Leviticus 14:1–9

God opens the way of cleansing with almost the same words He used before. Those earlier words told a man how to know he had leprosy. "The LORD spoke to Moses, saying." Leviticus 14:1. These words that tell of the way of cleansing are the very words of the living God, and are true and faithful. Let us listen to them with all our hearts.

Shutting the leper out of the camp had cared for God's holiness. Now the Lord Jehovah speaks again, but this time only to Moses. If keeping that holiness had been Jehovah's only concern, the leper would have stayed outside the camp forever, away from the Tabernacle and from life with God's people. But He cared for the leper. He made a way to bring him back to all his privileges in the camp, if only he was healed first... Money, pleading, promises, efforts, all would be of no use. Jehovah Himself must heal the man, or he never could be cleansed. So grace had room to display itself, once the claims of divine holiness had been acknowledged.

These scriptures are enough to show two things. God inflicted leprosy as the expression of His righteous judgment of sin. It also showed His rejection of religious man — of his pride in the flesh, of his assumed ability to draw near to God, and of his refusal of the truth about his real condition. Leprosy shows sin: its inward workings as God knows them, brought out into the open in all their repulsive, revolting character. Chapter 14 now sets before us "the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing."

Leviticus 14 gives a richly instructive account of the cleansing of the leper. There is no such thing as the cure of leprosy named here. This belonged to God alone. No ceremony, no rite, could heal — nothing but divine power, direct or through another. Suppose the leprosy stopped: the man must still be cleansed. The ceremony for that stands at the beginning of the chapter.

The healing and the purification are different things. Being healed does not by itself make a man clean for God. No work in the soul, however necessary, can truly restore him. For this, God's grace in Christ must come in.

So we read, "The priest shall go forth out of the camp." Scripture does not say, "the leper shall go." That was out of the question... He might make efforts after cleansing; but his efforts could only prove him unclean, and tend to spread defilement. Before he could be called "clean," a work had to be done for him. He could not do it, and he could not help with it. Another had to do the whole of it... The priest accomplished all. The leper did nothing.

Seen as a type, the priest is the Mediator, the Saviour. As the leper could not come where He was, the priest must go out of the camp to the leper. Indeed "the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

A cleansed leper at the altar, with his two birds in his hands, gave his testimony. God had come into the land. He was meeting men's need quite apart from priests' work and religious ceremonies. This is a principle of the greatest possible importance for our souls today. Cleansing for the soul is found, not in human doing of any kind, but in the fountain of the Saviour's blood.

Healing and purification are two different things. A man who is healed is not by that fact cleansed for God. No work in the soul, however necessary, can truly restore him. For that, God's grace in Christ must come in.

It was the priest's job to pronounce a leprous man unclean, and it was also his job to pronounce a man clean when he was cured. The law had no power to heal. It only took notice of whether a man had been healed or not. The work of ceremonial restoration started only after something else had already cured the disease.

So others seek out the person who is to be restored. He is not told to go and find the means of restoration himself. Hands are ready to serve him.

The friend who brought the leper to the priest mattered greatly. May we be more like him — unnamed, almost unmentioned, and yet the link in the chain without which the leper could not have been cleansed.

Seen as a picture, the priest stands for the Mediator, the Saviour. As the leper could not come where He was, the priest must go out of the camp to the leper. Indeed "the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."

It is not said, "the leper shall go." That was completely out of the question. It was no use talking to the leper about going or doing... He might make efforts to get clean, but his efforts could only prove him unclean and spread the defilement further. Before he could be pronounced "clean," a work had to be done for him. It was a work he could neither do nor help to do. Another had to carry it out entirely. The priest did it all. The leper did nothing.

There the leper stood, looking at God's work for him, then receiving God's remedy, and hearing God's sentence. He did nothing to earn any good thing, but received everything from the God of Israel... Whatever he felt, and whatever others said to him, he knew he was under the power of the blood. Through that alone, God's Priest had "pronounced him clean."

From verse 1 to the end of verse 7, as we have seen, the leper does nothing. All he brings to the priest is his leprosy and uncleanness. Everything is done for him. But the moment the priest has pronounced him clean and has let the bird go free, the leper begins to work. He does not work to be cleansed before God — he is clean before God already. He works to bring his outward life into line with his standing before God.

So we read, "the priest shall go out of the camp." It is not said, "the leper shall go." That was out of the question. It was no use talking to the leper about going or doing. Shut up in dreary loneliness, where could he go? Held in helpless defilement, what could he do? … He might make efforts to get clean; but his efforts could only prove him unclean, and spread the defilement further. Before he could be pronounced "clean," a work had to be done for him. It was a work he could neither do nor help to do, a work that another had to carry out entirely… The priest accomplished all. The leper did nothing.

But the Priest Himself has made a way. So we read in verse 3, "the priest shall go out of the camp." The great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, came out of His glory more than 1900 years ago. He came down to this sad, wicked world. Even down here, "He went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull." John 19:17. Yes, the Priest has already gone outside the gate. (Hebrews 13:12.) He sees you, poor defiled sinner, and He has already gone where you are.

Note this carefully: the ceremonies did not cleanse the leper. They began only when it was clear that he was already cleansed. The healing that is in view is an act of God, which took place while the leper was still outside the camp. The priest had to go outside the camp and inspect him. If the man was cleansed, the priest had the responsibility of pronouncing him clean. He then carried out the set ceremony, which pictured the ground and basis of that cleansing.

In general, leprosy is sin acting in the flesh… Here its activity has been stopped, and so, though he is a leper, he is to be counted clean… Such a man was healed, but not yet cleansed. The sacrifices had not yet taken effect for him, and he was not yet back in relationship with God inside the camp. In the picture, he is a sinner judging himself before God. He is defiled by sin and knows it, and the activity of sin has stopped, because he is in the place of repentance… He is still a sinner. Though he has repented, the death and resurrection of Christ have not yet taken effect for him. But while he is still a sinner, the working of the flesh has now stopped, and so he may be said to be "healed."

Those eyes of flame search you once again. Before they searched you to find if there was one spot of leprosy, and the priest had to pronounce you unclean. Now they search you to see if there is one spot without leprosy. If you truly are "all covered," the priest may pronounce you clean… In the same way, our Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, searches the sinner who comes to Him. Is he truly coming as a poor, lost, ruined, guilty sinner? Has he no good word to say for himself? Is he full of sin?

Leprous Israel will certainly be cleansed. Prophecy declares it in sure, abundant, and glowing testimony… But here the picture is so general that we have no right to narrow how it applies. We should see instead how grace fits it to the need of every and any ruined sinner.

We must carefully note that the ceremonies did not cleanse the leper. They only began when it was quite clear that he was cleansed. The healing in view is an act of God, which took place while the leper was still outside the camp. The priest had to go outside the camp and inspect him. If he was cleansed, the priest had to pronounce him clean. Then the priest carried out the prescribed ceremony, which pictured the ground and basis of his cleansing.

On the face of it, others did the work for the leper first of all; he did none of it himself. The priest gave the command: take two clean living birds for the man to be cleansed, and cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop. Then he commanded further that one bird be killed in an earthen vessel over living water.

So the leper stood by while the bird was killed for him, and he was sprinkled with its blood. But after this service he could act. First he washed his clothes, shaved off all his hair, and washed himself in water, so that he might be clean. After that he could enter the camp.

When the leper was to be cleansed, God prescribed a very lowly offering — two sparrows. But they had to be clean. This is how God teaches us in pictures about His Holy One: "He committed no sin" (1 Peter 2:22); "who knew no sin" (2 Cor. 5:21); "in him there is no sin" (1 John 3:5).

The two clean birds set forth Christ dead and risen — the one killed, the other let loose into the open field. But there is far more here, for the bird that was to die was killed in an earthen vessel over living water. How plainly this points to Him! Through the Eternal Spirit He offered Himself spotless to God, willing to be crucified in weakness. Again, see the pains taken to identify the living bird with the slain one. The priest dipped it in the blood of the bird killed over the living water. What could be clearer?

In the slain bird He is delivered up for our trespasses; in the freed bird He is raised for our justification. It is liberty out of condemnation... Yet how few consider what the resurrection of Christ means. "If Christ has not been raised ... you are still in your sins." Without it there is no justification. There is no assurance that the sacrifice is enough and acceptable. There is no certainty that there will ever be any resurrection at all.

Notice too that the cedar wood, the scarlet and the hyssop were to be dipped into the blood of the slain bird. The cedar is the most majestic of trees, hyssop is the humblest of herbs, and scarlet speaks of the glory of men. The death of Christ has stained the pride of all human glory. It has stained all that is natural to this first creation, from the greatest things to the least.

He was to see all that belonged to nature, and the glory of the world, dipped in the blood of the slain bird. In the same way now, whatever matches those emblems should be seen through the cross. The cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet were not destroyed. Dipped in the blood, they appeared in a new light — and so should it be with us.

We have seen that in the first place all was done for the leper, not by him. Another was active, not himself. He was to be brought to the priest; and the priest had to go out of the camp. The all-important thing was that the priest, not the leper, should look and find the sore of leprosy stopped — or rather healed. The priest had to direct the means then to be used.

There was far more to be done than the Son being sent and becoming man. It would have helped the leper very little if the priest had merely gone out from the camp and looked on his low and miserable condition. Blood-shedding was absolutely necessary before leprosy could be removed. The death of a spotless victim was needed. "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins" (Hebrews 9:22).

Who would have thought that that little "bright spot" appearing on some member of the congregation was a matter of such grave consequence? But that little "bright spot" was nothing less than the energy of evil, showing itself openly. It was the sign of the dreadful working of sin in the nature. Before that person could be fit for a place in the assembly, or enjoy communion with a holy God, the Son of God had to leave those bright heavens and come down to the lowest parts of the earth, to make full atonement for what showed itself as only a little "bright spot."

An earthen vessel; inside that earthen vessel, a pure spotless bird. The heavens are the home of the bird — the heavens are its native air — but it comes down and enters a vessel of earth. And in that earthen vessel it is killed. What a picture of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He leaves His home in the heavens, He leaves His throne above, He comes down to this sad world and takes a body of earth.

The bird represents the Lord as a heavenly Being, gaining the capacity to suffer and die in the manhood He had taken; the earthen vessel pictures that manhood. The living water here, as ever, is a type of the Eternal Spirit through whom He offered Himself without blemish to God. It is striking that the figure does not show the vessel broken while the bird escapes unhurt. It shows the death of the bird itself, and Scripture is always divinely perfect: such apparent slips are not blemishes, nor even the unavoidable shortfall of all figures, but things that call for the deepest and most reverent attention.

The bird was killed over "running water." Water is a type of the word of God as applied by the Holy Spirit, and running water speaks of the Holy Spirit in activity. "Christ … through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God" (Hebrews 9:14).

Running water has life and power in it. Water in the Bible very often speaks of the Word of God. And the running, or living, water tells us of the living Word of God, applied by the Spirit of God to our hearts. It takes the death of Christ, and tells me in the living power of the Spirit that the Lord Jesus Christ died for me. It was for my sins that He suffered. You have often seen that bird killed in the earthen vessel. But, dear reader, have you ever seen Him killed over the running water?

The object of the birds was the cleansing of the leper; it was application to the defiled man, not the ransom presented to God. It could only happen on the ground of the blood-shedding and satisfaction. But the immediate action was the purifying, so there was water as well as blood. The Spirit, in the power of the word, makes the death of Christ available in the power of His resurrection.

The two clean birds set forth Christ dead and risen — the one killed, the other let loose into the open field. But there is far more here, for the bird that was to die was killed in an earthen vessel over living water. How plainly this points to Him! Through the Eternal Spirit He offered Himself spotless to God, willing to be crucified in weakness. So Christ was given up for our offences and raised for our justification, as the apostle says (Rom. 4:25).

One bird was killed in a clay pot over running water. That is of course the death of Christ come in the flesh — the clay pot — and it cannot be separated from the living water of the word. Birds belong to the sky, so a case like this one calls for the highest thought of His being and His person.

The priest takes the second bird, the living bird, along with the cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop. He plunges them all under the blood of the dead victim. He then sprinkles the leper seven times from it. This identifies the man in the most solemn way with everything that has happened. He then lets the living bird loose in the open field, and the leper is pronounced clean. The meaning of all this is very plain. It is the death and resurrection of Christ. In the slain bird He is delivered for our offences; in the freed bird He is raised again for our justification. It is liberty out of condemnation... the bird being dipped in the blood of the slain one is identified with it. It is in a sense the same bird.

The bird that was released was first dipped in the blood of the slain bird, and so was identified with it. Two birds were needed in the type to set forth Christ in death and in resurrection. As the released bird soared into the heavens it carried the blood not into the sanctuary but into the heavens. This was the basis of all that followed.

Notice too that the cedar wood, the scarlet and the hyssop were to be dipped into the blood of the slain bird. The cedar is the most majestic of trees, hyssop is the humblest of herbs, and scarlet speaks of the glory of men. The death of Christ has stained the pride of all human glory. It has stained all that is natural to this first creation, from the greatest things to the least.

He was to see all that was of nature, and the glory of the world, dipped in the blood of the slain bird. In the same way now, whatever answers to those emblems should be viewed through the cross. The cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet were not destroyed. When dipped in the blood they appeared in a new light, and so should it be with us.

On the face of it, the work was first of all done for the leper, not in the least degree by himself.

So the leper stood by while the bird was killed for him, and he was sprinkled with its blood. But once this service was done, he was able to act. The first thing he did was wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, so that he might be clean. After that he could enter the camp.

The leprosy might be great or small, many spots or few, long-standing or recent. Still the leper was unclean. He was utterly unclean, unfit for the camp of Israel, until the priest sprinkled him with the blood of the sacrifice. Every other washing was useless, every other remedy pointless. He could go here or there, do this or that, cover his spots and hide his sores — he was still utterly unclean. But the moment the priest sprinkled him with the blood, he pronounced him clean. It was the blood that made the difference.

The priest then sprinkled the blood seven times on the leper, and when this was done he pronounced him "clean." Seven tells of the perfect application of the blood, for "the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 John 1:7)... sprinkling the blood seven times was enough for the priest to pronounce him clean.

It belonged to God, and to Him alone, to plan and carry out a work that could cleanse the leprosy perfectly. And it belonged to God, and to Him alone, to pronounce the leper "clean." So Scripture says that the priest shall sprinkle, and "he shall pronounce him clean." It does not say, "the leper shall sprinkle, and pronounce, or imagine, himself clean." That would never do. God was the Judge — God was the Healer — God was the Cleanser... There is the most precious connection between the three things in verse 7: the blood is sprinkled, the leper pronounced clean, and the living bird let loose. Not a single syllable tells us what the leper was to do, to say, to think, or to feel.

So many are troubled by the question of feeling it, realising it, and making it their own. They fail to see what the leper's case shows: the sprinkling of the blood was as independent and as divine as the shedding of it... The plan of deliverance was divine; the provision of the sacrifice was divine; the shedding of the blood was divine; the sprinkling of the blood was divine. The record of the result was divine. In short, it was all divine.

We could hardly have a more perfect picture of the resurrection of Christ than the living bird let loose into the open field. It was not let go until its companion had died. The two birds stand for one Christ in two stages of His blessed work — death and resurrection. Ten thousand birds let loose would not have availed for the leper. It was that living bird, rising into the open heavens, carrying on its wing the sign that atonement was finished. That is what announced the great fact: the work was done.

The priest first dipped the living bird in the blood of the slain bird, marking it as one with it... As the released bird soared upward, it carried the blood into the heavens, not into the sanctuary. This was the basis of all that followed.

The cedar wood, the scarlet and the hyssop were also dipped in the blood of the bird that was slain, and this has a worthy meaning. The death of Christ has pronounced, for the one who is cleansed, death on everything man deals with here. The chosen emblems of the highest in nature and of the lowest, along with that which pictures the conventional glory of the world, were dipped in the blood... every evil is counteracted for the believer in Christ's atoning death.

It may seem strange that the priest pronounced the leper clean in verse 7. Yet this is the sure and cheering ground on which he begins the practical work of cleansing himself in verses 8 and 9. God's own verdict gives the highest assurance. It does not cancel the moral cleansing the LORD calls for in every respect. On the contrary, it gives priceless encouragement to start on every detail and work it through.

If you have followed the first seven verses of this chapter, you will have noticed something. The man does not have to do one single thing. Everything was done for him... But now all is changed. Now the leper starts to work.

It may seem strange that the priest pronounced the leper clean back in verse 7. But that verdict is the sure and cheering ground for starting the practical work of cleansing himself in verses 8 and 9. Being pronounced clean by divine authority gives the highest assurance. It does not replace the moral cleansing the Lord calls for in every respect. On the contrary, it gives priceless encouragement to go into every detail and work through it, as here.

The blood shed and sprinkled, precious and effective as it is judicially for the unclean, is not all. There is and must be a moral cleansing also by the water of the word applied to the sinner. Out of the pierced side of Jesus flowed not blood only but water... The sinner needs for blessing not only expiation, but purification.

The bird was slain only once. The blood was sprinkled only once, but the water may be applied many times... This showed the constant need for cleansing from the defilements of this world. Not by blood — that was done once, and once only — but by water, the water of the Word.

The clothes tell us of that which touches us — our associations — that with which we have to do, that which the world around sees as connected with us. Perhaps people have been used to seeing us in the gambling halls, or in other evil places. All these associations and ways must be "washed." How do we wash our ways and associations? We get that question answered for us in Psalm 119:9 — "How can a young man keep his way pure?" That is the question. Here is God's own answer: "By guarding it according to your word."

The blood has been applied in its expiating power. Then comes the washing of water. This expresses the action of the word on the character, the habits, the ways. It makes the person fit for a place in the public assembly, morally and practically — and not only in God's view, but in the view of the congregation too.

It was a mark of shame and reproach... But now all this hair must come off. All his own natural beauty and glory must go. Everything that might shelter any uncleanness must be cut off, at any cost.

In that land every man had a fine head of hair and a big bushy beard. So the cleansed leper, without hair or beard, would indeed be a spectacle. As he walked down the street, many a finger would point at him, many a joke would be cracked at his expense. But was it not worth while? Was it not infinitely better to be cleansed and among the Lord's people without a beard, than to wander outside the camp with a beard, crying "Unclean! Unclean!"

He had been sprinkled with blood and washed with water. That entitled him to a place in the public assembly. Even so, he could not enter his own tent. He could not yet enjoy the private, personal privileges that belonged to his own particular place in the camp. In other words, he knew redemption through the shed and sprinkled blood, and he took the word as the rule for his person and all his habits. But he had still to be brought, in the power of the Spirit, into full and intelligent communion with his own place, portion, and privileges in Christ.

First, the restoration to a place among the people of God, from whom he had been separated; and this is done upon the first day, when he returns to the camp; secondly, on the eighth day, there is a new and only now complete cleansing, by which he is brought fully to God, and restored to his tent also.