Leviticus 14:4

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.

Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: Then shall the priest command to take for him ... two birds alive and clean.

Two birds; the one to represent Christ as dying for his sins, the other to represent him as rising again for his purification or justification. Clean; allowed for food and for sacrifice. Cedar wood; a stick of cedar, to which the hyssop and one of the birds was tied by the scarlet thread. Cedar seems to be chosen, to note that the leper was now freed from that putrefaction or corruption which his leprosy had brought upon him, that kind of wood being in a manner incorruptible. Scarlet; a thread of wool of a scarlet colour, , to represent both the leper’ s sinfulness, , and the blood of Christ, and the happy change of the leper’ s colour and complexion, which before was wan and loathsome, now sprightly and beautiful. Hyssop, chosen partly for its fragrant smell, which signified the cure of the leper’ s ill scent, and partly for conveniency in the use of sprinkling. See .

Leviticus 14:4 Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive [and] clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:Ver. 4. Command to take.] That the leper might show his thankfulness to Jehovah his physician, as he is called. See Matthew 8:4. Men pray and pay physicians of their bodies, who yet do but officiose occidere many times. And shall God have nothing? Must he ask as once, Where are the other nine? Shall we not turn again with Naaman now cleansed, and offer our service, renounce our idols, dedicate all we are and have to the God of Israel? Two birds.] Or sparrows, whereof two were sold for a farthing: to show how lightly set by Christ is in the world, whose blood nevertheless is more worth than a thousand worlds.

(4) Then shall the priest command to take.—Literally, And the priest shall command, and he shall take, that is, the leper shall take. To avoid the ambiguity as to the person, the translators of the Authorised Version adopted the rendering in the text. As the relatives of the cured leper procured the things prescribed for the purification, some of the ancient versions render it, And they shall take.Two birds alive and clean.—These were either sparrows, doves, turtledoves, or any other birds, provided they belonged to the clean species described in Leviticus 11. According to the canons which obtained during the second Temple, the birds had to be sparrows, and the reason assigned for it was that as leprosy was regarded as a Divine punishment for calumny, such birds were selected as were proverbial for their constant twitter. Hence the rendering of sparrow in the Latin Vulgate, and in the Margin of the Authorised Version. And cedar wood.—This had to be a foot and a half long, and a quarter of the foot of the bed in thickness. Though this wood was primarily chosen for its antiseptic properties, which made it peculiarly suitable for the occasion, still, belonging to the loftiest of trees (Pss. 2:13, Pss. 27:24; Amos 2:9), it also was designed to symbolise the haughtiness of mind which called down the affliction of leprosy. And scarlet.—This was probably a band of scarlet wool with which the cedar and the hyssop were tied together. In later times the woollen band had to be the weight of a shekel, or weighing thirty-two grains of barley. It was taken to symbolise the purified and now healthy blood. And hyssop.—This, according to the canons which obtained in the time of Christ, had at least to be a handbreadth in size. It could not be the so-called Greek, or the ornamental, or Roman, or wild hyssop, or any other hyssop which was distinguished by the name of the place where it grew, but had to be the common hyssop which grew in gardens. Though, like the cedar wood, it was primarily used on these occasions for its aromatic properties, yet this diminutive shrub was also most probably designed to symbolise the humility of the cured leper. Hence ancient tradition tells us, “Cedar wood and hyssop, the highest and the lowest, give the leper purity. Why these? Because pride was the cause of the distemper, which cannot be cured till man becomes humble, and keeps himself as low as hyssop.” Cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet were also burnt with the red heifer (Numbers 19:6), and were generally employed in purifications (Hebrews 9:19). Hence the Psalmist prays, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean” (Psalms 51:17).

Verse 4. Two birds alive and clean, c.] Whether these birds were sparrows, or turtledoves, or pigeons, we know not probably any kind of clean bird, or bird proper to be eaten, might be used on this occasion, though it is more likely that turtle-doves or pigeons were employed, because these appear to have been the only birds offered in sacrifice. Of the cedarwood, hyssop, clean bird, and scarlet wool or fillet, were made an aspergillum, or instrument to sprinkle with. The cedar-wood served for the handle, the hyssop and living bird were attached to it by means of the scarlet wool or crimson fillet. The bird was so bound to this handle as that its tail should be downwards, in order to be dipped into the blood of the bird that had been killed. The whole of this made an instrument for the sprinkling of this blood, and when this business was done, the living bird was let loose, and permitted to go whithersoever it would. In this ceremony, according to some rabbins, "the living bird signified that the dead flesh of the leper was restored to soundness; the cedar-wood, which is not easily corrupted, that he was healed of his putrefaction; the scarlet thread, wool, or fillet, that he was restored to his good complexion; and the hyssop, which was purgative and odoriferous, that the disease was completely removed, and the bad scent that accompanied it entirely gone." Ainsworth, Dodd, and others, have given many of these rabbinical conceits. Of all these purifications, and their accompanying circumstances, we may safely say, because authorized by the New Testament so to do, that they pointed out the purification of the soul through the atonement and Spirit of Christ; but to run analogies between the type and the thing typified is difficult, and precarious. The general meaning and design we sufficiently understand; the particulars are not readily ascertainable, and consequently of little importance; had they been otherwise, they would have been pointed out.

4–7. The priest was to see that two living clean birds were brought. The Heb. word is ẓ ?ippôr, which is used of the birds of Abraham’s sacrifice (Genesis 15:10) and of clean birds generally (Deuteronomy 14:11). In Psalms 84:3 [Hebrews 4], Psalms 102:7 [Hebrews 8] it is translated ‘sparrow,’ and A.V. mg. of Leviticus 14:4 has ‘sparrows,’ following the traditional interpretation, and Vulg. These birds were employed in a ceremony which was without the camp, and the blood was not brought to the altar. cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop] The cedar and hyssop were bound together by a scarlet band of wool. From 1 Kings 4:33 it appears that cedar and hyssop were regarded as two extremes in respect of size among trees: the cedar is a symbol of health and vigour (Psalms 92:12); it is used figuratively of the great ones of the earth (Judges 9:15; Isaiah 14:8; Isaiah 37:24), not without reference to the haughtiness of those occupying such high positions (Isaiah 2:13; Ezekiel 31:3; Ezekiel 31:10). Hence some Jewish writers have seen in the cedar a figure of pride punished by a visitation of leprosy, while the hyssop signified that humility which was necessary to obtain forgiveness, and the removal of the stroke. The cedar is noted for its durability, and the oil of the cedar was employed as a preservative; the Egyptians used it for embalming. This power of arresting decay may be regarded as akin to that shewn in restoring the tainted flesh of the leper. The scarlet colour has been generally taken as representing the blood, or the life which has been bestowed on one who was regarded as dead (Numbers 12:12). The hyssop seems to have been chosen for the purpose of sprinkling (Leviticus 14:7, cp. Exodus 12:22). The Mishna orders that the cedar wood should be a cubit in length, and that the hyssop shall not be Greek or Roman hyssop, or desert hyssop, or any hyssop with a distinctive name (Tal. Bab. Neg. xiv. § 6).

These birds were provided by the priest for the man. They were not, like the offerings for the altar, brought by the man himself (compare Leviticus 14:4 with Leviticus 14:10), they were not presented

4. Command to take for him — Literally, the priest shall command, and he (the leper) shall take for him, cleansing himself.