The Israelites as a people, would not be in the wilderness forever. Eventually they would enter into Canaan and settle there. There they would begin to build houses and set up permanent dwellings. Here is the Law of God concerning a Leprous House and its ritual of consecration.
Again, it’s important to be reminded that the ritual did not heal the house of its Leprous mold and mildew, only God can heal but it was a means of consecrating the house to be declared clean and then reused.
1. When God Brings the Israelites into Canaan (14:33-34)
33 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, 34 “When you come into the land of Canaan, which I give you for a possession, and I put a case of leprous disease in a house in the land of your possession,
God is sovereign and powerful; He does all He pleases. He was the God who brought the Israelites up out of the land of Egypt. He sent plagues upon the Egyptians and promised His people that if they obey His voice then they would be free from the plagues He sent upon the Egyptians. The Israelites did not keep His commandments.
Exodus 15:26 (ESV)
26 saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”
Here we have God telling Moses where the plague of Leprosy came from. It came from God with a purpose.
First, we are to see that the world is cursed and fallen and sinful. Just living in this world contaminates us.
I once watched a documentary that was about shipwrecks of the world that were missing. In other words, the ship had been accurately found and documented but now gone. Where did these giants go? They were secretly salvaged for their metal. This metal was pre-atomic age metal and had not been contaminated with radiation from the nuclear tests and detonations. Everything on earth is contaminated with nuclear radiation. So, this uncontaminated metal is highly prized and very valuable for use in very precise testing equipment.
In the very same way, sin has contaminated our world and there is nothing immune to its effects.
These Israelites had never had a real home before. They lived as slaves in Egypt and their children had only lived in tents. They spent 40 years in the wilderness living in tents and now they would have actual houses of their own. Most scholars believe they loved their new homes too much, spent too much time patting themselves on the back and claiming their new house was their own making and that they had done it themselves and forgot that it was God who brought them into the Promised Land and it was God who gave them the house.
The wording is very focused here…
34 “When you come into the land of Canaan, which I give you for a possession, and I put a case of leprous disease in a house in the land of your possession,
Ancient Jewish writers used these words to explain this text…
It was as if the main beam of the house cried out to the inhabitant…Turn to the Lord thy God. And others declared that the house has cast us out. And another, this is not your rest because it is polluted.
Their warnings were turn to the Lord not your possessions. Do not think this house is your home. This is not your rest because it is polluted. We must look to the new earth for our home.
2. The Head of the Family is to Tell the Priest (14:35-47)
35 then he who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, ‘There seems to me to be some case of disease in my house.’ 36 Then the priest shall command that they empty the house before the priest goes to examine the disease, lest all that is in the house be declared unclean. And afterward the priest shall go in to see the house. 37 And he shall examine the disease. And if the disease is in the walls of the house with greenish or reddish spots, and if it appears to be deeper than the surface, 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. If the disease has spread in the walls of the house, 40 then the priest shall command that they take out the stones in which is the disease and throw them into an unclean place outside the city. 41 And he shall have the inside of the house scraped all around, and the plaster 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 plaster and plaster the house.
43 “If the disease breaks out again in the house, after he has taken out the stones and scraped the house and plastered it, 44 then the priest shall go and look. And if the disease has spread in the house, it is a persistent leprous disease in the house; it is unclean. 45 And he shall break down the house, its stones and timber and all the plaster of the house, and he shall carry them out of the city to an unclean place. 46 Moreover, whoever enters the house while it is shut up shall be unclean until the evening, 47 and whoever sleeps in the house shall wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house shall wash his clothes.
The owner or head of the family needs to be watchful as to what takes place in his house. The responsibility and authority rests upon him. When he sees something that looks wrong, he does not try to hide it or cover it up but immediately goes to the priest and tells him… There seems to me to be some case of disease in my house.’
The family then removed all objects from the house so that the priest could examine the infected places and make a determination. If it was found to be truly a leprous disease in the house then further steps were to be taken.
When the priest sees evidence that the plague is in fact deeper than just the surface then further steps are taken to remove the plague by even tearing down walls if need be. All contamination must be removed before the priest can consecrate the house and declare it to be clean again.
It’s so important for the head of the house to be watchful for sin and corruption within his home. He must not let it go and act like its no big deal. Notice here the wording and how this indicates that the head of the home be watchful… There seems to me to be some case of disease in my house.’
He doesn’t even know for sure but he’s watchful and there is something not right and brings his concern to the priest quickly. This is smart. Deal with it prior to it ever becoming a plague. While it’s still small.
If it’s found to be the plague then the walls are scraped and if its deeper than the plaster, the very stones removed and taken outside the camp or now the city.
This is further proof that the world we live in is decaying and corrupt. If it is determined that the disease runs deeper than the surface and if it reoccurs, then the entire house would be torn down and all the debris swept away.
Here is what our Lord will do one day with our corrupt and diseased world. Here the corruption of sin is a reoccurring consistent part of our world. One day when Christ returns this world will be swept away and the new will come or the new will be exposed.
2 Peter 3:10–13 (ESV)
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
It is Jesus who said, I come to make all things new…
3. God Heals and Restores and the Priest Declares the House to Be Clean (14:48-53)
48 “But if the priest comes and looks, and if the disease has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, for the disease is healed. 49 And for the cleansing of the house he shall take two small birds, with cedarwood and scarlet yarn and hyssop, 50 and shall kill one of the birds in an earthenware vessel over fresh water 51 and shall take the cedarwood and the hyssop and the scarlet yarn, along with the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the bird that was killed and in the fresh water and sprinkle the house seven times. 52 Thus he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and with the fresh water and with the live bird and with the cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet yarn. 53 And he shall let the live bird go out of the city into the open country. So he shall make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.”
As we read this section, I pray you noticed that the same ritual was used for the consecration of the healed house as it was for the healed leprous person.
What many believe is taking place here is that Christ is pictured once again as the remedy for sin and contagion that through the blood of Christ the believer can dwell in peace. There is a restored dwelling as well. Our dwelling place, our homes can be clean as Christ is welcomed there and praised.
We are restored by the blood of Christ. We are heirs of Christ’s resurrection as the one bird that flies away symbolizes. Our houses too, are made holy as Christ dwells with us.
Psalm 118:14–16 (ESV)
14 The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation.
15 Glad songs of salvation
are in the tents of the righteous:
“The right hand of the Lord does valiantly,
16 the right hand of the Lord exalts,
the right hand of the Lord does valiantly!”
I pray your home is the dwelling place for righteousness because Christ is praised.
I don’t know if you’ve ever thought of your home as a place where peace should abound because Christ is worshipped? He has cleansed us from our sin and even inanimate objects like a house benefit as they picture the new heavens and new earth.
As sin contaminates everything it contacts so too the love for Christ brings healing and restoration even to those things they contact.
Our homes can be a small taste of the New Heavens and New Earth where righteousness dwells.
Do not make an idol out of your house but see it as a place where Christ is upheld and loved. View your home as a small piece or a preview of the New Heavens and New Earth.
54 This is the law for any case of leprous disease: for an itch, 55 for leprous disease in a garment or in a house, 56 and for a swelling or an eruption or a spot, 57 to show when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law for leprous disease.
One day all defilement will be removed from this world.
Jesus also pictured this as He healed many of disease and other issues. He demonstrated that He could heal the effects of sin and then heal sin itself. So many times, in the Gospels we read about Jesus’ healing and then declaring that their sins had also been removed. Often Jesus connected healing with forgiveness and showed a quick preview of the future restoration where sin and disease are forever removed.
These were prophecies fulfilled as Jesus did what only the Messiah could do.
Isaiah 29:18 (ESV)
18 In that day the deaf shall hear
the words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind shall see.
Luke 7:22–23 (ESV)
22 And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”
Restoration of all things will happen when Jesus returns…
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