The Two Birds
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought to the priest, 3 and the priest shall go out of the camp. The priest shall examine him. Behold, if the plague of leprosy is healed in the leper, 4 then the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two living clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. 5 The priest shall command them to kill one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water. 6 As for the living bird, he shall take it, the cedar wood, the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water. 7 He shall sprinkle on him who is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird go into the open field. 8 “He who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and bathe himself in water; and he shall be clean. After that he shall come into the camp, but shall dwell outside his tent seven days. 9 It shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows. He shall shave off all his hair. He shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his body in water. Then he shall be clean. 10 “On the eighth day he shall take two male lambs without defect, one ewe lamb a year old without defect, three tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering, mixed with oil, and one log of oil. 11 The priest who cleanses him shall set the man who is to be cleansed, and those things, before Yahweh, at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 12 “The priest shall take one of the male lambs, and offer him for a trespass offering, with the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before Yahweh. 13 He shall kill the male lamb in the place where they kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the place of the sanctuary; for as the sin offering is the priest’s, so is the trespass offering. It is most holy. 14 The priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. 15 The priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand. 16 The priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle some of the oil with his finger seven times before Yahweh. 17 The priest shall put some of the rest of the oil that is in his hand on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering. 18 The rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed, and the priest shall make atonement for him before Yahweh. 19 “The priest shall offer the sin offering, and make atonement for him who is to be cleansed because of his uncleanness. Afterward he shall kill the burnt offering; 20 then the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the meal offering on the altar. The priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean. 21 “If he is poor, and can’t afford so much, then he shall take one male lamb for a trespass offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, and one tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering, and a log of oil; 22 and two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, such as he is able to afford; and the one shall be a sin offering, and the other a burnt offering. 23 “On the eighth day he shall bring them for his cleansing to the priest, to the door of the Tent of Meeting, before Yahweh. 24 The priest shall take the lamb of the trespass offering, and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before Yahweh. 25 He shall kill the lamb of the trespass offering. The priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering and put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. 26 The priest shall pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand; 27 and the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before Yahweh. 28 Then the priest shall put some of the oil that is in his hand on the tip of the right ear of him who is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the place of the blood of the trespass offering. 29 The rest of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before Yahweh. 30 He shall offer one of the turtledoves, or of the young pigeons, which ever he is able to afford, 31 of the kind he is able to afford, the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, with the meal offering. The priest shall make atonement for him who is to be cleansed before Yahweh.” 32 This is the law for him in whom is the plague of leprosy, who is not able to afford the sacrifice for his cleansing.
The priest goes outside the camp to examine a healed man, and one bird is killed while the other is released alive.
The chapter opens with a movement nobody has to make: the priest shall go out of the camp Leviticus 14:3.
The excluded man cannot come in to be examined, so the priest goes to him. The system that put him outside also sends somebody out to check whether he can return, and the visit is a standing requirement rather than a favor.
The rite for his cleansing uses two birds, and its shape is the most vivid in the book.
One is killed in an earthen vessel over running water Leviticus 14:5. The other is dipped, alive, together with cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop, in the blood of the first. The man is sprinkled seven times and pronounced clean — and then shall let the living bird go into the open field Leviticus 14:7.
A bird carrying the blood of its dead counterpart is released into open country, and nobody sees where it goes. The same two-part figure appears at the center of the book with two goats Leviticus 16:8, and it says the same thing both times: something dies, and something else carries the effect of that death away and out of sight.
The re-entry is then staged over eight days. He washes, shaves all his hair, and bathes; he may come into the camp but shall dwell outside his tent seven days Leviticus 14:8. On the seventh day he shaves everything again — head, beard, eyebrows Leviticus 14:9.
The stages are gradual, and the middle one is the humane detail. A man who has lived alone outside the camp is not returned straight to his household; he sleeps in the camp among people for a week first.
And on the eighth day, the offerings — with blood put on the tip of his right ear, the thumb of his right hand and the great toe of his right foot Leviticus 14:14, and then oil on the same three points Leviticus 14:17.
Those are the marks put on Aaron and his sons at their ordination Leviticus 8:23. A man returning from exclusion receives the ritual given to priests being installed, which is a striking way to describe a restoration.
And then, as always: if he is poor, and can't afford so much Leviticus 14:21, the rate drops to one lamb and two birds. A man who has spent months unable to work is not asked for the full price of coming home.
settled What this mark means