Scripture: Leviticus 14:49-53
Observation:
After a struggle to get through a very repetitious passage on leprosy, this passage sticks out as the image of Hope and restoration - I give thsi commentary as the fruit of my looking deeper into what this image means:
The victim offers the two birds (vv. 4–7). This unusual ritual pictures to us what Christ did to save a lost world. Birds don’t belong in clay jars; they belong in the heavens. Jesus came down from heaven and became a man (John 3:13, 31; 6:38, 42). As it were, He put Himself into a clay jar so that He might die for our sins. The running water over which the bird was killed reminds us of the Holy Spirit of God (John 7:37–39), for Jesus offered Himself to God “through the eternal Spirit” (Heb. 9:14). When the blood-stained living bird was turned loose, it pictured our Lord’s resurrection; for the resurrection of Christ is as much a part of the Gospel message as is His death (1 Cor. 15:1–4). Only a living Savior can save dead sinners.on the living bird, but it also had to be applied to the healed leper. Using the hyssop (Ex. 12:22; Ps. 51:7), the priest sprinkled the blood on the leper seven times and then pronounced the leper clean.2 “Without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). How did the victim know he was clean? The priest told him so! How do believers today know that God has saved us? He tells us so in His Word! No matter how the leper felt or what he looked like, God said he was clean, and that settled it.
2 2. The number seven shows up frequently in Jewish ceremonies. It symbolizes completeness and fullness. The number eight suggests a new beginning. Wiersbe, Warren W.: Be Holy. Wheaton, Ill. : Victor Books, 1996, c1994, S. Le 14:1
