debarred from the sanctuary, he
was not, like the leper, regarded by the law as a dead man; but was
still counted among them that were living in Israel And if precluded
for an indefinite time from the service and worship of God at the
tabernacle, he yet, by his public submission to the demands of the
law, in the presence of all, rendered still to God the honour due
from a member of the living Israel. But in that the leper, unlike
any other defiled person, was reckoned ceremonially dead, obviously
consistency in the symbolism made it impossible to regard him as
having in any sense rendered honour or service to God so long as he
continued a leper, any more than if he had been dead and buried.
Therefore he must bring a guilt offering, as one who had, however
unavoidably, committed "a trespass in the holy things of the Lord."
And so this guilt offering, in the case of the leper, as in all
others, represented the satisfaction of debt; and as the reality or
the amount of a debt cannot be affected by the poverty of the
debtor, the offering which symbolised satisfaction for the debt must
be the same for the poor leper as for the rich leper.
And the application of the blood to ear, hand, and foot meant the
same as in the case of the consecration of the priests. Inducted, as
one now risen from the dead, into the number of the priestly people,
he receives the priestly consecration, devoting ear, hand, and foot
to the service of the Lord. And as it was fitting that the priests,
because brought into a relation of special nearness to God, in order
to be ministers of reconciliation to Israel, should therefore be
consecrated with the blood of the peace offering, which specially
emphasised the realisation of reconciliation, -so the cleansed
leper, who was reestablished as a living member of the priestly
nation, more especially by the blood of the guilt offering, was
therefore fittingly represented as consecrated in virtue, and by
means of that fact.
So, like the priests, he also was anointed by the priest with oil;
not indeed with the holy oil, for he was not admitted to the
priestly order; yet with common oil, sanctified by its waving before
God, in token of his consecration as a member of the priestly
people. Especially suitable in his case was this anointing, that the
oil constantly stands as a symbol of healing virtue, which in his
experience he had so wondrously received.
Remembering in all this how the leprosy stands as a preeminent type
of sin, in its aspect as involving death and corruption, the
application of these ceremonies to the antitypical cleansing, at
least in its chief aspects, is almost self-evident. As in all the
Levitical types, so in this case, at the very entrance on the
redeemed life stands the sacrifice of a life, and the service of a
priest as mediator between God and man. Blood must be shed if the
leper is to be admitted again into covenant standing with God; and
the blood of the sacrifice in the law ever points to the sacrifice
of Christ. But that great Sacrifice may be regarded in various
aspects. Sin is a many-sided evil, and on every side it must be met.
As often repeated, because sin as guilt requires expiation, hence
the type of the sin offering; in that it is a defrauding of God of
His just rights from us, satisfaction is required, hence the type of
the guilt offering; as it is absence of consecration, life for self
instead of life for God, hence the type of the burnt offering. And
yet the manifold aspects of sin are not all enumerated. For sin,
again, is spiritual death; and, as death, it involves corruption and
defilement. It is with special reference to this fact that the work
of Christ is brought before us here. In the clean bird, slain that
its blood may be applied to the leper for cleansing, we see typified
Christ, as giving Himself, that His very life may be imparted to us
for our life. In that the blood of the bird is mingled with water,
the symbol of the Word of God, is symbolised the truth, that with
the atoning blood is ever inseparably united the purifying energy of
the Holy Ghost through the Word. Not the water without the blood,
nor the blood without the water, saves, but the blood with the
water, and the water with the blood. So it is said of Him to whom
the ceremony pointed: {1Jn 5:6} "This is He that came by water and
blood, even Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the
water and with the blood."
But the type yet lacks something for completeness; and for this
reason we have the second bird, who, when by his means the blood has
been sprinkled on the leper, and the man is now pronounced clean, is
released and flies away heavenward. What a beautiful symbol of that
other truth, without which even the atonement of the Lord were
naught, that He who died, having by that death for us procured our
life was then released from the bonds of death, rising from the dead
on the third day, and ascending to heaven, like the freed bird, in
token that His life-giving, cleansing, work was done. Thus the
message which, as the liberated bird flies carolling away, sweet as
a heavenly song, seems to fall upon the ear, is this, "Delivered up
for our trespasses, and raised for our justification." {Rom 4:25;
see Gr.}
But although thus and then restored to his standing as a member of
the living people of God, not yet was the cleansed leper allowed to
appear in the presence of God at the tent of meeting. There was a
delay of a week, and only then, on the eighth day, the day typical
of resurrection and new creation, does He appear before God. Is
there typical meaning in this delay? We would not be too confident.
It is quite possible that this delay of a week, before the cleansed
man was allowed to present himself for the completion of the
ceremonial which reinstated him in the plenary enjoyment of all the
rights and privileges of a child of Israel, may have been intended
merely as a precautionary rule, of which the purpose was to guard
against the possibility of infection, and the defilement of the
sanctuary by his presence, through renewed activity of the disease;
while, at the same time, it would serve as a spiritual discipline to
remind the man, now cleansed, of the extreme care and holy fear with
which, after his defilement, he should venture into the presence of
the Holy One of Israel; and thus, by analogy, it becomes a like
lesson to the spiritually cleansed in all ages.
But perhaps we may see a deeper significance in this week of delay,
and his appointed appearance before the Lord on the eighth day. If
the whole course of the leper, from the time of his infection till
his final reappearing in the presence of Jehovah at the tent of
meeting, be intended to typify the history and experience of a
sinner as saved from sin; and if the cleansing of the leper without
the camp, and his reinstatement thereupon as a member of God’s
Israel, represents in type the judicial reinstatement of the
cleansed sinner, through the application of the blood and Spirit of
Christ, in the number of God’s people; one can then hardly fail to
recognise in the week’s delay appointed to him, before he could come
into the immediate presence of God, an adumbration of the fact that
between the sinner’s acceptance and the appointed time of his
appearing, finally and fully cleansed, before the Lord, on the
resurrection morning, there intervenes a period of delay, even the
whole lifetime of the believer here in the flesh and in the
disembodied state. For only thereafter does he at last, wholly
perfected, appear before God in the heavenly Zion. But before thus
appearing, the accepted man once and again had to cleanse his
garments and his person, that so he might remove everything in which
by any chance uncleanness might still lurk. Which, translated into
New Testament language, gives us the charge of the Apostle Paul {2Co
7:1} addressed to those who had indeed received the new life, but
were still in the flesh: "Let us cleanse ourselves from all
defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of
God."
But, at last, the week of delay is ended. After its seventh day
follows an eighth, the first-day morning of a new week, the morning
typical of resurrection and therewith completed redemption, and the
leper now, completely restored, appears before God in the holy
tabernacle. Even so shall an eighth-day morning dawn for all who by
the cleansing blood have been received into the number of God’s
people. And when that day comes, then, even as when the cleansed man
appeared at the tent of meeting, he presented guilt offering, sin
offering, and burnt offering, as the warrant for his presence there,
and the ground of his acceptance, so shall it be in that day of
resurrection, when every one of God’s once leprous but now washed
and accepted children shall appear in Zion before Him. They will all
appear there as pleading the blood, the precious blood of Christ;
Christ, at last apprehended and received by them in all His fulness,
as expiation, satisfaction, and righteousness. For so John
represents it in the apocalyptic vision of the blood-washed
multitude in the heavenly glory: {Rev 7:14-15} "These are they which
come out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes, and
made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before
the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple."
And as it is written {Rom 8:11} that the final quickening of our
mortal bodies shall be accomplished by the Spirit of God, so the
leper, now in God’s presence, receives a special anointing; a type
of the unction of the Holy Ghost in resurrection power, consecrating
the once leprous ear, hand, and foot, and therewith the whole body,
now cleansed from all defilement, to the glad service of Jehovah our
God and our Redeemer.
Such, in outline at least, appears to be the typical significance of
this ceremonial of the cleansing of the leper. Some details are
indeed still left unexplained, but, probably, the whole reason for
some of the regulations is to be formal in the immediate practical
necessities of the leper’s condition.
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