Leviticus 14:7 NIV

The Pulpit Commentary - Leviticus 14:7

And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times. It is not certain whether the seven sprinklings were made upon the forehead of the person to be cleansed, or on the back of his hand. The feathers of the bird and the bunch of hyssop would be specially instrumental in the seven sprinklings. And shall pronounce him clean. Having assured himself that he was healed ( Leviticus 14:3 ), the priest now pronounces him to be clean, he looses as well as binds. It... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Leviticus 14:7

Seven times - The seal of the covenant, expressed in the number seven (compare Leviticus 14:9), was renewed in sprinkling him who, during his leprosy, had lived as an outcast. The details of a restoration to health and freedom appear to be well expressed in the whole ceremony. Each of the birds represented the leper. They were to be of a clean kind, because they stood for one of the chosen race. The death-like state of the leper during his exclusion from the camp was expressed by killing one of... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Leviticus 14:7

Leviticus 14:7. Into the open field The place of its former abode, signifying the taking off that restraint which was laid upon the leper, and that he was restored to free conversation with his neighbours. read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Leviticus 14:1-32

Restoration after healing (14:1-32)A lengthy ritual was laid down for the restoration of a cleansed leper or any other person who had been healed of an infectious skin disease. The ritual lasted more than a week, and began at the place where the person was temporarily living outside the camp (14:1-3; cf. v. 10).The cleansed person, previously ‘dead’ through his disease, symbolized his ‘death’ by killing a bird, symbolized his cleansing by draining the bird’s blood into a bowl of pure water, and... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Leviticus 14:7

seven times. Compare Leviticus 4:6 . 2 Kings 5:10 , 2 Kings 5:14 . App-10 . pronounce him clean = Hebrew make him clean. Figure of speech Metonymy (of Adjunct) = declare him to be clean. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Leviticus 14:1-9

The first act took place outside the camp and restored the formerly unclean person to the fellowship of the other Israelites from whom he had experienced separation because of his skin disease.Clean animals, including clean birds, represented Israel. [Note: Wenham, The Book . . ., p. 208.] Both of the birds used in this ritual evidently symbolized the Israelite who was about to reenter the covenant community. The bird killed probably represented the formerly unclean person whose fate was death... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Leviticus 14:1-32

The ritual cleansing of abnormalities in human skin 14:1-32"If Leviticus 13 is bleak, speaking of separation from the holy presence, Leviticus 14 is full of hope, for in it the sufferer is restored to the covenant community. The Israelite learned even more about the nature of the holy God through these provisions for restoration to fellowship in the community." [Note: Ibid., p. 285.] The procedures described here were not curative but ritual. God prescribed no treatment for the cure of... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Leviticus 14:1-57

The Purification of the Leper. The Leprosy of HousesWhen a leper has been cured of his plague, and has satisfied the priest that his cure is complete, he is required to go through a ceremonial purification before being readmitted to his place in society. The ritual of purification consists of three parts. (1) Two living birds are brought, with a rod of cedar wood, a piece of scarlet wool, and a bunch of hyssop, to the priest, who kills one of the birds over water. The living bird and the cedar... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Leviticus 14:7

(7) And he shall sprinkle.—Having thus dipped the hyssop fastened to the cedar stick into the blood and water, the priest is to sprinkle with it the back of the hand and the forehead of the patient seven times. The seven times symbolised the complete cleansing. (See Leviticus 4:6.) Hence Naaman the leper washed himself seven times in the Jordan (2 Kings 5:10; 2 Kings 5:14).And shall let the living bird loose.—Whereupon the priest not only pronounced the cured man clean and restored to his... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Leviticus 14:1-32

THE CLEANSING OF THE LEPERLeviticus 14:1-32THE ceremonies for the restoration of the leper, when healed of his disease, to full covenant privileges, were comprehended in two distinct series. The first part of the ceremonial took place without the camp, and sufficed only to terminate his condition as one ceremonially dead, and allow of his return into the camp, and his association, though still under restriction, with his fellow Israelites. The second part of the ceremonial took up his case on... read more