Leviticus 14:33-53

Leviticus 14:33-53

[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,  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  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 a fretting  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 with 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. 

What does Leviticus 14:33-53 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

The fact that certain abnormal conditions afflicted houses as well as persons reminded the Israelites that their dwelling places as well as their bodies needed to be holy. This law anticipated life in Canaan when the Israelites would live in houses rather than tents. God would "put" the abnormal condition on a house as He did on a person. It did not just pass from person to dwelling by contagion ( Leviticus 14:34). God prescribed the same rite of purification for a house as for a person ( Leviticus 14:49-53). He did not require sacrifices because buildings simply have to be clean.
". . . although it is primarily in the human body that sin manifests itself, it spreads from man to the things which he touches, uses, inhabits, though without our being able to represent this spread as a physical contagion." [1]
Wholeness and holiness are not the same, but wholeness reflects holiness.