John Gill Commentary Leviticus 14

And the Lord spoke to Moses
In order to deliver the same to Aaron, who, and the priests his successors, were chiefly to be concerned in the execution of the law given: saying ;
as follows.

This shall be the law of the leper, in the day of his
cleansing
Or the rules, rites, ceremonies, and sacrifices to be observed therein. Jarchi says, from here we learn that they were not to purify a leper in the night: he shall be brought unto the priest: not into the camp, or city, or house, where the priest was, for till he was cleansed he could not be admitted into either; besides, the priest is afterwards said to go forth out of the camp to him; but he was to be brought pretty near the camp or city, where the priest went to meet him.

As the leper was an emblem of a polluted sinner, the priest was a type of Christ, to whom leprous sinners must be brought for cleansing; they cannot come of themselves to him, that is, believe in him, except it be given unto them; or they are drawn with the powerful and efficacious grace of God, by which souls are brought to Christ, and enabled to believe in him.

Not that they are brought against their wills, but being drawn with the cords of love, and through the power of divine grace, sweetly operating upon their hearts, they move towards him with all readiness and willingness, and cast themselves at his feet, saying, as the leper that came to Christ, "Lord, if you will, you can make me clean", (Matthew 8:2) (Mark 1:40) (Luke 5:12).

And it is grace to allow them to come near him, and amazing goodness in him to receive and cleanse them.

And the priest shall go forth out of the camp
A little without the camp, as Ben Gersom notes. There have been several goings forth of Christ our High Priest; first in the council and covenant of grace and peace, when he became the surety of his people; then in time by the assumption of human nature, when he came forth from his Father, and came into the world to save them; next, when he went forth out of the city of Jerusalem to suffer for them; and also, when, at the time of conversion, he goes forth in quest of them, and looks them up, and finds them, and brings them home, which may answer to the type here; and all shows the great readiness of Christ to receive sinners:

and the priest shall look, and, behold, [if] the plague of leprosy be
healed in the leper ;
that all the signs of uncleanness are removed, the swelling, the scab, or bright spot, and the white hair in them, and, instead of that, black hair is grown up.

The typical priest did not heal, nor could he, the healing was of God; he only looked to see by signs if the plague was healed; but our antitypical priest looks with an eye of pity and compassion on leprous sinners, and they are enabled to look to him by faith, and virtue goes out of him to the healing of their diseases;

as he looks upon them in their blood, and says to them, Live, so he looks upon them in their leprosy, and touches them, and says, "I will, be thou clean", (Matthew 8:3) (Mark 1:41) (Luke 5:13) , and they are immediately healed; he is the sun of righteousness, which arises upon them with healing in his wings.

Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed

The command is by the priest, the taking is by any man, as Ben Gersom observes; anyone whom he shall command, the leper himself, or his friends. Aben Ezra interprets it as the priest taking from his own possessions, but he adds that some explain it as the leper giving them to him, namely, what follows: two birds alive, [and] clean.

Any sort of birds, to whom this description agrees; for not any particular sort are pointed out, as "sparrows" ^F23, as some render the word, or any other; because they must be either clean or unclean; if unclean, they could not be used; if clean, then this descriptive character would be used in vain. These were to be alive, taken alive with the hand, and not shot dead; and this also excepts such as were torn, as Jarchi, or in any way maimed and unsound, and not likely to live; and they were to be "clean", such as were so according to a law given in a preceding chapter; they were to be none of those unclean birds there mentioned; and, according to the Misnah, they were to be alike in sight and height, and in price and value, and to be taken together; and, by the same tradition, they were to be two birds of liberty, that is, not such as were kept tame in cages, but such as fly abroad in the fields.

These birds may be considered as a type of Christ, who compares himself to a hen, (Matthew 23:37); and "birds" may denote his swiftness and readiness to help his people, his tenderness and compassion towards them in distress, and his weakness and frailty in human nature, and his meanness and despicableness in the eyes of men; and these being "alive", the character well agrees with him, who is the living God, the living Redeemer, the Mediator that has life in himself, and for his people; and as man, now lives, and will live for evermore, and is the author and giver of life, natural, spiritual, and eternal. And the birds being clean, may denote the purity and holiness of Christ, and so his fitness to be a sacrifice, and his suitableness as food for his people: and the number two may signify either his two natures, divine and human, in both which he lives, and is pure and holy; or his two estates of humiliation and exaltation; or his death by the slain bird, and his resurrection by the living bird, of which more hereafter:

and the cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop.

A stick of cedar, as Jarchi; it was proper it should be of such a size, as to be known to be cedar wood, but was not to be too heavy for the priest to sprinkle with it, as Ben Gersom; and the same writer observes, it ought to have a leaf on the top of it, that it might appear to be cedar: according to the Misnah ^F25, it was to be a cubit long, and the fourth part of a bed's foot thick: "scarlet" was either wool dyed of that colour, or crimson, so Jarchi; or a scarlet thread or line with which the hyssop was bound and fastened to the cedar wood; and, according to the above tradition ^F26, the "hyssop" was to be neither counterfeit nor wild, nor Greek, nor Roman, nor any that had any epithet to it, but common simple hyssop; and, as Gersom says, there was not to be less than an handful of it.

The signification of these is variously conjectured; according to Abarbinel, they have respect to the nature of the leprosy, and as opposite to it; that as the two live birds signified restoration to his former state, when he had been like one dead, so the cedar wood, being incorruptible and durable, showed that the putrefaction of humours was cured; the scarlet, that the blood was purged, and hence the true colour of the face returned again, and a ruddy and florid countenance as before; and the hyssop being of a savoury smell, that the disagreeable scent and stench were gone:

But others think there is a moral meaning in them, that the cedar being the highest of trees, and the scarlet colour coming from a worm, and the hyssop the lowest of plants, see (1 Kings 4:33); the "cedar wood" may denote the pride and haughtiness of spirit the leprosy is the punishment of, as in Miriam, Gehazi, Uzziah, and the family of Joab: and the worm that gives the scarlet colour, and the hyssop, may signify that humility that becomes a leper that is cleansed, so Jarchi:

But they will bear a more evangelical sense, and may have respect either to Christ; the cedar wood may be an emblem of the incorruption of Christ, and of the durable efficacy of his death; the scarlet, of his bloody sufferings, his flaming love to his people, expressed thereby, and the nature of those sins and sinners being of a scarlet die, for whom he suffered; and the hyssop, of the purgative nature of his blood, which cleanses from all sin: or else to the graces of his Spirit; faith may be signified by the cedar wood, which is in some strong, and in all precious and durable; love by scarlet, of a flaming colour, as strong love is like coals of fire, that give a most vehement flame; and hope by hyssop, which is but a lowly, yet lively grace; or faith may be set forth by them all, by the cedar wood for its continuance, by scarlet for its working by love, and by hyssop for its purifying use, as it deals with the blood of Christ.

FOOTNOTES:

• F23: (Myrpu ytv) "duos passeres", V. L.
• F25: Negaim, c. 14. sect. 6.
• F26: Ibid.

And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed ,
&c.] That is, shall command another priest to kill one of them, or an Israelite, as Aben Ezra; and who also observes, that some say the leper, or the butcher, as the Targum of Jonathan; the killing of this bird, not being a sacrifice, might be done without the camp, as it was, and not at the altar, near to which sacrifices were slain, and where they were offered: and this was to be done in an earthen vessel over running water :
this vessel, according to the Jewish traditions ^F1 , was to be a new one, and a fourth part of a log of running water was to be put into it, and then the bird was to be killed over it, and its blood squeezed into it, and then a hole was dug, and it was buried before the leprous person; and so it should be rendered, "over an earthen vessel", as it is in the Tigurine version, and by Noldius ^F2 ; for how could it be killed in it, especially when water was in it?

The killing of this bird may have respect to the sufferings, death, and bloodshed of Christ, which were necessary for the purging and cleansing of leprous sinners, and which were endured in his human nature, comparable to an earthen vessel, as an human body sometimes is; see (2 Corinthians 4:7) ; for he was crucified through weakness, and was put to death in the flesh, (2 Corinthians 13:4) (1 Peter 3:18) ; and the running or living water mixed with blood may denote both the sanctification and justification of Christ's people by the water and blood which sprung from his pierced side, and the continual virtue thereof to take away sin, and free from it; or the active and passive obedience of Christ, which both together are the matter of a sinner's justification before God.

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: Negaim, c. 14. sect. 1.
• F2: Ebr. Concord. part. p. 64. No. 318.