Leviticus 14:10-32

The second act of cleansing took place before the altar of burnt offerings and restored the former leper to fellowship with the sanctuary and God. First the leper was to offer a trespass offering (Leviticus 14:12). This offering compensated God for all the sacrifices, tithes, and firstfruits that the afflicted person could not present during his uncleanness. [Note: Wenham, The Book . . ., p. 210.] Another view is that the law prescribed a trespass offering because some sickness resulted from sin (cf. Numbers 12:9-15; 2 Kings 5:27; 2 Chronicles 26:17-21). [Note: Milgrom, Cult and . . ., p. 80.] The priest then applied blood from this sacrifice to the ear, hand, and foot of the former leper symbolizing the sanctification of his hearing, serving, and walking by the atoning blood. The priest then consecrated the oil to God by sprinkling it seven times before the Lord. He next applied it to the leper’s ear, hand, foot, and head representing his anointing with the power and gifts of God’s Spirit. Then the priest made sin, burnt, and meal offerings. The sin offering cleansed the sanctuary, the burnt offering brought reconciliation and represented rededication, and the meal offering was a pledge of allegiance.

"The priests were the public health officers, but they served in their priestly capacity. Israel was a holy nation, and even her cleansing from sickness was done with religious ceremony. Sickness was symbolic of sin, and even now it should not be forgotten that sickness and death are part of God’s curse on the sin of Adam and his race. Therefore, cleansing the diseased person required sacrifices (cf. Luke 5:12-15)." [Note: Harris, p. 582.]

"The LORD provided the way for someone restored to health to enter full participation in the covenant community through the ritual of sacrificial atonement. . . .

"Christians do not have such a ritual, but they can learn something from the principle. Any time they are healed and restored to full participation in life and worship, it is appropriate to offer the sacrifice of praise, even a thank offering (Hebrews 13:15). They should at least acknowledge that it is God who has given them life and they will not now die (Psalms 118:17), that they have been restored to life for the purpose of serving and praising God (Isaiah 38:9-20), that their restoration from sickness is a foretaste of how in some glorious future day they will be set free like a bird from all physical diseases and distress when the curse is lifted, and that all this was made possible through the shed blood of Christ." [Note: Ross, pp. 291-92.]