Leviticus 14:7

And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times,.... With the hyssop fastened to the cedar stick, with the scarlet wool or thread bound about it, dipped into the

As for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water:

Seven times, to signify his perfect cleansing and restoration to all his former privileges. Compare . Into the open field, the place of its former abode, signifying the taking off that restraint which was laid upon the leper, and the liberty which the leper now had to return to his former habitation and conversation with other men.

Leviticus 14:7 And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field.Ver. 7. And he shall sprinkle.] This led them to that blood of sprinkling, applied unto them by that hyssop branch of faith, whereby the heart is purified. And shall let the living bird loose.] This figured, say some, that neither Christ’ s deity without the shedding of his blood, nor Christ’ s blood, but for the quickening life of the Godhead personally dwelling in him, could have been available for the purging of sin. Both which himself declareth. And hither belongeth 2 Corinthians 5:19 Acts 20:28. Moreover it figured, that Christ by his death conquered him that had the power of death, whilst he fled as a bird to the everlasting mountains, from the jaws of death to the joys of heaven.

(7) And he shall sprinkle.—Having thus dipped the hyssop fastened to the cedar stick into the blood and water, the priest is to sprinkle with it the back of the hand and the forehead of the patient seven times. The seven times symbolised the complete cleansing. (See Leviticus 4:6.) Hence Naaman the leper washed himself seven times in the Jordan (2 Kings 5:10; 2 Kings 5:14). And shall let the living bird loose.—Whereupon the priest not only pronounced the cured man clean and restored to his liberty, but at the same time liberated the bird also. The release of the bird symbolised the freedom restored to the patient, who, like the bird, was now at liberty to go where he liked without any restraint. Because it is here said that the bird is to be let loose “into the open field,” or, more literally, towards the face of the field, the ancient canons decreed that he who lets it loose must not turn his face towards the sea, wilderness, or city, but towards the field. The cedar wood, the crimson thread, and the hyssop, as well as the bird, if caught again, could be used again in the cleansing of other lepers.

Verse 7. Shall let the living bird loose] The Jews teach that wild birds were employed on this occasion, no tame or domestic animal was used. Mr. Ainsworth piously conjectures that the living and dead birds were intended to represent the death and resurrection of Christ, by which an atonement was made to purify the soul from its spiritual leprosy. The bird let loose bears a near analogy to the scapegoat. See Leviticus 16:5-10.

7. seven times] As in Leviticus 14:27; Leviticus 14:51 and so in Leviticus 4:6; Leviticus 4:17, Leviticus 8:11, Leviticus 16:14; Leviticus 16:19; Numbers 19:4. Cp. 2 Kings 5:10 and Art. Number in HDB. iii. specially p. 565. let go the living bird] The similarity between the two birds and the two goats brought on the Day of Atonement has been noted by Jewish and Christian commentators; it is necessary to point out the differences. On that Day the high priest officiated; the slain goat was a Sin-Offering, and on the goat that was sent away all the sins of the children of Israel were solemnly laid. The whole service was at the sanctuary, its inner shrine was entered on that day only; and there was no physical contact between the two goats. The two birds brought for the cleansing of the leper were respectively killed and set free outside the camp by an ordinary priest; the blood of the slain bird was not brought near the altar nor treated sacrificially, but applied to the living bird which was let go. The ritual is not markedly Hebraic, but antique in character, and similar to that followed by tribes whose ideas about the removal of impurity are in the most elementary stage. Some parts of it were probably in use among Semites before the age of Moses, as an inheritance from a distant past. The time when these rites were adopted into Israel’s cultus cannot be fixed with certainty; when they became part of that system which requires holiness from the worshippers of a holy God, their significance was spiritualized, and the superstitious beliefs of an earlier age were eliminated, though not entirely forgotten. We find among primitive peoples that sicknesses are in many cases transferred to a bird or beast which thus becomes a kind of scapegoat (Frazer, G. B.2 iii. 15 f., 101 f.) or are sent away in boats (ib. 97 f. Cp. Rob.-Sm. Rel. Sem. 422, Berth. ad loc.). The Heb. word for ‘cedar’ includes, besides the Lebanon variety, juniper and some sorts of pine; the Gk. κέδρος has a correspondingly broad significance. The ‘hyssop’ is supposed to be a kind of marjoram; the plant now known as hyssop does not grow in Egypt or Syria. For further details see Dillm. in loc. and Arts. Juniper, Cedar, in HDB. and Enc. Bib. The cedar is regarded as a sacred tree. Instances of its use are given in Frazer, G. B.3 49 f., where it is described as Juniperus excelsa.

Seven times - The seal of the covenant, expressed in the number seven (compare Leviticus 14:9), was renewed in sprinkling him who, during his leprosy, had lived as an outcast.

THE OF THE LEPER, Leviticus 14:1-32.Our position that the treatment of the leprosy was founded on ceremonial, rather than sanitary, grounds, is confirmed by the minute ritual required for the