Leviticus 14:17-3517And 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 of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering: 18And the remnant of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall pour upon the head of him that is to be cleansed: and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the Lord. 19And the priest shall offer the sin offering, and make an atonement for him that is to be cleansed from his uncleanness; and afterward he shall kill the burnt offering: 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. 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. 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. 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 that 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 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: 29And the rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall put upon the head of him that is to be cleansed, to make an atonement for him before the Lord. 30And he shall offer the one of the turtledoves, or of the young pigeons, such as he can get; 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 that is to be cleansed before the Lord. 32This 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. 33And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 34When ye 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 that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague in the house: (Leviticus 14:17‑35)
Having put the oil upon the right ear, the right thumb, and the great toe of the right foot of the man who was to be cleansed, the rest of it was then poured over his head. In this we see that the Spirit of God is now to control our very thoughts, and they are to be brought under His power, while we ourselves are brought by the Spirit into the enjoyment of the atoning work which has been accomplished.
After this there was the sin offering, for not only has the work of Christ met the actual sins which I have committed, but the very nature that produced the sins has been judged and condemned at the cross. Then, in the burnt offering which follows, we see how God has been fully glorified as to the whole question of sin through Christ’s finished work. Oh how fully all our need has been met in what Christ has done, and how wondrous the place into which we have been brought!
Our Appreciation of Christ’s Work
The leper had been pronounced clean before this, but we read here again after all this had taken place, “And he shall be clean.” This is now our appreciation and enjoyment of what Christ has done, for God would have us to enter into our new standing “in Christ.” How many dear believers, although they have faith in Christ and in Him alone, are not in the enjoyment of this.
The Poor Leper
We notice also that if the cleansed leper was so poor that he could not get a lamb for his trespass offering, then he could bring turtledoves or young pigeons, such as he was able to get. God, who knows the hearts of all, knows the capacity of each one, whether young or old, and He does not warn us to pretend to have the same measure as someone else when we have not. He accepts the measure we have, but it must be Christ, for His name alone avails. “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:1212Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)).
Leprosy in the House
We now come to instructions about dealing with leprosy in houses. We noticed first how leprosy might appear on a person, or in a piece of cloth or skin, but now we see that it can appear in a house. That is, the working of sin may be a personal thing, or it might be through our associations of life, or it might appear in a Christian home or among a company of Christians as it would in the house of an Israelite. The man who owned the house, like the father in a home, or the leaders in an assembly, were to call the priest to investigate it.
This subject is very solemn, and it deserves our special consideration, for it shows the great responsibility of those of us who are the heads of homes, as well as those who take the place of leaders in the assembly. We will speak first of it as applied to a Christian home. It is most important that the father in the home takes a faithful stand so that “leprosy” (a type of sin) does not get working in his house. The greenish or reddish streaks, of which we read in our chapter, might look very insignificant at first, but if left unchecked they would lead to the ruination of the whole house so that it would have to be torn down completely. Alas, how many Christian homes have been “torn down” as to their testimony, because of unfaithfulness on the part of the father. The house of Eli in the Old Testament is a sad example of this (1 Samuel 3:11-1411And the Lord said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. 12In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end. 13For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. 14And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever. (1 Samuel 3:11‑14)).
For Further Meditation
1. How did God make a special provision for the poor Israelite?
2. What is meant by having “leprosy” in the house? What does our God give to the Christian parent to detect and remove the leprosy from the house?
3. If you’ve been enjoying meditating on this chapter, then you may benefit from reading The Poor Leper from the Bible Treasury Volume N4 found, among other places, in the bibletruthlibrary.org.