Chapter Fourteen

1–32. Rituals of cleansing for one recovered from leprosy. 33–56. Leprosy of Hebrew houses and its cleansing.

Leviticus 14:1. And the Lord said to Moses, saying: Leviticus 14:2. This is the law for the leper at the time of his cleansing: he shall be brought to the priest; Leviticus 14:3. And the priest shall go out of the camp; and if the priest sees that the leper is healed of the disease of leprosy, Leviticus 14:4. Then the priest shall order to take for the one to be cleansed two living clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet thread, and hyssop, Leviticus 14:5. And the priest shall order to kill one bird over an earthen vessel, over living water; Leviticus 14:6. And he himself shall take the living bird, the cedar wood, the scarlet thread, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird killed over the living water, Leviticus 14:7. And he shall sprinkle on the one to be cleansed from leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird go into the open field. Leviticus 14:8. And the one to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, bathe in water, and be clean; then he may enter the camp and stay outside his tent for seven days; In accordance with the complete exclusion of the leper throughout his illness not only from the sanctuary and all public worship, but also from the civil society of the people of the covenant, the ritual of cleansing for one recovered from leprosy comprised two acts. First, the priest (in his ordinary clothes) outside the camp confirmed the actual recovery of the former leper and then performed the ritual of receiving him into the community of his people, restoring him to civil and theocratic rights, as follows. The priest ordered two “living” (perhaps—fast-flying) birds, Hebrew zipporim (Vulg.: passeres; but more probably generally “clean”; Hebrew: “tehoruth—birds, according to Vulg.—“quibus vesci licitum est”), to be taken for the one to be cleansed; in regard to price, size, and outward appearance, according to the Mishnah (Negaim 14:5), both birds were to be equal; a piece of cedar wood, hyssop, and a scarlet thread were also taken: the latter was wrapped around the stem of hyssop and fastened to the stick of cedar wood (Negaim, 14:1). One of the two living birds was slaughtered over an earthen vessel with living (spring, cf. Gen 26:19) water, so that the blood mixed with the latter. Then the priest dipped the three mentioned articles and the living bird (specifically the top feathers of the tail and wings, Negaim 14:1) in this mixture of blood and water, sprinkled the one to be cleansed seven times, pronounced him clean, and sent the living bird into the field. According to the opinion of Hebrew interpreters, the slaughtered bird symbolically meant a life equal to death in the disease of the leper (leprosy is compared with death, for example, in Num 12:12), and sending the living bird free meant the beginning of a renewed life for him after recovery; likewise cedar wood (this tree, considered incorruptible, and specifically cedar oil in antiquity was believed to have the power to preserve even corpses from decomposition), scarlet thread (symbol of blood, hence life), and hyssop (symbol of—cleansing Ps 50:9) indicated (cf. Num 19:6) this transition of the recovered from a state of death to renewed life. This transition was symbolically marked by seven-fold sprinkling—with the blood of the bird (bird blood in ancient times was credited with disinfecting power in skin diseases) and “living” water. The slaughtered bird was not burned on the altar, but the killing of one bird and sending the other free, long compared by interpreters with the ritual of the two goats on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16), expressed the idea of sacrificial reunion (in the sprinkling) of the released leper with the community. The symbol of this civil reunion was the bathing of the recovered in water and the shaving of his hair. But seven more days had to pass between his reunion with society and with the sanctuary; he entered only the camp but could not yet go to his own tent.

Leviticus 14:9. On the seventh day he shall shave all his hair off his head, beard, eyebrows—all his hair he shall shave, wash his clothes, and bathe his body in water, and he will be clean; Leviticus 14:10. On the eighth day he shall take two rams, one-year-old, without blemish, and one ewe lamb, one-year-old, without blemish, and three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and one log of oil; Leviticus 14:11. The priest who is cleansing shall present the person to be cleansed and these things before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting; Leviticus 14:12. And the priest shall take one of the rams and present it as a guilt offering and the log of oil, and wave them before the Lord; Leviticus 14:13. And he shall kill the ram in the place where they kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the holy place, for the guilt offering is like the sin offering, it belongs to the priest: it is most holy; Leviticus 14:14. And the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the tip of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot; Leviticus 14:15. And the priest shall take some of the log of oil and pour it in the palm of his own left hand; Leviticus 14:16. And the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left palm, and sprinkle oil with his finger seven times before the Lord; Leviticus 14:17. And the remaining oil that is in his palm, the priest shall put on the tip of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the places where the blood of the guilt offering was applied; Leviticus 14:18. And the remaining oil that is in the palm of the priest, he shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed, and the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord. Leviticus 14:19. And the priest shall offer the sin offering and make atonement for the one to be cleansed from his uncleanness; then he shall kill the burnt offering; Leviticus 14:20. And the priest shall present the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar; and the priest shall make atonement for him, and he will be clean. Leviticus 14:21. But if he is poor and cannot afford so much, then he shall take one ram for a guilt offering to be waved for atonement, and one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and a log of oil, Leviticus 14:22. And two turtledoves or two young pigeons, what he can afford, one as a sin offering, the other as a burnt offering; Leviticus 14:23. And he shall bring them on the eighth day of his cleansing to the priest, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, before the Lord; Leviticus 14:24. And the priest shall take the ram of the guilt offering and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them before the Lord; Leviticus 14:25. And he shall kill the ram of the guilt offering, and the priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the tip of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot; Leviticus 14:26. And the priest shall pour some of the oil in his own left palm, Leviticus 14:27. And the priest shall sprinkle with the oil that is in his left palm with his right finger seven times before the Lord; Leviticus 14:28. And the priest shall put some of the oil that is in his palm on the tip of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the places where the blood of the guilt offering was applied; Leviticus 14:29. And the remaining oil that is in the palm of the priest, he shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before the Lord; Leviticus 14:30. And he shall offer one of the turtledoves or one of the young pigeons, what he can afford, Leviticus 14:31. What he can afford, one as a sin offering, the other as a burnt offering, together with the grain offering; and the priest shall make atonement for the one to be cleansed before the Lord. After seven days the second and final act of the leper’s cleansing took place—the act of ecclesiastical and religious reunion of the former patient with the sanctuary and with the Lord. First there was a second washing of the whole body of the leper after shaving all the hair—on the head, beard, eyebrows, and generally on the whole body to finally eliminate all traces of disease and for complete assurance to himself and others that nowhere does he have traces of the former leprosy. Now, having bathed as already clean, the recovered person presented himself on the eighth day at the sanctuary with two rams (of age), one ewe lamb one-year-old, and a grain offering—three-tenths of an ephah of flour (about nine pounds) and one log (half a hin according to rabbis, the capacity of six eggs) of oil. The priest presented the recovered person at the entrance of the tent and, presenting the ram destined as a guilt offering to the Lord—by means of “waving,” slaughtered this guilt offering first of all: the state of the leper’s exclusion from the sanctuary was, as it were, a violation of the rights of the Lord, which were now restored by the mentioned offering (as a violator, albeit involuntarily, of the Lord’s rights, the former leper does not take active part in the sacrifice). With the blood of the guilt offering the priest anointed the tip of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the big toe of the right foot—the very members that were anointed in the high priest and priests on the day of their consecration with the blood of the consecration offering (Lev 8:23-24). This indicated the priestly dignity of the individual Israelite in which the former leper was now restored. Further, the sin offering, burnt offering, and grain offering were performed in the customary manner. But before that, oil was used as a necessary complement to the essential offering of this ritual—the guilt offering—in the following way: from the log of oil the priest poured some on his own left palm; dipping his right finger from there, he sprinkled seven times before the Lord, that is, before the altar of burnt offering (cf. Lev 8:11); the remaining oil on the palm he poured on the members of the body just anointed with blood, and the remaining oil he poured on the head of the one to be cleansed (as in the consecration of Aaron, but only on the head of the latter was holy anointing oil poured, not plain oil, Lev 8:12, cf. Exod 30:30-32), whereby the one to be cleansed was wholly reunited with the sanctuary, and in general, as F. Aquinas expressed it, was restored to the fellowship of mankind and divine worship. Blood signified the covenant, here renewed with an individual member of the Lord’s community, and oil—the symbol of the mercy of the Lord toward him (cf. the blessed Theodore, question 19). In the case of the poverty of the one to be cleansed, the three last offerings—the sin offering, burnt offering, and grain offering could be brought from less valuable material: two pigeons or turtledoves for the sin and burnt offerings, and one-tenth of an ephah of flour—for the grain offering. But the ram of the guilt offering along with the log of oil could not be replaced by anything: both the rich and poor brought the guilt offering equally. The ritual of cleansing was essentially the same.

Leviticus 14:33. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: Leviticus 14:34. When you enter the land of Canaan, which I give you as a possession, and I bring a plague of leprosy on a house in the land of your possession, Leviticus 14:35. Then the owner of the house shall come and tell the priest, saying: “It seems to me there is some kind of sore on my house. Leviticus 14:36. And the priest shall order the house to be emptied before the priest goes in to examine the sore, so that nothing in the house is made unclean; after this the priest shall come to examine the house. Leviticus 14:37. And he shall examine the sore; and if the sore on the walls of the house consists of greenish or reddish indentations that appear to be deeper than the wall, Leviticus 14:38. Then the priest shall go out of the house, to the door of the house, and shall seal up the house for seven days. Leviticus 14:39. On the seventh day the priest shall come again, and if he sees that the sore has spread on the walls of the house, Leviticus 14:40. Then the priest shall order the stones on which the sore is to be torn out and thrown outside the city to an unclean place; Leviticus 14:41. And the inside of the house shall be entirely scraped, and the plaster that is scraped off shall be dumped outside the city at an unclean place; Leviticus 14:42. And they shall take other stones and set them in place of those stones, and take other plaster and plaster the house. Leviticus 14:43. If the sore appears again and breaks out on the house after the stones have been torn out and the house has been scraped and plastered, Leviticus 14:44. Then the priest shall come and see, and if the sore has spread on the house, it is a corrosive leprosy in the house; it is unclean; Leviticus 14:45. Then the house shall be torn down, its stones, its timber, and all the plaster of the house shall be taken out to an unclean place outside the city; Leviticus 14:46. Whoever enters the house while it is sealed shall be unclean until evening; Leviticus 14:47. And whoever sleeps in the house shall wash his clothes [and be unclean until evening]; and whoever eats in the house shall wash his clothes [and be unclean until evening]. Leviticus 14:48. But if the priest comes in and sees that the sore has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the sore has healed. Leviticus 14:49. And in order to cleanse the house, he shall take two birds, cedar wood, scarlet thread, and hyssop, Leviticus 14:50. And he shall kill one bird over an earthen vessel, over living water; Leviticus 14:51. And he shall take the cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet thread and the living bird, and shall dip them in the blood of the bird that was killed and in the living water, and sprinkle the house seven times; Leviticus 14:52. And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and the living water, and with the living bird and the cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet thread; Leviticus 14:53. And he shall let the living bird go outside the city into the open field, and make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean. The law about the enigmatic leprosy of houses came into force only from the time when Israel no longer lived in tents as in Moses’ time, but—after occupation of the land of Canaan—in houses (and other laws are calculated only for the time after settling in Canaan, cf. Lev 19:23): in the wilderness, hides, felt, and fabrics for tents came under the law (Lev 13:47-59) about garments. The prescriptions regarding the actions of the priest in the case of leprosy striking some Hebrew house, visibly resembling the ordinances about leprosy in people and garments, undoubtedly have not so much a medical or antiseptic, sanitary character as a ritual one: the leprosy of houses was not considered contagious, but defiling—things that were in the house were not considered infectious, but merely defiled a person once the house was declared unclean; likewise, people who entered a house, sealed for leprosy, slept in it, and ate food in it, were merely considered unclean until evening. Finally, the leprosy of houses was also cleansed by the same symbolic ritual as one recovered from leprosy, “the cleansed” person (Lev 14:4-7). It is very difficult to determine exactly what this “breaking out” of the house consisted of (Lev 14:43), the formation on its walls of greenish and reddish indentations—cavities (Lev 14:37). The opinion is arbitrary of those researchers (Abarbanel, Treusen, and others) who explained both the leprosy of houses (like the leprosy of garments) as infection from people sick with leprosy; but 1) in the ordinance about leprosy of houses, the latter undoubtedly appears not as a result of contagion, as is evident from the noted above indications about things and persons in the house that became only unclean, not infected; 2) the very transmission of leprosy from people to stones and walls is doubtful. The explanation of recent researchers (Michaelis, Wiener, and others) is also improbable—that the phenomenon in question is saltpeter rust, for the latter is usually white in color, while the characteristic mark of leprosy on houses—greenish or reddish indentations on walls—has nothing in common with the supposed rust. According to the belief of later Jews, which has some support in the Bible (Lev 14:34), the leprosy of houses arose not in the usual, natural way, but was a supernatural work of the Lord, and struck only the houses of Hebrews, not gentiles, and only in Canaan, not outside it (Maimonides: non accidebat juxta consuetum naturae ordinem, sed signum et miraculum erat in Israele, cf. Negaim 12:1–4). According to the probable explanation of Sommer (Bibl. Abhand. I, S. 220) and Kamphausen (Riehm, Worterb. Bibl. Alterth., 1, Bd. 1:580), the leprosy of houses consisted of plant formations, lichen-like growths appearing on weathered stones and damp walls, somewhat deepening into the surface of the stones. Of these lichens, some species are extremely similar to the rash on skin, one of them is called genus spiloma, and another—the most widespread—is known under the name lepraria. The lively imagination and concrete thinking of ancient Hebrews could easily draw a parallel between these lichens on house materials and human leprosy and give them this name.