The Leprosy Removed
“BUT GOD, WHO IS RICH IN MEECY, FOR HIS GEEAT LOVE WHEEEWITH HE LOVED US, EVEN WHEN WE WEEE DEAD IN SINS, HATH QUICKENED US TOGETHER WITH CHRIST: (by GRACE YE ARE SAVED;) AND HATH RAISED US UP TOGETHER, AND MADE US SIT TOGETHER IX HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST JESUS: THA“T IN THE AGES TO COME HE MIGHT SHOW THE EXCEEDING RICHES OF HIS GRACE IN HIS KINDNESS TOWARDS US THROUGH CHRIST JESUS.” — Eph. U. 4 — 7.
Vers, 1, 2, 8, 4. “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: he shall be brought unto the prie;st: and the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper; then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop.”
Here is the remedy in the case of the person. Some have thought this to be used not only in cases of real healing; but in cases also where the leprosy being fully spread, there was no more of the disease in the man than had already appeared. It seems likely that both are meant. In Israel, there were cases, no doubt, wherein symptoms of real leprosy led the man to use means for a cure, and to call on the Lord, who sent his word and healed them. And, no doubt, also, there were those in whom the full-blown leprosy had come forth and who were cleansed, or, pronounced legally clean. At this day in some Eastern Countries, it often happens that after eating away the hands or feet, the stumps of the limhs heal, and the disease is in fact cured. It spreads no further.* These latter cases were types of justified men — having still a polluted nature, yet really forgiven; and no longer conveying infection to others, but “preaching the faith which once they destroyed.”
The leper that was to be cleansed was to direct his steps to the priests and ask an audience. Like the four men at the gate of Samaria (2 Kings viii. 10), when they called to the porter of the city, standing afar off; or like the ten men (Luke xvii. 12) at the entrance of the village, who stood afar off and lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”
As much depended on the priest’s willingness to listen to his imploring cry, a leprous Israelite would often go up to the spot whence he could call on him desponding or fearful. And the priest, however willing, might be busy so as not to be able to come at once. As, with most wistful eye, the man gazes on the living, cheerful camp, he sees one and another meet the priest and pour some message or entreaty into his ear — so that the priest is detained, »and hurried away to this and that part of the camp, while the trembling, weary leper waits at the gate. In this we see that our high priest hath the pre-erpinence — never too busy — never unwilling — never unable. “He waits that he may bo gracious.” (Isa. xxx. 18.) Neither the business nor the bliss of heaven will detain him from a wretched soul. He who in the days of his flesh forgot to eat, and even ceased to feel faintness, when a soul
* Malcom’s Trareb in the fiurman Empire.
f.
stood before him in his leprosy, has nothing now to keep him from instant compassion. He who on the cross, under the dark shade of the approaching cloud of wrath and of death, heard the heaving of his mother’s bosom and the rush of anguish through her heart — has nothing now to hinder him freely to direct his ever ready compassions towards the coming leper. Even as this is true in regard to those already come, so also is it to tho coming.
“Thy risen life but whets thee more
For kindly sympathy;
Thy love unhindered rests upon
Each bruised branch in thee.”
The priest directs the man to take two birds. He was thus showing him a surety’s death and resurrection. The living birds must be “clean’’’ because signifying him who is spotless; and are brought to the spot “alive.” Beside them are — 1, “cedar-wood,’’^ a stalk of it to form the handle of what was to be used in sprinkling the blood; 2,” scar/e,“’ i. e., scarlet-wool, as Heb. ix. 19; and 3,” hyssop,’’^ along with the scarlet wool. The wool and hyssop form a kind of sponge, put on a stalk of cedar. Some say (and Abarbinel has explained it thus) that the cedar indicates undecaying, enduring vigor, fit, therefore, for use when the leper is to be restored; the scarlet color indicates the expulsion of the putrifying humors and the restoration of the blood to its proper redness — just as in Num. xix. 16, in the case of the heifer for one that touched the dead. And as hyssop is somewhat fragrant, it is supposed to show the opposite of the decay and corruption. But while all this is involved, still the chief intention is to show pollution cleansed away. The cedar intimated the reversal of decay and corruption, and being wood of which they had none in the desert, but must get in the promised land, it showed the man’s connection with Israel’s blessing; while the hyssop used so often* in bunches for sprinkling, spoke cleansing as directly as the scarlet color of the wool did of the blood that takes away sin.
Vers. 5, 6, 7. “And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water: as 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: and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field.”
The method of a sinner’s recovery could not be fully shown forth by only one type. Here, therefore, is a twofold type — death and life in one. ‘•^Running loatef is in Hebrew (o’sn. 0712)” living water’’ i. e., fresh from a running stream, in opposition to the stagnant dead water of a pool. This prefigured one who was to have the living water, which is ever-vital, ever-fresh, eversparkling with motion, instead of the stagnant, dull, languid flow of leprous blood. Now, the cleansed man was to be legally put in this state, by these rites being applied to him. And thus it is with the sinner — brought into a state of life and vital motion when the cleansing has been applied to him.
Notice, then, the mode of cleansing. We see one held forth in these symbols who was to possess the ever-living
* When our Lord on the cross saw the sponge held up to him on a stalk of hyssop, or, like the scarlet wool perhaps, along with the hyssopbranch, it would call to mind the shadows and ceremonies of the law. His eye was on this shadow when he cried, “It is finished,” (John xix. 29, 80.)
Divine Spirit, as a well of water in him. This is the holy nature of Jesus — the fulness of the Spirit in him. This holy nature is in a human frame; the Holy Spirit dwelleth in him “bodily.” This is held forth by the “earthen vessel (^“jn 1^3) into which the living water is put. Men are eb-ewhere spoken of as like this earthen vessel, as when the prophet calls them” ^^’]^^ ‘’^’”!’!y” potsherds of earth; and Paul, in describing ministers, whom he calls “earthen vessels,” in contrast to divine nature and power. (2 Cor. iv. 7.)
The first bird, bearing the uncleanness of the leper, is then slain, its blood dropping into the clear, living water, over which it is slain. Two streams now meet — blood and water! Satisfaction for a broken law by suffering even unto death; (the stream of blood, which is the life;) and obedience rendered by a holy, unsinning observance of the law written on the heart (the stream of pure water). It might not be to this type peculiarly that John referred, but certainly it was to scfme such symbols of the law, when he called us to notice that, when the spear pierced the side of Jesus (John xix. 34), “then came there out blood and water P The Apostle who had said, that Jesus,” knowing all things were now accomplished, that the Scriptures might be fulfilled, said, I thirst” — he is the Apostle who records the circumstance of the hyssop being with the sponge, and who tells us the cry, “It is finished It is he, too, who quotes the reference to the Paschal Lamb, “a bone of him shall not be broken.” He seems to call our attention specially to every type being fulfilled in Jesus. Hence, I suppose, he considered, under the guidance of the Spirit, the blood and water from the side of Jesus to be a circumstance that indicated him as the fulfiller in his own person of all that these symbols set forth under the law. And so ia 1 John V. 6, “This is he that came by water and blood.” He points to Jesus as the Righteous One who came not only with a holy nature (” water”), but also in order to take away whatever was contrary to holiness by his atonement (” blood”), summing up in himself the figures of the law.*
The living bird was then to be brought forward. It was to be dipt in the blood of its fellow, and also in the running water, ver. 51. It typified the Saviour, after his work of suffering, on the resurrection morning, imbued (so to speak) with the blessed virtue that had come out of his undertaking — bearing both the satisfaction rendered and the obedience so fully given to the last. The living bird, perhaps at the time of the morning dawn, is thus dipt in the vessel, and then flies forth free and joyful in the rays of a glorious sun. How beautiful the type; Jesus tisen, in all his merit of death and obedience, basks*in the rays of his Father’s well-pleased love! And then, as the bird in its gladness would light upon some palm, and gaze around, and sing, He looks around on a world from whose imputed guilt he is forever free, and over which he can rest in his love, and “joy with singing.” (Zeph. iii. 17.) All the time, the living bird has the marks of recent death upon its wings; and so the Lamb slain bears his marks in heaven, in his Father’s very presence.
And oh! how precious for us that we can regard all this as our case, too! Dipt in the blood of the Almighty’s Fellow, we may be as free and gladsome. Reckoned to
* Perhaps this constant reference to types will best explain John ill 6, “born of toaler and of the Spirit” — the latter being exegetical to the former. So again, ziii. 10, in alliuion to the priest at the laver.
y have died, we may also rise, with him, and sing, “bearing about with us the dying of the Lord Jesus.” “We may fly over the open field, up to the gates of heaven, — nay, to “thy altars, 0 Lord of hosts, my King and my God.”
What a picture for a leprous man to regale himself with after his long, sad, lonely days! What a reality for a sinner justified to enter upon at once and enjoy! “He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God.”
Vers. 8, 9. “And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean: and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days. But it shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and hia 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.”
Being now brought into the state of acceptance, one thing only remains, viz., his former habits of life and conduct must of course be altered, and then he is ready to join the happy congregation. This is typified by the man washing his clothes and body, that is, all outward, external things; and shaving off his hair, or, removing all about him where old corruption might be still lurking. This done, he may enter the camp, mingle with its inhabitants, partake in the shadow of its pillar-cloud, join in its worship, and help to swell its notes of praise. A justified man is at once joined to the saints on earth: converted Paul is taken by Barnabas and led to the company of saints, who at first shrank from the once leprous man. Still, as the cleansed leper was not to enter his tent for seven days more, so no justified man enters on his rest, or finds his final settlement here, till his seven days are ended — his state of waiting here. But each saint is thoroughly cleansed; and so the whole Church, at the Lord’s coming, which is the end of the time appointed — the seven days — the complete time in the Lord’s view. This may be said, in some degree, of each saint at death; but it is specially at the Lord’s coming that all his privileges begin, and all his wants are satisfied. The very” eyebrows’’ are shaved off now (ver. 7) — not even the possibility left of any lurking-place for pollution; and his whole person and all his external circumstances undergo their final and complete purification.
He is all clean now — “all fair; there is no spot in thee.” He can join the worship fully, and can claim his own dwelling among the thousands of Israel.
Vers. 10, 11. “And on the eighth day he shall take two he-Iambs without blemish, and one ewelamb 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. And the priest that maketh 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.”
To show that now he is entirely free, the man is to bring all manner of sacrifices; and each is accepted for him. He brings one he-lamb for a trespass-offering, another for a sin-offering — both without blemish, according to the usual manner. Also, a ewe-lamb, yet tender, “of the first year,” to be for a burnt-offering. The strength of the two previous victims, and the tenderness of this one, are happily blended; and these three sacrifices sum up all the general offerings of a man of Israel. Then, the three tenth-deals of flour are the meat-offering for each sacrifice, one tenth-deal for each (compare ver. 21) of the finest flour of the land, and mingled with oil, to show that it is set apart. Besides, there is a log of oil (a half-pint) set by itself in a vessel, to be poured on the head of the once leprous man, that he may be publicly received as an acknowledged Israelite, set apart for God. Once the man was set apart from his fellows; but now every proof of acceptance is heaped upon him. And all is done by the priest, that so it may be authoritatively done. To all this Christ refers in Matt. viii. 4, Mark i. 44, and Luke v. 14. “Go, show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing according as Moses commanded,* for a testimony unto them.”
These rites on the eighth day were meant to testify, in the most complete way, that the leprous man was acknowledged to be fully clean. Just as the whole Church, and each member of it, on the day when Christ appears to those who wait for him, shall be declared to be altogether clean, receiving the antitype of every gift and offering, and presented as set apart forever to Jehovah.
Vers. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20.” And 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: and 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 priest’s, so is the trespass-offering; it is most holy. And 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 that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot: and the priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand: and the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his fingers seven times before the Lord: and of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb
In Matt. viii. 4, “Offer thy gift” the sacrifices of the eighth day may be specially meant. And Jesus delighted in the exhibition of those types that showed forth his death and resurrection.
of bis right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering; and the remnant of the oil that is in the priest’s hands he eliall pour upon the head of him that is to be cleansed: and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the Lord. And the priest shall offer the sin-offering, and make an atonement for him that is to be cleansed from his uncleanness; and afterward lie shall kill the burnt-ofTering. And the priest shall offer the burnt-ofiering and the meat-offering upon the altar; and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and he shall be clean.”
The priest slays the he-lamb “in the holy place;” that is, in the consecrated courts, and on the very spots where the sin-ofFering is slain. The place is called “holy,” if holy acts re done there; even as heaven is holy because every act done there is by holy worshippers, and in a holy, holy manner.
The priest’s waving the trespass-offering and the log of oil, intimated that this offering for the leper was presented to the Lord, and his dedication to the Lord anew (the oil showed dedication)^ and seemed to say, first, Against thee, thee only have I sinned;’’’’ and then, “Lord, truly I am thy servant I am thy servant and the son of thy handmaid.”
Some of the blood of this oflfering is put on the man’s rig:ht ear; as if to say, “Thou art cleansed; go and hear in the camp the joyful sound.” Some is put on the thumb of his right hand, as if to say, “Thou art cleansed; use thy clean hands for God’s work.” Some is put upon the great toe of his right foot, as if to say, “Thou art cleansed; walk in the Lord’s ways; go up to his courts, and ever walk before him in the land of the living,”
Some of the oil is then taken from the log.* And first, it is sprinkled before the veil seven times. Now,
* Alog contained half a pint of our meaaure.
as in the case of blood so sprinkled, the meaning was that by this blood-sprinkled way the sinner had boldness to enter the holiest; so, by this oil thus spread on the same spot, there is a declaration to the effect that the man, the leper, now cleansed, offers himself as a consecrated one to serve the Lord who dwells within that veil.
The oil is put on the man’s ear, as if to say, “Lord, I will hear for thee,” — and on his right hand, as if to say, “Lord, I will act for thee,” — and on his right foot, as if to say, “Lord, I will go up and down, to and fro, for thee.” He then pours all that remains on his head (ver. 18), that as it ran down in copious streams over all his person, he might hear every drop cry, “Thou art his that saves thee.”
And inasmuch as the oil was to be put upon the blood of the trespass-offering, there was implied the glorious truth, that the blood which cleanses also sanctifies. If you are forgiven, you are not your own. If the price is paid for you, you are now the Lord’s; he bought you. If pardoned by Jesus, -then you are inhabited by the Holy Spirit. Jesus cleansed away the guilt that there might be a fair tablet on which the Spirit might re-write his holy law. If freed from guilt and Satan, you are handed over to the Lord to serve him in holiness and righteousness.
This being done, and atonement made by, the trespass-offering (ver. 19), the priest shall offer the sin-offering, and then the burnt-offering also. Some think this the «5wo»’,” meant in Matt. viii. 4, “The gift that Moses commanded.” Thus, he is assured of acceptance by every kind of offering; and is sent home rejoicing. “He shall be clean.” ’
THE POOR LEPER. I Vers. 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 26, 27, 28, 29. 30, 31, 82. “And if he b« poor and cannot get so much; then he shall take one Iamb 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; and 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. And he shall bring them on the eighth daj, for his cleansing, unto the priest, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, before the Lord. And 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. And 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 that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot: and the priest shall pour of the oil into the palm of his own left hand: and the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the Lord: and the priest shall put of the oil that is in his hand upon the tip of the right car of him that 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: and the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand ho shall put upon the head of him that is to be cleansed, to make on atonement for him before the Lord. And he shall offer the one of the turtle-doves, or of the young pigeons, such as he can get; even such as he is able to get, the one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering, with the meatoffering: and the priest shall make an atonement for him that is to be cleausod before the Lord. This is the law of him in whom is the plague of leprosy, whose hand is not able to get that which pertaineth to his cleansing.”
All these minute directions are in behalf of the poor leper. Similar provision was made for the poor, in chaps. i., ii., and v. He may substitute one he-lamb and two turtle-doves, putting his special sin on the lamb, by making it a trespass-offering, and then using one of the doves for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering. Probably, the Lord was pleased with this arrangement for another reason, viz., it gave occasion to the more fiequent display of Jesus as the dove — the holy, harmless, undefiled One, made sin for us. And it is beautiful to observe how the exigencies of his creatures, instead of puzzling Divine wisdom, call forth a display of h is resources, and furnish opportunities for manifesting his love.
The directions as to the case of the poor man are quite as special as in the case of any other. The Lord would thus assure him of his care — that he feels for him the same deep interest as for others in his state, and brings the same atonement to his hand. And the words of ver. 82 are a special clause to prevent any man overlooking this provision for the poor. For men will despise and overlook those whom the Lord regards and remembers. Surely here is the heart of the same Father, who anointed Jesus to preach glad tidings “to the poor;” and the heart of the same Spirit, who was himself the oil that so anointed Jesus for declaring his message “to the poor;” and the heart of the same So7i of man, who was thus set apart by the Father- and the Holy Spirit to proclaim tidings of great joy “to the poor.” Is not Jesus standing here to-day, and saying, “Go, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; to the poor the Gospel is preached?’’^ Tell my disconsolate, dejected ones, “To the poor is the Gospel preached.’’’’ Their God selects the saddest case for the discovery of his fairest skill and purest grace. “This is the law for him whose hand is not able to g’et” Oh! words of grace! “Glory to God in the highest — peace on earth — good- will to man!”
THE LEPROUS HOrSE.
Vera 33, 34.” And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to ^J80 THE LEPROSY REMOVED.
yoa for a poeseasion, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession.”
To teach that this earth is under a curse, God sent this leprosy on houses; just as to teach that men are under a curse he sent leprosy in their bodies. This plague on houses may have been something like what Michaelis calls “saltpetre, or mural salt,’’’’ an efflorescence or incrustation on walls of damp cellars.* The walls become mouldy, and at last give way. It may, however, have been some special infliction in these times; and the name was given, as Bush remarks, on the same principle that Easterns call certain diseases in trees” leprosy in trees, ‘’^ and the Swiss call some disorders in buildings “cancer in buildings.’’^ In Israel it may have been sent on special occasions, where the owner of the house was too much engrossed with his pleasant dwelling. Jewish writers say, it was as if the beam of the house had cried to the inhabitants,” Turn to the Lord thy God.’’’’ It made the person suspect evil from the Lord, “our dwellings have cast us out.” It came like a family affliction, saying, “This is not your rest, because it is polluted.” We must look for the New Earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Vers. 36, 36, 87, 38. “And he that owneth the house shall come, and tell the priest, saying. It seemeth to mc there is as it were a plague in the house; then the priest ehall command that they empty the house, before the priest go into it to see the phtgue, that all that is in the house be not made unclean; and afterwards the priest shall go in to see the house: and 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; then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days.”
* Jahn calls it a “nitrous acor,” that wastes away the stone.
The owner of the house is to tell. It is the head of the family that is to be on the watch at all times, m regard to whatever takes place in his house. Upon him rests the authority, and so also the responsibility.
Preparation is made for the priest’s coming, by removing every thing that might impede examination. The furniture is taken out, that nothing may be between the priest and the walls he is to scrutinize. Just as, ia the case of searching our hearts, or self-examination, fasting removes from us all intervening objects, and leaves the eye nothing to rest upon but only the bare walls of the chambers of imagery.
But God judges truly and righteously; and his decisions are deliberate and well-weighed. It is this deliberate decision that renders his judgments so terrible. Here we find the priest examining; and if the plague appear in the form of” hollows,’^* that are deeper than the surface of the wall, then there is room for suspicion, but there is also titne given for further development. It is to be left on trial for seven days.t It is to be an emblem of this earth’s state and condition, exhibiting all the symptoms of decay and pollution, yet left for a season to develop its symptoms, and to prove undeniably its state of decay. Its wines tempt men to intemperance; its beautiful groves hide the idolater’s licentiousness; its gold and silver tempt thousands to acts of violence and fraud. Every object of beauty draws off some man’s heart from God.
* nitlSpld me!in8“low lying.” The Septuagint has “xoiXafe;” the Vulgate, ‘■ valiiculas.” Hence Bush renders it “depressed cavities.” The appearance was hollow spots; pitted.
f The Septuagint use the expression, “dfapia rnv oUtav.” Some quote Isa. XXXV. 10, as illustrated by this. The city, like a city of leprosy, “every house is shut up, that no man may come in.”
Vera. 89, 40, 41, 42. “And the priest shall come agaia the seTenth day, and shall look; and, behold, if the plague be spread in the ‘nails of the house; then 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: and he shall cause the house to be scraped witiiiu round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place; 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.”
The removing of the decaying, infected stones seems to typify such an event as that of sweeping earth’s surface by the flood, and then ornamenting it anew by a fresh covering of verdure, and establishing it anew by a new arrangement of its rivers and hills, while the old “plaster” and the “scrapings of the house” were carried out of sight. They are carried to an “unclean place” — - for there is here no application of atonement; all is destruction.
The decayed stones are quite removed; so, the palaces, the gardens, the cities, the temples of the antediluvian world were entirely swept off. But then, besides this, the whole surface is scraped, and plastered afresh; even as every part of earth’s surface was visited, and its former aspect retouched. This done, earth was left once more, by its Priest and Judge,* for further trial. Its groves and forestR wave again in strength and greenness; its fields yield their fruit; its orchards hang out their heavy-laden branches; its pastures are clothed with flocks. Is the plague stayed? Shall earth ever again exhibit corruption like the former? The Lord sits on his throne, and waits to see.
* There was much of the judicial character in the priett; that is, he judged much in regard to all ceremonial afibirs, and all sanctu.iry laws. Hence, in Isaiah xxxiiL 22, “The Lord is our Judge” seems to refer to the priettly office judging in holy thing a
Vers. 43, 44, 45. “And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath ecraped the house, and after it is plastered; then 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. 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.”
If, amidst earth’s restored beauty — when its wide regions are again blooming with all their former produce, and the sky over them is serene as before, with its rainbow spanning all below — if, then, corruption burst forth again, there will be here proof of deep, inveterate disease. In anticipation of this result, the Lord said, “I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” (Gren. viii. 21.) The same remedy shall never be tried a second time. But now, there shall be a removal of the old materials. The house must be broken down — stones, timber, and mortar — and all swept away. “The earth and the works therein shall be burnt up.” “All these things shall be dissolved,” says Peter. (2 Peter iii. 11.) There must be a new building raised on the same spot — “a new earth.” It is the priest himself that removes the old building; it is Jesus that comes to say, “Behold, I make all things new.”
Vers. 46, 47. “Moreover, he that goeth into the house, all the while that it is shut up, shall be unclean until the even. And he that lieth in the house shall wash his clothes; and he that eateth in the house shall wash his clothes.”
Any one going into the shut-up house for any of his stuff is unclean for a day. If one go to sleep there, even in order to escape the dews of the night, or go to eat there, to escape the burning sun, that man roust wash his clothes, as well as be reckoned unclean. It shows us that there is woe befallen us, by the very circumstance of our being on this earth that is under a curse, even if we ourselves were holy. For it is not a holy place — the Lord’s curse has been spread over it. There must be blessing on our dwelling and on our possessions, if we are to enjoy all in true peace. But there is a secret tendency in all earthly things, at present, to provoke indulgence in sin, as if a secret poison were pervading all nature. Hence, even our meat and drink so draw down the soul, that we need to fast, if we would be quite free from the influence of even lawful things.
Vera. 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53. “And if the priest shall come in, and look upon it, 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. And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and liysop: and he shall kill the one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water; and he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip tlieai in the blood of the idiun bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times: 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: but he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open fields, and make aa atonement for the house: and it shall be clean.”
This case of the plague arrested in its course, represents a case like that of Job v. 24, “Thou shall know that thp tabernacle shall be in peace; and thou shall visit thy habitation and shall not sin.” The house is purified after the leprosy is arrested; and it is purified by the very same means as the leper himself Was purified. There is the same blood, the same sprinkling, the same running, or fresh, water, and the same type of resurreotion exhibited in the live bird. Probably, we are taught by this case, that during the days wherein earth remains, since the removal of the infected stones by the great visitation of it at the flood — during the days of “the earth that now is” (2 Pet. iii. 7) — a believer may enjoy his dwelling in peace and safety, free from all share in the curse, by means of the same atonement that gave him pardon. His dwelling and property may be purified for his use by the glorious redemption that so purified his soul. Our dwellings are set apart as well as ourselves. The curse on them is arrested. They are clean. The priest does all this for us; Jesus, by his glorious work, secures that “all things shall be ours.”
The concluding ceremony must have been very striking. The living bird was carried through every apartment of the dwelling, and then at some open window, or from the flat roof of the house, allowed to fly at liberty. •The inhabitant would thus often afterwards, as he sat in his dwelling, remember the concluding act of cleansing. He would remember the cheerful song of the bird set free, and its joyful flight through the sky, while drops of the living water fell; and the marks of his fellow’s blood were observed as it shook its wings. It is thus a believing soul feels. He remembers Christ’s resurrection as the concluding act that completed cleansing; he remembers Christ’s joy on the resurrection morning — his words, “All hail,” and “Peace be unto you,” and he remembers the freedom with which he traversed the heavens, even the heaven of heavens, returning to his Father’s bosom still bearing the marks of the nails and spear, and shedding down the purchased Spirit. This, this is truly the source of all our peace from sin within us, from sin in those around us, from sin on the earth that lies under a curse — from leprosy in our persons, our garments, and our dwellings.
“Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases!” We must sit at the window of our purified dwelling, and with cleansed soul and anointed eye look out for the Return of the priest who has brought us such blessings. Shall we not rejoice at the sound of the tread of his footstep? Shall we not welcome the very rumor of his coming this way again? Shall the first sight of his form not fill us with holy gratitude? In the mean time, let our dwellings resound with the melody of “rejoicing and salvation” (Ps. cxviii. 15), and in our out-goings let us sing, “I shall not die, but live, and shall declare the works of the Lord. The Lord hath chastened me sore, but not given me over unto death.”
CONCLUSION OF THE LAW OF LEPROSY.
Vers. 64, 65, 56, 67. “This is the law for all manner of plague of leprosy, and scall, and for the leprosy of a garment, and of a house, and for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright spot; to teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean: this is the law of leprosy.”
In ver. 57, the literal rendering is, “To teach in the day of the unclean and in the day of the clean;” meaning, to instruct us regarding what is right to be done at seasons when things are unclean, and what is right to be done when they are clean. The Lord keeps ever before us the solemn truth that we are in a world of sin, moving amid evil; and he is the same Jehovah who prayed ‘’ not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” (John xvii. 15.) He leads his people through the same wilderness, then and now — through the same Red Sea and Jordan. He
/ does not dry up the waters, but makes his own pass between their overhanging walls.
That this is a summary of the preceding chapters appears clear if we notice that mention is made first generally, ver. 54, “of leprosy and scall.’’^ Then, the leprosy is subdivided in ver. 56 into “leprosy’’’ in a man, garment, or house. Lastly, ver. bQ^” scalV is subdivided into rising, scab, or bright spot.
However various the symptoms and forms, yet the discerning priest observes all, and pronounces righteous judgment “in the day of the clean and of the unclean.” There is a time and season when sin of any shape and aspect appears before him; and the law decides unerringly on each case. “Behold,” he says to us, “I come quickly — he that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” As of old, to Israel (Mai. iii. 18), who asked, “What profit is it that we keep his ordinance?” he said, “Then shall ye return and discern between the righteous and the wicked; between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.”