Part 70 (1/2)

13:59. This is the law touching the leprosy of any woollen or linen garment, either in the warp or woof, or any thing of skins: how it ought to be cleaned, or p.r.o.nounced unclean.

Leviticus Chapter 14

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 s.e.xtary of oil apart.

A s.e.xtary... 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 trespa.s.s offering with the s.e.xtary 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 trespa.s.s 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 trespa.s.s, 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 was.h.i.+ng 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 G.o.d, viz., by the repeated application of the blood of Christ: the was.h.i.+ng 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 grat.i.tude 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 G.o.d; 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 G.o.d.

14:15. And he shall pour of the s.e.xtary 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 trespa.s.s:

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.