translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: LEV

label: NET study note

text: Twigs of hyssop (probably one or several species of marjoram thymus ), a spice and herb plant that grows out of walls in Palestine (see 1 Kgs 4:33 [ 5:13 HT], HALOT 27 s.v. אֵזוֹב , and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 195), were particularly leafy and therefore especially useful for sprinkling the purifying liquid (cf. vv. 5-7 ). Many of the details of the ritual procedure are obscure. It has been proposed, for example, that the “cedar wood” was a stick to which the hyssop was bound with the crimson material to make a sort of sprinkling instrument (Hartley, 195). In light of the burning of these three materials as part of the preparation of the ashes of the red heifer in Num 19:5-6 , however, this seems unlikely.


text: The reddish color of cedar wood and the crimson colored fabric called for in v. 4 (see the note there, esp. the association with the color of blood) as well as the priestly commands to bring “two live” birds (v. 4 a), to slaughter one of them “over fresh water” (literally “ living water,” v. 5 b), and the subsequent ritual with the (second) “live” bird (vv. 6-7 ) combine to communicate the concept of “life” and “being alive” in this passage. This contrasts with the fear of death associated with the serious skin diseases in view here (see, e.g., Aaron’s description of Miriam’s skin disease in Num 12:12 , “Do not let her be like the dead one when it goes out from its mother’s womb and its flesh half eaten away”). Since the slaughtered bird here is not sacrificed at the altar and is not designated as an expiatory “sin offering,” this ritual procedure probably symbolizes the renewed life of the diseased person and displays it publicly for all to see. It is preparatory to the expiatory rituals that will follow (vv. 10-20 , esp. vv. 18-20 ), but is not itself expiatory. Thus, although there are important similarities between the bird ritual here, the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement ( Lev 16:20-22 ), and the red heifer for cleansing from corpse contamination (), this bird ritual is different in that the latter two constitute “sin offerings” ( Lev 16:5, 8-10 ; Num 19:9, 17 ). Neither of the birds in Lev 14:4-7 is designated or treated as a “sin offering.” Nevertheless, the very nature of the live bird ritual itself and its obvious similarity to the scapegoat ritual suggests that the patient’s disease has been removed far away so that he or she is free from its effects both personally and communally.


text: See the note on Lev 4:3 regarding the term “sin offering.”


text: See the note on Lev 1:3 regarding the “burnt offering.”


text: Once the priest pronounced the house “unclean” everything in it was also officially unclean. Therefore, if they emptied the house of its furniture, etc. before the official pronouncement by the priest those possessions would thereby remain officially “clean” and avoid destruction or purification procedures.


text: Cf. Lev 13:47-59 .


text: Cf. Lev 14:33-53 .


text: Cf. Lev 13:9-28, 43 .


text: Cf. Lev 13:2 .


text: Cf. Lev 13:4, 18-28, 38-39 . For explanations of all these terms for disease in Lev 14:56 see 13:2 .