Pure And Clean - Leviticus 14

Psalm 51:7

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;

Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Reading through Leviticus 14 can be a fairly dry exercise. It's certainly not overtly relevant and only somewhat intriguing. (As is the case with most of the chapters in Leviticus.) But when you look closely there are some insights to be gained.

A new type of sacrifice is introduced in this chapter.
I don't know the exact title, but it has to do with purification or cleansing. (14:4-7, 14:49-53) There are two birds selected. One bird is sacrificed with the symbolic scarlet yarn, hyssop and cedar wood. (The symbolism of hyssop and atonement are all throughout the Bible.) The other bird is released set free into the wild.

If I try to place myself in the shoes of the person for whom this ritual is performed, it gains much more of my interest. I would have been living outside the community and sick for a length of time. Sort of like my real life situation right now, but I digress. When the priest comes to visit my sickness has left and the priest has declared me clean. It must be exciting to know I will soon return to my family and community. I watch as one bird is killed and one is released on my behalf. I can imagine that I would be sad for the bird that was killed on my behalf. But as I watch the second bird fly away to freedom, I can sense the freedom in my own soul welling up. I am free now. Free from disease. Free from loneliness. Just like the bird, I can return home.

Leviticus 14 is consistent in its representation of the themes of salvation. The holiness of God relates to cleanliness, purity, and pristine. Disease and sin are the opposite and separate man from God. Salvation comes through blood sacrifice. This sacrifice brings freedom, restoration of relationship and hope.

Leviticus is not a book to read for the faint of heart but it seems to always come around to these simple themes and bottom line that gives me so much insight into God.