11 - The purification of the leper

Summary

The procedure for the purification of a ‘leper’ is described in Lev. 14:1–32. It rivals in complexity the procedure for the purification of the corpse-impure, which it resembles in some respects, though it contains nothing quite so startling as the Red Cow. In some respects, it is even similar to the ritual of the Scapegoat.

Once the ‘leper’ is declared clean by the priest, his purification begins the same day with a bird-sacrifice. Two birds are taken, one to be killed and the other to be set free (like the two goats of the Day of Atonement). But the sacrifice does not take place in the Temple, but outside the camp, where the ‘leper’ has been pronounced clean by the visiting priest (v. 3). Involved in the ceremony are cedarwood, hyssop and a thread of scarlet wool, ingredients also involved in the Red Cow ceremony. Running water is required, as in the case of the ‘executed heifer’. Another feature, the shaving of the cured ‘leper’, recalls the procedure of the purification of the Nazirite who has become defiled (Num. 6:9).

One of the birds is killed, in an earthenware vessel over the running water. The living bird, together with the cedarwood, the scarlet thread and the hyssop are dipped into the blood of the sacrificed bird, and this blood is then sprinkled by the priest seven times over the cured ‘leper’, whom the priest now pronounces clean. The living bird is now let loose into the open field.

The cured leper now must undergo further cleansing.