Cleansing of Leprosy

Now in our daily reading (Leviticus14-15) about dealing with leprosy & cleansing of unhealthiness.

Leprosy in the Bible is a picture of sin because it starts out small, not noticed by many, than it eats away.

Leviticus 14:3-7 “3 & the priest shall go out to the outside of the camp. Thus the priest shall look, & if the infection of leprosy has been healed in the leper, 4 then the priest shall give orders to take two live clean birds & cedar wood & a scarlet string & hyssop for the one who is to be cleansed. 5 “The priest shall also give orders to slay the one bird in an earthenware vessel over running water. 6 “As for the live bird, he shall take it together with the cedar wood & the scarlet string & the hyssop, & shall dip them & the live bird in the blood of the bird that was slain over the running water. 7 “He shall then sprinkle seven times the one who is to be cleansed from the leprosy & shall pronounce him clean, & shall let the live bird go free over the open field.”

Leprosy was a disease that brought about isolation. (Leviticus13.46; Leviticus 14.03)

The two live birds represented the healed person, which is established by the blood of one bird being sprinkled on him (Leviticus14.07).

The bird that was killed was a picture of the death that he had just escaped, & the released bird was a picture of the carrying away of the disease (Leviticus14.05-07).

The cedar wood, scarlet string & hyssop are all part of the purification process. The cedar wood is chosen because it is evergreen & aromatic. The scarlet string is chosen because it symbolizes the blood itself. The hyssop is chosen because it’s used to apply the blood (Psalms51.07).

The cedar wood was used as the handle; the hyssop & bird that was alive were attached to the cedar wood by the scarlet string. The bird was bound to the cedar wood handle so that its tail was pointed down. This was down so that it could be dipped into the blood of the bird that had been killed.

Going to the priest was literally a sign that the Messiah had come. How so? Because there was no cure for leprosy. You had to be supernaturally cleaned! So when Jesus healed the lepers (Matthew08.03-04; Mark 01.40-44), He commanded them to show themselves to the priest, to let the priest know that Ha Mashiach, the Messiah (the anointed one!) has come!

When we sin, we become isolated from God, but because of the blood that Jesus shed on the cross for our sins (leprosy), we now can come clean before our High Priest (Jesus).