And he shall take, to purge the house from the defilement, two birds, and cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop;
The stones are out, the walls are scraped and re-plastered, and the priest has looked again and found the plague gone. So why must he now bring two birds, wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop — the very things used to cleanse a healed person?
The list of items in this verse is not new. It repeats, item for item, what God commanded for a person healed of leprosy.
He was to follow the same procedure as for the cleansing of a leper (Lev. 14:1-7). He took two birds with cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop. He killed one bird in a clay pot over running water. Then he dipped the live bird, the cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet in the blood of the dead bird and in running water, and sprinkled the house seven times... We have seen that the sacrificed bird pictures Christ sacrificed for us, and the live bird pictures Christ raised from the dead. So, as with a person, so with an assembly, restoration rests on the value of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
The verse names no species. A bird of the sky dies inside a clay pot, over fresh running water.
The bird, then, represents the Lord as a heavenly Being. He took manhood, and with it the capacity to suffer and die, and the clay pot stands for that manhood. The living water here, as always, pictures that Eternal Spirit through whom He offered Himself without spot to God. It is striking that the picture does not show the pot breaking while the bird escapes unhurt, as we might at first expect. It shows the death of the bird itself.
Three ordinary materials travel with the birds: wood, dyed yarn and a plant. Why these three?
The cedar wood and hyssop seem to stand for the products of nature. Like the two ends of a long chain, they take in all that grows on the earth (see 1 Kings 4:33). The scarlet stands for the glory of the world. He was to look at all that was of nature, and at the glory of the world, dipped in the blood of the killed bird. So now, whatever answers to those pictures 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.
A house holds more than one person. Writers take the plagued house as a picture of a company of believers.
It is quite different when known evil stays among them. Then it is the leprous plague in the house. But even then it is "the priest" they look to for the verdict. He is over the house of God... If they remove the defilement by the proper means laid down in His word, it is well. The house can be recognised again, though the atoning work of Christ is just as necessary for it as for the sinner.
Commentators differ over how wide the picture reaches.
Many have applied the house with leprosy in it to Israel... Others apply it to the church and see the leprosy entering the church that professes His name... We do not believe this is the whole meaning of leprosy in the house. It also pictures the presence and working of sin in the place where man lives, that is, God's material creation... This pictures the work of Christ, which will one day bring blessing to all creation, when all things will be reconciled (Col. 1:20).
Leviticus 14 also deals with leprosy in clothing. No sacrifice is offered for a garment.
A sacrifice was offered for a person who had had leprosy, and for a house that had had the plague. The priest sprinkled both with blood, made atonement, and pronounced them clean. Not so the garment. Why? Because God sees us as redeemed by the precious sacrifice of Christ, both as individuals and together. As individuals we can say, "He loved me, and gave Himself for me." Together we read, "Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it." (Gal. 2:20; Eph. 5:25.)
Not everything from the leper's cleansing is repeated for the house.
The cleansing of the house follows the first part of what was laid down for cleansing an individual leper. The last part is left out... So there is a corporate purity that must be kept. But the living activities tied to the second part of the cleansing can only belong to each person alone, and so they are left out where the assembly is in view. Conscience and heart are individual things.
- Plague — evil in a house is not a nuisance but a defilement. Stones come out and walls are scraped before the priest looks again.
- Priest — no house declares itself clean. The priest inspects, gives the verdict, then cleanses.
- Blood — even a healed house still needs atonement. The work of Christ is as necessary for a company as for one person.
- Birds — one bird dies in a clay pot over running water, and the living bird is dipped in its blood. That death and resurrection restore an assembly as they restore a person.
- Clean — cedar, scarlet and hyssop are not burned but dipped. Nature and the world's glory come back changed, seen now through the cross.
and he shall kill one bird in an earthen vessel over running water;
Leviticus 14:50 belongs to a cleansing ritual for a building, not a person: a house in the land that had shown the plague, now repaired with new stones and fresh plaster. The priest kills one bird in a clay pot over fresh, running water, exactly as he did for the healed leper in verse 5 — which raises the question of why a house needs blood at all.
Commentators read the three stages of Leviticus 13–14 as moving outward. First the person, then his clothing, then the house.
What we have seen is leprosy in the man and his clothing, and the cleansing of the leper. There is this further case, rightly kept for the end, leprosy in the house. What came before had to do with the person and his immediate surroundings. Here we have to look at the picture of the assembly — not, of course, in its full heavenly aspect in union with Christ, but in what the Spirit forms on earth by His indwelling. So it fittingly pointed to the land, not to the wilderness. Neither relation could exist before Pentecost.
This is why the law waits for the land: the picture needs the Spirit's indwelling, which began at Pentecost.
The priest takes two birds, and only one dies. The pair forms one picture in two halves, and the clay pot seems to contradict the bird placed in it.
Two birds are needed, as the double symbol of Christ, dying and risen, come from above, and returning there again. This thought of a heavenly being is further emphasised in what might seem to contradict it, for the one bird that dies is killed in an earthen vessel over running water, and this earthen vessel the apostle has explained to us (2 Cor. 4:7). It is that humanity filled with the Spirit of God (the running, or "living" water) in which the Son of God gained the capacity to die.
The ESV calls it fresh water; other translations read running or living water. The priest sprinkles the water along with the blood, and the water points to the Spirit.
The Lord's death and resurrection have taken place. Still the Holy Spirit must work on the conscience, and apply to it the knowledge of the efficacy of the blood of Christ. By the eternal Spirit He offered Himself without spot to God (Heb. 9:14); so the bird's blood fell into an earthen vessel of running water, the symbol of the Lord as man in whom the Holy Spirit was. And the blood and the water, it seems, were both sprinkled on the one who was to be cleansed (v. 52). For it is only as the Spirit applies the word to the offender's conscience that the efficacy of that precious blood in God's sight comes home to him.
The stones had already been pulled out and the walls scraped. Yet the priest still had to kill a bird and make atonement. One writer sharpens the point by setting the house beside the infected garment, which got no sacrifice at all.
Once the house has been healed of the plague, it only remains for the priest to make atonement for it, and so pronounce it cleansed... The living bird, marked with the blood of the dead bird, is let loose in the open fields: an atonement is made for the house, and it shall be clean. For an individual who had had leprosy, and for a house in which the plague had been, a sacrifice was offered. Both were sprinkled with blood; and, atonement being made, they were pronounced clean. Not so the garment; and why? Because we are looked at as redeemed by the precious sacrifice of Christ, both individually and collectively. Individually we can say, "He loved me and gave Himself for me"; corporately we read, "Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her." (Gal. 2:20; Eph. 5:25.)
Verse 50 belongs to the house that can be cleansed. The chapter also deals with the house that cannot, and the same priest decides both.
But even then it is "the priest" who must pronounce. He is over the house of God. Man is apt to be hasty and unreliable, whether lax or severe. Christ never fails... If the adequate means prescribed in His word remove the defilement, it is well: the house is again recognisable. Yet the atoning work of Christ is just as necessary for it as for the sinner. But if the evil remains despite the scriptural measures to root it out, there is nothing for the faithful but its demolition.
- The house — the third and widest case of leprosy. It applies only in the land, and it pictures a company of God's people, not one person.
- The pot — the clay vessel speaks of the humanity in which the One who came from heaven gained the capacity to die.
- The water — running, or living, water speaks of the Spirit. He gave the power for the offering, and He presses its worth on the conscience.
- The blood — scraped walls and new stones cannot make a house clean. A bird still dies, because Christ gave Himself for a people as well as for a person.
- The verdict — the priest gives it, not human haste or leniency. Where the evil is dealt with, the house stands. Where it is not, the house comes down.
and he shall take the cedar-wood and the hyssop and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the bird that was killed, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times;
Leviticus 14 ends with a plague in a building, not a person. Verse 51 gives the cure — blood, water, cedarwood, hyssop, scarlet and a live bird — and it is the same ritual that cleansed a healed leper.
Why treat a building like a patient? Commentators read the house as a picture of the gathered people of God.
There is this further case, rightly kept for the end: leprosy in the house. The earlier cases had to do with the person and his immediate surroundings. Here we have to look at the picture of the assembly. This is not, of course, the assembly in its full heavenly aspect, united with Christ. It is the assembly formed on earth by the Spirit living in it. It therefore fittingly pointed to the land, not to the wilderness.
The evil here sits in the walls, not in a conscience. So the cleansing aims at something other than personal guilt.
It does not refer to the cleansing of the person; it is more a picture of an assembly. Cleansing meant putting out the wicked people who had corrupted the public testimony — the part that showed on the outside. It was not a question of restoring the conscience. Once again the whole thing rests on the original power of the work of Christ. That work is what makes the assembly acceptable to God.
The two birds in verse 51 are the pair used at the start of the chapter. Their meaning holds when the patient is a building.
We have seen that the sacrificed bird pictures Christ sacrificed for us, and the live bird, Christ raised from the dead. So again, as with a person, so with an assembly, restoration is based on the value of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
Three natural things go into the blood with the live bird. Writers read them as a span from the highest to the lowest.
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 everything natural to this first creation, from the greatest things to the least.
For a house, that touches the materials a company is built with.
Everything was tested at the cross; the best — the princes of this world — crucified the Lord of glory. After that it is clear that nothing man is by nature can have a place in God's sanctuary. Neither can any of the glory he boasts in. Such things cannot bind the saints of God together or build them up in divine fellowship.
One small difference separates verse 51 from the earlier ceremony.
In cleansing the leper, the bird was killed over the running water. The other bird was dipped in his blood, and the man was sprinkled with it. Then the man was to wash. With a house, the bird is dipped in the running water as well, and the house is sprinkled with it.
The ESV's "fresh water" is "running water" in older translations. Water already carries a meaning of its own in these pictures.
Water on its own is a picture of the word of God. Living water speaks of the word being made alive and applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit (John 4:10; 7:37–39). "Running water" in Numbers 19:17 carries the same meaning as a picture.
The same sevenfold sprinkling cleansed the healed leper earlier in the chapter. One writer explains what the number means:
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).
A house received a sacrifice. A leprous garment never did.
For a person who had had leprosy, and for a house in which the plague had been, a sacrifice was offered. Both were sprinkled with blood; and atonement being made, they were pronounced clean. Not so the garment; and why? Because we are looked at as redeemed by the precious sacrifice of Christ, both as individuals and as a company. As individuals we can say, "who loved me and gave Himself for me"; as a company we read, "Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her." (Gal. 2:20; Eph. 5:25.)
- House — A plague in the walls pictures evil in a gathered company, not in one conscience. So the setting is the land, not the wilderness.
- Blood — The same two birds serve the house and the leper. Restoring a company rests on Christ's death and resurrection, nothing less.
- Wood — Cedar, hyssop and scarlet go into the blood. Nothing natural, high or low, can bind or build up the saints in fellowship.
- Water — The house alone gets the running water too: the word, made alive in us by the Spirit.
- Seven — The sevenfold sprinkling says the cleansing is complete. The atonement for the house says Christ's love reaches the company, not only the person.
and he shall purge the house from the defilement 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;
This verse closes the law about a plague that could break out in the walls of a house. It lists the six things the priest used to purge it: blood, fresh water, a living bird, cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet. Two questions follow. Why would a building need blood at all, and why is the ritual the same one used for a healed leper?
This law could not work while Israel was still in the wilderness. It waits for houses in the land God had promised. That change of setting changes what the plague pictures.
Next we must consider leprosy in a house. For the leprous person, everything referred to the tabernacle. They were still in the wilderness, and the question was their walk in the world. But this law supposes they are in the land of promise. It is not about cleansing a person; it is more a picture of an assembly.
The stones and plaster have already come out of the walls. That work alone does not leave the house clean, and one writer says why.
When defilement appears there, they take out the stones and the plaster: the outward walk is completely changed, and the individuals who have corrupted this walk are taken out and thrown among the unclean… It was not a question of restoring the conscience; the whole rests anew on the original power of the work of Christ, which makes the assembly acceptable to God.
Another writer sets out the two outcomes.
If the adequate means His word prescribes remove the defilement, it is well. The house is recognisable again, though the atoning work of Christ is just as needed for it as for the sinner. But if the evil stays despite the scriptural measures to root it out, the faithful have nothing left but to pull the house down. At any cost they must completely abandon what is unclean beyond cure.
Three of the six items are neither liquid nor alive: cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet. One writer explains what each of them pictures.
The cedar wood and hyssop seem to picture what nature produces. Like the two ends of a long chain, they take in everything that grows on the earth (see 1 Kings 4:33). The scarlet pictures the glory of the world. He was to see all that belonged to nature, and the glory of the world, dipped in the blood of the killed bird. So now, whatever matches those pictures should be seen through the cross.
The verse names the water as well as the blood. Older translations call it running water. One writer sets the leper's rite and the house's rite side by side.
In cleansing the leper, the priest killed the bird over the running water, dipped the other bird in its blood and sprinkled the man that way. Then the man had to wash. For a house, the bird is dipped in the running water as well, and the house is sprinkled with that.
The verse names two birds, one killed and one alive. Together they carry a single meaning.
We have seen that the sacrificed bird is typical of Christ sacrificed for us, and the live bird, Christ raised from the dead. Again therefore, as with a person, so with an assembly, restoration is based on the value of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
A garment with the plague received no sacrifice. A house received blood. One writer asks why.
A sacrifice was offered both for a person who had had leprosy and for a house where the plague had been. The priest sprinkled each with blood, and once atonement was made he pronounced them clean. Not so the garment; and why? Because we are looked at as redeemed by the precious sacrifice of Christ, both individually and collectively.
The leper's cleansing had a second part after the birds. For the house that part is dropped, and one writer says why.
In its first part, the cleansing of the house follows the cleansing of the individual leper. The last part is left out… So there is a purity that belongs to the whole company and must be kept. But the living activities tied to the second part of the cleansing can only be individual, and so they are left out in what refers to the assembly.
- Plague — this law waits until Israel is settled in the land. So the house pictures a company, not one person's walk.
- Removal — taking out the stones and plaster is only the first half. That work alone never made the house clean.
- Blood — a building gets the same rite as a healed leper: one bird killed, one bird alive, death and resurrection.
- Atonement — a garment got no sacrifice, but a house got blood. Redemption covers a whole company as well as one person.
- Outcome — cleansed, the house stands and is recognised again. If the evil stays, nothing is left but to pull it down.