The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 254

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. TM cleansing of ,in as illustrated in the cleansing of the leper. Ch. xiv.; cf. 2 Kings v.; Matt. viii. 1-4; Luke v.. 12-16. We have seen the possibility of a cure of leprosy in the directions for its diagnosis given to the priests. The cured leper bad also to be cleansed before admitted to the society of the faithful. In this chapter we have the cleansing of the leper detailed. In this we are to discern the cleansing of sin. Naam.an's case is instrnctive upon this point. He was cured by Divine power. But he was not ceremonially cleansed or received into the fellowship of the Church of God. In his case the two elements of cure and cleansing were separated. But when our Lord directed the cured leper to go and offer for his cleansing the gift that Moses commanded for a testimony unto them, the elements were united. In the case of the cure of the leprosy of sin and its concomitant, the cleansing, the Great Physician who cures and the Priest who cleanses are one. It is our Divine Saviour who accomplishes both. I. WE MUST NOT CONFOUND THE OURE WITH THE OLEANBDIG OF SDI. The cure of sin is the sanctification of the inward nature, the imparting of the principle of righteous- ness, the regeneration of the once unholy nature. 'l'his is quite distinct from the cleansing which proceedii from the blood of Jesus Christ. In the latter case there is a justification through faith in his blood, so that we are accepted as weH as pardoned on the ground of his merits. The one is a work of God in us, the other is a work of God on us. We are not accepted because we are regenerated; we are accepted "in the Beloved." The leper was not accepted on the ground of his cure, but on the ground of his sacrifice. The ritual of the leper is, therefore, admirably adapted to keep the two ideas distinct of justification and sanctification. II. 'fliE RESTORATION OF THE LEPER EMBRACED TWO STAGES, WHICH HAVE THEm COUNTERPART DI THE EXPERIENCE OF THE BINNER. These stages are, first, the restora- tion of the leper to the society of the living, and, secondly, his restoration to the society of the saints. L Restcrati<m to the socuty of the living. The priest was directed to go to the leper outside the camp, and if he was satisfied about his cure, then he was to receive on the leper's behalf "two live birdii, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop." One of these is to be killed in an earthen vessel over running water, and its blood mingled with the water in the vessel. Of the cedar wood, scarlet wool, and hyssop the priest is to make a brush, in which he is temporarily to tie the remaining live bird, and having dipped them in the blood and water, he is to sprinkle therewith the leper seven times, pro- nouncing him clean, and then let the live bird free. The leper is then to wash hiw clothes, shave off all his hair, wash himself carefully, and come into the camp, waiting, however, a week before taking up his permanent abode in his own tent. Now, it 11eems clear that in this first stage of the leper's restoration the live bird, baptized with water and blood, and then let loose to join its mates in the open fields, waa a symbol of the healed leper, now to be restored to the fellowship of men. It has OB. :liV. 1-32.J THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. 21J