The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 250

cloudy day, nor in the glare of midday, and Ver. 7.-And he shall sprinkle upon him that t.be priest must have good eyesight, th&t is to be oleanaed from the leprosy seven and only determine one case at a time: nor times. It is not oertRin whether the seveu was he nllowed to pronounce judgment on sprinklings were me.de upon the forehead his own kindred. And, behold, if the plague of the person to be cleansed, or on the back 11f leprosy be healed in the leper. The plague of his hand. The feathers of the bird and of leprosy ie healed before the ceremony of the bunuh of hyssop would be apecie.lly in- purification begins, but the leper is not strumental in the seven sprinklings. And pronouneed clean until he has been sprinkled shall pronounoe him olean. He.ving assured v.ith the blood and water (ver. 7). himself that he was healed (ver. 3), the Ver. 4.-Cedar wood, and scarlet, and priest now pronounces him to be clee.n. He hyssop. " Cedar wood, and hyssop, and looses as well as binds. It had been his scarlet" are also to be burnt with the red office to declare the man a leper, e.nd thereby heifer for the ashes for the water of separa- to shut him out from the people of the Lord tion (Numb. xii:. 6), and they appear to (eh. xiii. 8, 15, 22, 25, 36, 44, 46). Now he have been commonly employed in purifica- pronounces him to be no leper, and there- tions (Heh. ix. I 9). The antiseptic proper- fore, after some further ceremonies, readm ts ties of cedar made it peculiarly euitable for him (vere. 8, 20, 31). And shall let the such occasions. The hyssop "was probably living bird loose into the open field. The not the plant which we call hyssop, the symbolism of the two birds, which bas been HyBB<YfiUS o.fficinalis, for it is uncertain whether much misinterpreted, is essentie.lly the ea.me this is to be found in Syria and Arabia., but as the.t of the two goats on the da.y of a species of origanum resembling hyssop, e.tonement, though each ceremony has its the Arabian ztiter, either wild marjoram, or dietincti ve features. The killing of the a kind of thyme" (Keil on Exod. xii. 21). living bird was not a true sacrifice, e.s was The Psalmist's cry," Purge me with hyssop, the offering of the goat to Jehovah, but by and I shall be clean" (Ps. li. 7), shows the its dee.th it represented the state i which common use to which it was put. In the the leper he.d legally been, and to hicb be present case, the sweet smell both of the would have been physically reduced had wood (one cubit's length of which was used) not a remedy been found. The dee.thly and of the herb would have still further and unclee.n state of the leper having adapted them for symbolizing the redemp- been symbolically transferred from the deo.d tion of the leper's flesh from corrnption and bird to the living bird by the latter's being putrefaction. The scarkt was probably a sprinkled in the farmer's blood, the living band of scarlet wool with which the cedar bird stands in the position of the sce.pe- and the hyssop were tied-not to the bird goat, on whom the sins of the people were (for we have no e.ooount of their being after- le.id. The bird is then let loose into the wards removed), but (as in the burning of open field; literally, upon the face of the the red heifer) one to the other. The field; and it flies off, carrying with it the colour of the wool wae appropriate, not only leper's unclee.nness, and assuring him by because it was a.bout to be dipped in the blood every forward movement the.t it makes that and water, but also because it symbolized the living dee.th be.s passed from him, just the puriiied e.nd now healthy blood. as ea.eh step of the scapegoat nppee.red to Ver. 5.-0ne of the birds be killed in an the Israelites to remove their sins from ee.rthen vessel over I"llllniILg we.ter. A them. A large number of commentators, on sme.11 quantity of water was placed in an the other hand, consider the released bird to ee.rthen ware dish, and one of the birds was symbolize the health and freedom now given killed over the dish in such a we.y that the back to the leper, and they dwell on the blood dripped into the water. The water rapid and uncontrolled movement of birds was needed, as there would not have been as being peculie.rly suitable for representing sufficient blood in the bird for the seven this recovered liberty. But this interpreto.- sprinklings which were to be made. It we.s tion, to which there are many objections, to be running, literally, living, water: that appears to be altogether incompatible with is, fresh water taken from a founte.in or a the fact that the so.me ceremony is used iu running stream, in order the.t it might be the cleansing of the leprous house, whereo.s a.s pure ; as possible. Symbolically, the the house could certainly not be represented cl~ansing power of we.ter as well as of blood as "recovered to unrestrained libe1-ty" is inrlicated. (Le.nge). The common patristic view, that Ver. 6. -As for the Ii vin.g bird, he ehall the two birds repreeent the two natures of take it. Tlie wings and tail of the bird the one Great So.crifice offered to redeem were extended, e.nd in this position it was man from sin, seems to be out of place here. dipped into tlie blood and we.ter in the Ver. 8.-After the healed leper has W&ahed eartl.icnware dish, and with it, the bunch his clothes, and shaved oft' all hie hair, and made up of cedar, hyssop, and scarlet wool. waahed himaelf with water, 110 as to leave no OIi, XIV. 1-32,] THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. 215