Daily Scripture Reading Leviticus 13:53 - 14:9

When Victor was a young man, he began hanging out with the wrong crowd and adopted their lifestyle. He spent a lot of time in bars, drinking alcohol, getting drunk, and doing wild things. He lived promiscuously. He dabbled in drug use. One day a young woman informed him she was pregnant with his child. He had no intention of being tied down to a wife and family, so he talked her into aborting the child. A few months later he impregnated another young woman. At his insistence, she also aborted her child.

After several years of this, Victor finally admitted to himself that his life was empty and meaningless. When he went searching for answers, he was introduced to Christianity. A part of him was willing to become a Christian; however, because of all his bad behavior, he felt very unclean. He remembered all the people he had abused. He mourned the death of his aborted children. He was convinced he could never be cleansed of all his sins.

Many chapters in The Book of Leviticus are devoted to the subject of leprosy. Lepers were unclean. They were stigmatized. However, leprosy was not necessarily permanent. Today’s passage explains how a healed leper could become clean again. This is a picture of how sinners can become clean.

The verses immediately preceding today’s passage specifically address marks of leprosy found in articles of wool and linen. When a garment had a mark, it was taken to the priest, who would isolate it for seven days. If the mark spread, it was leprosy and the garment was burned.

Lev. 13:53 ¶ “But if the priest shall look, and indeed the mark has not spread in the garment, either in the warp or in the woof or in any article of leather,

Lev. 13:54 then the priest shall command them to wash the thing in which the mark occurs, and he shall isolate it for seven more days.

Lev. 13:55 After the article with the mark has been washed, the priest shall again look, and if the mark has not changed its appearance, even though the mark has not spread, it is unclean; you shall burn it in the fire, whether an eating away has produced bareness on the top or on the front of it.

Lev. 13:56 ¶ “Then if the priest looks, and if the mark has faded after it has been washed, then he shall tear it out of the garment or out of the leather, whether from the warp or from the woof;

Lev. 13:57 and if it appears again in the garment, whether in the warp or in the woof or in any article of leather, it is an outbreak; you shall burn the article with the mark in the fire.

Lev. 13:58 Now the garment, whether the warp or the woof or any article of leather from which the mark has departed when you washed it, shall then be washed a second time and will be clean.”

Lev. 13:59 ¶ This is the law for the mark of leprosy in a garment of wool or linen, whether in the warp or in the woof or in any article of leather, for pronouncing it clean or unclean.

Lev. 14:1 ¶ Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

Lev. 14:2 “This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing. Now he shall be brought to the priest,

Notice the word “cleansing”. Lepers had to live outside the camp; thus, they were stigmatized. Sometimes, lepers were in that condition for a long time. They may have lost hope they would ever be cured. However, leprosy was not necessarily permanent. It was possible to be cured of leprosy, in which case the unclean leper could become clean again.

Lev. 14:3 and the priest shall go out to the outside of the camp. Thus the priest shall look, and if the infection of leprosy has been healed in the leper,

Lev. 14:4 then the priest shall give a command to take two live clean birds and cedar wood and a scarlet string and hyssop for the one who is to be cleansed.

Lev. 14:5 The priest shall also give a command to slaughter the one bird in an earthenware vessel over running water.

Lev. 14:6 As for the live bird, he shall take it together with the cedar wood and the scarlet string and the hyssop, and he shall dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was slaughtered over the running water.

Lev. 14:7 He shall then sprinkle seven times the one who is to be cleansed from the leprosy and shall pronounce him clean, and he shall let the live bird go free over the open field.

Look at the words “pronounce him clean”. The priest had the authority to pronounce a healed leper as being clean.

This is a picture of being cleansed from sin. The Apostle John wrote that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin, and if we confess our sins, Jesus is able and willing to forgive us and cleanse us from our unrighteousness (see 1 John 1:7-9).

There are no exceptions listed in those verses. Everyone can be cleansed of their sins. Some people live very sinful lives and become convinced they have committed too many sins to ever be forgiven. However, even the worst sinner is capable of being cleansed from his sin. The Apostle Paul was cleansed and he looked upon himself as being the worst of sinners (see 1 Timothy 1:15-16). Just as lepers could become clean, so too any sinner can be cleansed from his sin.

Lev. 14:8 The one to be cleansed shall then wash his clothes and shave off all his hair and bathe in water and be clean. Now afterward, he may enter the camp, but he shall stay outside his tent for seven days.

Lev. 14:9 And it will be on the seventh day that he shall shave off all his hair: he shall shave his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair. He shall then wash his clothes and bathe his body in water and be clean.

Lepers were unclean. It was very easy for lepers to lose hope they would ever be clean again. However, if the leprosy was cured, the priest had the authority to declare the leper clean.

Many people have committed so many sins in their life, they are convinced they can never be forgiven. However, just as a leper could become clean, and just as the Apostle Paul was forgiven and cleansed of his sin, so too any person, no matter how evil their life, can be cleansed of their sins through the blood of Jesus if they confess their sins.

Have you confessed all your sins?

Are you confident that you have been cleansed of all your sins?

Thanks for visiting Bible Mountain. If you have already joined my email list, thank you and please tell others about Bible Mountain. If you have not joined my email list yet, please do so now. In order to join, go to Bible Mountain dotcom, click on subscribe, and that will take you to a page where you can sign up. Your email address will not be sold nor given away. Once again, thanks for visiting Bible Mountain.

“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”