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1–32. Rituals of cleansing for someone who has recovered from leprosy. 33–56. Leprosy of Jewish houses and its purification. Lev.14:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Lev.14:2. This is the law about the leper, when it is necessary to cleanse him: they will bring him to the priest; Lev.14:3. the priest will go out of the camp, and if the priest sees that the leper has been healed of the disease of leprosy, Lev.14:4. then the priest will order to take for the person being cleansed two clean living birds, cedar wood, scarlet thread and hyssop, Lev.14:5. and the priest will command that one bird be slaughtered over an earthen vessel over the living water; Lev.14:6. and he himself will take a living bird, cedar wood, scarlet thread and hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird killed over the living water, Lev.14:7. and he will sprinkle the one who is being cleansed from leprosy seven times, and declare him clean, and let the living bird go into the field. Lev.14:8. The one who is being cleansed will wash his clothes, cut off all his hair, wash himself with water, and be clean; then he will enter the camp and remain seven days outside his tent; According to the complete excommunication of the leper during his illness, not only from the sanctuary and all public and liturgical functions, but also from the civil society of the people of the covenant, the ritual of cleansing the person recovered from leprosy involved two acts. First, the priest (in his ordinary clothes) outside the camp verified the reality of the recovery of the former leper and then performed the ritual of accepting him into the society of his people, restoring him in civil-theocratic rights, as follows. The priest ordered to take 2 “live” (maybe fast-flying) birds for the person being purified, Heb. zipporim (Vulg.: passeres; but more likely in general “pure e”; Heb.: “tehoruth - birds, according to Vulg. - “quibus vesci licitum est”), and, according to the Mishnah (Negaim 14:5), both birds should have been equal in terms of price, size and appearance; They also took a piece of cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet, carmesine thread: the latter was wrapped around a hyssop rod and attached to a stick of cedar wood (Negaim, 14:1). One of the 2 live birds was slaughtered over a clay vessel with a live one (key, cf. Gen 26.19) with water, so that the blood mixed with the latter. Then the priest dipped the mentioned 3 objects and a living bird (namely the upper feathers on the tail and wings, Negaim 14:1) into this mixture of blood and water, sprinkled the person being cleansed 7 times, declared him clean and released the living bird into the field. According to the Europeans interpreters, the slaughtered bird symbolically meant the life of a leper in illness equal to death (leprosy is compared with death, for example, in Numbers 12.12), and the release of a living bird into the wild is the beginning of a renewed life for him upon recovery; as well as cedar wood (this tree, which was considered not to rot, and in particular cedar oil in ancient times acquired the power to protect even corpses from decomposition), scarlet thread (a symbol of blood, a trace of life) and hyssop (purification Ps 50.9) pointed (cf. Num 19.6) to this transition of the recovered person from the state of death to renewed life. This transition was symbolically indicated by 7-fold sprinklings - bird blood (bird blood in ancient times acquired the disinfectant power in skin diseases) and “living” water. The slaughtered bird was not burned on the altar, but the slaughter of one bird and the release of another, since ancient times compared by interpreters with the ritual of 2 goats on the day of cleansing (Lev. 16), expressed the idea of ​​sacrificial reunion (in sprinkling) of those freed from leprosy with the community. The symbol of this civil reunion was the washing of the recovered person with water and the cutting of his hair. But another 7 days had to pass between his reunification with society and with the sanctuary; he only entered the camp, but was not yet expelled to his own tent. Lev.14:9. On the seventh day he will shave off all his hair, his head, his beard, the eyebrows of his eyes, all his hair, and he will wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he will be clean; Lev.14:10. On the eighth day he will take two rams [of the first year] without blemish, and one ewe of the first year without blemish, and three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and one log of oil; Lev.14:11. the priest who cleanses will place the person being cleansed with them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of meeting; Lev.14:12. And the priest shall take one ram, and present it for a trespass offering, and a log of oil, and wave it before the Lord; Lev.14:13. and he will kill the ram in the place where they kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the holy place, for this trespass offering, like the sin offering, belongs to the priest: it is a great holy thing; Lev.14:14. And the priest shall take the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on the edge of the right ear of the one who is being cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. Lev.14:15. And the priest will take oil from the log and pour it on his left palm; Lev.14:16. And the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left palm, and sprinkle the oil from his finger seven times before the Lord; Lev.14:17. The priest will place the remaining oil that is in the palm of his hand on the edge of the right ear of the one being cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, in the places where the blood of the guilt offering is; Lev.14:18. and the rest of the oil that is in the palm of the priest he will put on the head of the one being cleansed, and the priest will cleanse him before the Lord. Lev.14:19. And the priest shall make a sin offering, and make atonement for him who is to be purified from his uncleanness; after that he will slaughter the burnt offering; Lev.14:20. and the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering upon the altar; and the priest will cleanse him, and he will be clean. Lev.14:21. But if he is poor and has no means, then he shall take one ram for a trespass offering to make atonement for himself, and one tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and a log of oil. Lev.14:22. and two turtle doves or two young doves, whatever his hand can reach, one of the birds for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering; Lev.14:23. and he shall bring them on the eighth day of his atonement to the priest at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, before the presence of the Lord; Lev.14:24. the priest shall take the ram of the trespass offering and the log of oil, and the priest shall offer it, shaking it before the Lord; Lev.14:25. And he shall kill the ram for the trespass offering, and the priest shall take the blood of the trespass offering, and put it on the edge of the right ear of the one who is being cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. Lev.14:26. and the priest will pour oil into his left hand, Lev.14:27. and the priest shall sprinkle the oil which is on his left palm from his right finger seven times before the face of the Lord; Lev.14:28. And the priest shall put the oil that is in the palm of his hand on the edge of the right ear of the one who is being cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, in the places where the blood of the guilt offering is. Lev.14:29. and the rest of the oil, which is in the palm of the priest, he will put on the head of the one being cleansed, to cleanse him before the face of the Lord; Lev.14:30. and he will bring one of the turtle doves or one of the young doves, whatever the hand of the one who is being cleansed reaches, Lev.14:31. from whatever his hand can lay hold of, one bird for a sin offering, and another for a burnt offering, along with the grain offering; and the priest will make an atonement for him who is to be cleansed before the Lord. After 7 days, the 2nd and final act of cleansing the leper was performed - an act of church-religious reunification of the former patient with the sanctuary and Jehovah. Previously, a secondary washing of the leper’s entire body was performed after shaving all the hair - on the head, beard, eyebrows and generally on the entire body in order to completely destroy all traces of the disease and to completely convince himself and others that he had no traces of former leprosy anywhere. Now, having washed himself, as if already clean, the healed one went to the sanctuary on the 8th day with 2 rams (of age), one yearling sheep and a grain offering - 3 10 ephahs of flour (about 9 pounds) and 1 log (1 2 hinas according to the rabbis, the capacity of 6 eggs) of oil. The priest placed the recovered one at the entrance of the tabernacle and, presenting the ram intended as a guilt offering to the Lord - by means of a “shaking”, slaughtered in the usual place, first of all, this guilt offering: the state of excommunication of the leper from the sanctuary was, as it were, a violation of the rights of Jehovah, which were now restored by the mentioned sacrifice (as someone who had violated, albeit unwittingly, the right of Jehovah, a former leper and does not take an active part in the sacrifice). With the blood of the trespass offering, the priest anointed the edge of his right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot, that is, the same members that were anointed by the high priest and priests on the day of their dedication with the blood of the dedication sacrifice (Lev. 8.23–24). This indicated the priestly dignity of the individual Israeli, to which the former leper was now restored. Next, the sin offering, burnt offering and grain offering were performed in the usual rites. But first, oil was used in the following way, which served as a necessary addition to the essential sacrifice of this rite - the guilt offering: from a log of oil, the priest poured some onto his left palm; with the finger of his right hand, from here, he sprinkled it 7 times before Jehovah, that is, before the altar of burnt offerings (cf. Lev. 8.11); he poured the remaining oil in his palm onto the members of his body that had just been anointed with blood, and he poured the rest of the oil on the head of the one being cleansed (as at the dedication of Aaron, only holy ointment was poured onto the latter’s head, and not simple oil, Lev. 8.12, cf. Ex 30.30-32), by which the one being cleansed was completely reunited with the sanctuary, and in general, according to the expression of F. Aquinas, resttuebatur consortio hominum et cultui divino. The blood signified the covenant, here renewed with an individual member of Jehovah’s society, and the oil was a symbol of Jehovah’s mercy towards him (cf. Blessed Theodore, question 19). In case of poverty of the person being purified, the last 3 sacrifices - a sin offering, a burnt offering and a grain offering could be brought from less valuable material: 2 doves or turtle doves for a sin offering and a burnt offering and 1 10 ephah of flour - for a grain offering. But the trespass ram along with the log of oil could not be replaced by anything: the trespass offering was offered equally by the rich and the poor. The ritual of purification was essentially the same. Lev.14:33. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: Lev.14:34. When you enter the land of Canaan, which I give you to possess, and I will bring the plague of leprosy on the houses of the land of your possession, Lev.14:35. then the one whose house is must go and tell the priest: a kind of ulcer has appeared on my house. Lev.14:36. The priest will order the house to be emptied before the priest comes in to examine the plague, so that everything in the house does not become unclean; after this the priest will come to inspect the house. Lev.14:37. If he, having examined the ulcer, sees that the ulcer on the walls of the house consists of greenish or reddish pits, which turn out to be deep in the wall, Lev.14:38. then the priest will leave the house to the door of the house and ban the house for seven days. Lev.14:39. On the seventh day the priest will come again, and if he sees that the plague has spread along the walls of the house, Lev.14:40. then the priest will order that the stones on which the plague are broken up and thrown outside the city into an unclean place; Lev.14:41. and let them scrape the whole inside of the house, and let the plaster that they scrape off be poured outside the city into an unclean place; Lev.14:42. and they will take other stones and put them in place of those stones, and they will take other plaster and plaster the house. Lev.14:43. If the plague appears again and blooms on the house after the stones have been broken out and the house has been scraped and smeared, Lev.14:44. then the priest will come and examine, and if the plague on the house has spread, then this is caustic leprosy on the house, it is unclean; Lev.14:45. This house must be torn down, and its stones and its wood and all the plaster of the house must be carried outside the city to an unclean place; Lev.14:46. whoever enters a house while it is locked is unclean until evening; Lev.14:47. and whoever sleeps in that house must wash his clothes [and be unclean until the evening]; and whoever eats in that house must wash his clothes [and be unclean until the evening]. Lev.14:48. If the priest comes and sees that the plague on the house has not spread after the house was smeared, then the priest will declare the house clean because the plague has passed. Lev.14:49. And to cleanse the house he will take two birds, cedar wood, scarlet thread and hyssop, Lev.14:50. and he shall kill one bird over an earthen vessel over living water; Lev.14:51. And he will take cedar wood and hyssop and scarlet thread and a living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird and in living water, and sprinkle the house seven times. Lev.14:52. and he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the living water, and with the living bird, and with cedar wood, and with hyssop, and with scarlet thread; Lev.14:53. and he shall let the living bird go outside the city into the field, and he shall cleanse the house, and it shall be clean. The law on the mysterious leprosy of houses came into force only from the time when Israel no longer lived in tents, as under Moses, but - after occupying the land of Canaan - in houses (and other laws were designed only for the time of settlement in Canaan, cf. Lev. 19:23, 23:10, 25:2): in the desert, leather, felt and fabric for tents were subject to the law ( Lev. 13.47–59 ) about clothes. The instructions on the actions of the priest in the event of the defeat of any Jewish home by leprosy, apparently reminiscent of the regulations on leprosy on people and clothes, undoubtedly have not so much a medical or antiseptic, sanitary nature, as a ritual one: leprosy of houses was not recognized as sticky, but desecrating - things that were in the house were not considered contagious, but only desecrated the person after declaring the house unclean; Likewise, people who entered a house locked due to leprosy, slept in it and ate food were only considered unclean until the evening. Finally, leprosy in houses is cleansed by the same symbolic rite as a person who has recovered from leprosy and is “cleansed” (Lev. 14:4–7). What exactly this “blooming” of the house consisted of (Lev.14:43), the formation of greenish and reddish depressions on its walls - yamin (Lev.14:37), is very difficult to determine. The opinion of those researchers (Abarbanel, Truzen, etc.) who explained the leprosy of houses (as well as the leprosy of clothes) by infection from people sick with leprosy is arbitrary; but 1) in the law on leprosy in houses, the latter, without a doubt, does not appear as a consequence of infection, as can be seen from the above-mentioned instructions about things and persons who were in the house and became only unclean, but not infected; 2) the very transfer of people’s leprosy to stones and walls is doubtful. The explanation of new researchers (Michaelis, Wiener, etc.) according to which the phenomenon under consideration is saltpeter rust is also unlikely, since the latter is usually white in color, and the characteristic sign of leprosy on houses - greenish or reddish depressions on the walls - has nothing in common with the supposed rust. According to the belief of the later Jews, which has some support in the Bible (Lev. 14.34), leprosy of houses did not arise in an ordinary, natural way, but was a supernatural work of Jehovah, and it affected only the houses of Jews, and not pagans, and only in Canaan, and not outside this country (Maimonides: non accidebat juxta consuetum naturae ordinem, sed signumet miraculum erat in Israel, cf. Negaim 12:1–4). According to the probable explanation of Sommer (Bibl. Abhand. I, S. 220) and Kamphausen (Riehm, Worterb. Bibl. Alterth., 1, Bd. 1:580), leprosy of houses consisted of plant formations, lichen-like growths appearing on weathered stones and damp walls, somewhat deeper into the surface of the stones. Of these lichens, some breeds are extremely similar to skin rashes, one of them is called genus spiloma, and the other - the most common - is known as lepraria. The lively imagination and concrete thinking of the ancient Jews could easily connect these lichens on the materials of houses with human leprosy and give them this name. You might be interested in: