Albert Barnes Commentary Leviticus 14:33-53

"And Jehovah spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, When ye are come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession; then he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, There seemeth to me to be as it were a plague in the house. And the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest goeth in to see the plague, that all that is in the house be not made unclean: and afterward the priest shall go in to see the house: and he shall look on the plague; and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow streaks, greenish or reddish, and the appearance thereof be lower than the wall; then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days. And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look; and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house; then the priest shall command that they take out the stones in which the plague is, and cast them into an unclean place without the city: and he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the mortar, that they scrape off, without the city into an unclean place: and they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the house. And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken out the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plastered; then the priest shall come in and look; and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house: it is unclean. And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the mortar of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place. Moreover he that goeth into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the even. And he that lieth in the house shall wash his clothes; and he that eateth in the house shall wash his clothes. And if the priest shall come in, and look, and, behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house was plastered; then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: and he shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water: and he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times: and he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet: but he shall let got the living bird out of the city into the open field: so shall he make atonement for the house; and it shall be clean." — Leviticus 14:33-53 (ASV)

This section is separated from the one on leprosy in clothing (Leviticus 13:47–59), with which it would seem to be naturally connected. It is placed last of all the laws concerning leprosy, probably because it is entirely prospective. While the Israelites were in the wilderness, the materials of their dwellings were of nearly the same nature as those of their clothing and would be liable to the same sort of decay. They were therefore included under the same law.

I put the plague – Yahweh here speaks as the Lord of all created things, determining their decay and destruction as well as their production (Jonah 4:7; Matthew 21:20).

Regarding Leviticus 14:37: Hollow strakes... – Rather, these are depressed spots of dark green or dark red, appearing beneath (the surface of) the wall.

Regarding Leviticus 14:49, Cleanse the house – strictly, “purge the house from sin.” The same word is used in Leviticus 14:52; and in Leviticus 14:53 it is said, and make an atonement for it. Such language is used figuratively when it is applied to things, not to persons. The leprosy in houses, the leprosy in clothing, and the terrible disease in the human body were representative forms of decay which taught the lesson that all created things, in their own nature, are passing away, and are only maintained for their destined uses during an appointed period by the power of Yahweh.