LEVITICUS: The Cleansing of a Leprous Infected House; “This is the law of a house, to teach when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law of leprosy.”

And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: “When you have come into the land of Canaan, which I give you as a possession, and I put the leprous plague in a house in the land of your possession, and he who owns the house comes and tells the priest, saying, ‘It seems to me that there is some plague in the house,’ then the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest goes into it to examine the plague, that all that is in the house may not be made unclean;..." (Leviticus 14:33-36) 

In the previous lesson, we learned the process a leprous person must go through to be declared clean by the priests, if his leprosy was healed, in order for him to enter back into the community.  This lesson deals with determining if a house is clean or unclean due to leprosy. 

"...and afterward the priest shall go in to examine the house. And he shall examine the plague; and indeed if the plague is on the walls of the house with ingrained streaks, greenish or reddish, which appear to be deep in the wall, then the priest shall go out of the house, to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days. And the priest shall come again on the seventh day and look; and indeed if the plague has spread on the walls of the house, then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which is the plague, and they shall cast them into an unclean place outside the city. And he shall cause the house to be scraped inside, all around, and the dust that they scrape off they shall pour out in an unclean place outside the city. Then they shall take other stones and put them in the place of those stones, and he shall take other mortar and plaster the house. (Leviticus 14:36-42) 

“Now if the plague comes back and breaks out in the house, after he has taken away the stones, after he has scraped the house, and after it is plastered, then the priest shall come and look; and indeed if the plague has spread in the house, it is an active leprosy in the house. It is unclean. And he shall break down the house, its stones, its timber, and all the plaster of the house, and he shall carry them outside the city to an unclean place. Moreover he who goes into the house at all while it is shut up shall be unclean until evening. And he who lies down in the house shall wash his clothes, and he who eats in the house shall wash his clothes. (Leviticus 14:43-47) 

“But if the priest comes in and examines it, and indeed the plague has not spread in the house after the house was plastered, then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. And he shall take, to cleanse the house, two birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. Then he shall kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water; and he shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times. And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and the running water and the living bird, with the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet. Then he shall let the living bird loose outside the city in the open field, and make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean. (Leviticus 14:48-53) 

“This is the law for any leprous sore and scale, for the leprosy of a garment and of a house, for a swelling and a scab and a bright spot, to teach when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law of leprosy.” (Leviticus 14:54-57)

One important thing we must keep in mind is what the Lord God said, "...and I put the leprous plague in a house..." Remember Job, Satan destroyed all that he had, but the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing?..." ... And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” (Job 1:8-9, 12) 

God didn't attack Job, but Satan couldn't do anything to him unless God allowed it. The point is that God is in control of everything that happens, whether He Himself does it or allows it. "'I am the Lord, and there is no other; I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.’" (Isaiah 45:6-7) For behold, the Lord gives a command: He will break the great house into bits, and the little house into pieces. (Amos 6:11) 

But why would the Lord God cause or allow these things to happen? Well, in this case, to prove a very important fact. All of the law about leprosy, cleansing of leper's garments, purification of the leper, cleansing of a leprous house, all of this is to let us know that no matter what we do or try to do, only God can make us clean.  We must refer back to when Christ Jesus healed the man with leprosy. Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. (Mark 1:40-42; Matthew 8:2-3; Luke 5:12-13)

God allows us to go through all kinds of trials and tribulations to help grow our faith and dependency in Him. Back to Job, he lost everything he had, including his health, but at the end God was willing, and the Lord had accepted Job. And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. ... Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning;... (Job 42:9-10,12) Indeed we count them blessed who endure. You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord—that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. (James 5:11) AMEN!