Leviticus 14:33-57

THE LAWS CONCERNING THE LEPROSY OF HOUSES 14:33-57
TEXT 14:33-57

33

And Jehovah spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

34

When ye are 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;

35

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.

36

And the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest goeth 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:

37

and he shall look on the plague; and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow streaks, greenish or reddish, and the appearance thereof be lower than the wall;

38

then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days.

39

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;

40

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:

41

and he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the mortar, that they scrape off, without the city into an unclean place;

42

and they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the house.

43

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 plastered;

44

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.

45

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.

46

Moreover he that goeth into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the even.

47

And he that lieth in the house shall wash his clothes; and he that eateth in the house shall wash his clothes.

48

And if the priest shall come in, and look, and, behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house was plastered; then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed.

49

And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:

50

and he shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water:

51

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:

52

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:

53

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.

54

This is the law for all manner of plague of leprosy, and for a scall,

55

and for the leprosy of a garment, and for a house,

56

and for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright spot;

57

to teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean: this is the law of leprosy.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 14:33-57

300.

Now Aaron is again included in the address of God. Why?

301.

Are we to conclude from Leviticus 14:34 that God expected them to soon be in Canaan?

302.

We must necessarily accept the fact that God visited some houses with leprosy as a punishment. Discuss.

303.

Why the hesitancy on the part of the owner of the house to identify leprosy?

304.

From the fact that items of furniture could be removed from a home with leprosy and yet be considered clean would seem to indicate leprosy was not contagious. Is this true?

305.

What are the symptoms of the disease in the house?

306.

What will happen during the seven days to decide the case of leprosy?

307.

Who is the they of Leviticus 14:40? Why take the stones out? Why not scrape them?

308.

Why did God send this plague upon these people?

309.

In fourteen days the whole house could be torn down and removed. Under what conditions?

310.

During the quarantine of the house certain penalties are attached to those who are in it. What are they?

311.

It does seem strange to make a sacrifice to cleanse the houseit is inanimate and has no choice. Discuss.

PARAPHRASE 14:33-57

Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, When you arrive in the land of Canaan which I have given you, and I place leprosy in some house there, then the owner of the house shall come and report to the priest, It seems to me that there may be leprosy in my house! The priest shall order the house to be emptied before he examines it, so that everything in the house will not be declared contaminated if he decides that there is leprosy there. If he finds greenish or reddish streaks in the walls of the house which seem to be beneath the surface of the wall, he shall close up the house for seven days, and return the seventh day to look at it again. If the spots have spread in the wall, then the priest shall order the removal of the spotted section of wall, and the material must be thrown into a defiled place outside the city. Then he shall order the inside walls of the house scraped thoroughly, and the scrapings dumped in a defiled place outside the city. Other stones shall be brought to replace those that have been removed, new mortar used, and the house replastered. But if the spots appear again, the priest shall come again and look, and if he sees that the spots have spread, it is leprosy, and the house is defiled. Then he shall order the destruction of the houseall its stones, timbers, and mortar shall be carried out of the city to a defiled place. Anyone entering the house while it is closed shall be defiled until evening. Anyone who lies down or eats in the house shall wash his clothing. But if, when the priest comes again to look, the spots have not reappeared after the fresh plastering, then he will pronounce the house cleansed, and declare the leprosy gone. He shall also perform the ceremony of cleansing, using two birds, cedar wood, scarlet thread, and hyssop branches. He shall kill one of the birds over fresh water in an earthenware bowl, and dip the cedar wood, hyssop branch, and scarlet thread, as well as the living bird, into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water, and shall sprinkle the house seven times. In this way the house shall be cleansed. Then he shall let the live bird fly away into an open field outside the city. This is the method for making atonement for the house and cleansing it. These, then, are the laws concerning the various places where leprosy may appear: In a garment or in a house, or in any swelling in one's skin, or a scab from a burn, or a bright spot. In this way you will know whether or not it is actually leprosy. That is why these laws are given.

COMMENT 14:33-57

Leviticus 14:33-57 We trust by this juncture the reader of this text will conclude that we are much more interested in his knowledgeable understanding of the divine word than we are in producing another commentary among the many that are already available. For this reason it is important that all questions be answered fully; it is also important that the reader acquaint himself with the several other works on Leviticus (we hope to introduce not less than twenty-five of them). We quote here from Jamieson, Fausset and Brown (p. 96):

Leprosy in a houseThis law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, I put the leprosy, has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in His providence to be done. Assuming it to have been a natural disease, a new difficulty arises as to whether we are to consider that the house had become infected by the contagion of leprous occupiers; or that the leprosy was in the house itself. It is evident that the latter was the true state of the case, from the furniture being removed out of it on the first suspicion of the disease on the walls. Some have supposed that the name of leprosy was analogically applied to it by the Hebrews, as we speak of cancer in trees when they exhibit corrosive effects similar to what the diseased so named produces on the human body; while others have pronounced it a mural efflorescence or species of mildew on the wall apt to be produced in very damp situations, and which was followed by effects so injurious to health as well as to the stability of a house, particularly in warm countries, as to demand the attention of a legislator. Moses enjoined the priests to follow the same course and during the same period of time for ascertaining the true character of this disease as in human leprosy. If found leprous, the infected parts were to be removed. If afterwards there appeared a risk of the contagion spreading, the house was to be destroyed altogether and the materials removed to a distance. The stones were probably rough, unhewn stones, built up without cement in the manner now frequently used in fences and plastered over, or else laid in mortar. The oldest examples of architecture are of this character. The very same thing has to be done still with houses infected with mural salt. The stones covered with the nitrous incrustation must be removed, and if the infected wall is suffered to remain, it must be plastered all over anew. (48-57) The priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healedThe precautions here described show that there is great danger in warm countries from the house leprosy, which was likely to be increased by the smallness and rude architecture of the houses in the early ages of the Israelitish history. As a house Could not contract any impurity in the sight of God, the atonement which the priest was to make for it must either have a reference to the sins of its occupants or to the ceremonial process appointed for its purification, the very same as that observed for a leprous person. This solemn declaration that it was clean, as well as the offering made on the occasion, was admirably calculated to make known the fact, to remove apprehension from the public mind, as well as relieve the owner from the aching suspicion of dwelling in an infected house.

FACT QUESTIONS 14:33-57

334.

In what way was this law prospective?

335.

Was this or was this not a judicial infliction from heaven? Discuss.

336.

Did leprous occupants infect the house? 337. What were the symptoms of this leprosy?

338.

How cleansed?

339.

For what benefit were offerings made?