Context No. 4306 of 4322 · Leviticus

Leviticus 14:32-42: in context

32This is the law for him in whom is the plague of leprosy, who is not able to afford the sacrifice for his cleansing. 33The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 34“When you have come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put a spreading mildew in a house in the land of your possession, 35then he who owns the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, ‘There seems to me to be some sort of plague in the house.’ 36The priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest goes in to examine the plague, that all that is in the house not be made unclean. Afterward the priest shall go in to inspect the house. 37He shall examine the plague; and behold, if the plague is in the walls of the house with hollow streaks, greenish or reddish, and it appears to be deeper than the wall, 38then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days. 39The priest shall come again on the seventh day, and look. If the plague has spread in the walls of the house, 40then the priest shall command that they take out the stones in which is the plague, and cast them into an unclean place outside of the city. 41He shall cause the inside of the house to be scraped all over. They shall pour out the mortar that they scraped off outside of the city into an unclean place. 42They shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the house.

This law concerns a spreading contamination, a kind of mildew or plague, found in the walls of a house. The priest's response is careful but decisive: he inspects the house, and if the plague is spreading in the walls, he commands that the affected stones be torn out and thrown away outside the city, the walls scraped, and the contaminated material removed, so that the corruption does not spread through the whole house.

What stands out is the decisive removal of the source of contamination. The affected stones could not simply be left in place and painted over; they had to be torn out and carried away before the spreading plague consumed the whole house. The corruption was dealt with at its source, cut out and removed, precisely so that it would not spread further.

Sin and compromise, like a spreading plague, do not stay contained; left in place, they spread through the whole. The wise and painful remedy is to deal decisively with the source, to tear out and remove what is contaminating us before it spreads further, rather than merely covering it over. It is better to cut out the affected part than to let the corruption consume the whole.

When I find the beginnings of corruption or compromise in my life, do I deal decisively with it at its source, tearing out and removing what contaminates me as the plagued stones were removed, rather than merely covering it over and letting it spread through the whole?

Sources

Leviticus 14:40: "Then the priest shall command that they take out the stones in which is the plague, and cast them into an unclean place outside of the city."
Leviticus 14:41: "He shall cause the inside of the house to be scraped all over."
Matthew 5:29: "If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you."