Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 14:4-7

4 Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:

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

6 As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall 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.

Right away, we can see that the ritual for a person cleansed of leprosy is very different from the sort of offerings we have seen thus far. This isn’t our standard sin and burnt offering, but something that seems to have far more of a narrative to it. The actions that take place with the birds tell a story of two beings, one that is consigned to death and another that goes free.

Let us look at each step in turn. First, one of the birds is killed, but specifically in an earthen vessel over running water. An earthen vessel would mean something like a clay pot, not a woven basket. This earthen vessel immediately suggests a body. Our theology speaks of us having a spirit that resides within a terrestrial body, a tabernacle of clay in which is the breath of life. So, the bird is the life within that body.

And the body with that life within it is held over running water, such as a stream or a creek. Running water is living water, self-purifying and good for drinking and washing. It is the Spirit of God. This suggests that the life within the mortal body is attuned to the Spirit of God, it has the babbling of the living brook echoing within its clay walls.

If it wasn’t obvious already, this is all a symbol for Christ. Jesus Christ is the good bird who descended from heaven into an earthen vessel, a mortal body, and who there remained attuned to the Spirit of the Father. And just like the bird, Jesus was slain while in this form.

And into the blood of that sacrifice is dipped the second bird, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. Wood, like what the cross was made of. Scarlet cloth, like the robe that the Roman guards dressed Jesus in to mock him. Hyssop, like what carried the vinegar to Jesus’s lips in his last hour.

And what of the second bird? Well, that is us. That is the leper. That is the poor sinner. That is the weak and the broken. We are dipped into the blood of the sacrificial Savior, then released over an open field. It is our spirit redeemed and freed, saved by the blood of Christ’s sacrifice. It is the leper’s body redeemed from its infection and freed from its disease.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 14:1-4

1 And the Lord spake unto 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 forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper;

4 Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:

In the last chapter we heard all about the ways that a priest would diagnose a person with leprosy, and how such a person would have to then live in semi-quarantine, but today we hear what would happen when the leprous person was healed. The term “leprosy” in the Bible seems to cover a broad array of skin infections, and some of them would heal after some time. The leprous person, having been declared ritually unclean, would now need a ritual to be brought back into the fold, returned to full clean status with all his brothers and sisters.

An interesting bit of information comes in verse 3, where we learn that the priest would go out of the camp to where the leper lived. Obviously, this is because the leper needs to be cleansed before he can come into the midst of the people where the tabernacle is.

There is in this an obvious representation of the prodigal son who leaves the fold to embrace his sins, who then has a “come to Jesus” moment and returns to the faith that he had abandoned. And as in that story, the priest/father goes out to meet him while still afar off and brings him the rest of the way home. Even today, we see how a wayward soul trying to return may not immediately feel one with the community of the Lord, and requires some sort of ritual to fully bring him in. He needs something that feels like God coming into his heart, a place of shame and guilt, to claim him. Perhaps this ritualistic God-claiming occurs today when the sinner makes confession to a priest, or takes communion, or some other significant act that represents putting off the unclean sinner and taking on the cleansed disciple.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 13:47-59

47 The garment also that the plague of leprosy is in, whether it be a woollen garment, or a linen garment;

48 Whether it be in the warp, or woof; of linen, or of woollen; whether in a skin, or in any thing made of skin;

49 And if the plague be greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the skin, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it is a plague of leprosy, and shall be shewed unto the priest:

50 And the priest shall look upon the plague, and shut up it that hath the plague seven days:

51 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 a skin, or in any work that is made of skin; the plague is a fretting leprosy; it is unclean.

52 He shall therefore burn that garment, whether warp or 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.

53 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;

54 Then the priest shall command that they wash the thing wherein the plague is, and he shall shut it up seven days more:

55 And the priest shall look on the plague, after that it is washed: and, behold, if the plague have not changed his colour, and the plague be not spread; it is unclean; thou shalt burn it in the fire; it is fret inward, whether it be bare within or without.

56 And if the priest look, and, behold, the plague be somewhat dark after the washing of it; then he shall rend it out of the garment, or out of the skin, or out of the warp, or out of the woof:

57 And if it appear still in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it is a spreading plague: thou shalt burn that wherein the plague is with fire.

58 And the garment, either warp, or woof, or whatsoever thing of skin it be, which thou shalt wash, if the plague be departed from them, then it shall be washed the second time, and shall be clean.

59 This is the law of the plague of leprosy in a garment of woollen or linen, either in the warp, or woof, or any thing of skins, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean.

We conclude this chapter with an examination of what to do if an infestation is found within a garment. The garment might be made from the skin of an animal, or from flax that has been spun into linen, or wool from a sheep. Given its organic nature, it was susceptible to spreading disease, just like human skin. In this case, there were two stages of testing. The first was to see if the discolored spot spread. If it did, the garment was destroyed. If it didn’t, the spot was cleaned. If the cleaning had no effect, the garment was still destroyed. If it did have an effect, then the discolored section might be cut out and patched, or if it appeared perfectly clean it could be used without modification.

Throughout this chapter we have compared the presence of leprosy to the spreading of dangerous ideologies and trends in society. In today’s verses, the corruptible garment may well represent a man-made creation that has gone astray. Like a leaking nuclear reactor or an internet filled with pornography, things that we make with our own hands are just as susceptible to spreading corruption that harm us. As with the garment, we can consider whether the creation can be cleaned or patched or salvaged, but if not, it must be destroyed.

This concludes the preliminary instructions regarding the treatment of leprosy in man and garment. In the next chapter we will learn some more about the rituals and offerings to be made for the sake of a leprous person, and we will continue to consider what symbolic meaning that might have more broadly for our day.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 13:42-46

42 And if there be in the bald head, or bald forehead, a white reddish sore; it is a leprosy sprung up in his bald head, or his bald forehead.

43 Then the priest shall look upon it: and, behold, if the rising of the sore be white reddish in his bald head, or in his bald forehead, as the leprosy appeareth in the skin of the flesh;

44 He is a leprous man, he is unclean: the priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean; his plague is in his head.

45 And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his head bare, and he shall put a covering upon his upper lip, and shall cry, Unclean, unclean.

46 All the days wherein the plague shall be in him he shall be defiled; he is unclean: he shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.

In today’s verses we finally learn what was required of a person who was found to be infected with a leprosy. A person with leprosy was ritually unclean and was not to draw too near to other people, and so we see a sort of quarantine being described. The infected person was not entirely shut away from the rest of society, but he did need to live out on the fringes of the population. He could be in the same place as other Israelites, but he had to announce his approach with a cry of “unclean, unclean.” The instruction that his upper lip needed to be covered sounds like he would wear a sort of scarf or veil, functioning as a sort of olden-day medical face mask.

Going back to our analogy of a spiritually sick society, when we discover a population that has adopted a harmful ideology, we tend to lessen our connection to it. Usually, these groups are not completely eradicated, but they are kept at a distance, until their members abandon their troublesome and reintegrate with the healthy population. Examples of this might include the Hippie population and the Trans movement. We never made such organizations and ideologies illegal, but society moved apart from them, and these organizations and movements have gradually dissipated over time.

Thus, even as we recognize, call out, and distance ourselves from the ills in our society, it is with the intention of rehabilitation and reintegration, not eradication. Preventing the spread of harm is essential, but we still recognize that the infected are a part of us, and we want them to rejoin us as soon as they are clean again.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Scriptural Analysis- Leviticus 13:38-41

38 If a man also or a woman have in the skin of their flesh bright spots, even white bright spots;

39 Then the priest shall look: and, behold, if the bright spots in the skin of their flesh be darkish white; it is a freckled spot that groweth in the skin; he is clean.

40 And the man whose hair is fallen off his head, he is bald; yet is he clean.

41 And he that hath his hair fallen off from the part of his head toward his face, he is forehead bald: yet is he clean.

Today’s verses present a lesson that might seem laughably obvious, but which have a deeper symbolic meaning worth considering. In today’s verses it describes that simply going bald is not a sign of leprosy. If there is a discoloration of the skin, then that might indicate that the hair is falling out due to an underlying illness, but a man who goes bald as part of the regular aging process is not cause for alarm!

Simple and obvious, perhaps, but thus far we have seen how the principles for recognizing leprosy have all been important lessons in how to recognize social spiritual infections as well. And just as how natural baldness is not in-and-of-itself a sign of leprosy, a civilization suffering a loss is not in-and-of-itself a sign of spiritual decay. The fact is, sometimes baldness just happens, and so, too, sometimes tragedy just happens.

We live in a fallen world, after all, where things will not always be ideal. Tragedy remains tragic, whether it is a consequence of wrong decisions or a random act of nature. To know if a society has gone astray, we need to look deeper than what has happened to them, we need to look at what happenings are coming from them. Only then can we know clean from unclean.