Commentary - Leviticus 14:1-32

Bird's-eye view

Leviticus 14 lays out one of the most vivid typological ceremonies in all of Scripture. It is not a medical text for curing leprosy; rather, it is a liturgical guide for restoring a healed leper to the covenant community. Leprosy in the Bible is a picture of sin in its most visible and horrifying form. It is a living death, rendering a person unclean and forcing them outside the camp, away from God's presence and God's people. This chapter, therefore, is nothing less than the gospel in ceremonial garb. It details the way back for the outcast. The priest does not heal the man; he verifies that God has healed him. The intricate rituals that follow, with the two birds, the blood, the water, the oil, all point forward to the person and work of Jesus Christ, our great High Priest, who meets us outside the camp, cleanses us by His blood, and consecrates us by His Spirit, bringing us home to God.

The ceremony unfolds in two main stages. The first stage (vv. 1-9) takes place outside the camp and accomplishes the leper's initial cleansing, allowing him back into the community. The second stage (vv. 10-32), on the eighth day, takes place at the tabernacle and accomplishes his full atonement and re-consecration, restoring him to worship. This is a picture of our salvation: justification that changes our legal status, and sanctification that consecrates our whole lives to God. The provision for the poor at the end demonstrates that this glorious restoration is not dependent on our resources, but on God's gracious provision in the sacrifice.

Outline

Commentary

Lev 14:1-3 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing. Now he shall be brought to the priest, and the priest shall go out to the outside of the camp. Thus the priest shall look, and if the infection of leprosy has been healed in the leper,

The entire process begins with a word from God. This is not a human initiative. The law for cleansing is divinely appointed. Notice the critical details. First, the priest does not heal; the text says the ceremony is for the day of his cleansing, for one who "has been healed." God alone does the healing. The priest's role is to inspect and confirm the work of God, and then to administer the rites that bring the man back into the covenant community. Second, the priest must "go out to the outside of the camp." The holy man goes to the unclean place to meet the unclean man. This is a profound foreshadowing of the incarnation. The Lord Jesus, our High Priest, did not wait for us to make ourselves presentable. He left the pristine glory of heaven and came "outside the camp" to meet us in our sin and misery (Heb. 13:12-13).

Lev 14:4-7 then the priest shall give a command to take two live clean birds and cedar wood and a scarlet string and hyssop for the one who is to be cleansed. The priest shall also give a command to slaughter the one bird in an earthenware vessel over running water. As for the live bird, he shall take it together with the cedar wood and the scarlet string and the hyssop, and he shall dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the running water. He shall then sprinkle seven times the one who is to be cleansed from the leprosy and shall pronounce him clean, and he shall let the live bird go free over the open field.

Here we have the central image of the initial cleansing. Two clean birds are required. One represents the payment for sin, and the other represents the result of that payment. The first bird is killed in a clay pot over "living water" (running water). Christ, who took on a body of clay, was slain, and from His side flowed blood and water (John 19:34), a fountain of living water for our cleansing. The living bird, along with cedar wood (symbolizing permanence, incorruptibility), a scarlet string (symbolizing the blood, or the stain of sin), and hyssop (symbolizing purification), are all dipped into the blood of the slain bird. This living bird, covered in the blood of another, is then set free. This is a glorious picture of substitutionary atonement and resurrection. One dies, the other flies free, bearing the marks of the death that secured its freedom. The healed leper is then sprinkled seven times, a number of divine perfection, and pronounced clean. The objective declaration is made. His status has changed.

Lev 14:8-9 The one to be cleansed shall then wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe in water and be clean. Now afterward, he may enter the camp, but he shall stay outside his tent for seven days. And it will be on the seventh day that he shall shave off all his hair: he shall shave his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair. He shall then wash his clothes and bathe his body in water and be clean.

After the priest's declaration comes the man's participation. He must wash his clothes, shave all his hair, and bathe. This is the application of the cleansing. He is to remove every last trace of his old life of defilement. He is allowed back into the camp, the community of God's people, but not yet into his own tent, his own family. There is a probationary week. On the seventh day, the process is repeated with an even more radical shaving, head, beard, eyebrows, everything. This is a total reset, a complete break with the former self. He is being systematically brought back into fellowship, first with the wider community, and then with his own household. This is a picture of sanctification, where the objective reality of our cleansing in Christ is worked out in our lives through repentance and mortification of the old man.

Lev 14:10-14 “Now on the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without blemish, and a yearling ewe lamb without blemish, and three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and one log of oil; and the priest who pronounces him clean shall present the man to be cleansed as well as these things before Yahweh at the doorway of the tent of meeting. Then the priest shall take the one male lamb and bring it near for a guilt offering, with the log of oil, and wave them as a wave offering before Yahweh. Next he shall slaughter the male lamb in the place where they slaughter the sin offering and the burnt offering, at the place of the sanctuary, for the guilt offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest; it is most holy. The priest shall then take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one who is to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.

The eighth day is the day of new beginnings, the day of resurrection. The man is no longer outside the camp, but at the very door of God's house. He brings a full slate of offerings. The first is the guilt offering. His leprosy rendered him guilty of trespass against the holiness of the sanctuary. This must be dealt with first. And then we come to the most striking part of the ritual. The blood of this guilt offering is applied to the man's right ear, right thumb, and right big toe. This is precisely the same ceremony used to consecrate Aaron and his sons as priests (Lev. 8:23-24). This is staggering. The man who was a complete outcast, a pariah, is not just restored to the status of a normal Israelite. He is being consecrated for priestly service. His hearing (ear), his work (hand), and his walk (foot) are now claimed by God, set apart on the basis of shed blood. This is the gospel reality for every believer. We are not just forgiven; we are made a kingdom of priests (1 Pet. 2:9).

Lev 14:15-20 The priest shall also take some of the log of oil and pour it into his left palm; the priest shall then dip his right-hand finger into the oil that is in his left palm, and with his finger sprinkle some of the oil seven times before Yahweh. Of the remaining oil which is in his palm, the priest shall put some on the right ear lobe of the one to be cleansed and on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot, on the blood of the guilt offering; but the rest of the oil that is in the priest’s palm, he shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf before Yahweh. The priest shall next offer the sin offering and make atonement for the one to be cleansed from his uncleanness. Then afterward, he shall slaughter the burnt offering. And the priest shall offer up the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. Thus the priest shall make atonement for him, and he will be clean.

Following the blood comes the oil. Oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, of anointing and gladness. The oil is applied directly on top of the blood on the ear, thumb, and toe. This is a crucial theological point. The anointing of the Spirit comes on the basis of the atoning blood of the sacrifice. There is no experience of the Spirit apart from the blood of Christ. After this, the rest of the oil is poured on the man's head, signifying a full anointing. With the foundation of blood and oil laid, the remaining sacrifices, the sin offering and the burnt offering, are offered. This completes his atonement and signifies his total dedication to God. The priest has made atonement, and the man is declared fully and finally clean. He is home.

Lev 14:21-32 “But if he is poor and his means are insufficient, then he is to take one male lamb for a guilt offering... and two turtledoves or two young pigeons... This is the law for him in whom there is an infection of leprosy, whose means are limited for his cleansing.”

The law concludes with a gracious provision for the poor. A man's poverty must not be a barrier to his full restoration. He must still bring the male lamb for the guilt offering, the blood on the ear, thumb, and toe is non-negotiable. The consecration is essential for all. But for the other offerings, he can substitute less expensive birds. God is not interested in the market value of the sacrifice, but in the heart of the worshiper and the typological meaning of the act. The way back to God is open to all, rich and poor alike, on the same terms: the shed blood of the substitute and the anointing of the Spirit. The gospel is for everyone.

Application

The law of the leper is a glorious portrait of our salvation in Jesus Christ. We are all lepers by nature, unclean in our sin, isolated from the life of God, and dwelling "outside the camp." We are utterly unable to heal ourselves. But God in His mercy sent our High Priest, Jesus, to meet us in our uncleanness. Through His death (the bird slain) and resurrection (the bird set free), He has secured our cleansing. The priest pronounces the leper clean on the basis of the sacrifice, and God declares us righteous in Christ on the basis of His finished work.

But it does not stop there. We are then brought into the camp, and through the application of His blood and the anointing of His Spirit, we are consecrated for service. Your ears, your hands, your feet, your hearing, your labor, your walk, have been bought with a price and set apart for God's glory. You are not just a forgiven sinner; you are an anointed priest. The entire ceremony points to the profound reality that salvation is not just a ticket out of hell, but a radical re-consecration of our entire being to the living God. We are brought from the far country of uncleanness to the very doorway of the Father's house, and welcomed in.