The procedures described here were not curative but ritual. God prescribed no treatment for the cure of leprosy here, but He explained how the priests and the Israelites could recognize healed skin so formerly afflicted individuals could resume worship in the community.150The ritual involved two acts separated by an interval of seven days.
14:1-9 The first act took place outside the camp and restored the formerly unclean person to the fellowship of the other Israelites from whom he had experienced separation because of his skin disease.
Clean animals, including birds, represent Israel.151Both of the birds used in this ritual evidently symbolized the Israelite who was about to reenter the covenant community. The bird killed probably represented the formerly unclean person whose fate was death but for God's mercy. The bird released stood for the same person cleansed, released from the bondage of his disease, endowed with new life, and at liberty to enter the covenant fellowship again. These two birds served a symbolic function similar to that of the two goats on the Day of Atonement (ch. 16).152
Cedar wood had antiseptic qualities and was slow to decay, so it probably represented the continuance of life. The scarlet color of the thread looked like blood, which symbolized freshness and vitality of life. The hyssop represented purification from the corruption of death since the priests used this spongy plant for purification in Israel's rituals. The blood-water used to sprinkle the individual probably signified life and purification.
14:10-32 The second act of cleansing took place before the altar of burnt offerings and restored the former leper to fellowship with the sanctuary and God. First the leper was to offer a trespass offering (v. 12). This offering compensated God for all the sacrifices, tithes, and firstfruits that the afflicted person could not present during his uncleanness.153Another view is that the law prescribed a trespass offering because some sickness resulted from sin (cf. Num. 12:9-15; 2 Kings 5:27; 2 Chron. 26:17-21).154The priest then applied blood from this sacrifice to the ear, hand, and foot of the former leper symbolizing the sanctification of his hearing, serving, and walking by the atoning blood. The priest then consecrated the oil to God by sprinkling it seven times before the Lord. He then applied it to the leper's ear, hand, foot, and head representing his anointing with the power and gifts of God's Spirit. Then the priest made sin, burnt, and meal offerings. The sin offering cleansed the sanctuary, the burnt offering brought reconciliation and represented rededication, and the meal offering was a pledge of allegiance.
"The priests were the public health officers, but they served in their priestly capacity. Israel was a holy nation, and even her cleansing from sickness was done with religious ceremony. Sickness was symbolic of sin, and even now it should not be forgotten that sickness and death are part of God's curse on the sin of Adam and his race. Therefore, cleansing the diseased person required sacrifices (cf. Luke 5:12-15)."155
