Read Leviticus 14 and 15 at Bible Gateway.
Lev 14 and 15 Hebrew paragraph divisions:
Lev 14:1-20 {s} The law of cleansing for leprosy that has been healed
Lev 14:21-32 {p} The law of cleansing for leprosy that has been healed for the poor
Lev 14:33-57 {p} The law of leprosy in a house
Lev 15:1-15 {s} The law for bodily discharges
Lev 15:16-18 {p} The law for emissions of semen
Lev 15:19-24 {s} The law for menstrual impurity
Lev 15:25-33 {p} The law for a hemorrhage of impurity
Today’s reading concludes a chiastic structure begun several chapters ago:
Lev 12:1-15:33 chiastic structure:
1a) Lev 12:1-8 {p} The law for a woman’s flow of blood following childbirth;
1b) Lev 13:1-14:9 {p+p+s+p+sx3+p} The law for determining leprosy in a man or garment + the living bird;
central axis) Lev 14:10-32 {s+p} The atonement for cleansing from leprosy;
2b) Lev 14:33-57 {p} The law for determining leprosy in a house + the living bird;
2a) Lev 15:1-33 {s+p+s+p} The law for bodily discharges + a woman’s flow of blood.
Now all of this detail might seem mind numbing, but what we are reading is a living breathing picture of the gospel of grace in Jesus Christ our Lord! Follow with me:
The leprous man must dwell alone outside the camp, and cry, “Unlcean! Unclean!” whenever anyone came near. We have seen this same picture of exile from family, home, and even the earth, from the opening chapters of Genesis. By comparison of like themes (one of the teaching tools of Scripture), Scripture is showing us that the leprous man is suffering the same state as the fallen, unrighteous, sinful man.
Now leprosy is a fatal disease. But it does not kill in one day. Where have we heard this before? In the day that Adam ate the fruit, he would die. But he did not die in one day. In the mean time, Adam began dying until the day he died, and so the leprous man begins dying until the day he dies. In other words, Adam was a walking, breathing dead man. So also, the leprous man is a walking, breathing dead man.
What is Scripture showing us? Beloved, until the day the Anointed One (Messiah) makes atonement to cleanse us from our sin, to cleanse us from our uncleanness that leads to death, we are walking, breathing dead men, and all on the face of the earth, are walking, breathing dead men, needing the atonement of the blood of the Lamb to cleanse them from their death!
All of these chapters teaching on uncleanness, paint pictures of uncleanness arising from death. A woman’s flow of blood is also a picture of death, because the life is in the blood (Gen 9:4). When a woman suffers loss of blood, she is suffering loss of life (i.e., death), and becomes unclean by it.
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