Leviticus 14: Edit history

This chapter is part of the purity regulations in Leviticus 11–15. Whereas Leviticus 13 explains how to diagnose diseases of the skin and of garments, this chapter sets out the procedure for cleansing a person who has been healed and addresses plagues that appear in houses.

Outline

• Verses 1–9: The priest examines the healed person outside the camp. One of two birds is killed in an earthen vessel over running water. The priest dips the living bird, together with cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop, in its blood, sprinkles the person to be cleansed seven times, and releases the living bird into the open field. The person washes his clothes, shaves off his hair, and bathes. He may then enter the camp but must stay outside his tent for seven days. On the seventh day he shaves and bathes again.
• Verses 10–20: On the eighth day he offers two male lambs, one ewe lamb of the first year, three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, and one log of oil. The blood of the trespass offering and the oil are applied to the tip of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot, and the remaining oil is put on the head. The sin offering, burnt offering, and grain offering are then presented.
• Verses 21–32: A poor person follows the same procedure with one male lamb, one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour, one log of oil, and two turtledoves or two young pigeons.
• Verses 33–47: When a plague appears in a house in the land of Canaan, the house is emptied, the priest inspects it, and it is shut up for seven days. If the plague has spread, the affected stones are removed, the walls are scraped, and the material is cast into an unclean place outside the city. If the plague breaks out again after this, the house is torn down.
• Verses 48–53: If the plague has not spread, the house is pronounced clean and is cleansed through the ritual of the two birds.
• Verses 54–57: A summary of the regulations of chapters 13–14.

Key Verses

• Leviticus 14:7 "seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field" — a scene depicting the declaration of cleanness and the person's return to the community.
• Leviticus 14:14 "upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot" — the same actions performed at the ordination of the priests are repeated here.
• Leviticus 14:21 "And if he be poor, and cannot get so much" — a provision that reduces the required offering according to a person's means.

People and Places

• Moses and Aaron: They receive the regulations from God.
• The priest: He does not heal the disease; rather, he confirms that healing has taken place and pronounces the person clean.
• The tabernacle of the congregation: The place to which the offerings are brought; it refers to the tabernacle.
• Canaan: The land in which the regulations concerning plagues in houses are to apply.

Points for Reflection

• Because the Hebrew term tsara'at is also applied to garments and houses, many scholars hold that it is not the same as the condition known today as Hansen's disease. Korean Bible translations reflect this range: the Korean Revised Version and the Revised Korean Version render it as "leprosy," while the New Korean Standard Version renders it as "malignant skin disease."
• The parts of the body to which the blood and oil are applied are the same as in the ordination of the priests in Leviticus 8.
• A longstanding typological interpretation (one that reads Old Testament events as shadows foreshadowing Christ) compares the two birds to the death and resurrection of Christ. This, however, is a later interpretation rather than something the text itself states.
• After healing a leper, Jesus said, "shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded" (Matthew 8:4; Mark 1:44; Luke 5:14). The account of the ten lepers (Luke 17:14) likewise presupposes these regulations.