Leviticus 14:44

house. 43 And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plastered; 44 Then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house: it is unclean. 45 And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the mortar of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place. 46 Moreover he that goeth into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the even. 47 And he that lieth in the house shall wash his clothes; and he that eateth in the house shall wash his clothes. 48 And if the priest shall come in, and look upon it, and, behold, the plague hath 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, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: 50 And he shall kill the one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water: 51 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 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 with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet: 5

Let not us therefore have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect of persons, Jam. ii. 1. spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 34 When 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; 35 And 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: 36 Then the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest go into it to see the plague, that all that is in the house be not made unclean: and afterward the priest shall go in to see the house: 37 And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish, which in sight are lower than 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 the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house; 40 Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city: 41 And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place: 42 And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the

14:33-53 The leprosy in a house is unaccountable to us, as well as the leprosy in a garment; but now sin, where that reigns in a house, is a plague there, as it is in a heart. Masters of families should be aware, and afraid of the first appearance of sin in their families, and put it away, whatever it is. If the leprosy is got into the house, the infected part must be taken out. If it remain in the house, the whole must be pulled down. The owner had better be without a dwelling, than live in one that was infected. The leprosy of sin ruins families and churches. Thus sin is so interwoven with the human body, that it must be taken down by death.

Then the priest shall come and look,.... On the seventh day of the second week; though, according to Maimonides (o), this was at the end of the third seven day, or on the nineteenth day from his first inspection into it; the seventh day being reckoned for the last of the first week, and the first of the second, and so on: and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house; after all the above precaution is taken: it is a fretting leprosy in the house; like that in the garment; see Gill on Leviticus 13:51, it is unclean; and so not to be inhabited. (o) Hilchot Tumaat Tzarat, c. 15. sect. 1, 2.

34-48. leprosy in a house—This law was prospective, not to come into operation till the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. The words, "I put the leprosy," has led many to think that this plague was a judicial infliction from heaven for the sins of the owner; while others do not regard it in this light, it being common in Scripture to represent God as doing that which He only permits in His providence to be done. Assuming it to have been a natural disease, a new difficulty arises as to whether we are to consider that the house had become infected by the contagion of leprous occupiers; or that the leprosy was in the house itself. It is evident that the latter was the true state of the case, from the furniture being removed out of it on the first suspicion of disease on the walls. Some have supposed that the name of leprosy was analogically applied to it by the Hebrews, as we speak of cancer in trees when they exhibit corrosive effects similar to what the disease so named produces on the human body; while others have pronounced it a mural efflorescence or species of mildew on the wall apt to be produced in very damp situations, and which was followed by effects so injurious to health as well as to the stability of a house, particularly in warm countries, as to demand the attention of a legislator. Moses enjoined the priests to follow the same course and during the same period of time for ascertaining the true character of this disease as in human leprosy.

If found leprous, the infected parts were to be removed. If afterwards there appeared a risk of the contagion spreading, the house was to be destroyed altogether and the materials removed to a distance. The stones were probably rough, unhewn stones, built up without cement in the manner now frequently used in fences and plastered over, or else laid in mortar. The oldest examples of architecture are of this character. The very same thing has to be done still with houses infected with mural salt. The stones covered with the nitrous incrustation must be removed, and if the infected wall is suffered to remain, it must be plastered all over anew.

[Reformed Biblical] us 14:42 Leviticus 14:43 Leviticus 14:44 Leviticus 14:45 Leviticus 14:46 Leviticus 14:47 Leviticus 14:48 Leviticus 14:49 Leviticus 14:50 Leviticus 14:51 Leviticus 14:52 Leviticus 14:53 Leviticus 14:54 Leviticus 14:55 Leviticus 14:56 Leviticus 14:57 To teach; to direct the priest when to pronounce a person or house clean or unclean. So it was not left to the priest’s power or will, but they were tied to plain rules, such as the people might discern no less than the priest. ## Leviticus 15:1 LEVITICUS CHAPTER 15 Uncleanness by issues, and their putrefaction and expiation, Lev_15:1-15. Of flowing seed, its uncleanness, Lev_15:16-18. Of women: their courses ordinarily, Lev_15:19-24; extraordinary, Lev_15:25-28. Their expiation, Lev_15:29,30. An exhortation to cleanness, lest they die, and that they pollute not the tabernacle, Lev_15:31. A repetition of the whole, Lev_15:32,33. Leviticus 15:2 His secret parts, called ## flesh, Lev_6:10 12:3 Eze_16:26 23:20. Leviticus 15:3 Or if it have run, and been stopped in great measure, either by the grossness of the humour, or by some obstruction in parts that it cannot run freely, as it did, but only droppeth. Leviticus 15:4 ## Every thing, Heb. vessel , by which the Hebrews understand all sorts of household stuff.

These thoughts sum up in Ezekiel 28:24 the design of God's judgments upon all the neighbouring nations which are threatened in Ezekiel 25-28, and thus prepare the way for the concluding promise in Ezekiel 28:25 and Ezekiel 28:26. The figure of the sting and thorn points back to Numbers 33:55, where it is said that the Canaanites whom Israel failed to exterminate would become thorns in its eyes and stings in its sides. As Israel did not keep itself free from the Canaanitish nature of the heathen nations, God caused it to fell these stings of heathenism. Having been deeply hurt by them, it was now lying utterly prostrate with its wounds. The sins of Canaan, to which Israel had given itself up, had occasioned the destruction of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 16). But Israel is not to succumb to its wounds. On the contrary, by destroying the heathen powers, the Lord will heal His people of the wounds which its heathen neighbours have inflicted upon it. סלּון, synonymous with סלּון in Ezekiel 2:6, a word only found in Ezekiel. ממאיר, on the contrary, is taken from Leviticus 13:51 and Leviticus 14:44, where it is applied to malignant leprosy (see the comm. on the former passage). - For השּׁאטים אותם, see Ezekiel 16:57 and Ezekiel 25:6.