Leviticus 15:1-33
WE NOW pass from leprosy to other defilements. They indicate the sad and shameful effects of sin. They might not be so serious as leprosy, nevertheless they called for cleansing.
To no other nation but Israel had God taken such pains to show where the human race is through sin. If God Himself did not teach us through His Word, we would never learn the truth as to man’s shameful fall and of the effects of sin upon all Adam’s children. Israel learned it through the law; “through the law is the knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20); however, through Christ and His cross we learn in the fullest and most perfect way what sin is in all its loathesomeness and hatefulness to God.
Man is not as God created him; he has fallen, and here we read how God instructed the Israelite of old to judge his state. It was not pure and sinless nature as it came from the hand of God, but nature ruined and unclean.
Human standards might be well enough for other nations, for the world around us, but an Israelite was to submit to the God of Israel regulating the entire life of His earthly people, both public and prate. It was impossible for the Israelite to avoid these terms, nor would the godly wish to do so, but would welcome them because they were from the Lord Himself.
These cases of physical uncleanness speak to us of a deeper evil. The Lord said to the multitude, “Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man, but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.” Matt. 15:11. And he went on to tell His disciples, “Those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart; and they defile the man.” v. 18.
Every case demanded purifying. The Jew was to use water, but to us cleansing is through the washing of water by the Word, the water that flowed from Christ in death, as we read in John 19 and 1 John 5.
Some of these things mentioned could not be prevented and were even necessary; still the Word of God (like the water) needs to be constantly applied to all our ways. One might have an infirmity which he cannot help or prevent, but still he needs the application of the Word and the death of Christ lest his infirmity be a means of his getting out of communion with the Lord.
Seven days, a complete term, was necessary for cleansing. The man’s clothes were to be washed and his person bathed in running water. Then on the eighth day he was to take two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, and come before the Lord. Rich and poor alike were to bring the same. One little bird was offered as the sin offering, and the other as a burnt offering. One was to put away the evil and the other to impart full acceptance in all the worthiness of Christ. Thus the day of resurrection was the day of deliverance, and defilement was a thing of the past, but not without recalling to us Christ, the One great sacrifice.
In that soon coming day Israel will rejoice to sing, “Bless the Lord, O my soul,... who healeth all thy diseases” (Psa. 103:2,3); and we, His heavenly people, called on high, shall sing His praise in brighter and better scenes, where sin can never come.
ML-04/16/1972