Leviticus 14:33-57
The Law Concerning Leprous Houses
33 And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: 34 “When you have come into the land of Canaan, which I give you as a possession, and I put the leprous plague in a house in the land of your possession, 35 and he who owns the house comes and tells the priest, saying, ‘It seems to me that there is some plague in the house,’ 36 then the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest goes into it to examine the plague, that all that is in the house may not be made unclean; and afterward the priest shall go in to examine the house. 37 And he shall examine the plague; and indeed if the plague is on the walls of the house with ingrained streaks, greenish or reddish, which appear to be deep in the wall, 38 then the priest shall go out of the house, to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days. 39 And the priest shall come again on the seventh day and look; and indeed if the plague has spread on the walls of the house, 40 then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which is the plague, and they shall cast them into an unclean place outside the city. 41 And he shall cause the house to be scraped inside, all around, and the dust that they scrape off they shall pour out in an unclean place outside the city. 42 Then they shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and he shall take other mortar and plaster the house.
43 “Now if the plague comes back and breaks out in the house, after he has taken away the stones, after he has scraped the house, and after it is plastered, 44 then the priest shall come and look; and indeed if the plague has spread in the house, it is an active leprosy in the house. It is unclean. 45 And he shall break down the house, its stones, its timber, and all the plaster of the house, and he shall carry them outside the city to an unclean place. 46 Moreover he who goes into the house at all while it is shut up shall be unclean until evening. 47 And he who lies down in the house shall wash his clothes, and he who eats in the house shall wash his clothes.
48 “But if the priest comes in and examines it, and indeed the plague has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. 49 And he shall take, to cleanse the house, two birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. 50 Then he shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water; 51 and he shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times. 52 And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and the running water and the living bird, with the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet. 53 Then he shall let the living bird loose outside the city in the open field, and make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.
54 “This is the law for any leprous sore and scale, 55 for the leprosy of a garment and of a house, 56 for a swelling and a scab and a bright spot, 57 to teach when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law of leprosy.”
This portion of scripture addressed what steps to take when finding a leprous plague in a house in their promised land. First of all, the owner had to find and bring a priest to look at it and determine if it was an issue to be dealt with. The occupants then had to leave the house as the priest examined it thoroughly for signs it may be unclean. Then they shut up the house for a week and return to see if it spread further through the walls. He then ordered that the walls be scraped clean and the infected stones taken outside the camp to an unclean place like was used for lepers. They replaced the infected stones and plastered the walls. If the plague returned after that, then the whole house was to be torn down as unclean and those who go in while it was shut up would be unclean until that night as well. If, however, the house did not show a return or spread of the leprous moldy plague, the house would be declared clean and sacrificial atonement would be given there to be inhabited again. These things were done to protect the people from physical uncleanliness by discerning and dealing with unclean infestations. We could extend this as a picture of these houses of our bodies (1 Corinthians 3:16) where the Lord now lives and liken the moldy leprous plague as sin we allow into the walls and structure of our lives. Unless it is dealt with by confession and repentance (1 John 1:9), we could find our house demolished (Hebrews 3:13, James 5:16) though suffering and even death if not dealt (1 Corinthians 5:5, 11:30-32) with. May we follow the physical pattern here by keeping our house clean and dealing with the plague of sin (Romans 8:13) when it stains our walls and requires us to remove parts that are corrupt so we may put off the sins of the flesh (Ephesians 4:22-24, 30-32) and put on the plaster of our new life to make our houses acceptable and honorable (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) to the Spirit living inside with us.
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