CHAPTER 14

(1490 B.C.)

CLEANSING LAWS

¹And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,

²This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the Priest (as the Priest was a Type of Christ, there is cleansing for sin only in Christ and the Cross; so the sinner must be brought to Christ, and not the Church, or good works, etc.):

³And the Priest shall go forth out of the camp (Christ came from Heaven for the sole purpose of seeking out sinners); and the Priest shall look (Christ Alone can diagnose and cleanse), and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper;

⁴Then shall the Priest command to take for him who is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean (one was to be killed, typifying the Cross, and the other was to be let loose into the heavens, typifying the Resurrection), and cedar wood (a Type of the Cross), and scarlet (speaks of a piece of cloth that was the color of scarlet, which typified the shed Blood of Christ), and hyssop (typifies the humanity of Christ, i.e., Incarnation, God becoming man; the hyssop sprinkled the blood, typifying the blood being sprinkled from the wounds of Christ on the Cross):

⁵And the Priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water (the earthen vessel speaks of the humanity of Christ, just as the hyssop; the running water symbolizes the Word of God, in which Jesus was, and is, the Living Word):

⁶As 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 (all were based upon the preciousness and efficacy of the shed blood; apart from the Blood of Jesus, moral reformation and spiritual power are impossible):

⁷And he shall sprinkle upon him who is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times (seven is Gods number, which proclaims a total and complete cleansing), and shall pro nounce him clean (if one fully trusts Christ and what He has done for us at the Cross, he can be pronounced clean), and shall let the living bird loose into the open field (typifying Resurrection, raised with Him in newness of life [Rom. 6:3-5]).

⁸And he who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean (excepting the washing of himself in water, the leper did nothing for his cleansing; the Priest did everything): and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days.

⁹But it shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off: and he shall wash his clothes, also he shall wash his flesh in water, and he shall be clean. (Directly the repentant sinner is cleansed by the Precious Blood of Christ, he is called upon to cleanse himself from all defilement of the flesh and spirit [II Cor. 7:1]. This cleansing is effected by the washing of water by the Word [Eph. 5:26]. That is, he judges himself and his habits [his clothes] by the infallible standard of the Holy Scriptures, and he resolutely turns away from everything condemned by the Word. Thus, he cleanses himself.)

THE SACRIFICES

¹⁰And on the eighth day he shall take two he lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, and three tenth deals of fine flour for a Meat Offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil. (The leper was cleansed by blood, by water, and by oil. These symbolized the Blood of Christ, the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit.)

¹¹And the Priest who makes him clean shall present the man that is to be made clean, and those things, before the LORD, at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation (this triple cleansing restored him to the camp, to his family, and to the Tabernacle):

¹²And the Priest shall take one he lamb, and offer him for a Trespass Offering, and the log of oil, and wave them for a Wave Offering before the LORD (as the Trespass Offering was presented by the Priest, it was done differently than normally done for other Trespass Offerings; in the case before us, not only did oil accompany it, but both the Trespass Offering and the oil were waved by the Priest, which did not take place on any other occasion in connection with the Trespass Offering and Sin Offering; actually, in no other case was the entire victim waved before the Lord):

¹³And he shall slay the lamb in the place where he shall kill the Sin Offering and the Burnt Offering, in the Holy Place: for as the Sin Offering is the Priests, so is the Trespass Offering: it is most holy (these two Offerings, plus the Meat Offering, were labeled as most holy [Lev. 2:3]; the Whole Burnt Offering and the Peace Offering were labeled as holy. Why the difference? The overriding thrust of all that Christ did was deliverance from sin, of which leprosy was a type, hence these particular Offerings being labeled most holy):

¹⁴And the Priest shall take some of the blood of the Trespass Offering, and the Priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed (typifying that all hearing had now been cleansed by the blood and, henceforth, he would hear only that which is of the Lord), and upon the thumb of his right hand (now he would do right), and upon the great toe of his right foot (now he would walk right [Rom. 8:1]):

¹⁵And the Priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand (the oil typifies the Holy Spirit; the blood having been applied, the Holy Spirit can now effect His Work in the heart and life of the former leper, i.e., sinner):

¹⁶And the Priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before the LORD (the oil being sprinkled before the Lord seven times proclaimed a perfect cleansing; this means that the Holy Spirit has put His seal of approval on the Finished Work of Christ):

¹⁷And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the Priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the Trespass Offering (the oil, a Type of the Holy Spirit, could not be applied until the blood, a Type of the Sacrifice of Christ, was first applied):

¹⁸And the remnant of the oil that is in the Priests hand he shall pour upon the head of him who is to be cleansed: and the Priest shall make an Atonement for him before the LORD (again we state, and unequivocally, that its all based on the Blood; the Holy Spirit works entirely within the parameters of the Finished Work of Christ, and no other way [Rom. 8:2]).

¹⁹And the Priest shall offer the Sin Offering, and make an Atonement for him who is to be cleansed from his uncleanness; and afterward he shall kill the Burnt Offering (the other ewe lamb mentioned in Verse 10 is now offered as a Sin Offering; symbolically, this pictures Christ taking the sinners guilt; after the Sin Offering was presented, the Priest was now to kill the Burnt Offering; as the Sin Offering took the sinners guilt and placed it on Christ, the Burnt Offering would now take the Perfection of Christ and give it to the believing sinner):

²⁰And the Priest shall offer the Burnt Offering and the Meat Offering upon the Altar: and the Priest shall make an Atonement for him, and he shall be clean (a small part of the Meat Offering was burned on the Altar, and the balance eaten by the Priest).

²¹And if he be poor, and cannot get so much; then he shall take one lamb for a Trespass Offering to be waved, to make an Atonement for him, and one tenth deal of fine flour mingled with oil for a Meat Offering, and a log of oil;

²²And two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, such as he is able to get; and the one shall be a Sin Offering, and the other a Burnt Offering. (Even though the Sacrifices may be altered somewhat, the ritual was identical for the poor mans sacrifices as it was for the rich. The solemnity and imposing nature of the service is not diminished, as both rich and poor are alike in the Presence of the Lord.)

²³And he shall bring them on the eighth day for his cleansing unto the Priest, unto the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation, before the LORD (the eighth day is Resurrection Day, Jesus having been raised on that day).

²⁴And the Priest shall take the lamb of the Trespass Offering, and the log of oil, and the Priest shall wave them for a Wave Offering before the LORD:

²⁵And he shall kill the lamb of the Trespass Offering, and the Priest shall take some of the blood of the Trespass Offering, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot:

²⁶And the Priest shall pour of the oil into the palm of his own left hand:

²⁷And the Priest shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the LORD:

²⁸And the Priest shall put of the oil that is in his hand upon the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the place of the blood of the Trespass Offering:

²⁹And the rest of the oil that is in the Priests hand he shall put upon the head of him who is to be cleansed, to make an Atonement for him before the LORD. (Two great facts shine here with exceptional luster; and both were of Grace. First, the uniting together of Gods House with the lepers house; and, second, the placing side by side of the High Priest and the leper; for these two were sprinkled with blood and anointed with oil. Only Aarons sons were similarly consecrated; and thus, ceremonially, was the leper put among the sons.)

³⁰And he shall offer the one of the turtledoves, or of the young pigeons, such as he can get (the Priest represented our Great High Priest passed into the heavens; his double cleansing of the leper illustrated Justification and Sanctification);

³¹Even such as he is able to get, the one for a Sin Offering, and the other for a Burnt Offering, with the Meat Offering: and the Priest shall make an Atonement for him who is to be cleansed before the LORD. (The first cleansing, one might say, pictured Christs Atoning Work for the sinner; the second cleansing, the Holy Spirits Work in the Believer, giving him assurance of Salvation, deliverance from his sins, and power to live a holy life and to enter into the Presence of God. The blood was his title, and the Spirit [oil], his capacity.)

³²This is the law of him in whom is the plague of leprosy, whose hand is not able to get that which pertains to his cleansing. (Verses 21 through 32 legislated, in Grace, for those who were too poor to provide the more costly Sacrifices; but, in such cases, it still was absolute that the Sacrifice must be a Sacrifice of blood [Heb., Chpts. 9-10.)

LEPROSY IN HOUSES

³³And the LORD spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

³⁴When you 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;

³⁵And he who owns the house shall come and tell the Priest, saying, It seems to me there is as it were a plague in the house (in all of this, even as we have seen, and shall see, there is but one cure for sin, whether in an individual, or a community, or in nature, and that one cure is the cleansing Blood of Christ):

³⁶Then the Priest shall command that they empty the house, before the Priest go into it 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:

³⁷And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish, which in sight are lower than the wall (bringing this up to the time of the Cross, we will attempt to apply it to our modern circumstances; the Church at Corinth is an excellent example; it was a spiritual house, composed of spiritual stones; in that particular house at Corinth, there was found the plague of leprosy, i.e., a man who had taken up with his fathers wife, evidently while the father was still alive [I Cor., Chpt. 5]; Paul informed the Church that this man had to repent, which means dissolving the relationship, as should be obvious, or else he had to be excommunicated; he used leaven as an example; if its not removed, it will ultimately infect the whole);

³⁸Then the Priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days:

³⁹And the Priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house;

⁴⁰Then the Priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city:

⁴¹And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place:

⁴²And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other morter, and shall plaister the house.

⁴³And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he has taken away the stones, and after he has scraped the house, and after it is plaistered;

⁴⁴Then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house; it is unclean.

⁴⁵And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the morter of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place. (Bringing the type unto the present, and actually into the entirety of the Church Age, we must conclude that if a Fellowship or Denomination has left the ways of the Lord and is going in another direction, there must be a clean break from that particular house. While the house may continue to exist, and even thrive according to the standards of the world, as far as God is concerned, it is no more. The leprosy, i.e., sin, began small; however, it was not properly addressed and ultimately, and eventually, it overtook the entirety of the house, with it then, at least spiritually speaking, slated for destruction.)

⁴⁶Moreover he who goes into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the evening. (Continuing to bring the situation into the present, the Believer cannot remain in an unscriptural environment, as it regards false doctrine. Association brings spiritual uncleanliness. If theres anything this type shows us, it is this Truth.)

⁴⁷And he who lies in the house shall wash his clothes; and he who eats in the house shall wash his clothes.

⁴⁸And if the Priest shall come in, and look upon it, and, behold, the plague has not spread in the house, after the house was plaistered: then the Priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed.

⁴⁹And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:

⁵⁰And he shall kill the one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water:

⁵¹And 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:

⁵²And 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:

⁵³But he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open fields, and make an Atonement for the house: and it shall be clean. (For all practical purposes, the cleansing of the house, which, as is obvious, presents a material structure, as it regards the plague of leprosy, was the same as the cleansing of the leper himself. In all cases, even material objects, the blood had to be applied.)

⁵⁴This is the law for all manner of plague of leprosy, and scall,

⁵⁵And for the leprosy of a garment, and of a house,

⁵⁶And for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright spot:

⁵⁷To teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean: this is the law of leprosy. (Regarding this, Mackintosh says: I do not doubt in the least that this whole subject of leprosy has a great dispensational bearing, not only upon the house of Israel, but also upon the professing Church.

As an example, the Divine Priest stands in a judicial attitude with respect to His house at Pergamos [Rev. 2:12-16]. He could not be indifferent to symptoms so alarming, but He patiently and graciously gives time to repent. If reproof, warning, and discipline prove unavailing, judgment must take its course.

While we preach Christ Crucified, and that Salvation comes by Faith alone, simply because the Word proclaims that [Eph. 2:8-9], still, true Salvation will always point to a surrender of self to the obedience of Christ. In other words, there must be a total change in the whole manner of life.

We must come to the conclusion that if what we profess is not powerful enough to work a complete revolution in our lives, leading us to obey and follow Christ, it will avail us nothing before God.)