Leviticus 14

 

God Made Himself within reach of all

 

1 And the LORD spoke to Moses saying, 2 This is the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He is to be brought to the priest: 3 And the priest will go out of the camp; and the priest will look, and see if the plague of leprosy is healed in the leper; 4 Then the priest will command to take for the one to be cleansed two clean, living birds/sparrows, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop: 5 And the priest is to command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen bowl over running water: 6 And he will take the living bird, the cedar wood, the scarlet, and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water: 7 And he will sprinkle it seven times on the one being cleansed from the leprosy, and will pronounce him clean, and will let the living bird loose into the open field.

 

  • God is concerned with the physical welfare of His people.
  • Leprosy was a very real problem for the people of ancient times.
  • And God used the visible things of life to teach us to understand the unseen things of our hearts and lives.
  • Leprosy was a visible picture of what sin does to the soul of man.
  • God wants all to be healed and clean.
  • Christ, our sacrifice, was innocent—we are guilty.
  • The two living clean birds represent Christ’s deliverance for our offenses and resurrected for our justification. He paid the full price for our sin and we go free.
  • Romans 4:25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
  • 1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, would live unto righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed.

 

8 And the one being cleansed will wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean: and after that he will come into the camp, and will stay outside his tent seven days. 9 But on the seventh day he will shave all his hair off his head, his beard, his eyebrows, he is to shave off all his hair: and he is to wash his clothes, also he will wash his flesh in water, and he will be clean. 10 And on the eighth day he will take two male lambs without blemish, one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, three tenth deals of fine flour for a grain offering, mingled with oil, and one log/jar of oil. 11 And the priest that makes him clean is to present the man that is to be made clean, and those things, before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation: 12 Then the priest will take one male lamb and offer him for a trespass offering, and the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the LORD: 13 And he will kill the lamb in the place where he kills the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the holy place: the sin offering is the priest's, so is the trespass offering: it is most holy. 14 And the priest will take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest will put it on the tip of the right ear of the one being cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot:

 

  • The people who came to the door of the tabernacle were approaching the Maker of heaven and earth, the holy Sovereign of the universe.
  • The waving symbolized the ascension of Christ, His being taken from earth into the presence of the Father in heaven.
  • He cleansed every part of our lives.
  • The ear represented what we hear, the hand represented what we do, and the foot represented where we go.
  • John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.
  • Hebrews 9:23 It was necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.

 

15 And the priest will take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand: 16 And the priest will dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and will sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before the LORD: 17 And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand the priest will put on the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, on the great toe of his right foot, and on the blood of the trespass offering. 18 And what remains of the oil that is in the priest's hand he will pour on the head of him being cleansed: and the priest will make an atonement for him before the LORD. 19 The priest will offer the sin offering, and make an atonement for the one being cleansed from his uncleanness; and afterward he will kill the burnt offering. 20 And the priest will offer the burnt offering and the food offering on the altar: and the priest will make an atonement for him, and he will be clean.

 

  • Because of his leprosy, he has been cut off from the sanctuary of God.
  • Because of God’s work on his behalf, he is now acceptable.
  • The oil was sprinkled seven times before the Lord.
  • Oil in scripture is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. In Revelation 4:5 there are seven lamps of fire before the throne of God which are the seven spirits of God.
  • God has anointed every part of our lives with His Holy Spirit. Atonement cancelled or covered the man’s sin so that he could approach God.
  • Christ paid the full price for all our sins on the cross.
  • We earned death and He took our death sentence.
  • Our sin is gone. He has made us clean.
  • Then He cleanses our thoughts and improper affections by His word.
  • Psalm 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
  • John 15:3-4 Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4 Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it stays in the vine; no more can you, except you stay in me.

 

21 And if he is poor, and cannot get so much; then he will take one lamb for a trespass offering to be waved, to make an atonement for him, and one tenth of an ephah of fine flour mingled with oil for a food offering, a log of oil; 22 And two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, such as he is able to get; and the one will be a sin offering, and the other a burnt offering. 23 And he will bring them to the priest on the eighth day for his cleansing, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, before the LORD. 24 And the priest will take the lamb of the trespass offering, and the log of oil, and the priest will wave them for a wave offering before the LORD: 25 And he will kill the lamb of the trespass offering, and the priest will take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and put it on the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot. 26 Then the priest is to pour from the oil into the palm of his own left hand. 27 And then the priest will sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the LORD: 28 And the priest will put some of the oil that is in his hand on the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot, and on the place of the blood of the guilt/trespass offering. 29 And the rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand he will put on the head of the one being cleansed, to make an atonement for him before the LORD. 30 And he will offer the one of the turtledoves, or of the young pigeons, such as he can get; 31 What he is able to get, the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, with the grain offering: and the priest will make an atonement for him that is to be cleansed before the LORD. 32 This is the law for him in whom is the plague of leprosy, who is not able to get what pertains to his cleansing.

 

  • Hebrews 9:24-26 For Christ has not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: 25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entered into the holy place every year with blood of others; 26 For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world has he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

 

God protected His people from disease by quarantine

 

33 And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron saying, 34 When you have 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 He that owns the house is to come and tell the priest saying, It seems to me there is a plague in the house: 36 Then the priest will command that they empty the house before the priest goes into it to see the plague so that all that is in the house not be made unclean: and afterward the priest will go in to see the house: 37 And he will look on the plague, and see if the plague is in the walls of the house with hollow streaks, greenish or reddish, which appear lower than the wall; 38 Then the priest will go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days: 39 And the priest will come again the seventh day, and will look and see if the plague has spread in the walls of the house; 40 Then the priest will command that they take away the stones where the plague is, and they will cast them into an unclean place outside the city: 41 And he will cause the house to be scraped inside all around: and they will pour out the dust that they scrape off outside the city in an unclean place: 42 And they will take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he will take other mortar, and plaster the house. 43 And if the plague comes again and breaks out in the house after he has taken away the stones, and after he has scraped the house, and after it is plastered; 44 Then the priest will come and look, and see if the plague has spread in the house, it is a corroding leprosy in the house: it is unclean. 45 And he will break down the house, its stones, its timber, and all the mortar of the house; and he will carry them out of the city to an unclean place.

 

  • God wants our homes to be sanctified and healthy.
  • God brought the curse of the fall to correct man’s pride and bring man back to a right relationship with God; much of the suffering in our lives is for the same reason.
  • We bring judgments on ourselves by wandering away from the Lord.
  • He allowed the plague of leprosy in a house to remind us to come to Him for spiritual cleansing as well as physical cleansing and healing.
  • Romans 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

 

46 Moreover he that goes into the house during the time that it is shut up will be unclean until the evening. 47 He that lies in the house will wash his clothes; and he that eats in the house will wash his clothes. 48 And if the priest comes in and look on it, and sees that the plague has not spread in the house after the house was plastered: then the priest will pronounce the house clean because the plague is healed. 49 And he will take to cleanse the house two birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop: 50 And he will kill the one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water. 51 And he will take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the killed bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times: 52 And he will cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, with the running water, with the living bird, with the cedar wood, with the hyssop, and with the scarlet: 53 But he will let the living bird go out of the city into the open fields, and make an atonement for the house: and it will be clean. 54 This is the law for all kinds of plague of leprosy, and scale, 55 And for the leprosy of a garment, of a house, 56 for a rising, 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.

 

  • Part of this information was in chapter 13.
  • God cleansed and brought all back to Himself by Jesus Christ.
  • Colossians 1:16-20 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist (are held together). 18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell; 20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they are things in earth, or things in heaven.

 

                                           Leviticus 15

 

All Life is Before God

 

1 And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron saying, 2 Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, When any man has a discharge from his body, he is unclean because of his discharge. 3 And this is his uncleanness in his discharge: whether his flesh runs with his discharge, or his flesh is stopped from its discharge, it is his uncleanness. 4 Every bed where he that has the discharge lies on is unclean: and everything where he sits is unclean. 5 And whoever touches his bed is to wash his clothes, bathe himself in water, and be unclean until evening.

 

  • This speaks of draining wounds or sores, a runny nose, a cough or any infection.
  • God taught His people to control infection 3,400 years before man discovered germs.
  • Is this not proof that God exists?
  • God instructed His people to isolate infections.
  • God cares for the health of His people.
  • But more important than this is the truth that infection is also an illustration of sin.
  • Sin makes our heart unclean before God and spreads to those around us. Confession applies God's cleansing work through Jesus and makes us acceptable before God again.
  • The biggest and worst sin is unbelief. All the others come from it.
  •  Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
  • 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
  • John 15:3 Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

 

6 And he that sits on any thing where he sat that has the discharge will wash his clothes, bathe himself in water, and be unclean until evening. 7 And he that touches the flesh of him that has a discharge is to wash his clothes, bathe himself in water, and be unclean until evening. 8 And if he that has the discharge spits on him that is clean; then he will wash his clothes, bathe himself in water, and be unclean until evening. 9 Whatever saddle he rides on that has the discharge will be unclean. 10 And whoever touches anything that was under him will be unclean until evening: and he that carries any of those things will wash his clothes, bathe himself in water, and be unclean until evening. 11 Who ever he touches that has the discharge, and has not rinsed his hands in water, he will wash his clothes, bathe himself in water, and be unclean until evening. 12 And the clay pot that he touches that has the discharge, will be broken: and every utensil of wood is to be rinsed in water. 13 And when he that has a discharge is cleansed from his discharge; then he will count to himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and will be clean. 14 And on the eighth day he will take to him two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, and come before the LORD to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and give them to the priest: 15 And the priest will offer them, the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest will make atonement for him before the LORD for his infection.

 

  • John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.
  • Proverbs 15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.
  • Hebrews 4:14-16 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

 

16 And if any man's seed of copulation goes out from him, then he will wash all his flesh in water, and be unclean until evening. 17 And every garment, and every skin, on which is the seed of copulation will be washed with water, and be unclean until evening. 18 The woman also with whom man lies with seed of copulation, they will both bathe themselves in water and be unclean until evening.

 

  • Sex is from God.
  • He invented it for man’s good when used rightly, within the sanctity of a loving marriage.
  • But sex made the man physically unclean to come before God to worship: just like going to the dinner table without being clean.

19 And if a woman has a discharge, and her discharge in her flesh is blood, she is to be isolated seven days: and whoever touches her will be unclean until evening. 20 Every thing that she lies on in her separation will be unclean: every thing that she sits on will be unclean. 21 Whoever touches her bed will wash his clothes, bathe himself in water, and be unclean until evening. 22 And whoever touches anything that she sat on will wash his clothes, bathe himself in water, and be unclean until evening. 23 And if it is on her bed, or on anything where she sits, when he touches it, he will be unclean until evening. 24 And if any man lies with her at all, and her menstrual impurity is on him, he will be unclean seven days; and all the bed where he lies will be unclean. 25 And if a woman has a discharge of her blood many days out of the time of her separation, or if it runs beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of her uncleanness will be as the days of her separation: she will be unclean. 26 Every bed where she lies all the days of her issue will be to her as the bed of her separation: and whatever she sits on will be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation.

 

  • A woman’s menstrual period made her unclean. She couldn’t go to the tabernacle or temple to worship.

 

27 And whoever touches those things will be unclean, will wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 28 But if she is cleansed from her issue, then she will count to herself seven days, and after that she will be clean. 29 And on the eighth day she will take two ringdoves, or two young pigeons, and bring them to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 30 And the priest will offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest will make atonement for her before the LORD for the issue of her uncleanness. 31 This is how you separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness so that they not die in their uncleanness when they defile my tabernacle that is among them. 32 This is the law of him that has an infection, and of him whose seed goes from him, and is defiled with it; 33 And of her that is sick in her menstrual impurity, and of him that has a discharge, of the man, and of the woman, and of him that lies with her that is unclean.

 

  • God preserved their lives by these rules.
  • He wants our hearts clean before Him.
  • Hebrews 9:24-26 Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: 25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest enters into the holy place every year with blood of others; 26 For then must he have suffered often since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the age he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

 

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SUMMARY: Leviticus 14-15

 

  • He has made Himself within reach of us all
  • He protected His people from disease by quarantine
  • All life is before Him