Cleaning the house is a chore that must be done, but is often delayed. The reasons vary from “I’ll get to it when I have time,” or “that room can wait,” to “we’ll clean the kitchen when we get back from the kids’ ball game. It is baseball or soccer season after all.”
Or the honest truth may be that cleaning house is delayed because we simply hate cleaning. The job is just too overwhelming. Whatever the reason, a dirty house is a dirty house; left in its filth, mold spreads, odors permeate, clutter piles up, and trash overflows the receptacles. A dirty house is a diseased house.
I have been reading the Pentateuch, the Five Books of Moses, recently as an exercise in looking at the Bible’s overview rather than focusing on its details. In this exercise, I have come to realize that the gospel of salvation is present in repeated ways that I honestly did not notice before, especially in the third book of the Law, the book of Leviticus … Λευιτικόν … “pertaining to the Levites … The Greek term was adopted into Latin as Liber Leviticus (The Book of Leviticus).
I read the book of Leviticus in a day on purpose. I wanted to avoid the pitfall of losing the big picture for stumbling over the finer details of God’s covenant with Israel. It is organized in our modern Bibles with only 27 chapters, about 43 pages total, and a repeated idea stood out to me:
“The priest will make atonement, and he, she, or it shall be made clean.”
I find this theme of purification and atonement fascinatingly beautiful.
Will you please open your Bibles with me to Leviticus 14? Please follow along with me as we read Leviticus 14:33-57. May our LORD speak to us now in HIS WORD.
We often avoid the Books of the Law in the Old Testament because their legality overwhelms us. We do not like being told how bad things are, how bad we are. So we avoid these commands of God to his children, Israel. But why did God speak to Moses and Aaron about the purity and holiness that they were to be as a nation? The theme of the book of Leviticus is that God called his people to be holy, to be different, to be separate from all other peoples, to be present with God as HE dwells with them.
This third book of the Pentateuch follows the Exodus. The people are now on a wilderness journey to Canaan, the Promised Land. But to possess the Promised Land, the people would need to be holy, clean, and obedient.
Leviticus is the story of God dwelling with his people in the wilderness. This is the story of God setting his people apart, establishing a standard of holiness and cleanliness. God will be in a holy place, and HIS glory filled the tabernacle set up in the midst of these wandering people. The people then must also be purified, made holy. These are the laws of God given to Moses and Aaron, who gave them to the people.
The Gospel:
God created all things and saw that they were good. He is pleased with his creation.
But sin corrupts this beautiful and good order that God created. Sin infects. Sin spreads.
A cleansing is needed. A purging of the disease, a cleansing of the filth, is needed.
The ones who made the mess, the ones who spread the infection, cannot outrun the corruption.
Therefore, a greater source outside of the created order, the one who created it all and declared it good, is the only one who can purge the infection, purge the corruption, purge the disease to restore and make new that which was good and is now corrupt, polluted, and defiled.
The Levitical Purity Laws are presented as a lesson for recognizing the infection of the disease of sin. Specifically, the Law of Leprosy [KJV] shows us how the corruption of sin in the flesh cannot be permitted to spread. It must be stopped. It must be cleansed. Just as the previous chapters 11-13 conclude with a summary of the law of purity described, the summary of the laws concerning the cleansing rituals of skin disease is summarized in the final verses of Chapter 14.
Leviticus 14: 54-57
“ 54 This is the law for any case of leprous disease: for an itch,
55 for leprous disease in a garment or in a house,
56 and for a swelling for an eruption or a spot,
57 to show when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law for leprous disease.”
** “this is the law of leprosy” [KJV] v 57.
Leprosy
The laws presented in chapters 13 & 14 focus on skin disease, leprosy. The Biblical tradition describes leprosy as a skin disease characterized by scaling and open sores, the loss of fingers and toes. This contamination of the body could spread to other people.
However, I was struck in my reading of chapter 14 that leprosy could be found in a house. Garments could also have leprosy.
So this leads me to believe that the idea of leprosy is not simply a skin disorder that can now be cured with antibiotics. Leprosy could be as mild as a case of psoriasis to true leprosy, which we now identify as Hansen’s disease. Scientists and doctors can now cure Hansen’s disease. They know it as a chronic infection caused by slow-growing bacteria, Mycobacterium leprae. We now know that leprosy is not highly contagious, but left untreated, it can spread through physical contact with others.
But Leviticus 14:33-53 speaks of a house infected with leprosy. A house could be leprous.
Therefore, it seems that the idea of leprosy goes beyond mere physical disease. Leprosy must imply the grand divine truth of the need for redemption. Ritual cleansing of the body is easy to connect to our own sinful dirt. But a house contaminated with leprosy must point to something else.
Leviticus 14:33-57, Matthew 8:1-4
Identify the Infection [Leviticus 14:33-42]
The Hebrew word for leprosy is צָרַעַת (tzara’at). Tzara’at applies not only to skin manifestations on individuals but also to discoloration appearing on garments, leather goods, and even house walls. tzara’at functioned as a category for various forms of ritual impurity and disease rather than a precise medical diagnosis by modern standards.
The Greek word for leprosy is lepra (λέπρα): The Greeks applied this term to anything with a scaly, peeling, or rough surface.
vv. 33-36: This passage describes the discovery of a scaly or encrusted contamination of the walls in a house … probably stone … maybe timber framing for interior structure. This might be a fungus like dry rot or maybe mold. The stones may have been infected with a scaly moss often found in forests.
But this passage looks forward to the day when Israel would occupy the promised land in Canaan.
v. 34: “When you come into the land of Canaan, which I give you for a possession, and I put a case of leprous disease in a house in the land of your possession …”
The instructions concerning a contaminated house could imply the possession of a previously occupied Canaanite house, or it could imply a time later when a leprous contamination covered the house. Either way, this law pertaining to the Cleansing of Houses implies that sin and corruption occur in our surroundings … even in our homes.
The Priest would be called in to inspect. If leprosy was found in the home, it was sealed and all its contents removed. After 7 days, the priest would inspect again.
Persist in Purification [Leviticus 14:43-53]
vv. 43-44: “If the disease breaks out again in the house, after he has taken out the stones and scraped the house and plastered it, then the priest shall go and look. And if the disease has spread in the house, it is a persistent leprous disease; in the house, it is unclean.”
Simply because the house is cleaned out once does not mean that the leprosy is gone. Persistence is implied in this passage. The priest declares a house clean or unclean.
But one thing to note is that the priest was called to inspect again, and again, until the house could be declared clean and the leprosy healed.
The Jewish Religious leadership of Jesus’ day is described as having forgotten this point of their calling. The priest was to ensure holiness and purity in the people of God, not merely to purge out the ‘unclean’ people. They were God’s people after all.
While clothing and furniture were burned, and plaster and stone were tossed outside of the camp, people were never to be tossed away. A leprous person, one who was unclean, might be set outside, but only so far as their leprous disease, or uncleanliness, was purified … healed.
The goal of the Law of Leprosy, (and the Laws of Purity) was to restore … to do all that is possible to declare what was unclean clean again. Atonement was required.
vv. 48: “But if the priest comes and looks, and if the disease has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, for the disease is healed.”
v. 53: “So he shall make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.”
The atonement is for purification, and the priests were instructed to atone for the altar. A sacrifice of blood alone could atone for the contamination.
vv. 49-53: Two small birds, scarlet yarn, cedarwood, and hyssop were used in the ritual atonement of the cleansed house. One of the birds was killed. The other was dipped in the other’s blood. The blood was sprinkled in a ritual ceremony along with water to signify the atonement cleansing of the home for restored occupancy. The priest was called to “make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.” Yet priests were called upon regularly to “make atonement” over and over and over again. God gave the priests authority to declare a person or a thing (a house) clean or unclean. But he also gave them authority to make atonement for the contamination and to restore the person to the community of God’s people. They were HIS people. They did not belong to the priests.
Seek the Savior’s Cleansing [Matthew 8:1-4]
The first scene in Matthew’s gospel, following Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), is a scene of authority. Jesus heals a leper.
We know that leprosy was very common in the ancient world, even in Jesus’ day. People were cast away. They lost fingers, toes, and hands. The infections cost them their lives.
The penalties for suffering from leprosy were cruel. The laws from Leviticus 13-14 were distorted. It seems from the gospel accounts that the primary focus of the priesthood was less to do with atonement and restoration, and more to do with casting out … tossing away.
Leviticus 13:45-46 - “The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘unclean, unclean. ‘ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.”
Here, the leprous man declared himself unclean out of obedience to the law. Even his house was gone. He had to dwell not in a house but outside the camp in the wilderness, perhaps in a cave, perhaps in a garbage dump.
But Matthew 8:1-4 shows us where one of these sufferers appealed to Jesus to cleanse him of his leprosy. (Mark 1:40-45/Luke 5:12-16 … parallel passages)
** read Matthew 8:1-4
v. 2: humility from the leper …
He does not ask to be declared clean … the only authority of the priests
He has the faith that Jesus can MAKE him clean. He was persistent in finding Jesus and asked him if he was willing to make him clean.
v. 3: Jesus expresses his authority with compassion. Jesus had the will, the desire, to make this man clean. The leprosy was immediately gone. A Levitical Priest could only wait 7 days or more to hope that the disease died out on its own. Jesus did not wait.
Mark 1:41 says that Jesus was “moved with pity” (ESV) or “moved with compassion” (NASB)
v. 4: Jesus sends the clean leper to the priest to honor the Mosaic Law (Levitical Law). Perhaps to give this man credibility to re-enter the community … to be able to live again.
BUT KEEP QUIET. TELL NO ONE THAT I HEALED YOU.
Yet Mark’s account and Luke’s account both reveal that perhaps this man could not contain his joy at being healed. He disobeyed Jesus and told everyone!!
This was a significant event in Jesus’ ministry to be included in the gospels because Jesus’ fame grew from this event. He had to find places to retreat from the pressures of the crowd … demanding to be healed … demanding to see the Physician/Priest who not only declares a leper clean … he MADE the leper clean. Jesus Healed Leprosy.
The gospels show us that Jesus regularly encountered the Levitical Purity Laws. Here, the Law of Leprosy demanded certain protocols. Jesus respected the Purity Laws so much that he pushed the religious leaders toward the superior one of two aspects of purity — inward purity is of more value than external purity.
The pollution of bodies and lives relates most closely to death.
From Leviticus, we understand that impurity is associated with death.
Leviticus 12 & 15 deal with bodily discharges of life-giving fluids from men and women. Discharge of these fluids leaves one impure because life is now dead.
Leviticus 11 deals with unclean animals that feed on dead carcasses, or fish that are bottom feeders. Impurity deals with death.
Leviticus 13 & 14 deal with the impurity of leprosy. The gospels recount Jesus’ interaction with those afflicted with leprosy, the lepra. Death was at work in the flesh.
When we deal with death-related impurity, a radical solution must be found. Jesus drove straight to the problem. Leprosy was death, both literally and figuratively, and Jesus did not shy away.
Jesus deals with the most serious sources of pollution in his office as High Priest. He is the physician/priest who does not turn away from death. He is both angry and compassionate toward the plight of this leper. Likewise, he is the same with us in our sin. Sin leads to death. Leprosy leads to death. Jesus entered a world drowning in impurity. We are dying from impurity. Jesus is moved to act.
Jesus is not simply immune to impurity. He reaches out his hand to touch the leper. The impurity immediately vanishes. The impure is immediately clean! The dying one is immediately alive. Wow!
Holiness expelled the pollutant.
Jesus has superseded the regular priest. Where the high priest can only observe and watch to certify uncleanliness or cleanliness, Jesus, the high priest, effects healing! While the high priest examines the lepra, the skin disease, Jesus, the high priest expels it.
Application:
What do these passages about leprosy teach us?
Well, the importance of cleanliness is an obvious takeaway, but it is not the true meaning of the passages.
But the issue with leprosy is that it reflects the contaminated nature of our fallen world. I do not mean to give credence to the Prosperity Gospel distortion that if you are sick or infected, your faith is not strong.
Instead of the Genesis account of creation and the Edenic fall, sin has spread throughout humanity and the world just as leprosy corrupts the flesh (and houses). Leprosy causes us to recall sin. There are two forms of leprosy.
Surface Leprosy (Tuberculoid/Paucibacillary)
Few skin lesions are flat and dry. They appear lighter than normal skin.
Only affects the surface of the skin and light nerve endings.
Localized loss of sensation, numb to pain and temperature.
Deep Leprosy (Lepromatous/Multicillary)
Immune system compromised. The bacteria spread uncontrollably.
Numerous lesions, raised, shiny, and distributed over the entire body.
High infection, contagious and severe nerve damage, and muscle weakness.
The theological significance of leprosy transcends the biological reality of open sores and raw flesh. Leprosy functioned as a graphic reminder of sin’s destructive power. This is why the priests’ isolation of a leper mattered. Destruction of a contaminated house kept the rot from spreading to the community.
The extensive Levitical code given by God to Moses and Aaron governed leprosy as an emphasis on the separation of God’s people from uncleanliness. God’s people were being shaped into a separate people apart from the corrupt nations and peoples they would encounter on the way to the Promised Land.
Whether moral or physical, leprosy caused untold damage. Lepers were considered in Hebrew culture to be utterly unclean, both physically and spiritually. Defilement of the camp was taken seriously.
The isolation of lepers and the contamination of things reflect the corrupting effect of sin on creation itself. Sin contaminates God’s created order. It must be recognized, isolated, and sanitized. Sin is a parasite. It is a disease attaching itself to God’s good handiwork. It permeates all of creation. It permeates us.
Sin does not belong. Neither does leprosy.
The leprosy laws show us the way to redemption through the only high priest who can truly cleanse the contamination. The key lesson from Jesus healing of lepers is that sin defiles us before God. Whereas the Jewish priests, who were themselves fallen men, treated lepers worse than dead men, Jesus died by compassion for the leper. The leprosy separated the leper from the community of God’s people. Sin separates us all from God’s holy presence. Sin is a plague requiring divine healing. Sin must be eradicated to restore God’s good creation.
This is the HOPE that Christ offers. These passages compel us to approach Christ with the assurance that He can and will make us clean, both in body and spirit. Amen?
Persistence in approaching Christ, heeding his call to repentance, and heeding his willingness to cleanse your sin is the answer. Just as the leper believed that Jesus was willing to cleanse his leprosy, Jesus is willing to cleanse our sin.
“The priest will make atonement, and he, she, or it shall be made clean.”
I find this theme of purification and atonement fascinatingly beautiful.
The “Law of Leprosy” is not about casting out the diseased person or burning down a house. It is a glorious cleansing by the greatest high priest. Jesus is the high priest who cleanses all leprosy. Sin began as an infection and spread. It continues to spread today. Jesus the Physician/Priest declares us clean because he makes us clean.
Let’s Close in Prayer.
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