Context No. 4031 of 4322 · Leviticus

Leviticus 14:8-18: in context

8“He who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and bathe himself in water; and he shall be clean. After that he shall come into the camp, but shall dwell outside his tent seven days. 9It shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows. He shall shave off all his hair. He shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his body in water. Then he shall be clean. 10“On the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without defect, one ewe lamb a year old without defect, three tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering, mixed with oil, and one log of oil. 11The priest who cleanses him shall set the man who is to be cleansed, and those things, before the LORD, at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 12“The priest shall take one of the male lambs, and offer him for a trespass offering, with the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the LORD. 13He shall kill the male lamb in the place where they kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the place of the sanctuary; for as the sin offering is the priest’s, so is the trespass offering. It is most holy. 14The 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, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. 15The priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand. 16The 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. 17The priest shall put some of the rest of the oil that is in his hand on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering. 18The rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed, and the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD.

This passage describes the elaborate ceremony by which a person healed of leprosy was cleansed and restored to the community. There is deep grace in the very existence of this ritual. The leper had been an outcast, cut off from the community and from worship; but God provided a way for the healed leper to be fully restored, washed, atoned for, and welcomed back. God did not leave the outcast outside forever; he made a way home.

And notice a striking detail: the priest put the blood of the offering, and then the oil, on the tip of the man's right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the big toe of his right foot. The atoning blood and the anointing oil were applied to the whole person, ear, hand, and foot, consecrating all of him, what he hears, what he does, where he walks, to God. Two things stand out. God's heart to restore the outcast, bringing back through atonement the one who had been shut out. And the whole-person nature of that restoration; the healed leper was not merely readmitted but consecrated, his whole life set apart for God. There is a picture here of the gospel.

Do I marvel that God makes a way to restore the outcast through atonement, and do I offer my whole self to him, what I hear, what I do, where I walk, consecrated to the God who has cleansed and welcomed me?

Sources

Leviticus 14:14: "The priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and... put it on the tip of the right ear... the thumb of his right hand, and... the big toe of his right foot."
Leviticus 14:18: "The rest of the oil... he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed, and the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD."
Leviticus 14:8: "He who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes... and bathe himself in water; and he shall be clean."