Having finished Leviticus chapters 12 and 13, let us now move on
to Leviticus 14:33-42
—33 And the LORD spoke
to Moses and Aaron, saying: “34 When you have come into the land of Canaan,
which I give you as a possession, and I put the leprous plague in a house in
the land of your possession, 35 and he who owns the house comes and tells the
priest, saying, 'It seems to me that there is some plague in the house,' 36
then the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest goes
into it to examine the plague, that all that is in the house may not be made
unclean; and afterward the priest shall go in to examine the house. 37 And he
shall examine the plague; and indeed if the plague is on the walls of the house
with ingrained streaks, greenish or reddish, which appear to be deep in 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 on the
seventh day and look; and indeed if the plague has spread on the walls of the
house, 40 then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which
is the plague, and they shall cast them into an unclean place outside the city.
41 And he shall cause the house to be scraped inside, all around, and the dust
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 mortar and plaster the house.”
Notice first of all—where
would a leprous plague, that affects a house, originate? From God! Look at
verse 34—“When you have come into the land of
Canaan, which I give you as a possession, and I put the leprous plague in a
house.” Is that really fair? Yes it is. We don’t see it here in the
text, but this would be a sign of God’s judgment on a household. That somewhere
in that house dwells some sin that the inhabitants don’t want others to know
about. But who is the One that knows what goes on in every single house? And
isn't God perfectly just in letting those secret things be known? Luke
12:1-3—“1 Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees,
which is hypocrisy. 2 For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed,
nor hidden that will not be known. 3 Therefore whatever you have spoken in the
dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner
rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.” So you can bet that these
people waited as long as they could before they brought the priest into their
house to see whether or not the mold and mildew growing on their walls was
indeed leprosy. Can you imagine the scandal? “Ooh! The priest is examining
Yitzhak and Bethany’s house! Ooohh! I wonder what they did!” Seriously! I
mean, think of the scandal that happens when people see a police cruiser pull
up into your neighbor’s driveway. This was God’s way of dealing with certain
secret sins—sins which were secret to other people, but not to God.
Now, suppose you did all
that. The priest comes in, declares “leprosy,” shuts up the house, and it’s
still there so he removes the brick or the timber or whatever else is infected.
And what do you know—it’s back. Now what? Leviticus 14:43-45—“43 Now if the plague comes back and breaks out in the
house, after he has taken away the stones, after he has scraped the house, and
after it is plastered, 44 then the priest shall come and look; and indeed if
the plague has spread in the house, it is an active leprosy in the house. It is
unclean. 45 And he shall break down the house, its stones, its timber, and all
the plaster of the house, and he shall carry them outside the city to an
unclean place.” The whole house gets torn down. Every attempt has been
made to make the house right, but all human efforts have failed—and now the
house is condemned. Sound familiar? Don’t we often try to tidy ourselves up,
only to have the sin return, and have to remove those things that make us
unclean? And even then, don’t those things always return somehow? Jesus compares
the person who turns away from sin for a little while to this leprous house. Matthew
12:43-45—“43 When an unclean spirit goes out of a
man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says,
'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes, he finds it
empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other
spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last
state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked
generation.” This person, who realized they were a sinner, decided to be
a “good, moral person.” He did all kinds of “good” things, maybe even went to
church, sang hymns, and did all kinds of churchy things. They scraped the
walls, shut up the house for seven days, took away the dust, made themselves
look real pretty. But then, after a while, those old leprous sores started
oozing, bringing their filth to the surface. The dust they took out comes back,
and this time there is no way to get rid of it. Hebrews 6:4-6—4 It is impossible for those who were once enlightened,
and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy
Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to
come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they
crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
The leprosy of sin is there to stay, and the person is worse off than they were
before they cleaned their house. And like the house, the person faces
condemnation. And that condemnation is much sorer than if they had not known the
truth. 2nd Peter 2:20—If, after
they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the
latter end is worse for them than the beginning. John Gill—
“Their beginning, or first estate, was that in which they were born, a state of darkness, ignorance, and sin, and in which they were brought up, and was either the state of Judaism, or of Gentilism; their next estate was an outward deliverance and escape from the error of the one, or of the other, and an embracing and professing the truth of the Christian religion, joined with a becoming external conversation; and this their last estate was an apostasy from the truth of the Gospel they had professed, a reception of error and heresy, and a relapse into sin and immorality, which made their case worse than it was at first; for, generally, such persons are more extravagant in sinning; are like raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; and are seldom, or ever, recovered; and by their light, knowledge, and profession, their punishment will be more aggravated, and become intolerable.”
The only way a house is
going to be completely clean is if Christ Himself cleans it. But the thing is,
the priest could look at the wall and say “Aha! There is leprosy!” we,
however, cannot look at ourselves and say “I know exactly how many times I
have sinned!” because we have no idea how many sins we have committed. We
probably sin more times in a day than we can even imagine. Psalm 19:12—Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret
faults. Proverbs 20:9—Who can say,
"I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin"? And
listen to this promise from God, in Jeremiah 33:8—“I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which
they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which
they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me.” The
writer of Hebrews picks up on this promise in Hebrews 9:14—How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the
eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God? We can cleanse and wash and
scrape and dust and do all kinds of things to make ourselves look pretty in
comparison to others. But that is not true cleanliness, that is not true
righteousness. 2nd Corinthians 10:12—But
they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among
themselves, are not wise. So that concludes the section on lepers,
leprous garments, leprous houses, and the cleansing of lepers.
Next we move on to
regulations concerning bodily discharges. And let’s all say it together—“Ewww!”
Leviticus 15:1-18—1 And the LORD spoke to
Moses and Aaron, saying, “2 Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them:
‘When any man has a discharge from his body, his discharge is unclean. 3 And
this shall be his uncleanness in regard to his discharge—whether his body runs
with his discharge, or his body is stopped up by his discharge, it is his
uncleanness. 4 Every bed…and everything on which he sits shall be unclean. 5
And whoever touches his bed…6 He who sits on anything on which he who has the
discharge sat…7 And he who touches the body of him who has the discharge…8 If
he who has the discharge spits on him who is clean…9 Any saddle on which he who
has the discharge rides…10 Whoever touches anything that was under him…He who
carries any of those things…11 And whomever the one who has the discharge
touches, and has not rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes and
bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 12 The vessel of earth that he
who has the discharge touches shall be broken, and every vessel of wood shall
be rinsed in water. 13 And when he who has a discharge is cleansed of his
discharge, then he shall count for himself seven days for his cleansing, wash
his clothes, and bathe his body in running water; then he shall be clean. 14 On
the eighth day he shall take for himself two turtledoves or two young pigeons,
and come before the LORD, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and give
them to the priest. 15 Then the priest shall offer them, the one as a sin
offering and the other as a burnt offering. So the priest shall make atonement
for him before the LORD because of his discharge. 16 If any man has an emission
of semen, then he shall wash all his body in water, and be unclean until
evening. 17 And any garment and any leather on which there is semen, it shall
be washed with water, and be unclean until evening. 18 Also, when a woman lies
with a man, and there is an emission of semen, they shall bathe in water, and
be unclean until evening.’” We don’t know what kind of discharge is
talked about in verses 1-15. But whatever it is, it made the person with the
discharge unclean. It also made anything the man touched unclean, it made
unclean anybody the person touched. And the person with the discharge had to
bring an offering, to atone for the discharge. Also, when a man and women lay
together, and the man discharges his semen, he and the woman were to bathe with
water and be unclean until evening.
Leviticus 15:19-33—“‘19 If
a woman has a discharge, and the discharge from her body is blood, she shall be
set apart seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening.
20 Everything that she lies on during her impurity shall be unclean; also
everything that she sits on shall be unclean. 21 Whoever touches her bed shall
wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 22 And
whoever touches anything that she sat on shall wash his clothes and bathe in
water, and be unclean until evening. 23 If anything is on her bed or on
anything on which she sits, when he touches it, he shall be unclean until
evening. 24 And if any man lies with her at all, so that her impurity is on
him, he shall be unclean seven days; and every bed on which he lies shall be
unclean. 25 If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, other than at
the time of her customary impurity, or if it runs beyond her usual time of
impurity, all the days of her unclean discharge shall be as the days of her
customary impurity. She shall be unclean. 26 Every bed on which she lies all
the days of her discharge shall be to her as the bed of her impurity; and
whatever she sits on shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her impurity. 27
Whoever touches those things shall be unclean; he shall wash his clothes and
bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. 28 But if she is cleansed of her
discharge, then she shall count for herself seven days, and after that she
shall be clean. 29 And on the eighth day she shall take for herself two turtledoves
or two young pigeons, and bring them to the priest, to the door of the
tabernacle of meeting. 30 Then the priest shall offer the one as a sin offering
and the other as a burnt offering, and the priest shall make atonement for her
before the LORD for the discharge of her uncleanness. 31 Thus you shall
separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness, lest they die in their
uncleanness when they defile My tabernacle that is among them. 32 This is the
law for one who has a discharge, and for him who emits semen and is unclean
thereby, 33 and for her who is indisposed because of her customary impurity,
and for one who has a discharge, either man or woman, and for him who lies with
her who is unclean.’” Any woman who had a flow of blood was unclean for
as long as she flowed. Now, before we get started, one thing: in verse 24, where it says “And if any man lies with her at all, so that her
impurity is on him”, the KJV says “And if any man lie with her at
all, and her flowers be upon him.” When the KJV says “flowers” it does
not mean roses or carnations. Rather than “FLAU-ers”, it should be pronounced
“FLOW-ers”. As in “her flow.”
I think we all know who
comes to mind when we read this section. We think of the woman who had the flow
of blood for so many years, who merely touched the hem of Jesus’ robe and was
made clean from her flow. So let’s go ahead and turn there. Luke 8:43-48—43 Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years,
who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any,
44 came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her
flow of blood stopped. 45 And Jesus said, "Who
touched Me?" When all denied it, Peter
and those with him said, "Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and
You say, 'Who touched Me?'" 46 But Jesus said, "Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out
from Me." 47 Now when the woman saw
that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she
declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched
Him and how she was healed immediately. 48 And He said to her, "Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you
well. Go in peace." And so many times we just kinda gloss over this
event, and simply chalk it up to Jesus’ ability to heal physical infirmities.
But there is so much more to it than that.
Was this a physical
infirmity the woman had been living with? Yes. But was it only physical? No, it
was so much more. For twelve years, she could not go near the tabernacle. For
twelve years she could not bring an atonement gift. For twelve years, she was
unable to be considered clean, to be married, to…you name it. But she no doubt
heard something about this Christ. Something she had heard, in the reading of
the scroll of Malachi, who wrote that To you who
fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings
(Malachi 4:2). “How?” you ask. Allow me to explain. It says in Luke that
she touched the border of His garment. The garment He wore was called a טַלִּית (tallit), or prayer shawl. The Hebrew word translated
‘border’ (as in, the border of the garment) in the Old Testament is כָּנָף
(kanaph). This means either “border” or “corner” or…“wing.” And on the כָּנָף
(kanaph) of their טַלִּית (tallit)
they would have little tassels, which in Hebrew would be צִיצִת (tzitzith).
Numbers 15:38-39—“38 Speak to the children
of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments
throughout their generations, and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the
corners (כָּנָף
(kanaph)). 39 And you shall have the tassel (צִיצִת (tzitzith)), that you may look upon it and
remember all the commandments of the LORD and do them.” Malachi was
saying that the Sun of Righteousness shall arise
with healing in His כָּנָף (kanaph)—in His wings, that is, in the borders (or
corners) of His garment. She had no doubt heard this somewhere and by faith
said, “This is messiah. And in the borders of His garment there is healing.
If I can but touch the צִיצִת (tzitzith) on His כָּנָף (kanaph) I can be made clean; I can enter the temple and I
can be atoned and I can have full access to God!” And we can all have
access to God, if we will but reach out.
Because we need healing from something a whole lot worse than a flow of blood. We need healing from the curse of sin; we need to be clothed in the robe of Christ’s righteousness; we need Christ to heal the house that is our body; we need to be cleansed and made whole because of the things that come out of our body—whether cursing or theft. We need to be cleansed form our impurity, and be made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And there is not one blessing that He will hold back from His children. It may not be what we want. He may not make our lives comfortable. But what He gives us will make us into the person He wants us to be, and what we are is to glorify God in the midst of whatever situation we are in. And whether by life or by death, to magnify Christ in our body.
Jesus Christ is Lord.
Amen.
