And on the eighth day he shall take two he lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, and three tenth deals of fine flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil.
Two he-lambs ... and one ewe lamb. The second stage in the lustral course now commenced, with a view to the leper's restoration to full fellowship with the Lord: a costlier sacrifice of expiation was required. The purification of the leper was not completed until at the end of seven days after the ceremonial of the birds, and during which, though permitted to come into the camp, he had to tarry abroad-not in his tent, lest some latent remnants of disease about him might infect his family.
Coming daily to appear at the door of the tabernacle with the offerings required, he was presented before the Lord - i:e., before the altar of burnt offering, by the priest that made him clean. And hence, it has always been reckoned among pious people the first duty of a patient newly restored from a long and dangerous sickness to repair to the church to offer his thanksgiving, where his body and soul, in order to be an acceptable offering, must be presented by our High Priest, whose blood alone makes any clean.
The offering was to consist of 3 lambs, 3 tenth deals or decimal parts of an ephah of fine flour: 2 pints 1/10, and one log = 6 egg shells full of pure oil. The victims provided were to be offered in succession (Leviticus 2:1). One of the lambs, along with the log of oil, was for a trespass offering, which properly took the precedence, as the leprosy was a symbol of sin in general, and restitution had, as it were, to be made to God by the leper for his defilement of the camp by his leprosy previous to his expulsion. Both of the articles were waved-this being the only occasion on which that ceremony was observed in a trespass offering; and the reason of the exception was, that the waving implied the symbolical conveyance of the sacrificial gifts to the Lord; so that, as the offerings were a substitute for the offerer, the manner in which they were presented intimated his renewed dedication of himself to the divine service.
It is remarkable that the blood of the trespass offering was applied exactly in the same particular manner to the extremities of the restored leper as that of the ram in the consecration of the priests. The parts sprinkled with this blood were then anointed with oil-a ceremony which is supposed to have borne this spiritual import-that while the blood was a token of forgiveness, the oil was an emblem of healing-as the blood of Christ justifies, the influence of the Spirit sanctifies. Of the other two lambs-the one was to be a sin offering, and the other a burnt offering, which had also the character of a thank offering for God's mercy in his restoration. And this was considered to make atonement 'for him' - i:e., it removed that ceremonial pollution which had excluded him from the enjoyment of religious ordinances, just as the atonement of Christ restores all who are cleansed through faith in His sacrifice to the privileges of the children of God.