The Concluding Purification Ceremony
14: 10-20
The concluding purification ceremony DIG: Why was there such similarity between the concluding purification ceremony of the leper and the ordination ceremony of the priests? What did the purification ceremony allow the person to do? Why did it never happen?
REFLECT: Positionally, when were you purified from all your unrighteousness? When did you pass from the kingdom of sin and death to the kingdom of life and righteousness (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Bw – What God Does for Us at the Moment of Faith).
The ritual now continued outside the gate of the Tabernacle as the worshiper brought the appropriate sacrifices. The ritual was similar to others but not entirely the same. The priest took one of the lambs (see below) and offered it as a guilt offering (see Am – The Guilt Offering). The restored worshiper was making restitution after having been separated from the Tabernacle for some time. The worshiper may not have been able to pay tithes and offerings during the time of his leprosy; thus, this inadvertent “defrauding” of God could be made right (Numbers 6:12). “Defraud” is perhaps too strong of a term; it was more as if the missing worshiper was behind in payments and now could catch up on the debt to be paid. There was no confession of sin associated with the concluding purification ceremony.242
Beginning with the previous Torah portion and continuing with this one, we have been examining the concepts of being ritually clean and ritually unclean in terms of what they can teach us about two kingdoms: the kingdom of sin and death (to see link click Bv – The Test of Tsara’at), and the Kingdom of Life and Righteousness (see Cg – The Test of M’tsora).
We are following the leper to the Temple as he goes for his purification procedure (see Ch – The Initial Procedures for Cleansing Leprosy). It is the eighth day since the Galilean leper’s arrival outside the gates of Jerusalem. Purified by the ritual with the birds, purified again by immersion in the mikvah and purified a third time by a second immersion in the mikvah, our Galilean leper is now ready to be restored as a participant in the worship of ADONAI. He is ready to offer sacrifices; he is ready to draw near. The phrase before ADONAI is repeated ten times in the description of the leper’s sacrifices.
He was to bring the following items near the entrance of the Tabernacle for his purification sacrifices: one male lamb without defect for a guilt offering (see Am – The Guilt Offering: Evidence of Repentance); one male lamb without defect for a purification offering (see Al – The Purification Offering: Purified by the Blood); one female lamb without defect in its first year for a burnt offering (see Ai – The Burnt Offering: Accepted by God), six and-a-half quarts of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and two-thirds of a pint of olive oil. The priest purifying him is to place the person being purified with these items before ADONAI at the entrance to the Tabernacle (14:10-11). More than likely, there was specialization of the priestly function, so that certain priests were specifically trained for such purifications and were routinely assigned to minister them.243
The priest is to take one of the male lambs and offer it as a guilt offering with the two-thirds-pint of olive oil, then wave them as a wave offering before ADONAI (14:12). Perhaps the guilt offering was brought because of the likelihood the leper had in some way contaminated something sacred. Perhaps by making others unclean (though inadvertently), a guilt offering was required for reparation.
Following the slaughtering of the guilt offering, the priest applied some of its blood to the tip of the right ear lobe, thumb of the right hand and big toe of the leper (14:13-14). These are the same blood markings that the priests received during their ordination ceremony in Leviticus 8. In that instance, the markings were intended for sanctification. In this instance they are for purification. In both instances, they represent the individual’s access to the Tabernacle or Temple, the bronze altar, and the Levitical sacrifices.
Next, the priest then poured some of the oil into his left palm. Dipping into it with his right hand, he sprinkled the oil seven times towards the Tabernacle. This is the first sprinkling directed toward the bronze altar. He then turned to the leper and applied some of the remaining oil to the same ear, thumb and big toe that he had marked with blood. Do doubt, the priest’s gesture is meant to make an explicit connection between the leper and the bronze altar (14:15-17). In this way, the priest was granting the leper access to the altar and its sacrifices. Similarly, in Leviticus 8:30, we saw Moses mix the blood of the sacrifices with the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron, his sons, and their garments as a final act of ordination.
Finally, the priest is to put the rest of the oil in his hand on the head of the person being purified; and the priest will make atonement for him before ADONAI. The priest is to offer the purification offering and make atonement for the person being purified because of his uncleanness; afterwards, he is to slaughter the burnt offering. The priest is to offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the bronze altar; thus the priest will make atonement for him; and he will be clean (14:18-20).
Try to picture our Galilean leper. He is now standing before the officiating priest, bald-headed and smeared with blood and oil. His ear, thumb and toe are all splattered with priestly markings. His head is shaved like a new Levite’s. It is as if he has become a servant of the Tabernacle, a sacred minister. Only now is he able to offer his purification offering. Only now is he completely restored to a state of ritual purity.244 The purification offering served to put the individual in good standing with ADONAI, and the burnt offering symbolized his renewed acceptability as a worshiper – that is, with God’s acceptance of the burnt offering, the individual was fully reinstated.245
However, there was one small problem. This concluding purification ceremony was never used during the Dispensation of Torah (see the commentary on Exodus Da – The Dispensation of Torah). Leviticus 14:1-57 describes the six items the leper needed to bring to be cleansed, what a needy leper should bring, the seven days in the chamber of the lepers in the Court of the Women, and the concluding purification ceremony on the eighth day (see Bc – The Eighth Day). This chapter contains the most extensive instruction concerning purification in the TaNaKh. But that chamber stood empty for centuries, awaiting the coming of the Messiah to heal a Jewish leper (see the commentary on Isaiah Gl – The Three Messianic Miracles). What must they have thought?
Believers do not have such a ceremony, but we can learn something from the principle. Any time we are healed and restored to full participation in life and worship, it is appropriate to offer the sacrifice of praise, even a thank offering. Through Him, therefore, let us offer God a sacrifice of praise continually. For this is the natural product of lips that acknowledge His name (Hebrews 13:15). They should at least acknowledge that it is God who has given them life and they will not die (Psalm 118:17), that they have been restored to life for the purpose of serving and praising ADONAI (Isaiah 38:9-20), that their restoration from sickness is a foretaste of how in some glorious future day they will be set free like a bird from all physical diseases and distress when the curse is lifted, and that all this was made possible through the shed blood of Messiah. The principle applies full in the B’rit Chadashah: before any of us who have been sick can enter the heavenly sanctuary, into the very presence of God we will be changed (see the commentary on Second Corinthians Bd – A New Creation), and that change is made possible only through the sacrifice of Yeshua Messiah.
In the B’rit Chadashah we see that Yeshua healed lepers and others who suffered from diseases (Matthew 26:6; Mark 1:40-45; Luke 17:11-19) to show that He was able to make all people fit to enter the Kingdom of Life and Righteousness. He made people whole, in body and spirit, and then through His death, He completed the atoning work by taking both their sins and infirmities upon Himself.
In fact, the death of Messiah picks up the major motifs of this chapter as well as the themes in the earlier sections. In the initial procedures for cleansing leprosy, the priest goes outside the camp to the sufferer, a theme that finds fulfillment in Messiah’s going outside the camp for the sins of the world (Hebrews 13:12). Then, the ritual of the two living clean birds finds fulfillment in Messiah’s death and His resurrection (Romans 4:25). Now, in the concluding purification ceremony, His sacrifice makes reparation (Isaiah 53:10), atones (Romans 4:25), purifies (Second Corinthians 5:21), and dedicates to service. The anointing corresponds with the sending of the Ruach Ha’Kodesh (Zechariah 4:6; First John 2:20) that enables cleansed and sanctified people to serve here on earth, and fits them for glory.
The atoning work of Messiah, then, touches the whole of life (body and soul), restores us to fellowship with the holy ADONAI Elohim, and fits us for glory. It is a restoration to complete health, and a plead of life in the world to come. Complete sanctification enables us to hear YHVH, do His will, and walk in His ways. We are cleansed to live in holiness and service to Ha’Shem. And while the B’rit Chadashah focuses on the spiritual healing, it does not ignore the body, for the whole person is restored to God. In the same way that this ancient ceremony restored fellowship to the covenant community, the shedding of Messiah’s blood on the cross reconciles mankind to the LORD and makes it possible for the sinner to join the household of faith.246
Dear Heavenly Father, We praise You for Your gracious gift of cleansing. Though we are not lepers with skin uncleanness, the uncleanness of every person’s heart (Romans 3:23) is a deeper uncleanness. Your love is spoken of so often, and we are so thankful for Your great love; but sometimes we forget how much Your cleansing gift of love cost You. You paid the price for our sin when Yeshua died as the Lamb of God (John 1:29). You suffered great emotional trauma because of the fierce hatred of those that You had come to love. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, One from whom people hide their faces. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him (Isaiah 53:3). You suffered intense physical pain, far beyond what we can even imagine. But He was pierced because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities. The chastisement for our shalom was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5). We want to praise and thank You with our lives. We give you total control over our thoughts, money, time and friends and we delight in living a life of love and thanks to You. In Yeshua’s holy Name and power of His resurrection. Amen
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