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Leviticus
14:19-57 “And the priest shall
offer the sin offering, and make an atonement for him that is to be 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. 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 offering 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: 26
and
the priest shall sprinkle the oil into the palm of his own 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. 33
And
the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron,
saying, 34 When ye be come into the land of
Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy
in a house of the land of your possession; 35
and
he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to
me there is as it were a plague in the house: 36
then
the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest go into
it to see the plague, that all that is in the house be not made
unclean: and afterward the priest shall go in to see the house: 37
and
he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague be in the
walls of the house with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish, which in sight are
lower than the wall; 38 then the priest shall
go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days:
39 and the priest shall come again
the seventh day, and shall look: and,
behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house; 40
then
the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is,
and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city: 41
and
he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour
out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place: 42
and
they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones;
and he shall take other morter, and shall plaister the house. 43
And
if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken
away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is
plaistered; 44 then the priest shall come and
look, and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is
fretting [active] leprosy in the house: it is unclean. 45
And
he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and
all the morter of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the
city into an unclean place. 46 Moreover he that goeth
into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the
even. 47 And he that lieth in the house
shall wash his clothes; and he that eateth in the house shall wash his clothes.
48 And if the priest shall come in,
and look upon it, and, behold, the plague hath not spread in the house,
after the house was plaistered: then the
priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. 49
And
he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and
hyssop: 50 and he shall kill the one of the
birds in an earthen vessel over running water: 51
and
he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and 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: 52
and
he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running
water, and with the living bird, and the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and
with the scarlet: 53 but he shall let go
the living bird out of the city into the open fields, and make an atonement for
the house: and it shall be clean. 54
This
is the law for all manner of plague of leprosy, and scall, 55
and
for the leprosy of a garment, and of a house, 56
and
for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright spot: 57
to
teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean: this is the law of leprosy.” Introduction [Audio version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED571] “We have come as far as Leviticus
chapter 14, and I think we got to around verse 18, these two long chapters,
chapter 13 the longest ancient record on the diagnosis of an incurable disease.
And then of course chapter 14, and we
brought that into the New Testament with the lepers that Jesus Christ cleansed
and said ‘Tell no man, but go show yourself unto the priest and offer the
sacrifice that Moses commanded in the law for a testimony unto them,’ and
how shocked Caiaphas and Annas must have been as they had to begin to offer
these sacrifices which we don’t have any record any priest ever in the history
of the nation ever offering. Certainly
Moses was cleansed of leprosy in his hand, God had him put his hand in and pull
it back out again, put it back in it was cleansed. Mirriam had leprosy and Moses prayed, she was
cleansed. And Naaman the Syrian. Jesus himself said in the days of Elijah when
so many miracles were happening, there were many lepers in Israel, but none of
them were cleansed, none but Naaman the Syrian.
So this is a very interesting chapter as we come to chapter 14, because
it begins to describe the sacrifice that was to be offered in the day the leper
was cleansed, in the day that an incurable disease is put to rest, was stopped,
it was reversed. And again, we read
doctor Luke tell us about the leper there, that he was “full of leprosy,” no
doubt in the last stages, and it says “he was made whole,” which means his
fingers came back, his nose came back, ears came back on his head. Remarkable to imagine what took place in that
scene. And then he would have to go to
Jerusalem, the priest would examine him, no doubt a priest that not many years
before that had examined him and told him he had leprosy and separated him, put
him outside the camp, outside of his home, outside of worship, outside of the
Temple, outside of his son’s bar mitsvah, his daughter’s bat mitzvah, outside
the funerals of his parents, outside of birthdays, outside of feasts, outside
of life the way we know it. And all of a
sudden he’s standing there, the priest goes out to him and he examines him, and
there’s no sign of leprosy. The priest
then taking him and taking an earthen vessel, and taking two turtledoves, some
scarlet, some hyssop, some cedar, no doubt taking the scarlet thread, tying the
hyssop to the cedar stick, taking one of the birds and killing it and draining
its blood into the living water that was put in the earthen vessel, certainly a
picture of Christ come in human flesh.
And then taking hyssop and dipping it in and sprinkling the leper that
was cleansed, and dipping the other white bird in that blood mix and letting
him fly off, a picture of Christ’s resurrection, a picture of the sinner washed
in the blood of an innocent substitute.
And then that man was taken, he was shaved, his head, his eyebrows, his
armpits, like a q-ball, everything gone, set aside for seven more days, no
doubt while Caiaphas and Annas scratched their heads and said ‘You know
anybody that’s ever done this before?’ Then
he was brought out on the 8th day, he was washed again, if he was
clean he was taken and presented at the door of the Tabernacle, presented at
the Temple, he was presented publicly, and the sacrifices were offered, the
blood was applied to his right ear, to his right thumb, to his right big toe, a
picture of Christ taking you and I, lepers, with an incurable disease, deeper
than the skin, and he set us free, and gave us a reason to live. And because of the blood of Christ, it’s the
voice of God we give ourselves to, to the work of God, and the path of
God. And then of course the oil put upon
the blood, it says on the right ear, on the right hand, the right foot, a
picture then of empowering, the Holy Spirit, the oil applied. And then even the oil poured upon the head of
the leper. And just such an interesting
picture, because the only other one so far in chapter 8 of Leviticus, was the
high priest, he went through the very same process. Now the high priest is treating the leper
like he’s a high priest, and then anointing him with the oil. In the Old Testament, we see four that are
anointed that way, we see the Prophet, the Priest, the King, and the Leper, so
we’re included, all of us in the process.
Certainly we’re washed in the blood of Jesus Christ, you and I as
cleansed lepers, have a testimony to give of his power to change a broken and
incurable life into something that’s worthwhile and filled with purpose, with a
destiny and a hope and an expected end, and that he fills us and we cry Abba,
Father, he empowers us to serve. What a
remarkable picture. Let’s jump in and
make some time here, hold on, fasten your seatbelts. The
Anointing Ceremony Of The Cleansed Leper Verse 19 says, “And the
priest shall offer the sin offering, and make an atonement for him that is to
be cleansed from his uncleanness; and afterward he shall kill the burnt
offering: 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. And if he be
poor,” so there’s a poor leper, to me all lepers would be poor lepers,
“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 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. 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. 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 offering before the LORD:” (verses 19-24) And this is very interesting, and we’re not given
detail, there’s a question, “the priest shall wave them before the LORD,” because when the
priest waved a wave offering, he waved the breast after the animal is
sacrificed, and then the heave offering, he lifted the shoulder before the LORD, this is the one
sacrifice, interesting, where it seems that he’s taking the live animal and
waving him before the LORD, because it says down
in verse 21, it’s the trespass offering, it says here “he shall wave them from
a wave offering before the LORD,” and in verse 25
it says “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:” What a beautiful picture all the way down to
the Living Christ being the One that of course came and paid for our sins. I always love this, “upon the great toe,” not
the big toe, don’t look at your foot and say my big toe, it’s your great toe,
be biblical. “and the priest shall
sprinkle the oil into the palm of his own hand:
and the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the
oil that is in his left hand seven times before the LORD: 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: 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. And he shall offer the one of the
turtledoves, or of the young pigeons, such as he can get; 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.
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.” (verses 26-32) so he uses the two turtledoves, not able to
get the animals prescribed in the earlier sacrifice. When
God Puts The Plague Of Leprosy In A House--What Do You Do With A Sick House? Now, verse 33 changes, it
says, “And the LORD spake unto Moses and
unto Aaron, saying, When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to
you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of
your possession;” (verses 33-34) Now they’re
going to wander for 38 more years in the wilderness, but there’s no doubt
evidently on God’s part that they’re coming into the Land of Canaan. So, what do we do with sick houses? This is the next part. And certainly this is not leprosy in the
sense that leprosy would be in the human frame, this is mildew, it’s mold, it’s
fungus, it’s something like that. And
the very interesting phrase is what you do with a house “where I put the plague
of leprosy in the house”? And we’re not
sure what to do with that. Now some
scholars mention the fact, Deuteronomy tells us, when they come into the land,
God says ‘you’re going to live in houses that you didn’t build, and
you’re going to eat from vineyards that you didn’t plant and orchards you
didn’t plant,’ and so forth. God
is giving them the land, but one of the practices of the Canaanites, when they
wanted to appease their god, is often they’d take a newborn baby, their own,
and sacrifice it and build it into the wall of the house, sometimes they would
put the live baby into the wall of the house, and then brick it up in the wall
of the house. And of course if there’s
anything like that involved here, God could never bless that as they come into
the land, but they wouldn’t know. So
possibly that’s happening here.
Certainly there is more of a picture here spiritually for you and I,
what about our homes, is God just concerned with the plague in our own lives,
morally, spiritually, the things that he says are deeper than the skin, that
can’t be healed but through a supernatural work? Now I think he’s also concerned with the
plague of leprosy that’s maybe in our homes, there’s all kinds of standards
today, warring against what God says is right.
I mean, I grew up in the 1950s, it wasn’t that long ago, and it was a
different world. The main problems in
public schools then were chewing gum, not raising your hand before you asked a
question, not getting in line, cutting class, we don’t even measure those
things anymore, on our barometer, on our scale it’s not even incremented to pick
those up anymore. Because the five major
problems in public schools today are assault with a deadly weapon, rape,
drugs. How has the world changed? And it wars against us, it wars against the
standards that we have [in the church].
When I was little my dad and mom had no problem cleansing any leprosy
out of my life. They started with my
rear end and worked from there, and usually the problem was over. And doctor Spock wasn’t telling them anything,
they relieved all of my guilt and all of my anxiety, and I grew up guilt-free,
because I paid for all of it. Just there
was a different standard, I was terrified of the police, or getting in trouble
with the police. Kids today smart-off to
the police. The world has changed so
much. And God is concerned with what
goes on in our homes. He’s concerned
with what’s in our walls and what’s in our entertainment unit, what we let into
the house, and music and lyrics and ideas and concepts and how clean is it, how
infectious is it, how acceptable is it. Is
it something that a Canaanite would put in the wall? Are we to be different? But an interesting picture here. The Lord’s house, Revelation 2 and 3, Jesus
takes great time to talk to the Seven Churches, the things that are right and
wrong with them, our own homes. “And
the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron,
saying, When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a
possession,” and
notice, “and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your
possession; and he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest,
saying, It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague in the house:”
(verses 33-35) and he’s not talking
about his wife or kids here, he’s talking about something growing in the wall,
no doubt. It’s literally “a mark of
disease” in the house in the Hebrew.
Then it says “then the priest shall command that they empty the
house, before the priest go into it to see the plague, that all that is
in the house be not made unclean: and afterward the priest shall go in to see
the house: and he shall look on the
plague, and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house
with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish,” a lot of detail, “which in
sight are lower than 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 the seventh
day, and shall look: and, behold, if
the plague be spread in the walls of the house; then the priest shall command
that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall
cast them into an unclean place without the city: and he shall cause the house to be scraped
within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off
without the city into an unclean place: and
they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones;
and he shall take other morter, and shall plaister the house. And if the plague come again, and break out
in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath
scraped the house, and after it is plaistered;” with fresh plaster and
stones is the idea, “then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, if
the plague be spread in the house, it is fretting leprosy” it’s
active, whatever it is, “in the house: it is unclean. And he shall break down the house, the stones
of it, and the timber thereof, and all the morter of the house; and he shall
carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place. Moreover he that goeth into the house all the
while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the even. And he that lieth in the house shall wash his
clothes; and he that eateth in the house shall wash his clothes. And if the priest shall come in, and look upon
it, and, behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house
was plaistered: then the priest shall
pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. And he shall take to cleanse the house two
birds,” you know the routine, “and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: and he shall kill the one of the birds in an
earthen vessel over running water: and
he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and 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:” so you just cleaned the house and scraped
it, and now you’re sprinkling blood all over the wall inside the house, my wife
would love that, “and he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird,
and with the running water, and with the living bird, and the cedar wood, and
with the hyssop, and with the scarlet: but
he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open fields, and make
an atonement for the house: and it shall
be clean. This is the law for all
manner of plague of leprosy, and scall, and for the leprosy of a garment, and
of a house, and for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright spot: to teach when it is unclean, and when it
is clean: this is the law of
leprosy.” (verses 36-57) Look, verse
57, the point, “to teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean,” this is the
way of leprosy, to teach when it is clean, when it is unclean. There probably isn’t anything more important
in our culture than a father who assumes his role as high priest of the home. If there is something unclean in the home,
there is something wrong, if the father comes in and investigates and says ‘I’m
gonna tear that part of the wall down.’ And
you know, the problem is, there are too many parents that want to be their
kid’s buddies, and don’t want to be their kid’s parents, and forget that their
kids are on loan from the Lord, and one day we’re going to stand and give an
account before the Lord of our stewardship.
With too many kids, now, ‘Oh no, we don’t go into their room, they
need their space,’ they need their space?
They’re 13 years old, they need the space I needed when I was 13 years
old is the space they need. ‘Oh no,
we don’t interfere with that, oh no, we don’t want to pressure them.’ Wait, wait, I’m 245 lbs, I’m coming in
your room [laughter], I bought the room, I paid for the room, I paid for your
food, I paid for your electricity, I paid to keep you warm and keep you cool,
and you wouldn’t be cool if I didn’t have an air conditioner in this
house. No matter how cool you think you
are, and I have the right to come into your room and see what’s on your My
Space [now Facebook] and see what’s on your computer, and see what music you’re
listening to, and to see what you’re watching, and to see what you’re reading,
and to see if there’s anything “unclean” in here. And I am going to rip it out and replaster it
if I find it, because I’m going to give an account before the Living God one
day. [applause] Look, that’s our responsibility. You don’t take your child to the pediatrician
when he’s little or to the doctor, and have the doctor having the kid, ‘Don’t
check his left foot, he’s just gotta have some space to himself, he’s a person,
listen to his chest, see if his lungs are congested, but don’t check his heart,
that’s his heart, it’s a private space, he’s gotta have some space to develop
as his own person.’ We would never
do that in regards to physical health.
Why do we do it in regards to spiritual health, which is eternal? Physical health is just for this Spacesuit
that’s going to live 70 or 80 years and then fall down, if nothing else goes
wrong in the mean time. Spiritual health
is eternal, emotional health, mental health.
They want you to beat them [laughter], just believe me, they want to
know somebody cares enough to say “no” and to say “yes” and to say “right” and
to say “wrong.” Now look, we live in a
culture today that’s very, and needs to be, aware of abuse. And I’m not talking about that. No kid should ever be hit in the face. God put a big piece of meat with a purpose,
besides sitting. It’s not complicated. It isn’t wrong, it’s not punishment, it’s
discipline, and it’s love, and it’s caring, and it’s setting boundaries, and
it’s cleaning things out that need to be cleaned out, and it’s setting a
standard. It’s important for us, it’s
important for them, because the Canaanite standards will defile them. The Canaanite standards will ruin their
ability to learn the difference between “clean” and “unclean.” And we serve a God who can cure the incurable
and clean the uncleanable. And some of
us sit here as a testimony to that. Now
people come in and see us here and know that God’s alive, for us to be sitting
in church. So these are the laws of
leprosy. You know, you take the house
part of it, you look at it, and I think there are things for us to learn there
about things that can go wrong in a home, and just say ‘Lord, show me my
responsibility in this picture here,’ it isn’t just tearing down my house
because we have black mildew. I think
you should get rid of your mildew, I think you should get rid of your mold, we
hear all kinds of things about that today, you can go on the Internet and find
out everything you want to know about that, and be freaked out for the rest of
your life because you found mold in your house, it’s up to you.” Leviticus
15:1-33 “And the LORD spake unto Moses and
to Aaron, saying, 2 Speak unto the
children of Israel, and say unto them, When any man hath a running issue out of
his flesh, because of his issue he is unclean. 3
And
this shall be his uncleanness in his issue:
whether his flesh run with his issue, or his flesh be stopped from his
issue, it is his uncleanness. 4
Every
bed, whereon he lieth that hath the issue, is unclean: and every thing, whereon he sitteth, shall be
unclean. 5 And whosoever toucheth his bed
shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until
even. 6 And he that sitteth on any
thing whereon he sat that hath the issue shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself
in water, and be unclean until the even. 7
And
he that toucheth the flesh of him that hath the issue shall wash his clothes,
and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. 8
And
if he that hath the issue spit upon him that is clean; then he shall wash his
clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. 9
And
what saddle soever he rideth upon that hath the issue shall be unclean. 10 And whosoever
toucheth any thing that was under him shall be unclean until the even: and he that beareth any of those
things shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be
unclean until the even. 11 And whomsoever he
toucheth that hath the issue, and hath not rinsed his hands in water, he shall
wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the
even. 12 And the vessel of earth, that he
toucheth which hath the issue, shall be broken:
and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water. 13
And
when he that hath an issue is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number
himself seven days for his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh
in running water, and shall be clean. 14
And
on the eighth day he shall take to him two turtledoves, or two young pigeons,
and come before the LORD unto the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation, and give them unto the priest: 15
and
the priest shall offer them, the one for a sin offering, and the other for
a burnt offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD for his issue. 16
And
if any man’s seed of copulation go out from him, then he shall wash all his
flesh in water, and be unclean until the even. 17
And
every garment, and every skin, whereon is the seed of copulation, shall be
washed with water, and be unclean until the even. 18
The
woman also with whom man shall lie with seed of copulation, they shall both
bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until the even. 19
And
if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall
be put apart seven days: and whosoever
toucheth her shall be unclean until the even. 20
And
every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall
be unclean. 21 And whosoever toucheth her bed
shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until
the even. 22 And whosoever toucheth any thing
that she sat upon shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water,
and be unclean until the even. 23 And if it be
upon her bed, or on any thing whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it,
he shall be unclean until the even. 24
And
if any man lie with her at all, and her flowers be upon him, he shall be
unclean seven days; and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be unclean. 25
And
if a woman have an issue of blood many days out of the time of her separation,
or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of the issue of
her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she shall be unclean. 26
Every
bed whereon she lieth all the days of her issue shall be unto her as the bed of
her separation: and whatsoever she sitteth
upon shall be unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation. 27
And
whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his clothes,
and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. 28
But
if she be cleansed of her issue, then she shall number to herself seven days,
and after that she shall be clean. 29
And
on the eighth day she shall take unto her two turtles [turtledoves], or two
young pigeons, and bring them unto the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of
the congregation. 30 And the priest shall
offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt
offering; and the priest shall make an atonement for her before the LORD for the issue of her
uncleanness. 31 Thus shall ye separate the
children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their
uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that is among them. 32
This
is the law of him that hath an issue, and of him whose seed goeth
from him, and is defiled therewith; 33
and
of her that is sick of her flowers, and of him that hath an issue, of the man,
and of the woman, and of him that lieth with her that is unclean.” Introduction “Chapter 15 of Leviticus, um,
speaks of male health and female health.
It talks about natural and unnatural discharges from a man’s body, and
natural and unnatural discharges from a woman’s body. You know, it’s funny to come to this chapter
and study, and you almost have Christians uncomfortable when we live in an
anything goes culture. ‘Oh I can’t
believe we studied that chapter in Leviticus,’ and then people go home and
watch Desperate Housewives or something.
We live in a culture where anything goes, anything’s sung about,
anything’s put on TV, and where the movie industry says ‘These movies are
PG-13, and Christian families let their 8-year-olds go see that. Does Hollywood care more about our kids than
we do? And then we come to a chapter in
the Bible and says ‘Oh that’s weird stuff, we can’t…’ Look, Proverbs says ‘Every
word of God is pure, every word of God is pure.’ If the Holy Ghost inspired this, he didn’t do
it in bad taste. He knew what he was
doing. Another thing I think as I look
at this is, we hear so much about God is distant, God is unconcerned, God
doesn’t care what’s going on in your life.
This chapter should shut that up forever. If he stoops down to the things you never
thought he was caring about in your life.
And an interesting application to the chapter, one of water and blood,
when Christ was crucified, when the Roman put the spear in his chest, it was
water and blood issued forth. Some of
these things, after they’re handled the way God says they need to be handled,
there is a sacrifice. Some of them there
is just the washing of water, because they are ceremonially unclean, not
morally unclean. [I think the washings
of water points to a precaution against bacterial infection as well, and not
just a ceremonial cleansing, it’s a hygiene issue.] There’s nothing unclean morally about them,
just ceremonial. And in our lives,
certainly things are cleansed, it says if we walk in the light as he is in the
light, the blood of Christ continually cleanseth us from all sins. But it also says we’re to be, even with our
own wives, the washing of the water of the Word. So, let’s jump in and see where the LORD
is taking
us with this as we go into it. And
remember as we do, they had just come out of Egypt, Egypt was famous for
immorality of every kind, Egyptian women were fast and loose and famous for
it. They are heading into Canaan. If you go down to the University of
Pennsylvania to their bookstore and you get a book on the Canaanites or the
Hittites, it says venereal disease wiped out whole villages, just the practices
were so abominable and godless. And
remember, ancient Israel knows nothing about bacteria or viruses. And the washing and some of the things we
read about are things they do in hospitals today to promote cleanliness. In fact, it’s interesting, washing, they’re
finding out more, it isn’t actually antibacterial soap, it’s the length that
you wash, because water itself and washing your hands long enough cleanses your
hands. [Comment: As brought out during the covid-19 pandemic,
soap really does provide an extra degree prevention from viral infections, as
the outer skin of a virus cell is composed of a fatty membrane, and soap
dissolves that fatty membrane, killing the virus cells.] So here we have a lot of hygiene here, a lot
of cleansing, certainly in each of these there are other pictures I’m
sure. Laws
Of Hygiene For Anyone That Has A Running Issue Out Of Their Flesh It says “And the LORD spake unto Moses and
to Aaron, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When
any man hath a running issue out of his flesh, because of his issue he is
unclean.” (verses 1-2) Now that’s not something he’s upset
about. An issue is bodily fluid. 24 times in the chapter we’re going to hear
about issues, so that’s what this chapter is about, that’s where it’s
going. It says in Romans 15, ‘the
things that were written aforetime were written for our learning and for our
instruction,’ so there are things here.
“When any man has a running issue out of his flesh,” that could
be diarrhea, that could be a runny nose, there were diseases where the eyes ran
and drained all day, Paul talked about that.
It could be from venereal disease.
So God is dealing with cleanliness in the camp, and he’s going to say
over in verse 31, “ye shall separate the children of Israel from their
uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile my
tabernacle that is among them.”
What he’s going to say is, every bit of cleanliness in their life is
important, because I am dwelling in their midst. And all of the Amorites and the Hittites, the
Canaanites, the Egyptians, all of the other nations around will see that there
is something completely different about My people, and over and over he’s going
to say “be holy, for I am holy.” So he
says here “When any man hath a running issue” a discharge of bodily
fluid “out of his flesh, because of his issue he is
unclean. And this shall be he
uncleanness in his issue: whether his
flesh run with his issue, or his flesh be stopped from his issue, it is
his uncleanness. Every bed, whereon he
lieth that hath the issue, is unclean:
and every thing, whereon he sitteth, shall be unclean.” (verses 2-4) Again, they had no idea of bacteria, virus,
whatsoever. “And whosoever toucheth
his bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be
unclean until even.” (verse 5) Now
we’re always going to read “until evening,” because evening in the Hebrew
economy was when the new day began. In
our culture the day begins in the morning when the sun comes up [literally, it
begins at midnight, which is a totally foreign concept in the Biblical
economy]. In the Hebrew economy,
evening, when three stars were visible in the sky it was a new day [the Sabbath-keeping
Churches of God go by astronomical sundown times, when the sun literally goes
down beyond the horizon], morning, evening and morning is the way. So there was a new beginning every
night. And unclean until even, it
says. “And he that sitteth on any
thing whereon he sat that hath the issue shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself
in water, and be unclean until the even.
And he that toucheth the flesh of him that hath the issue shall wash his
clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.”
(verses 6-7) You’re helping someone,
whose sick, shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean
until evening. Our group of kids over in
Zambia had a taste of this, this year, and they all got struck down with some
kind of Montezuma’s revenge or something over there and were in the middle of
this for a number of days. And I know
they did a lot of washing. “And if he
that hath the issue spit upon him that is clean; then he shall wash his
clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even.”
(verse 8) I don’t know why you’d
hang around with this guy in the first place, hopefully it means if he sneezes
on you or something, if this happens, he’s finding new friends as far as I’m
concerned. “And what saddle soever he
rideth upon that hath the issue shall be unclean. And whosoever toucheth any thing that was
under him shall be unclean until the even:
and he that beareth any of those things shall wash his clothes,
and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. And whomsoever he toucheth that hath the
issue, and hath not rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes, and
bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. And the vessel of earth, that he toucheth
which hath the issue, shall be broken:
and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water.” (verses 9-12) So look, don’t let anybody tell you God’s
unconcerned, God’s distant, God doesn’t care about what’s going on in your
life. This evening we’re realizing he
cares more about what’s going on in our lives that maybe we would like him to
care about what’s going on in our lives.
If you got a problem and you sit on a saddle, and somebody else touches
the saddle, you’ve got a problem here, there needs to be some hygiene, there
needs to be some cleanliness, when this happens we need to do this, when that
happens we need to do that. So verses 1
through 12, now we’re going to move down to verse 15, are speaking about
unnatural, on the part of a man, an unnatural issue, relative to an illness or
something. “And when he that hath an
issue is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number himself seven days for his
cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and
shall be clean. And on the eighth day he
shall take to him two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, and come before the LORD unto the door of the
tabernacle of the congregation, and give them unto the priest: and the priest shall offer them, the one for
a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall
make an atonement for him before the LORD for his issue.”
(verses 13-15) So it’s not very specific what the issue is
from. It seems to be from an illness or
unnatural source. There is an atonement
made at the end of this, certainly a reminder that everything that’s of the
flesh is a step below the divine, certainly, there’s a picture here. Hygiene
For Natural Discharges Of A Man Or A Woman In verses 16 to 19 we have the
natural discharge on the part of the man, and there is no sacrifice offered here,
there is ceremonial uncleanness, but not moral uncleanness, it’s not a matter
of sin, but a matter of ceremonial uncleanness [and hygiene]. So it says “And if any man’s seed of
copulation go out from him, then he shall wash all his flesh in water, and be
unclean until the even. And every
garment, and every skin, whereon is the seed of copulation, shall be washed with
water, and be unclean until the even.
The woman also with whom man shall lie with seed of copulation,
they shall both bathe themselves in water, and be unclean until
the even. And if a woman have an issue, and
her issue in her flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean
until the even.” (verses 16-19) It
doesn’t say sexual intimacy between a husband and a wife is unclean. A lot of Christians have hangups from their
BC days, before they came to Christ. The
LORD
in his genius designed intimacy not just for procreation, but for pleasure, to
be entered into on the part of a husband and a wife in marriage. And there isn’t anything unclean about it, it
tells us in Hebrews that the marriage bed is undefiled, it’s clean. Certainly, that part of our relationship is
never to be used to barter, it’s never to be used to be manipulative. Paul is very clear in 1st
Corinthians chapter 7 that the wife hath not power over her own body, it
belongs to her husband, and the husband hath not power over his body, it
belongs to his wife, and that there’s something sacred in that in regards to
the commitment they made to one another on the day that they were married. And there is no insinuation at all here in
this picture of any moral uncleanness, this is hygiene, this is health, “he
shall wash all his flesh in water, and be unclean until the even. And every garment, and every skin, whereon is
the seed of copulation, shall be washed with water, and be unclean until the
even. The woman also with whom man shall
lie with seed of copulation, they shall both bathe themselves
in water, and be unclean until the even.” (verses 16b-17) And I think what a necessity for husbands
and wives today to bathe their intimacy and their marriage in the Word of God,
what a necessity to bathe their marriage, their intimacy in God’s Word. We have such a struggle amongst God’s people
with pornography, with infidelity, with uncleanness. What a picture of the washing of the water of
the Word, to appreciate and to understand what God has given, the gift that
he’s given to us. Important, because the
world gives it to us in an entirely different context. And parents, dads, moms, sometimes the
challenge is, when do we talk to our kids?
Do we talk to them when they’re 13? they’re still kids. But the world that they live in, they’re
gonna hear, so you’re tossed to and fro.
[I would say you time it on the individual child’s emotional maturity. Each child, from my observation, reaches that
point at a different age.] I want them
to hear it, when they hear it in the right context, if I wait too long they’re
going to hear it all from the world, it’s all going to be dirty, it’s all going
to be sneaky, it’s all going to be in the wrong context, it’s all going to be
about selfish pleasure. But if I tell
them when they’re too young, mentally, where are they going to file this? So it’s something that we need to be
prayerful about, it’s something we need to be serious about, and dads, it’s
something we need to talk to our sons about, moms it’s something we need to
talk to our daughters about. And the
whole subject needs the washing of the water of the Word, I think it’s very
important. Because is there anything
unclean about it? There is not anything
morally impure about intimacy in marriage, it’s God’s gift to us. And this passage doesn’t insinuate that at
all. It’s talking about ceremonial
uncleanness and the cleansing, the washing of water [I think that’s more a
bacterial issue, personally]. In verse
19 we come to the woman now, and this is the natural discharge on the part
of the woman, “And if a woman have an issue, and her issue in her
flesh be blood, she shall be put apart seven days: and whosoever toucheth her shall be unclean
until the even.” this is her menstrual period. And that’s probably great for her, to be at
rest, for everybody maybe [laughter].
Come on, stay with me here. Look,
this again, there’s no sacrifice attached to this, this is ceremonial
uncleanness, not moral uncleanness, because the whole process of menses is
related to ovulation and reproduction and life.
When a baby girl, they’re not fetuses, when a baby girl is 8 weeks old
in the womb, that baby girl already has all of the ovaries she’ll discharge her
entire life, she’s not even a half inch long, and already has all of the
ovaries she’s going to discharge in her cycles for her entire life, that’s how
much God cares about life and birth and reproduction. And here it says when she’s in the natural
process for menses and there’s a discharge of blood, she should be put apart
for seven days, whosoever touches her shall be unclean until evening, “And
every thing that she lieth upon in her separation shall be unclean: every thing also that she sitteth upon shall
be unclean.” (verse 20) Remember
Rachel did this to her father Laban when he came and was looking for the idols
that were stolen, and they wanted to make her get up, she was sitting there,
she said ‘Dad, I’ve got, you know,’ and the father said ‘Just stay
there,’ and she was hiding them. “And
whosoever toucheth her bed shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in
water, and be unclean until the even.
And whosoever toucheth any thing that she sat upon shall wash his
clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. And if it be upon her bed, or
on any thing whereon she sitteth, when he toucheth it, he shall be unclean
until the even. And if any man lie with
her at all, and her flowers be upon him,” you gotta love King James, “he
shall be unclean seven days; and all the bed whereon he lieth shall be
unclean.” (verses 21-24) So, God’s
stooping down to say ‘This is my design, this is a monthly cycle, when a
woman is going through this, set her aside seven days for rest. If you’re in a situation in that time, then
you’re both going to be unclean and set aside for seven days. But this is my process, there’s no atonement
to be made, no sacrifice for sin, there’s just the washing of water.’ And again, I think so important in
marriage for both partners to be giving and for both partners not to be
demanding, I mean, there’s understanding, there’s the husband preferring the
wife above himself, the wife preferring the husband, there’s the washing of the
water of the Word all the way through this.
And I think it speaks of more to us than just simply this straight
forward hygiene here. Hygiene
Laws For A Woman Whose Issue Of Blood Goes Beyond Its Normal Time Now, if a woman has an unnatural
discharge, there is a sacrifice required here.
“And if a woman have an issue of blood many days out of the time of
her separation, or if it run beyond the time of her separation; all the days of
the issue of her uncleanness shall be as the days of her separation: she shall be unclean. Every bed whereon she lieth all the days of
her issue shall be unto her as the bed of her separation: and whatsoever she sitteth upon shall be
unclean, as the uncleanness of her separation.
And whosoever toucheth those things shall be unclean, and shall wash his
clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even. But if she be cleansed of her issue, then she
shall number to herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. And on the eighth day she shall take unto her
two turtles [turtledoves], or two young pigeons, and bring them unto the
priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And the priest shall offer the one for
a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall
make an atonement for her before the LORD for the issue of her
uncleanness.” (verses 25-30) Now it
doesn’t say that it was necessarily because of sin, but certainly it is a
picture of the plague that’s on all of us because of the fall of humanity,
God’s order is marred because of Adam’s sin.
Now of course this is an interesting text because it applies to the
woman who comes to Jesus, who had a blood flow for 12 years, if you can
imagine. And Luke, Dr. Luke is the one
whose honest enough to tell us she spent all her money on doctors, and had
nothing less and was the worse for it, she just got worse. And if you understand medicine in that day,
is was sitting on ostrich eggs, sitting on dung from a white female ass, you
read this stuff, it’s a wonder she lived 12 years. But during that 12 years she was
unclean. That meant separated from her
husband, separated from her children, nobody touching her, her touching no one. Did she have a marriage left? By the time Jesus comes, you have this
interesting problem. Moses goes onto the
mountain, he comes down with God’s Law, the Ten Commandments. The Jews believe that Moses also came down
with an oral law, and then that oral law develops over centuries, the Haggadah,
the Midrash, it’s divided into these different sections, and then they compiled
the whole thing into the Talmud. But it
became so complicated by the day of Christ that they taught that a woman that
had this kind of bloodflow, it was because of immorality. So she’s living with the stigma of that for
12 years, thinking ‘God, I didn’t do anything,’ nothing left. And after 12 years, where’s your
hemoglobin? Where’s your iron
stores? And as she comes through the
crowds, she defiles everybody that she rubs shoulders with. And she’s saying within herself ‘I know if
I can just touch the hem of his garment,’ the craspadon, the border of blue
that signified a Jewish man’s relationship with God. You see, because Jesus came, and he stepped
past the Haggadah, the Mishnah, the Gamarah, he stepped by all of that stuff,
and they would say ‘What new doctrine is this?’ It wasn’t a new doctrine, it was the Word of
God. He was taking them back to the Word
of God in its simplicity and its power, and they were saying ‘What new
doctrine is this?’ It wasn’t a new
doctrine at all, it wasn’t a new doctrine at all. And she sees that craspadon, and she knows ‘if
I’ve ever seen a man,’ it was made of blue, it was to reflect the male Jew,
it was to reflect his relationship with the God of heaven, and she’s thinking ‘If
I’ve ever seen anyone who has a relationship with the God of heaven, it is this
Prophet from Galilee, it is this man.
And if I can just get hold of that, I know I’ll be healed.’ It says of course she takes hold of the
hem of his garment, and immediately, snap! she feels the
bloodflow stop. So, again, was Jesus
defiled? All through this study in the
Law we’re going through, the rule is continually, if you touch someone whose
unclean, you become unclean. There’s
nothing in the Law that says if you’re healthy and you touch somebody with
rabies, they get better, that if you’re healthy and you touch somebody with
chickenpox the chickenpox go away. All
through the Law it says if you’re healthy and you touch them, you get
defiled. The only place that’s different
anywhere in the Bible is when Jesus touches the leper, instead of him getting
leprosy, the leper gets him, cleansed, set free. When he touches the woman with the bloodflow,
instead of him being defiled, she’s healed.
‘Well you touched the woman with the bloodflow.’ ‘Produce the woman with the bloodflow, where
is she?’ she no longer exists. And she’s the only woman in all four Gospels
that Jesus calls “Daughter.” ‘Who
touched me?’ Now the a-postles, not
the b-postles, the apostles say ‘Who touched you? The whole crowd’s shoving you and pushing,
everybody’s touching you.’ He said, ‘No,
one person, faith touched me.’ And
she comes trembling and falls down in front of him, because she knows she
defiled the Master, she understands. And
he looks at her and says “Daughter,’ in front of everyone he owns her, ‘Daughter.’ The only woman he calls daughter in all
four Gospels, “daughter.” “go into
peace,” literally, not just “go in peace,” “go into peace, your faith hath made
thee whole.” What a remarkable
scene. Here, all of these things
outlined. Some of them looking forward
to Christ, some of them dealing with hygiene, some of them lessons for us. And again, I think as I look at this, no one
can ever say that the LORD is disconnected and
unconcerned about our lives, he stoops down to every little thing. Because sometimes people think ‘Well I got
this stupid wart, you know, and I’m not gonna bother,’ no, you pray about
that. He stoops down to that, he knows
about that wart, he talks to us about those things here. A couple thousand years ago somebody
inspected it, to see if it was raised, to see if it was lower, to see if it had
white hair growing on it, black hair growing out of it, God wanted to know
everything about that wart. ‘You
know, I have a cold, I feel bad praying about a cold because there are people
in church with cancer, why should I bother God about my cold?’ No difference in regard to his power
between a cold and cancer. It says we
cast all of our cares upon him, because he careth for you. And the other thing all of us should see in
this, it’s that kind of care. Look, my
wife and I, whatever has been wrong with our kids, at any level, the simplest
thing, all of their lives, we step right in.
We want to know immediately, ‘Well how did this happen? How do you feel right now, here’s a
thermometer, take your temperature. Let
me take you to the doctor.’ [And I’m
always praying for my grandkids protection, ‘Murphy, you what!? Cut your thumb with a machete!? How’d you do that!?’] And God loves us more than we love our own
children. And again, this chapter,
however uncomfortable it is, one author I read said “This is the scariest
chapter in Leviticus.” Look, it
speaks of his intimate concern for every level of wellbeing in our lives, that
he would stoop down to speak to us about these things. It says, look at verse 31, “Thus shall ye
separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in
their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that is among
them.” God’s now dwelling in their
midst. “This is the law of him
that hath an issue, and of him whose seed goeth from him, and is defiled
therewith; and of her that is sick of her flowers, and of him that hath an
issue, of the man, and of the woman, and of him that lieth with her that is
unclean.” (verses 32-33) God is so
nice to his daughters. These are the
rules in regards to these things. He
cares for you. He cares for the most
intimate things in our lives. He cares
when we have a headache. And let me tell
you something, sometimes there’s warfare, he cares. We need to pray. Kathy and I, just a couple weeks ago, she’d
been sick through August, banging back and forth with something she’s got going
on in her intestinal track, God’s given me the intestinal track of a goat, I
can eat anything, but she’s much more sensitive than I am. And we were supposed to go on vacation, we
finally got away a couple days late, we went to Johns Hopkins, do a bunch of
stuff, and I just finally crashed, it was so great, ‘Ah, we’re here, Joanna
was with us, my mom was with us, the twins were with us, the kids were with us,
it was just wonderful.’ And I
crashed in bed about 2 O’clock, about 3:30 in the morning I hear this
whimpering. It was Kathy, she said ‘I
don’t know what’s wrong, it’s my elbow is killing me, I can’t move it.’ It was red, it was hot, bursitis. I said ‘This is warfare, this is
warfare.’ I put her in a chair next
to the bed, got some ice, put it on her elbow, and just knelt over her, I
didn’t pray a specific prayer, I sought the presence of the Lord, on my knees,
kneeling over her, and about 20 minutes I began to sense his presence in a
wonderful way, and it stayed there for maybe an hour. Because I knew if his presence was there, no
other presence was going to be there.
And within an hour, there was no swelling, her elbow was better, we went
back to bed, she slept through the night.
God cares, he cares. And he wants
us to bring those things to him, and he stoops down even to the uncomfortable
things. What’s it like for a dad to talk
to his 13 or 14 year old son about the birds and the bees and the facts of
life? Here’s God stooping down to say ‘Now
look, now you know this is what you should do, just make sure you wash,’ isn’t
it amazing, his care and his concern for us?
Read ahead, chapter 16 if the Lord tarries, chapter 16 takes us to the
Day of Atonement, and there’s some very remarkable things that begin in chapter
16 and 17. Chapter 16, the word
“atonement” is in there 16 times in the 16th chapter, to cover
sin. “Blood” is in there 9 times,
“blood” is in chapter 17 eleven times.
The idea is, there is no atonement without blood, there’s no forgiveness
without the shedding of blood. We’re
coming to some very remarkable things that the Church needs to hear screamed
out loud, not our church, but the Church nationwide needs to hear screamed out
loud these days. So I encourage you to
read ahead, thank you for surviving this evening. As you read ahead in the 16th and
17th chapter you’ll go ‘Wew!’ we got through that. Read ahead, some great stuff coming up in
Leviticus, let’s have the musicians come, let’s stand, let’s pray. And pray for me, imagine me, I’m studying this
thinking ‘ah, we gotta go here.’…[transcript of a connective expository
sermon on Leviticus 14:19-57 and Leviticus 15:1-33, given by Pastor Joe Focht,
Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116] related links: Audio
version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED571 |