The Blood Cleanses

Luke 17:11–19 NKJV

11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. 12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. 13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. 15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, 16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. 17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? 18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

Leprosy

Leprosy were a number of contagious skin diseases acociated with uncleanness, which resulted in exclusion/isolation from cummunity (only disease were this was the case). A leper had to cry ‘unclean, unclean’ if someone came close to him, you were treated like a dead man. A leper was not only defiled, but also a source of defilement to others and therefore unable to worship the Lord or be in His presence. If a leper entered your house, your house would be unclean. If they sat under a tree and you pass through the shadow of the tree, you would be unclean. That was the whole reason to isolate the leper, so that he could not make anybody else unclean.

In Lev 13 a list how a priest could recognize leprosy and distinguish it from other skin diseases (rising of the skin, cuticular crust, bright shining spot, raw flesh, thin yellow hairs). If the priest was not sure, they put you up to two weeks in quarantine and then check again. If early stages of leprosy were found on you, you would be pronounced unclean. As you were pronounced unclean, you had to tear your clothes, leave your hair unkempt and need to cover your lower part of your face; those are all part of mourning rituals. You mourned your own death.

Cleansing

When a leper was healed, he had to show himself to the priest, who would perform a cleansing ritual to the one who was healed of his leprosy. This is what Jesus referred to in Luke 17. The ritual is described in:

Leviticus 14:1–20 NKJV

1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “This shall be the law of the leper for the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought to the priest. 3 And the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall examine him; and indeed, if the leprosy is healed in the leper, 4 then the priest shall command to take for him who is to be cleansed two living and clean birds, cedar wood, 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, the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. 7 And he shall sprinkle it seven times on him who is to be cleansed from the leprosy, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose in the open field. 8 He who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean. After that he shall come into the camp, and shall stay outside his tent seven days. 9 But on the seventh day he shall shave all the hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows—all his hair he shall shave off. He shall wash his clothes and wash his body in water, and he shall be clean. 10 “And on the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without blemish, one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and one log of oil. 11 Then the priest who makes him clean shall present the man who is to be made clean, and those things, before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. 12 And the priest shall take one male lamb and offer it as a trespass offering, and the log of oil, and wave them as a wave offering before the Lord. 13 Then he shall kill the lamb in the place where he kills the sin offering and the burnt offering, in a holy place; for as the sin offering is the priest’s, so is the trespass offering. It is most holy. 14 The priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big 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 Then the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle some of the oil with his finger seven times before the Lord. 17 And of the rest of the oil in his hand, the priest shall put some on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the blood of the trespass offering. 18 The rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed. So the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord. 19 “Then the priest shall offer the sin offering, and make atonement for him who is to be cleansed from his uncleanness. Afterward he shall kill the burnt offering. 20 And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. So the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.

A cured leper, still needed to be cleansed from its impurities before resuming his place in cummunity and to draw near to worship the holy God at the Tabernacle or Temple. In reality this ritual is not cleansing the leper, but the ritual declares him ceremonially free from the suspicion of having the disease.

Outside the camp

The first part of this purification process started outside the gate. The priest would examine the healed leper to verify that he has been healed. Then he would take two birds, cedar wood, hyssop and a piece scarlet wool and kill one of the birds. The blood of the bird was mixed with water inside a vessel and the living bird, cedar wood, hyssop and the scarlet wool were dipped in the blood and water mixture. These items are regularly involved in purification rituals (Num 19). The former leper was sprinkled seven times with the mixture and the living clean bird was released - carrying away the impurities of the leper and the leper would be pronounced clean. This is the same principe we saw at the day of atonement (Lev 16), one of the birds was killed and its blood was sprinkled seven times, and the free bird carried away the disease from the cured leper. The difference is that the killed bird was not offered as a sacrifice.

Evangelical Commentary on the Bible A. Regulations (11:1–15:33)

The principles behind this ritual are meaningful: (1) the bird which was put to death was considered identical to the uncleanness of the person; (2) when the live bird was dipped into the blood and water, the person received the life of the bird which had been killed; (3) the pungent odor of the hyssop and cedar wood was as if the uncleanness was driven away; (4) the live bird took away the uncleanness of the person being cleansed; (5) sprinkling seven times suggests that the person was considered completely clean of his disease.

Inside the camp

Then the former leper had to wash his clothes and body and shave off all hair. Then, he could reenter the camp but not return home for the first week. They had to shave everything, to ensure that no possible remaining sore or skin irritation could be hidden from anyone: it was an act of transparency. The bathing spoke of washing away the past and the cleansing of dirt brought in from outside the camp. The seven days, time taken to create the world and inaugurate the priesthood of Aaron, indicated that what was happening was a further act of creation. The healed person was being reborn.

At the heart of the camp

On the eight day, the day of his new beginning, the last part of the purification ritual took place at the heart of the camp, the tabernacle. The healed leper needed to repeat the shaving and washing he did on day one, and bring three lambs (two male and one female) and a log of oil to the priest. The first male lamb was sacrificed as a guilt or trespassing offering, the other male lamb as a burnt offering, and the female lamb as a purification offering. At the last offer, also a grain offering was offered. Why the healed leper needed to offer the sin, burnt and grain offering is easy to understand. During their period of absence they would inevitably have committed unintentional sin, for which atonement was necessary. The burnt and grain offereings would have expressed their desire to dedicate themselves and their work to God once more.

But why the guilt offering? The guilt or trespass offering was also the first sacrifice to be offered on the day of purification. The guilt offering was required for specific sins that had to do with breaking faith with God or with one’s neighbours. In what way had the healed person done this? Does the guilt element imply that the illness was caused by sin? Could be, but more likely is that the guilt offering was required, not because the illness was caused by sin, but because the illness resulted in sin, especially the sin of not giving to God his due. Sick people who had been excluded from the camp would have been unable to render God the devotion of which He is worthy. So there were duties thay had failed to do, for which the guilt offering could make restitution. It compensated God for the loss of tithes, sacrifices and other offerings that had been missed during the period of uncleanness. Another reason for a guilt or trespassing offering was if a person transgressed against a holy property. The divine image the person bore had been marred by disease.1

The ritual involving the guilt or trespass offering entails applying the blood to the person being cleansed. The blood is applied to the right ear lobe, the right thumb and the right big toe. The oil is applied to the same places as the blood after it was sprinkled seven times before the Lord and that what was left, was poured on his head. By this atonement - right standing before God - would be made for the cleansed person. This procedure is similar to how Aaron and his sons were originally purified and consecrated for priestly service (Lev 8:22-29). Ears, hands and feet are dedicated anew to the Lord, marking the transition of the person from one state to a radically different one - from the domain of death to the realm of life. Cleansed people are not only put back in right standing with God, are not only purified from all sin and guilt, and do not only signal their confidence that God accepts them by their offering of voluntary sacrifices; they are also recommissioned as servants of the Lord to fulfil an active role of obedience among God’s covenant people.1

When someone was poor (Lev 14:21-32), you could replace the two lambs used for a burnt offering and a purification offering with pigeons, but even the poor needed the blood of the lamb.

The blood of Jesus cleanses

Jesus, our High Priest, goes out to meet the one who is unclean outside the camp. He meets us on our own place of unworthiness and helplessness. We do not need to work ourselves up to a point of special consecration or feeling in order to receive the divine blessing, we only need to turn to our High Priest and put ourselves in His hands. The moment we do this, we are healed of our uncleanness.

The two birds represent the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is the basis of our cleansing. His blood on the cross is what cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7), and the life giving resurrection. He died for us, so that we can die with Him and be set free under His blood. We are pronounced clean by the blood of Jesus, so that we can live among God’s people and partake in the blessings of His covenant. As Son of God He healed our leprosy, and as High Priest He declared us healed and cleansed us from the consequences of our sins and impurities which led us to death. Lev 16 dealt with the consequences of our defilement, where Lev 14 deals with the cleansing of the defilement itself. Both are ‘fixed’ by the blood.

When we understand what Jesus has done for us, our lives should change! We wash ourselves, putting away all filthiness of the old life, this is what baptism is about.2 We shave everything off, everything that could be a figure of our old life we cut off and lay aside. We can now enter the camp.

We are resored and dedicated by the blood of the lamb on the ear, thumb and toe. Everything that we receive, do and where we go are redeemed and consecrated by His blood, and by His Spirit. The Spirit takes control of everything we do and ensures us of His abiding presence and power. And even then there is more oil, there is infinitely more of Him awaiting us. Once wounded, now healed, soldiers, recommissioned to active service. We are accepted by and through the blood and the Spirit as children of the Most High John 1:12-13, Gal 3:26, 1 John 3:1. We can draw near to Him again (Hebrews 10:19-22), since we are cleansed from our impurities.

Right response

The only right response to this cleansing can be found in the text in Luke. Of the ten lepers that Jesus heals, only one returned to Him to worship Him, not privately but out in the open, loud, so that everybody could hear what Jesus had done. The other nine thought more highly of their cure from leprosy than of Him who had healed them. They had faith, for obeying Jesus before they saw that they were healed. Faith without Jesus is blind faith. We need both Jesus’ power and faith for us to be healed and saved. The Samaritan was not only healed of his disease, but his spirit was also healed. He received salvation.

Is your faith accompanied by gratitude?

Where are you dwelling? Are you still outside the camp waiting to be healed? Are you healed but not cleansed? Are you satisfied inside the camp at the front of your tent? Or are you recomissioned as an active servant to the Lord?

Bibliography

1 Tidball, D. (2005). The Message of Leviticus: Free to Be Holy (A. Motyer & D. Tidball, Eds.). Inter-Varsity Press. 2 Bell, J. S., ed. (2019). Ancient Faith Study Bible. Holman Bibles. 3 Simpson, A. B. (1992). Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy (Vol. 1). Wingspread Publishers. 4 Heiser, M.S. Naked Bible Podcast Episode 75 Macalister, A. (1911–1912). LEPROSY. In J. Hastings, J. A. Selbie, A. B. Davidson, S. R. Driver, & H. B. Swete (Eds.), A Dictionary of the Bible: Dealing with Its Language, Literature, and Contents Including the Biblical Theology: Vols. I–V. Charles Scribner’s Sons; T. & T. Clark. Macalister, A. (1915). Leper, Leprosy. In J. Orr, J. L. Nuelsen, E. Y. Mullins, & M. O. Evans (Eds.), The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (Vols. 1–5). The Howard-Severance Company. Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). Leprosy, Leper. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 2, pp. 1323–1325). Baker Book House. Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., Whitehead, M. M., Grigoni, M. R., & Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible. Lexham Press.