The order of pronouncing one clean of his leprosy.

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2 This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest:

3 And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper;

4 Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:

5 And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water:

6 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: 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.

8 And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean: and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days.

9 But it shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off and he shall wash his clothes, also he shall wash his flesh in water, and

he shall be clean.

:

10 And on the eighth day he

shall take two he lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, and three tenth deals of fine flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil. 11 And the priest that maketh him clean shall present the man that is to be made clean, and those things, before the LORD, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:

12 And the priest shall take one he lamb, and offer him for a trespass offering, and the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the LORD:

13 And he shall slay the lamb in the place where he shall kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the holy place: for as the sin offering is the priest's, so is the trespass offering: it is most holy :

14 And the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot:

15 And the priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand: 16 And the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before the LORD:

17 And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering:

18 And the remnant of the oil

that is in the priest's hand he shall pour upon the head of him that is to be cleansed: and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD.

cleansed from his uncleanness; and afterward he shall kill the burnt offering:

20 And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the meat offering upon the altar and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and he shall be clean. LECTURE 207.

19 And the priest shall offer the sin offering, and make an atonement for him that is to be

Christ Jesus bearing our infirmities.

We have considered the leprosy as a disease of a distressing and contagious nature, from which it pleased God to take great pains to preserve his people, by appointing a system of watchful inspection; He having covenanted to give them health and prosperity, in the promised land. But this his covenant would not exempt them from suffering the ordinary ills of human nature, in case of their neglecting the precautions He enjoined. And besides the instances of leprosy which were thus likely to occur, we know that it was sometimes inflicted as a judgment from God Himself. Thus Miriam was punished for her sedition, by becoming "leprous, white as snow." Numb. 12. 10. And king Uzziah, for his encroaching on the office of the priests, was smitten by the Lord with leprosy, and "was a leper unto the day of his death." 2 Chron. 26. 21. And Gehazi, for his covetousness and falsehood, received this terrible sentence from Elisha; "The leprosy therefore of Naaman shall cleave unto thee, and unto thy seed for ever." 2 Kings 5. 27. In the first of these instances the complaint seems to have ceased immediately, at the intercession of Moses. In the second it continued to the end of life. In the third it was to extend to remote posterity. And there might be the like variation in the continuance of the leprosy in ordinary In any case, when the disease ceased, and health returned, it was the office of the priest to declare the person clean. And the ceremonies with which this sentence was to be accompanied are here set down at considerable length. It is not to be supposed that they are directions for healing the leprosy. They are forms of proceeding when the leper was pronounced clean. They help us to understand our Lord's words to the leper in the Gospel, "Go thy way, shew thyself to the priest." Matt. 8.4. They remind us of the exhortation of St. James in his epistle, "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church." James 5. 14. And in common with every other ordinance of the law, they point to Christ Jesus, they set forth the offering which He made for sin, and the blood of sprinkling which He shed for us, and how He took on Him "our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." Matt. 8.17. May He who is our Priest, be also the Physician of our souls; first heal us, and then pronounce us clean; first make us meet for heaven, and then admit us to the inheritance of the saints in light!

The order of cleansing after leprosy in a poor man.

21 And if he be poor, and cannot get so much; then he shall take one lamb for a trespass offering to be waved, to make an atonement for him, and one tenth deal of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering, and a log of oil;

22 And two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, such as he is able to get; and the one shall be a sin offering, and the other a burnt offering.

23 And he shall bring them on the eighth day for his cleansing unto the priest, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, before the LORD.

24 And the priest shall take the lamb of the trespass offering, and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them for a wave of fering before the LORD:

25 And he shall kill the lamb of the trespass offering, and the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot:

the oil into the palm of his own left hand:

27 And the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before the LORD:

28 And the priest shall put of the oil that is in his hand upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the place of the blood of the trespass offering:

29 And the rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall put upon the head of him that is to be cleansed, to make an atonement for him before the LORD.

30 And he shall offer the one of the turtledoves, or of the young pigeons, such as he can get;

31 Even such as he is able to get, the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, with the meat offering: and the priest shall make an atonement for him that is to be cleansed before the LORD.

32 This is the law of him in whom is the plague of leprosy, whose hand is not able to get that which pertaineth to his cleansing. LECTURE 208.

26 And the priest shall pour of

The Gospel preached to the poor in our church.

Throughout the law, there is a watchful provision for the case of the poor; who might not be able to bring the offerings generally enjoined. And it is observable, that what were generally enjoined would be suitable to all, except such as were extremely poor; because, according to the institutions of Moses, it was not intended that any should be extremely rich. The division of land, and the laws of inheritance, provided rather for a general diffusion of wealth, than for its accumulation in the hands of a few. And though there were always to be rulers, and heads of families, to whom the ordinary offerings might seem a trifle, yet no limit was set to the amount of voluntary sacrifices. See ch. 1.

And it was to be expected that these would be offered in abundance, by such as had abundance of this world's goods. Else indeed the rich would have no option but to do what David protested against; saying, "neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing." 2 Sam. 24. 24. And the poor would else have had an undue advantage, in the exclusive opportunity of denying themselves, in order to present an offering to the Lord.

All classes then being thus dealt with equitably, and being expected to offer according to their means, let us here observe and admire the consideration for the poor, manifested in the law immediately before us. "And if he be poor, and cannot get so much, then he shall take one lamb for a trespass offering to be waved, to make an atonement for him, and one tenth deal of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering, and a log of oil; and two turtle doves, or two young pigeons, such as he is able to get." We might almost think that it is the Gospel which we are reading here. We might almost think that it is our Lord saying of a poor woman who waited on Him, "She hath done what she could." Mark 14. 8. It is to be one lamb instead of two. Nothing is said of the lamb being without blemish. But this, as well as the birds, and the flour, might be "such as he is able to get." And this being done on his part, the priest is to go through the very same ceremony; nothing is to be omitted because the party is poor; there are to be the same significant actions performed, and the same atonement might be expected to take place.

Now here we may reflect, with thankfulness to God, that this kind consideration for the poor pervades, in a very eminent degree, the services of our own beloved Christian church. Her doors are open to all. Her offices are provided for all alike. Rich and poor, high and low, the monarch on his throne and the labourer in his cottage, have been baptized into one faith, by one baptism, partake of one table, the Lord's supper; and as the very same forms are used in these instances with all, so likewise will all be buried with the same solemn service of prayer and thanksgiving. One order of divine worship is provided for all. One body of ordained ministers officiates to all. And if in practice there be any difference, it is usually that the poor see more of their minister, and enjoy a larger share of his ministration, than the rich. So true is it amongst us that "the poor have the gospel preached to them!" Matt. 11. 5. So often does it come to pass through the preaching of the Gospel that the poor are rich in faith See James 2. 5. So manifestly is God no respecter of persons! So plainly would He teach the rich to be poor in spirit, to have a spirit that would be content with poverty, and that is not corrupted by wealth!

The plague of leprosy in a house.