Leviticus 14 — Church Fathers

Douay-Rheims

Exodus

Chapter 13

Chapter 15

Numbers

Chapter 14

Leviticus 14:1-9

PRUIFICATION AFTER LEPROSY

2 entries

1 And our Lord spake to Moyses, saying:

2 This is the rite of a leper, when he is to be cleansed.

3 He shall be brought to the Priest: who going out of the camp, when he shall find that the leprosy is cleansed,

4 he shall command him that is purified, that he offer for himself two live sparrows, which it is lawful to eat, and cedar-wood, and scarlet & hyssop,

5 and he shall command that one of the sparrows be immolated in an earthen vessel over living water:

6 but the other being alive, with the cedar-wood, and scarlet and the hyssop, he shall dip in the blood of the sparrow that is immolated,

7 wherewith he shall sprinkle him, that is to be cleansed, seven times, that he may be rightly purged: and he shall let go the live sparrow, that it fly into the field. 1 note

8 And when the man hath washed his cloths, he shall shave all the hair of his body, and shall be washed with water: & being purified he shall enter into the camp, yet so for all that, that he tarry without his own tent seven days, 1 note

9 & the seventh day he shall shave the hair of his head, & his beard & eye-brows, and the hair of his whole body. And having washed again his cloths, and his body,

Leviticus 14:10-20

PURIFICATION SACRIFICES

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10 the eighth day he shall take two lambs without spot, and an ewe of a year old without spot, and three tenths of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice, and a sextary of oil apart. 1 note

11 And when the Priest that purifieth the man, hath set him and all these things before the Lord in the door of the tabernacle of testimony,

12 he shall take a lamb, and offer it for offence, & the sextary of oil, and having offered all before the Lord,

13 he shall immolate the lamb, where the host for sin is wont to be immolated, and the holocaust, that is, in a holy place. For as for sin, so also the host for offence pertaineth to the Priest: it is Holy of holies.

14 And the Priest taking of the blood of the host, that was immolated for offence, shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is cleansed, and upon the thumbs of his right hand and foot:

15 and of the sextary of oil he shall pour into his own left hand,

16 and shall dip his right finger in it and shall sprinkle before the Lord seven times.

17 and the residue of oil in his left hand, he shall pour upon the tip of the right ear of him that is cleansed, and upon the thumbs of his right hand and foot, and upon the blood that was shed for offence,

18 and upon his head.

19 And he shall pray for him before the Lord, and shall make the sacrifice for sin, then shall he immolate the holocaust,

20 and put it on the altar with the libaments thereof, and the man shall orderly be cleansed.

Leviticus 14:21-32

A POOR LEPER’S SACRIFICELEPROSY OF HOUSES

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21 But if he be poor, and his hand cannot find the things aforesaid, for offence he shall take a lamb for an oblation, that the Priest may pray for him, and a tenth part of flour tempered with oil for a sacrifice, and of oil a sextary,

22 and two turtles or two young pigeons, of the which let one be for sin, & the other for an holocaust:

23 & he shall offer them the eighth day of his purification to the Priest, at the door of the tabernacle of testimony before the Lord:

24 who receiving the lamb for offence, and the sextary of oil, shall elevate them together:

25 and the lamb being immolated, of the blood thereof he shall put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is cleansed, and upon the thumbs of his right hand and foot:

26 but part of the oil he shall pour into his own left hand,

27 wherein dipping the finger of his right hand, he shall sprinkle it seven times before the Lord:

28 and he shall touch the tip of the right ear of him that is cleansed, and the thumbs of his right hand & foot, in the place of the blood that was shed for offence:

29 & the other part of the oil, that is in his left hand, he shall pour upon the head of the purified person, that he may propitiate the Lord for him,

30 & a turtle, or young pigeon he shall offer,

31 one for offence, & the other for an holocaust, with their libaments.

32 This is the sacrifice of a leper, that is not able to have all things for the cleansing of himself.

33 And our Lord spake to Moyses and Aaron, saying:

34 When you shall be entered into the Land of Chanaan, which I will give you in possession, if there be the plague of leprosy in a house,

35 he whose house it is, shall go and tell the Priest, saying: It seemeth to me, that there is as it were the plague of leprosy in my house,

36 But he shall command that they carry forth all things out of the house, before he go into it, and see whether it have the leprosy, lest all things become unclean that are in the house. And afterward he shall go in to consider the leprosy of the house:

37 & if he see in the walls thereof as it were little dints, disfigured with paleness or redness, and lower than all the rest,

38 he shall go out of the door of the house, and forthwith shut it seven days.

39 And returning the seventh day, he shall consider it. If he find that the leprosy is grown,

40 he shall command the stones wherein the leprosy is to be plucked out, and to be thrown without the city into an unclean place:

41 and the house it-self to be scraped on the inside round about, and the dust of the scraping to be dispersed without the city into an unclean place,

42 and other stones to be laid in their places, that were taken away, and the house to be plastered with other mortar.

43 But if after the stones be plucked out, and the dust scraped off, & it be plastered with other earth,

44 the Priest going in perceive that the leprosy is returned, and the walls full of spots, it is a lasting leprosy, and the house unclean: 1 note

45 the which forthwith they shall destroy, and the stones and timber thereof, and all the dust they shall cast without the town into an unclean place.

46 He that entereth into the house when it is shut, shall be unclean until even:

47 and he that sleepeth in it, & eateth any thing, shall wash his cloths.

48 But if the Priest going in perceive that the leprosy is not grown farther in the house, after it was plastered again, he shall purify it being made whole again:

49 and for the purification thereof he shall take two sparrows, and cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:

50 and when one sparrow is immolated in an earthen vessel over living waters,

51 he shall take the cedar-wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the live sparrow, and shall dip all in the blood of the sparrow that is immolated, and in the living water, and he shall sprinkle the house seven times,

52 and shall purify it as well with the blood of the sparrow as with the living water and with the live sparrow, and with the cedar-wood and the hyssop and the scarlet.

53 And when he hath let go the sparrow to fly freely away into the field, he shall pray for the house, & it shall be rightly cleansed.

54 This is the law of all leprosy and percussion,

55 of the leprosy of garments and houses,

56 of a scar and of blisters breaking forth, of a shining spot, and when the colours are changed into diverse kinds,

57 that it may be known at what time any thing is clean or unclean.

4 entries

Leviticus 14:1-9 2 entries

PRUIFICATION AFTER LEPROSY

THE MEANING OF HYSSOP.

Cassiodorus (c. 485-c. 580) verse 7

Though hyssop is a tiny plant, its roots are said to penetrate the heart of rocks. It is also known to be good for a person’s internal wounds. In Leviticus it was dipped in sacrificial blood and sprinkled seven times on the body of a leper, revealing by way of anticipation that inward stains of sins could be effectively removed by the precious blood of the Lord Savior.

Exposition of the Psalms 50.9

THE THIRD BAPTISM PREFIGURED BEFORE CHRIST.

St. John of Damascus (c. 675–749) verse 8

A first baptism was that of the flood [of Noah] that cut away of sin. A second was that by the [Red] Sea and the cloud,^[1] for the cloud is a symbol of the Spirit, while the sea is a symbol of the water. A third is that of the [Levitical] law, for every unclean person washed himself with water and also washed his garments and thus entered into the camp. A fourth is that of John, which was an introductory baptism leading those thus baptized to penance, so that they might believe in Christ.

Orthodox Faith 4.9

Leviticus 14:10-20 1 entry

PURIFICATION SACRIFICES

FLOUR AND THE EUCHARIST.

St. Justin Martyr (c. 100–c. 165) verse 10

Likewise, I continued, the offering of flour, my friends, which was ordered to be presented for those cleansed from leprosy, was a prototype of the eucharistic bread, which our Lord Jesus Christ commanded us to offer in remembrance^[1] of the passion he endured for all those souls who are cleansed from sin. And . . . at the same time we should thank God for having created the world and everything in it, for the sake of humankind, and for having saved us from the sin in which we were born, and for the total destruction of the powers and principalities of evil through him who suffered in accordance with his will.

Dialogue with Trypho 41

Leviticus 14:21-32 1 entry

A POOR LEPER’S SACRIFICELEPROSY OF HOUSES

SINS AFTER BAPTISM.

Tertullian (c. 155–c. 240) verse 44

But if [in a case of leprosy] after its rehabilitation and transformation, the priest again observes in that same house any of the old pocks or stains, may he pronounce it unclean and order its timbers and its stones and its whole structure to be torn down and cast forth into an unclean place. This is a type of the man, body and soul, who is transformed after baptism, that is to say, after the entrance of the priest, and then takes up once more the scabrous contaminations of the flesh. He is cast forth outside the city into an unclean place. That is to say, he is given over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh.^[1]

On Purity 20.11.12