This is the law, &c.— These verses contain a recapitulation of this and the former chapter, which, however they may be despised by some, yet discover to us the goodness of God towards the Israelites, whom he had adopted for his peculiar people; and therefore he took care to give them precepts about every thing which might contribute, in any degree, to the regulation of their manners, and to their payment of an exact obedience to him. And who does not see, that, by these external rites and ceremonies, a moral lesson is taught us, admonished as we are hereby to keep pure consciences, void of offence both towards God and man, in a strict observance of all the rules of our most holy religion? This is, as it were, the voice of God to us; touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you. 2 Corinthians 6:17. The leprosy has been considered by some of the greatest writers as emblematical of vice, and of the various degrees of pollution which it occasions in the human mind: in which application of it, some commentators, especially Procopius Gazeus, and Hesychius priest of Jerusalem, have been very copious. Among our writers, many hints on this subject will be found in Ainsworth and Parker, but particularly in M'Ewen on the Types, an abstract of whose observations, for the sake of the spiritual reader, I shall give at the conclusion of this chapter. It must be acknowledged, that nothing can give us a more loathsome and disgusting idea of vice, nor, at the same time, can any thing more beautifully point out the grand remedy for all human corruption, even the blood of Christ and the sanctification of his Spirit, than the ceremonies which God has so particularly enjoined for the purification of the leper. Upon which we cannot but observe, that, if the leprosy (which was an involuntary evil, and, considered as such, defiled not the soul, yet) separated those who were infected with it from the intercourse and society of men, certainly they, who live in the foul practice of vice, can never be reputed members of the church, nor have any communion with God and the faithful, while they continue in such a state. And once more, if ceremonial defilement was so odious, how much more abominable is the filthiness of flesh and spirit in the eyes of a holy God, and how much need have we to cleanse ourselves from these, that we may be vessels meet for the Master's use!
A review of the law of the leper.
The law of the leper, which is delivered by the Hebrew lawgiver in all its minute particulars, is, indeed, a portion of sacred writ that we are apt to skim over with a heedless glance, supposing that very little instruction can be derived from such antiquated usages as were to be observed about the discovery, the separation, and the cleansing of the infected Israelite. One is apt to wonder at the distemper itself, which infected not only the bodies of men, but their garments and houses; and to be no less surprised, that the Heavenly Majesty should condescend to give such minute directions about the symptoms of the leprosy, and the manner of its cleansing. But when we consider that almost every thing about the typical nation was figurative, their diseases not excepted, perhaps we may cease to wonder, and willingly acknowledge, that here, as in other ancient rites, the body is of Christ.
The leprosy was in itself only a natural evil: it was inflicted, however, oftentimes by the immediate hand of the Lord, as the punishment of sin; as in the case of Miriam, Gehazi, and king Uzziah. That it was always, or generally, an indication of flagrant guilt, we would by no means presume to advance. But the unhappy patient, who was seized with that hateful malady, was by the divine law excluded from the cheerful society of men, and from access to the tabernacle of God, till it should please God to restore him, and the symptoms of recovery were perceived by the priest, by whom the sentence was pronounced. But let us briefly consider the history.
Was the Almighty displeased with the leprosy? was his indignation against the poor leper? Nay; he despises no man for the affliction of his body, however loathsome. A Lazarus covered with sores, and a Job with biles, are the objects of his infinite love; while the most wealthy sinner who wears the finest purple, is a vile person in his eyes. Sin is that loathsome disease, and the sinner that abominable leper, here described. "Behold, I am vile, I am a man of unclean lips, I abhor myself," is the language of the convinced soul. (Job 40:4; Job 42:6. Isaiah 6:5.) A sow wallowing in the mire, a dog returning to his vomit, and a sepulchre exhaling the stench of a putrefying carcase, are not greater nuisances to the sense, than the soul that lies in sin, to the pure eyes of God. Sin is that abhorred leprosy which spreads its dire contagion far and wide, infecting all the duties which the sinner can perform, and all the comforts which he tastes; for "to him that is defiled, and unbelieving, is nothing pure." Titus 1:15. Beware how you approach the society of the wicked, a thousand times more infectious than the company of the filthiest leper. O my soul, be not united to the assembly of those who are the workers of iniquity, if thou wouldst keep the commandments of thy God!—He who was infected with the typical leprosy, was not only in danger of defiling those with whom he conversed, but the very garments he wore, and the house in which he dwelt. But sin has subjected all creatures to the bondage of corruption. Therefore it is revealed, "the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and all these things shall be dissolved;" as the infected garment was burned with fire, and the infected house demolished from its very foundation. The leper under the law was excluded from the society of men; and when the distemper came to a great height, or infected the head, he was to use the signals of deepest mourning: but the leprosy of sin excludes the miserable soul from all intercourse with God, communion with angels, fellowship with Jesus, society with the spirits of just men, and access to the heavenly Jerusalem, where nothing that is defiled can enter. O dismal solitude! O terrible separation! With what tears shall it be deplored! What tokens of mourning are deep enough to express the melancholy state!—And, alas! we speak not of a malady which is rarely to be found. It is hereditary to all the sons of Adam without exception; for by nature "they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doth good, no not one." Psalms 53:3.
But let us attend to the rites of purification.—When it pleased God that the leprosy was removed, the leper was brought to the priest, or rather the priest to the leper: and when, upon a narrow scrutiny, it appeared that the cure was really wrought, he was pronounced clean after the performance of various ceremonies. Jesus Christ is that Priest to whom the leprous soul is brought, or rather who has condescended to come to us who could not go to him, because we were polluted in our blood without the camp, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. He is come, not merely to cleanse them who are healed, like the legal priest, but to heal them who, without his helping hand, were absolutely incurable.—The Israelite, who was brought for cleansing to the priest, was himself to provide the necessary oblations. But the High Priest of good things to come, demands no such conditions from those who come for healing to their souls: himself has laid out the necessary charges, and has, by the one offering of himself for us, for ever perfected all them that are sanctified. But let us more narrowly attend to the typical sense of the ceremonies of purification.
1st, With respect to the two birds, the cedar-wood, scarlet, and hyssop, &c. What hinders our thinking here of the glorious mysteries of the Gospel, and lifting our thoughts to the purging of our sins by our great High-Priest? The two birds alive and clean, may denote the two Natures of Jesus Christ. The human Nature was put to death, but the Divine Nature was incapable of suffering. By the human Nature he died for our offences: by the Divine Nature he rose again for our justification. The sprinkling instrument of cedar, scarlet, and hyssop, may signify the ordinances of the Gospel, by which the blessings of Christ's death are communicated. The running [or fountain or river] water is the Spirit of Christ, who is always imparted to the heart, when the blood is sprinkled on the conscience. The earthen vessel is an emblem of the ministers of Christ, who, though frail and brittle creatures, and despicable in the eye of the world, and some but of small capacity and size, are entrusted with the invaluable treasure of Gospel-grace, to be dispensed to others. And whereas the priest was to kill one of the birds, this intimates, that "without shedding of blood there is no remission." Hebrews 9:22. He was to dip the living bird in the blood of the dead one; this imports, that the blood of Christ's humanity is, by the hypostatical union, the blood of his divinity or the blood of God, which is the very thing that renders it the blood of atonement. The sprinkling instrument of cedar, scarlet, and hyssop, was to be dipped in the same blood; for all the ordinances and all the means of salvation are sanctified by the blood of Christ alone. In this blood if we may be allowed the expression, must ministers dip their sermons, if they would be profitable to men: and in this blood must Christians dip their good works, if they expect them to be acceptable to God. The sprinkling of the leper seven times, signifies that perfect cleanness, which is by the blood of sprinkling brought into the conscience, and which the royal penitent so pathetically breathes after, "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."—The dismission of the living bird into the open field, may denote the resurrection of the Son of God, or that his divine nature was untouched by death. Or, as the living bird received its liberty when dipped in the blood of the dead one; so we are made to know the power of his resurrection by the fellowship of his sufferings, and may truly say, "Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers." Psalms 124:7. The leper was now required to shave his hair, and wash himself and his clothes in water: which points forth to us this momentous truth, that our being sprinkled by our High-Priest with his blood, does not at all supersede the necessity of cleansing ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. There is no person who partakes this glorious privilege, that endeavours not as his duty to purify himself, to lay aside all superfluity of naughtiness, to put off the old man, and to hate even the garment spotted with the flesh, by having no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.
2nd, On the eighth day the trespass, sin, and burnt offerings, with the fine flour and the oil, were to be offered. The blood of the trespass-offering was to be applied to several of the extreme parts of the leper's body; and, above the blood, the oil was to be applied. These peculiar ceremonies were doubtless very significant: as if the priest had said to the leper, "I put this blood and this oil on your ear, now you are free to hear the word of God: I put them on your thumb, now you may handle any thing, and not defile it: I put them on your toe, now you may go where you please, and men will not avoid your society." But what forbids us to think of greater things? These particular parts of the body may signify the perceptive and executive faculties, in both which we offend, and for both which we need the great propitiation. Was not this the language of that solemn rite? "Now you are made clean, let all your faculties and powers be devoted to the service of God. Let your ears be open to the commands of God. Let the works of your hands be established and accepted by him. Let your footsteps be ordered in his word." The oil that was put upon the blood, most certainly signifies the Holy Ghost, as a spirit of sanctification. By the merit of Christ's blood God forgives all our iniquities; and by the oil of his spirit he heals all our diseases. By the first we are justified; by the second we are sanctified. By the one, sin shall not condemn, to suffer the punishment it deserves; and by the other, it shall not command, to obey the orders it gives. And whereas the remnant of the oil in the priest's hand, was to be poured on the head of him who was cleansed; this most undoubtedly prefigured the shedding of the Holy Ghost abundantly on us through Jesus Christ our Saviour. It is said in one place, "Ye have an unction from the holy One;" 1 John 2:20 and in another, He who hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts." 2 Corinthians 1:21-22.
How impious a part had that Israelite acted, who had contented himself with making application to the physician, without having recourse to the priest! Alas! the balm in Gilead could not supply the place of the sacrificial blood. Nor do they act a less impious part, who resort to their own legal endeavours for the cure of their leprosy of sin, but not to Jesus Christ the High Priest, who stands ready with his hyssop and blood. Can the rivers of Damascus compare with the waters of Israel? Bring us, O Lord, to the Jordan of thy grace for the cleansing of these leprous souls! "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make us clean. O sprinkle us with hyssop, and we shall be whiter than the snow."