Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:
Then shall the priest command to take for him ... two birds alive and clean. This first step in the purifying course was toward a return to the camp and a re-union with the 'holy nation.' Tsipaariymх (H6833), small birds. Tsipowr (H6833) signifies a sparrow (Psalms 84:4); whence Jerome, in the Vulgate, renders the word 'sparrows' here; and the Septuagint interprets it in the same manner in five places of the Psalms; also in Ecclesiastes 12:4; Lamentations 3:52. But in the present passage the Septuagint translates it by, ornithia, 'little birds;' and it is evident that the word is to be taken in this generic sense, from their being specified as 'clean'-a condition that would have been altogether superfluous to mention in reference to sparrows.] The law did not specify any particlar species of birds to be used on such occasions; and therefore the presumption is, that all birds, wild or domestic, were allowable, provided they belonged to a class reckoned "clean."
Cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. х 'erez (H730), which occurs only in this passage of the Pentateuch, is the name given in the later books to the cedar of Lebanon (1 Kings 6:18; Psalms 29:5; Psalms 92:13; Psalms 104:16; Isaiah 2:13; Ezekiel 31:3).] But the cedrus Libani cannot be meant here, because that famous tree was not a native of the Sinaitic desert. Since the word 'erez (H730) is used in a wide sense to denote any conifer (Celsius, 'Hierobotanicon,' 1:, 106), it has been supposed by many that the juniper (juniper oxycedrus) is referred to, as several varieties of that shrub are found growing abundantly in the clefts and crevices of the Sinaitic mountains. In support of this view, Dr. Wilson states that in Petra he heard the name Araz given to the mountain juniper, 'which, though only a bacciferous pine, is more like a cedar in miniature than a coniferous pine' ('Lands of the Bible,' vol. 2:, p. 392: cf. Lady Calcott's 'Scripture Herbal,' p. 92). [There is reason to believe, however, that the word is used in this connection specifically, not generically, not only because the Septuagint renders it xulon Kedrinon, but because cedar wood was applied by the ancient Egyptians in circumstances analogous to those of the leper's cleansing.]
Cedar wood, which that people imported from Syria, was employed by them, as Wilkinson states ('Ancient Egypt.,' vol. 3:, ch. 9:, p. 169), not only for ornamental purposes, but for coffins, doors, and boxes; and Pliny, quoted by Knobel ('Comment.,' in loco), says that they prepared it for ointments in cases of elephantiasis, ulcers, and other disorders. This Egyptian practice suggests the origin of its use in the purification of the leper; and the small quantity of it-showing the rarity and costliness of the exotic in the desert-affords a presumption that this is the correct view.
"Scarlet" х uwshniy (H8144) towla`at (H8438), woven crimson; Septuagint, kekloosmenon kokkinon, the woven produce of the coccus insect] - a piece of scarlet cloth or thread, and "hyssop" х wª'eezob (H231); Septuagint, hussoopon]. The Hebrew word commonly translated "hyssop" in the Bible but which the Arabic rabbis identify with 'sahtar,' is the wild marjoram, an aromatic plant of the labiate order, resembling our hyssop. This plant loves a dry and rocky soil, and is often seen growing up in the midst of old ruins (cf. 1 Kings 5:13).
In many ceremonies symbolical of purification cedar wood and 'eezob (H231) were employed together, as these joined as it were the two extremes of the vegetable world (cf. Numbers 19:6) (Munk's 'Palestine'). A stick of cedar wood was bound to a bunch of hyssop by a scarlet ribbon, and the living bird was to be so attached to it that when they dipped the branches in the water, the tail of the bird might also be moistened, but not the head nor the wings, that it might not be impeded in its flight when let loose.