Leviticus 14’s Love Story: Act Two: A Homecoming’s Fresh Start

How startling to discover how so beautiful a romance could be tucked inside a book with such an off-putting reputation, Leviticus, filled with painstaking details of sacrifices and priestly protocols. Boring. Confusing. Irrelevant. Chapter 14, however, though equally meticulous in its priestly protocols for the leper on the day of his cleansing, when properly understood, blooms into a charming play that sweeps us off our feet into Jesus’ story!

The performances of Acts One and Two of this play are a choreographed dance of symbols showcasing a going home motif. These earthly symbols point to a spiritual reality. Our Lord Jesus is the master storyteller who weaves the leper’s going home drama within the tapestry of sacrificial love. In Act One Day One the priest trekked outside the camp to the expectant leper. He arrived not empty-handed. Two caged birds were brought along. Act One’s clay pot with living water symbolizes Jesus, the God With Us fragile man filled with the Spirit. “For he was crucified in weakness,” a jar of clay. One living bird perished, its blood added to the living water in the clay pot. After being dipped in the blood and water, the other living bird was released to fly home.

Act One is forward-looking. The freed bird and leper were one, united by the blood and water, one baptized in it, the other by hyssop branch sprinkled with it. The stage prop of cedarwood, bound to the hyssop by scarlet yarn, is a symbol of God’s home. Our play moves from cleansing (the hyssop) to home (the cedarwood). The living bird of Act One continues its story as the leper in Act Two. When the leper watches the bird fly home, it’s God’s pledge of returning home that he must patiently wait seven more days for. The cleansed leper has a choice to make, though. A decision. Will he return to his own tent or will he choose the Lord’s tent as his home? This play takes on immense personal interest when we realize this cleansed leper is you and me. (Note: This leper could have been male or female, but to avoid the clunkiness of saying “he or she” throughout, we’ll keep it “he,” mindful that it’s inclusive of both genders.)

Nowhere else is sacrificial blood and water elucidated in the Old Testament. Like a reservation at the finest table in a fancy restaurant, the blood and water associated with the cleansed leper has been booked to proclaim its very own chapter in the story of Jesus’ love. Only an all-knowing mind from beginning to end like God’s could have foreseen these symbols so perfectly fitted to the blood and water escaping Jesus’ side when pierced by the soldier’s spear. The ancient hymn of Adam’s deep sleep and Eve brought forth from his side coalesced with this funeral dirge of the cross. Our play opens an unexpected curtain on Calvary to unveil a living dove, the new Eve, washed and freed from sin’s bondage to soar to her new home with the new Adam!

Act Two integrates actors and stage props into a beautifully crafted production on going home, back to our original paradise with God in Eden’s garden. More than simply be entertaining, Act Two heralds good news to us about Jesus Christ and His welcoming love story! God is the best playwright ever! Permit the Holy Spirit to invite you into the imaginative Jesus-filled world of Leviticus 14. To this divine romance, elegantly centered in the exile returning home, we now examine. As Act Two unfolds, we’ll discover what this freedom of going home really means!

My teenage sons and I have enjoyed watching the zany antics of the popular YouTube phenomena called Dude Perfect. On their “Wheel Unfortunate” feature on Overtime episodes, the unlucky “winner” spins the wheel, securing for himself a humiliating or grueling consequence. One shameful repercussion was shaving his hair off and another having his eyebrows shaved. It both instances, for the victim it was quite humiliating but for the others gleeful. When I’ve imagined myself in the leper’s shoes, having to shave off both hair and eyebrows, it seemed at first a raw deal. But in meditating on what’s being communicated here, as typical of Scripture, it’s more than skin deep.

And on the seventh day he shall shave off all his hair from his head, his beard, and his eyebrows. He shall shave off all his hair, and then he shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and he shall be clean.

Leviticus 14:9 ESV

Shaved head, shaved beard, shaved eyebrows, washed clothes, and washed body set within this purification ritual symbolize repentance. This ritual is a theatrical rendition of what repentance is all about. Everything about the leper’s appearance suddenly looks different, peculiar even. So it is with a life of repentance. The world thinks “it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot,” as the King James Version puts it (1Pe 4:4).

What does shaving one’s head signify? Comparing it to the shaving of the head of a Nazarite yields helpful insights. The Nazarite took a special vow of consecration to the Lord, as cataloged in Numbers 6. One of the vow’s three stipulations involved not cutting his hair. The uncut hair was called “his separation to God is on his head” (6:7). If he broke his vow by touching a dead body (another stipulation), he had to shave off his hair, starting his dedication all over again from the beginning (6:9). Similarly, when that vow came to an end, the Nazarite cut off his locks and offered them to the Lord in the fire of the peace offering (6:18). So the Nazarite’s hair functioned as a perpetual sign to everybody around that his life was completely devoted to the Lord.

In the case of the leper, the inverse was true. Unlike the Nazarite’s hair indicating a life consecrated to the Lord, the leper’s hair has been associated with his unclean and isolated way of life seen by everybody around. To shave the Nazarite’s head meant an end of the vow and starting all over again. A new beginning. So the shaving of the cleansed leper’s hair—the head, the beard, eyebrows (I’m assuming “all” hair included shaving off the chest wig, too!)—in context of repentance, also suggests starting over again. Saying goodbye to all his hair symbolized saying goodbye to that old life of uncleanness and saying hello to a brand new life with God and God’s people! Behold, old things have passed away, all things have become new! That’s repentance!

As this ceremony progresses, we see similarities to the ceremony a Levite undertook to be consecrated for priestly service. Starting here, both Levite and leper washed their body. What’s different, though, is that the leper also washed his clothes; the Levite didn’t. Instead, the Levite was given a new tunic, a uniform, in which to perform his tabernacle duties. What’s even more notable is that the cleansed leper had a much more thorough cleansing than did the priest. The leper went further than just washing his clothes and bathing his body. He also shaved off all his hair. The Levite didn’t. Act Two will show us that with deeper consecration comes a deeper intimacy and access to the Lord!

Day Seven marked repentance, a fresh start on life. First, new life with God’s people (Lev 14:8). Then, new life with God Himself (Lev 14:11). Now although repentance can take you to a fresh start, it’s mute about what that new life really looks like. We need Day Eight for that. So after we repent and consecrate our lives to Jesus, what’s next?

And on the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish, and a grain offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, and one log of oil.

Leviticus 14:10 ESV

The eighth day is the first day of a new week. The eighth day corresponds with that day of new creation. Jesus was resurrected on the eighth day. The eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles was called “the greatest day” (Jn 7:37). So, too, here. It’s the greatest day for the cleansed leper. The “log of oil” is the climax of this ritual. It deserves its own treatment, so we’ll skip it for now and expound on it in the next blog.

And the priest who cleanses him shall set the man who is to be cleansed and these things before the Lord, at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

Leviticus 14:11 ESV

The entrance to the tent of meeting was a door. Peṯaḥ (peh’-thakh) literally is an opening, most commonly translated “door,” occasionally “gate” or “entrance.” It was a beautifully woven tapestry—“blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, embroidered with needlework” (Ex 26:36). Notice how “before the Lord” points to personal presence. In a different context, but applicable here, Jesus said, “I am the door.” This door before which the leper stood typified the Son of God, each colorful hue highlighting a different facet of His glory and mighty works. Standing before this colorful door, the scarlet awakened memories from the journey’s start. He’d seen scarlet yarn before. Here’s the flashback from Act One:

[The priest] shall take the live bird with the cedarwood and the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, and dip them and the live bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water.

Leviticus 14:6 ESV

Enter, for a moment, into the shoes (or sandals) of this leper. He’s standing at attention, viewing this scarlet yarn in the tabernacle door. He’d seen scarlet yarn on the hyssop in the priest’s hand sprinkling him with blood. The scarlet threads, of course, represent the blood of sacrifice. My first thoughts were that this scarlet yarn on hyssop was just a symbol of blood to help make sense of the tabernacle, such as those scarlet threads in the tabernacle door’s tapestry. But as I’ve meditated on it in context of the play and the heart of God in the story line of Scripture, it’s much more than just a tabernacle cross reference. This didn’t jump out at me right away, especially since the text doesn’t draw specific attention to it.

The tabernacle door was woven of various colors—blue, purple and scarlet. The leper is seeing not only an invitation to enter into the tabernacle but an invitation to explore what those colors mean about God. Scarlet is crucially important, the forgiveness of sins being the foundation of hope and an eternal covenant. Without the crimson blood of Jesus, we have no access to the presence of God. Thank God for the blood! But scarlet is not all there is to Jesus. This leper is being invited to learn of His blues and purples, too. Scarlet is just the beginning.

“He shall take the live bird with the cedarwood and the scarlet yarn and the hyssop.” Of all the stage props (except for the oil), the scarlet yarn joining hyssop to cedarwood has been the most precious to me. It conveys a world of warmth with such simplicity! Previously I noted how the hyssop functioned just fine as a sprinkling agent without the cedarwood. On the night of Passover, the Israelites all used hyssop to sprinkle the blood of the Lamb on their doorpost. No cedar was involved. So why did the Lord say to include cedarwood?

The attachment of cedarwood to the hyssop preaches such good news! Cedar was all over the temple, the Lord’s home, a puzzle piece in the going home motif of our play. Cedar imaginatively transports us back to the Garden of Eden planted with stately and fragrant cedar trees. So the cedarwood, an emblem of God’s dwelling place, is bound to hyssop, the instrument of cleansing for us. That which binds together our cleansing to our dwelling with God is the scarlet yarn, symbolizing the blood, the death of Jesus. God has bound us to His home through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus! This binding is not bondage but security. We are safely held fast by Christ’s blood to abide permanently in the Father’s house. The same binding together of sacrifice and home is depicted in a grandiose way in Revelation 4 and 5. The slain Lamb stands in the midst of the throne of God, now a dwelling place for the myriads of angels and the multitude from every tribe, tongue, language and nation.

The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on the lobe 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.

Leviticus 14:14 ESV

Why just the ear, thumb and toe? There’s a fancy word metonymy that sums up beautifully what’s happening here with these specific body parts. This is a literary device and commonplace in daily speech where one part signifies the whole. When we say, “He bought a new set of wheels,” we mean he bought a car. “Wheels” represents the whole car. Similarly, a part of a person’s body can represent a property, virtue or quality of the whole person. When Scripture speaks of the hand (or arm) of the Lord, it’s drawing our attention to God’s mighty power. So our ear, thumb and toe represent properties or characteristics. We’ll elaborate on these in connection with oil next time.

It’s significant to note that the blood applied to his right ear, right thumb, and right big toe mirrored the Levite’s consecration to be a priest (Ex 29:19-20; Lev 8:24). This hyperlinking with the priest informs us that this cleansed leper is being consecrated to the Lord. The cleansed leper’s ear, thumb and toe anointing was like the priest’s yet unlike the priest’s. But as we’ll see, the cleansed leper’s consecration transcended that of the priests’. It was qualitatively superior on many levels!

Now we’ll jump ahead to the poor man’s offering, described in part as follows:

also two turtledoves or two pigeons, whichever he can afford. The one shall be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering.

Leviticus 14:22 ESV

The two clean birds of Act One are expanded upon on here on Day Eight. Act One omitted what kind of birds they were, only that they had to be “clean.” Act Two informs us about the poor man’s offering consisting of either turtledoves or pigeons. Some English translations (like this one) sound like two dissimilar birds, but in the Hebrew it’s clear that both are doves but of two varieties. “Pigeons” is yônâ (yo-naw’), what we visualize for the white dove, like the dove (yônâ) that Noah released that came back with the plucked olive leaf. Since Leviticus doesn’t prescribe any other birds besides doves for bird offerings, presumably the live birds of Act One were doves. So the live bird that emerged from the blood and water baptismal in the clay pot was a dove! A white dove was freed to fly home.

As developed last time, this play forms a picturesque organic unity with John 19 and Genesis 2, identifying this dove as the new Eve, the bride of Jesus who is the new Adam. Five times in Song of Songs the bridegroom affectionate relishes the bride using dove (yônâ) imagery.

Behold, you are beautiful, my love;

behold, you are beautiful;

your eyes are doves. (1:15)

O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,

in the crannies of the cliff,

let me see your face,

let me hear your voice,

for your voice is sweet,

and your face is lovely. (2:14)

Behold, you are beautiful, my love,
behold, you are beautiful!
Your eyes are doves
behind your veil. (4:1)

I slept, but my heart was awake.

A sound! My beloved is knocking.

“Open to me, my sister, my love,

my dove, my perfect one,

for my head is wet with dew,

my locks with the drops of the night.” (5:2)

My dove, my perfect one, is the only one,
the only one of her mother,
pure to her who bore her. (6:9)

These birds of Act Two as the poor man’s offering sheds additional light on Act One. The only offering designated for the clay pot was these clean birds. No rich man’s offering of lambs could be used. We all approach a holy God on a level playing field. Each of us is spiritually bankrupt and poverty stricken when it comes to our sins against God. Without exception every one of us had a trillion dollar debt of sin we could never repay. We desperately needed that poor man’s sacrifice, underscoring our beggarliness as lepers. We who were destitute were made rich by the sacrifice of Jesus! “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2Co 9:8).

The poor man’s offering repeats the ceremony of the rich man (14:10-19). The Lord’s play then ends rather abruptly.

This is the law for him in whom is a case of leprous disease, who cannot afford the offerings for his cleansing.”

Leviticus 14:32 ESV

The leper, having been cleansed with blood and anointed with oil, is left standing before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle. What’s next? Our two act play ends much like Jesus’ famous parable of the prodigal son. Will the elder brother come inside to join his father’s party? Will the cleansed leper, standing before the tabernacle door, come inside? Will you, the cleansed leper, go inside? Which tent will you choose? How close do you want to be with Jesus? Only you or I can answer this unresolved tension.

What’s next? The ultimate answer had to wait centuries until the Christ came. The cleansed leper, unless a Levite by bloodline, was restricted from ministering in the holy place like the priest could. The cleansed leper, although anointed like a priest to be at home in the tabernacle, could not minister like that until Jesus came and died. After all, the death of the dove to free the other dove for home looked forward across the centuries to Jesus’ death on the cross. The good news for us is we don’t have to wait. Christ has come.

Next time we will unpack Act Two’s dramatic climax of the olive oil applied to the cleansed leper. No other figure in the Old Testament had more oil at one time than the cleansed leper. The Messiah figure, of course, as a composite of many pictures—king, priest, prophet, tabernacle, Jacob’s rock pillow, etc.—certainly had more oil. And this is to be expected, for the Lord Jesus had the oil of joy more than His companions (Heb 1:9), He to whom the Father gave the Spirit without measure (Jn 3:34). I’d thought I’d really understood olive oil as a type of the Holy Spirit, but never pondered why oil, and not something else, became that symbol. Having come to understand it now has been a game changer! The Lord flipped me from my headstand to right me on my feet to view its awe-inspiring faith potential that I’d unwittingly missed all these years. What an amazing perspective it is! I am super excited to share these amazing insights the Lord has shown me what this oil meant to the original hearers and what it’s symbolic prominence in this play means as the Holy Spirit given to us!