Commentary on Leviticus 4.14

Verses 1–9. "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: This is the rite of the leper when he is to be cleansed: he is brought to the priest; and the priest, going out of the camp, when he finds that the leprosy has been cleansed, shall command him who is being purified to offer for himself two living sparrows, which it is lawful to eat, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. And he shall command one of the sparrows to be sacrificed in an earthen vessel over living water; and the other, living, he shall dip, with the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, in the blood of the sparrow that was sacrificed. And he shall sprinkle him who is to be cleansed seven times, that he may be rightly purged; and he shall let the living sparrow go, to fly away into the field. And when the man has washed his garments, he shall shave all the hairs of his body and be washed with water. And being purified he enters the camp, yet so that he remains outside his own tent seven days; and on the seventh day he shall shave the hairs of his head and his beard and his eyebrows and the hairs of his whole body, his garments and body being washed again."

Since we must not think that the lawgiver says anything carelessly, you ought above all to note this, that now, when he enacts concerning cleansings, he speaks to Moses alone, and not also to Aaron as above; for Moses especially bears the image of Christ, in none of the ways that have been mentioned. And the cleansing of leprosy in general belongs to Christ alone. That is why he does not speak of leprosy of one kind, for example that which arises in a wound or a burn or otherwise, but says, "This is the rite of the leper," wishing by this to embrace every kind of leprosy, because Christ too cleansed every kind of sin. So the present matter is very like his mystery, as we learn from this: that he commanded not that the leper go to the priest, but that the priest go to him, and that he who is to be cleansed be brought. Just so Christ came to us, and to those who needed to be cleansed and washed by him. And he commanded the priest to go out of the camp to look at him who was to be cleansed: as Christ visited us outside the camp, through the passion of the cross and the dispensation that was then accomplished. But he did not do this before he saw that the spot of leprosy was being healed by him, that is, before he had seen that we were free of error. When, then, not only those of the Jewish people believed in him, but Gentiles too came up and desired to see him, and the disciples reported this, he said: "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." When he saw that the human race was prepared for deliverance and salvation through the cross (for this he also called his glory), what then did he take? "Two living sparrows, which it is lawful to eat." For Christ had these two, namely divinity and humanity, because the humanity of Christ too is clean and living: clean, as having no sin of its own; living, as not begotten of the uncleanness of a man, and therefore not subject to the curse of death.

"Let him take," he says, "cedar wood too": that is, the cross. It is signified by the cedar because the cedar is strong among woods; and the ark too is said to have been made of cedar wood, since Moses mentioned incorruptible wood in its construction. "Let him take scarlet too," which the Seventy give as "twisted scarlet," that is, the passion; for it is called scarlet because of its blood colour. Hence the soldiers put a scarlet cloak on him when he was being led to his passion. And why did they say it was twisted? Because of passibility and impassibility joined together, for which reason the passion is in him in a certain manner. And the sweet-smelling hyssop is the grace of the Spirit, which works together in our cleansing; hence David says, "You will sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed." Of the sparrows, then, which we said are Christ, he commanded this one to be sacrificed or killed, that is, what was passible and could be killed, and to be killed in an earthen vessel over living [waters], in us, that is, for us, since we are an earthen vessel, made of clay. The Only-begotten according to the flesh is killed over living waters, that is, of baptism. For his death figures our baptism, as Paul shows, saying: "All of us who have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into his death." In this the living sparrow is dipped, and the cedar wood, and the twisted scarlet, and the hyssop; for all these are comprised in the power of baptism, which we said is the figure and sign of the Lord's passion. But the living sparrow, which we take as the divinity of the Only-begotten, is dipped here in the blood of the sparrow that was killed, and in water, that is, in the grace of baptism, because we are baptized not in the passion of a man but in the passion of God and man. Then after this the living sparrow is let go to fly into the field. So the divinity was impassible and also inseparable from the flesh which suffered; hence, though separable, it is baptized in the blood, so that, impassible and living, it may fly into the field: it is sent out into the breadth of contemplation, our understanding letting it go; for it is held under the contemplation of this, held back only of its own will, since it can be held back by nothing else.

Moreover, he who has been cleansed washes his garments, namely his actions, and any virtues he had, because he defiled these too by sin; and he washes them by repentance. And he shaves the hair, that is, he lays aside every thought, because he had them all unclean. And washed with the water of repentance or of baptism, he will then necessarily be cleansed. For though he called him clean above (for he says, "When he has been seen to be cleansed, he shall offer two sparrows"), he was speaking of him who was fit for cleansing; for how does one who is already clean still need to be cleansed? Then he will enter the camp, to take part in our assembly and, as a partner in spiritual contracts and in that other communion which is held with the faithful, to gain its fruits. That sinners not yet cleansed are barred from this, hear the apostle saying: "If one who is called a brother is an adulterer, or covetous, or a slanderer, or a drunkard, or rapacious, with such a one do not even eat." Yet he remains outside his tent seven days, still separated from the communion of the holy things, for the sake of a more careful guarding and of gradual progress to better things. For each one's tent is the attainment of the mysteries, covering us from frost and heat, the tent in which he sups with God, as sons with a father, or a bride with the bridegroom, or whatever else is said that pertains more closely to kinship.

"And on the seventh day he shall shave the hairs of his head and his beard and his eyebrows and the hairs of his whole body." Here he commanded not only the head but also the beard and the eyebrows and simply every hair in the whole body, and so also that of the hidden parts. He wishes, then, no old thought to remain in him: not only those which show forth the adornment of man as rational and discussing many divine matters (for these he signifies by the head, because of its adornment and their multitude), but not those either which make a man contemplative, thinking about sublime and more divine things. For this is designated by the eyebrows, which are set in the higher parts and stay about the organs of the contemplative senses. Nor those which, containing discernment, are rightly signified by the beard, because the beard above all distinguishes the male sex from the female. He commanded this not as wishing him to be without thought, but wishing him to become new and as it were newborn, and to strip off the old man so as to put on the new. For as in one who has shaved the old hair another new and fresh hair grows, so in this man, when the old thoughts are gone, others, new, sprout toward better things. And he is to wash his garments again, that is, to make his actions clean. "And he shall wash his body again with water": washing it a second time, though for us there is no second baptism, for "one Lord, one faith, one baptism." And how will he be washed a second time, unless simply by tears? For this may be done not once, nor twice, but three times and often; for David too said, "My tears have been my bread day and night." These things suffice to satisfy one who attends, that the law commanded spiritual things to the spiritual, and truly wishes us to fear leprosy, that is, sin. That is why it commanded so many cleansings of it, though it had commanded none for any of the other things that concern the body. A more precise proof of these will come from what follows.

Verses 10–20. "He shall take two lambs without blemish, and a ewe of a year old without blemish, and three tenths of fine flour for a sacrifice, mixed with oil, and separately a sextarius of oil. And when the priest who purifies the man has set him and all these things before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of witness, he shall take a lamb and offer it for trespass, and the sextarius of oil. And when all have been offered before the Lord, he shall sacrifice the lamb where the victim for sin and the burnt offering are usually sacrificed, that is, in the holy place. For as for sin, so for trespass the victim belongs to the priest: it is holy of holies. And the priest, taking of the blood of the victim sacrificed for trespass, shall put it on the tip of the right ear of him who is being cleansed, and on the thumb of the right hand and of the foot. And of the sextarius of oil he shall pour into his left hand, and dip his right finger in it, and sprinkle seven times before the Lord. And what is left of the oil in his left hand he shall pour on the tip of the right ear of him who is being cleansed, and on the thumb of the right hand and of the right foot, and upon the blood that was poured out for trespass, and upon his head. And he shall pray for him before the Lord, and make the sacrifice for sin. Then he shall sacrifice the burnt offering and place it on the altar with its libations, and the man shall be duly cleansed."

We know that the law is spiritual; Paul says this so that, judging spiritually, we may not be robbed of the fruits of the law that are hidden in the letter. For after he commanded sacrifice to be made for the cleansing of the leper on the first day, on which the priest goes out of the camp, see, now again on the eighth day other sacrifices are ordered to be made for him. The eighth day, then, has the same force as the first, because all the present time is divided into weeks; after them comes the eighth, renewing it altogether. And this is the day on which the Saviour rose, on which we shall enter the camp. For after seven days he commanded the leper who had been cleansed to enter the camp on the eighth day. But what camp? Surely that which the patriarch Jacob saw when, with angels meeting him, he called the place "the camp of God." To this the cleansed leper comes, as one long since justified, at the time of the resurrection; as a figure of it, as we said, the lawgiver took the eighth day. And the things commanded to be done on the eighth day bear the image of the mystery that concerns us. For he commanded two lambs without blemish of a year old to be taken, and one ewe of a year old without blemish, one of which he commanded to be sacrificed for sin and another for a burnt offering. All these bear the figure of the Saviour's sacrifice; for he himself, for our sins and trespasses, was himself the victim for a burnt offering. And he commanded a sacrifice of both sexes to be offered to show that Christ, slain for us, will save male and female alike. And not in vain did he command a yearling in both cases; by this he figured the perfect sacrifice, of which, as has been said, these bear the figure; for among the animals mentioned, the yearling animals are full-grown, so as to be fit even for begetting young.

But since he who is being cleansed must be sealed, upon the sacrifice of the Only-begotten, also with faith in the whole Trinity, there are three tenths of fine flour, that is, the Trinity of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, having in each person perfection; for ten is the perfect number. That is why the Lord too said: "The kingdom of heaven is like a woman who took leaven and hid it in three measures of flour, until the whole was leavened." He commands these to be taken mixed with oil for a sacrifice: and he means the sacrifice of the Only-begotten, which is mixed with oil because it was done out of compassion for us. But how do we say that three tenths of fine flour are offered in it? Because, although by the passion of the Only-begotten, yet what was done by that sacrifice was a mystery of the whole Trinity. For baptism too is performed in the name of the Father and of the only-begotten Son himself and of the Holy Spirit, in which we are baptized into the death of Christ, and the whole mystery itself is sanctified in it. And he commanded a sextarius of oil to be taken, because each of the things mentioned is understood and done by faith. It is rightly named a sextarius because, as a sextarius is a measure (or if we say kotylē, according to the Seventy), the same measure of each holds neither less nor more; what is more is poured out, and it does not take less, because what is lessened can no longer be called a sextarius or a kotylē. So too faith is given according to the measure of our mind, which holds neither more nor less than has been … to each by God …; … tends to unbelief. But why did he say a sextarius or kotylē of oil? Because God, he says, having pity on the human race when he saw it weakened for fulfilling the works of the law, wished to save man no longer by works but through grace. And grace is shown from mercy and compassion and is grasped by faith alone, not by works, as Paul says: "For otherwise grace would no longer be grace."

Having received these, then, he who has been cleansed is brought to the door of the tabernacle of witness, that is, to the entrance of the knowledge of God. And the priest, taking one lamb, sacrifices it for trespass. Yet if this enactment were about a bodily affliction, as it seems to some, what need was there to sacrifice a lamb for sin? But because, on account of the weakness of the Jews, it overshadows the mysteries and hides the spiritual understanding in the letter, it thus also gives certain occasions of contemplation through the letter, and words that signify the understanding of the spirit. Hence now too, when he had commanded one lamb to be sacrificed for sin, he does not say of what kind, because without doubt he himself is [the victim] both for trespass and for him whose ears were held by leprosy. … Why, then, does he do so, unless perhaps to fortify the hearing and make it wary? Because he himself, seduced by the serpent, … sin as he seduced. And by the hand he signifies actions, and by the foot he wished to embrace and forestall all our motions and ways. For when these are guarded by the blood of the spiritual lamb and the faith in him that has been given us through his mercy and compassion, spiritual leprosy will in no way be able to penetrate a man. And he wishes the priest to put the oil of the sextarius or kotylē, which we say is faith, into his hand, so that the faith of the priest, through which we too make progress, may be shown in works. For it does not put forth its power otherwise than when the hand has been taken up, that is, when it is confirmed by action and sealed by works. And he puts the oil into the left hand, and dips the right finger in the oil, as Paul says, "by the weapons of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, … through glory and dishonour, through ill report and good report," and the things like these. "Then he shall sprinkle seven times before the Lord." For such a priest has confidence before God when he is able to cleanse those who suffer need and to forgive them their sins. That is why he sprinkles seven times, because this number has been shown to be the remission of sins. But after he has smeared it on the tips of the right ears and on the thumbs of the right hand and of the right foot, as we said above, he pours the rest of the oil on the head of him who has been called to be cleansed: through the head [giving] sanctification to the whole former body, and by this anointing making him who has been cleansed an anointed one of the Lord. "Then," he says, "the sacrifice for sin is offered." But how, he does not say; for from what has been said about trespasses, the things that concern sin can also be inferred, since they are near to each other and common, being of common matter. After this he sacrifices the burnt offering and places it on the altar, both for the order of the sacrifices and for the progress of the law that came about little by little. For he placed first the sacrifice of sin and trespass, and then the burnt offering. So first the sacrifice of Christ cleanses us from trespasses and sins, and then our burnt offering is completed. And therefore, speaking first of trespass, he then added these, because he was speaking of Christ in both, and to one sacrifice, which from the victim affords us sanctification, which makes us go up to the altar. For when, by the spiritual cleansing of the Spirit sanctifying our whole body and soul, we have become spiritual, and worthy

to go up to the altar, then we receive the fullest cleansing, after which we need no other. For you have now heard the progress of the cleansings: one of them frees us from the pollution of leprosy, another brings us into the camp of God, and this one can lead us to the altar itself, as those most fully cleansed, and raise us up. And since we are called to what follows, we must pass on to it with all diligence.

Verses 21–32. "But if he is poor, and his hand cannot find the things mentioned, he shall take a lamb for trespass as an offering, that the priest may pray for him, and a tenth part of fine flour mixed with oil for a sacrifice, and a sextarius of oil, and two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one of which is for sin and the other for a burnt offering; and he shall offer them on the eighth day of his purification to the priest at the door of the tabernacle of witness before the Lord. And he, receiving the lamb for trespass and the sextarius of oil, shall lift them up together; and when the lamb has been sacrificed, he shall put some of its blood on the tip of the right ear of him who is being cleansed, and on the thumbs of his right hand and foot. And part of the oil he shall pour into his left hand, and dipping the finger of his right hand in it, he shall sprinkle seven times before the Lord. And he shall touch the tip of the right ear of him who is being cleansed, and the thumbs of the right hand and foot, in the place of the blood that was poured out for trespass. And the rest of the oil that is in his left hand he shall put on the head of the one purified, that he may appease the Lord for him. And he offers a turtledove or a young pigeon, one for trespass and the other for a burnt offering, with their libations. This is the sacrifice of the leper who cannot have everything for his cleansing."

The lawgiver uses an admirable condescension toward those who receive the law. For see, he grants indulgence to poverty and commands that the poor man's sacrifices be moderate, lest perhaps he be dismayed when greater things are commanded him than his strength allows. But since we do not easily find any of the things mentioned in the earnings of the poor (for one who has no bread, where will he get a lamb? and one who lacks money, where will he buy a pigeon or a turtledove?), it is clear that he intends some contemplation, and leads to the hidden things of the spirit him who wishes to enter the hidden treasures of knowledge. For though he could have reduced the number of sacrifices because of the poverty of the one offering, he omits this and seeks for him certain cheap things of no great price; he does this both to spare poverty and, for the profit of the sacrifices, wishing to give us to understand … that leprosy signifies wickedness, and then that its cleansing is repentance. But it … necessary works, which by virtues and zeal in action can blot out sins; that is why John the Baptist said to the people of the Jews, "Bear fruit worthy of repentance." For, as a subtle lawgiver, he considered those who cannot show forth all the things that belong to the strict discipline of repentance. For repentance needs earnest prayer, almsgiving, vigils, sackcloth, fasting, and finally also the things David speaks of: "My tears have been my bread day and night," and, "Every night I will wash my bed; I will water my couch with my tears," and, "I ate ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping." For there are some who perhaps cannot do all these things because of old age, or because of great bodily weakness, or some other necessity, as we have interpreted in another matter in the present book. He pardons them, because they are willing, but their hand does not find; for they cannot. And as one granting indulgence, he seeks for them another way of repentance, other kinds of sacrifices; and before all he names a lamb. For everyone doing penance must above all pass over to kindness and pursue it, because this is easy for anyone to attain once he has abstained from evils. "A tenth part of fine flour mixed with oil": that is, to attain the theology of Christ, who by oil, or mercy, endured to be tempered to our flesh. "And a sextarius," or, according to the Seventy, one kotylē of oil: and we showed most plainly earlier that this is faith.

But what did the lawgiver command to be offered with these? Two turtledoves or two young pigeons. These are easily found by anyone: that is, continual meditation on the law, which is accomplished not only by reading (lest perhaps you say that this too is difficult for some) but also by contemplation, which is in the soul and mind. Both of these serve in place of sackcloth and fasting and tears and ashes for food and the like, if we practise them for the humbling of the flesh and the restraining of the soul from earthly works. And meditation on the law does this too, and this continual study and the careful contemplation and searching out of the divine commandments and benefits; … he introduced these sacrifices in place of those, which David too sets out, saying: "Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the seat of pestilence." This shows …, signifying innocence. "But his will was in the law of the Lord": namely of him who has clean knowledge, through the contemplation of innocent thoughts, such as Paul says of some, "not having the law, … the work of the law written in their hearts," showing it through disciplined and chaste thoughts, of which kind in a way is the offering of the turtledove. Hence the very Spirit of God testified through the prophet Jeremiah that knowledge is in the animal: "The turtledove and the swallow and the stork have kept the time of their coming; but my people has not known the judgment of the Lord." But what did David add to the words above? "And his will was in the law of the Lord, and on his law he will meditate day and night." To this we compare the pigeon, which the prophet Isaiah says has as it were the power of meditating; for he says: "Like a young swallow, so will I cry; I will meditate like a dove." So the lawgiver found a way by which the weak too may cleanse himself and have what he can offer to God. And therefore he did not change what follows in this law, showing that even if someone's hand does not find what the purpose of repentance requires according to the first reckoning, he is indeed pardoned, as one suffering from weakness; yet he commanded things that could accomplish for him the same cleansing and the same offering to God. After this he passes to another dispensation connected with the same matter.

Verses 33–47. "The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: When you have entered the land of Canaan, which I will give you for a possession, if there is a stroke of leprosy in the houses, he whose house it is shall go and tell the priest, and say: There seems to me to be as it were a stroke of leprosy in my house. And he shall command that they carry everything out of the house before he enters it to see whether it is leprosy, lest everything in the house become unclean. And afterwards he shall go in to consider the leprosy of the house. And when he sees in its walls as it were hollows, disfigured with paleness or redness, and lower than the rest of the surface, he shall go out of the door of the house and at once shut it up seven days. And returning on the seventh day he shall consider it: if he finds that the leprosy has grown, he shall command the stones in which the leprosy is to be taken out and thrown outside the city in an unclean place, and the house itself to be scraped within round about, and the dust of the scraping to be scattered outside the city in an unclean place, and other stones to be put in place of those taken away, and the house to be plastered with other clay. But if, after the stones have been taken out and the dust carried away and other earth plastered on, the priest goes in and sees that the leprosy has returned and the walls are sprinkled with spots, it is a persistent leprosy, and the house is unclean; they shall at once pull it down, and throw its stones and timber and all the dust outside the town in an unclean place. Whoever enters the house while it is shut up shall be unclean until evening. And whoever sleeps in it, or eats anything, shall wash his garments."

… ought not to meditate …, the things which he most needs to look into carefully, on which enemies and the unlearned stumble. For see, some find fault with the law just read because, according to what the Seventy say, Moses introduced God saying: "I will put a spot of leprosy in your houses, in the land of your promise." "Do you think," they say, "that God brings evils?" To them we answer: Yes; but those things which afflict for instruction, or a penalty appointed for help, are neither shameful nor evil, such as famine, earthquake, the opening of the earth, a storm at sea, war and the like, as he himself also says through the prophet: "I am the Lord, and there is no other, forming light and creating darkness, making peace and creating evils." And another prophet says things like these: "Because evils have come down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem, tumult, a chariot of astonishment, to the inhabitant of Lachish." And the prophet Amos says: "Is there evil in a city which the Lord has not done?" God brings these things not to harm but to help man greatly; for the afflicted man is humbled, and being humbled runs to him who can raise him up, and says with David, "It is good for me that you humbled me, that I might learn your righteous ordinances"; and he hastens to the physician, who may free him from the wound. So much for this.

But let us return to the contemplation that lies before us, lest perhaps some of those who err about outward wisdom try to find fault with the lawgiver as legislating about wood and stones and senseless walls; by them, because they are evil, even good things are judged evil. For the lawgiver's intention now is to legislate about true houses, that is, which afflictions in them are curable or easy to cleanse, and which are incurable and bring about the fullest destruction. But we shall learn the manner of these when we come to what has been said. The land of our possession is the one we possess, the inheritance of the Gentiles. For it is our possession, even if it was then our enemies'; for in it God acquired us, and those who once were not a people he now has as the people of God; that is why it will rightly be called a possession. Of this land the Lord said, "But he who was sown on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it." For our houses are the churches, of which Paul said: "If I delay, that you may know how you ought to behave in the house of God, which is the church of the living God." In these, according to the Seventy, God promises to put a spot of leprosy. The lawgiver's very words show this; for when he had said, "And I will put a spot of leprosy in the houses of the land of your possession, and he whose house it is shall come," he at once added, "telling the priest, and he shall say: There seems to me to be as it were a spot of leprosy in my house." And to perceive the affliction is a gift, not of just any house, and such as befits God to bestow. For if it befits a physician not to allow a sick man to do certain deadly things, it befits God too not to allow the sinner to be held longer by the disease of insensibility, lest by sinning he fall for ever into the depth of hell; which David asked in prayer, saying: "Do not turn your face from me, or I shall be like those who go down into the pit." This gift of perception is given to the church, but not to the synagogue of the Jews, as is clear from what God himself says through the prophet Hosea: "Because they consorted with harlots and sacrificed with the effeminate, and a people that does not understand shall be beaten"; and again: "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear." We have heard another prophet too saying: "They have closed their eyes, that they should not see, and made their ears heavy, that they should not hear," as being punished by the just Judge for their own sin. But not so the church: as often as she sins, God makes her perceive the sin. Hence Paul handed over to Satan the man who committed sexual immorality at Corinth, so that, afflicted by him, he might perceive his sin, saying, "I have delivered such a one to the angel of Satan for the destruction of the flesh," words like the present words of the lawgiver. And here, according to the Seventy, he says, "I will put a spot of leprosy," not as though God brings leprosy, but as one who exercises and convicts. And Paul says, "I have delivered such a one to the angel of Satan"; and yet Satan had received him long before through unlawful sexual immorality, but [Paul handed him over] so that, chastised by him with greater power (for he says, "for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved"), he might perceive the sense of his sin and be amended, and at the same time that it might be made manifest to others, so that they should not imitate him. But this house is of the land of possession, that is,

the churches of the inheritance of the Gentiles. "When you have entered," Moses and Aaron, "into the land of the Canaanites." Which is this? "Which I will give you for a possession." For seven nations, namely the Canaanites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, Jebusites, Hittites and Hivites, possessed the land promised to Abraham. And these seven bore the image of the wicked spirits of which the Lord says in the Gospels: "When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he will take seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and dwells in the man, whose last state is worse than the first." And these spirits possessed the true promised land of Abraham himself, that is, the inheritance of the Gentiles; for it was said to him, "I have made you the father of many nations." When Moses and Aaron, that is, the law and the prophets (for these bear their figure, since Aaron was called the prophet of Moses, who bears the figure of the law), have entered among the Gentiles, then through them God drives out the spiritual Canaanites mentioned, the spirits that held tyranny among the Gentiles; and he grants the Gentiles to be the possession of the law and the prophets and of those who preach them, he who [acquired] them with his own blood, both through the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us abundantly, freeing us from those whom we formerly served, so that those who are of the nations too can say the song of Isaiah: "O Lord our God, other lords besides you have possessed us; let us remember your name only in you." And whatever is his possession is without doubt also that of his servants and ministers. So when the prophets and the law have entered into the inheritance of the Gentiles, ministering to the gospel preaching, then the things that have now been said about the spiritual houses could appear.

"He whose house it is shall go and tell the priest, and say: There seems to me to be as it were a stroke of leprosy in my house." For there are domestic churches, so that he therefore says, "He whose house it is shall go." Let us hear Paul saying: "Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the church in their house." He, then, who presides over this, if he perceives spiritual leprosy, that is, if he has detected anyone's sense of evil and impious doctrine, fearing lest what he pursued for righteousness become a judgment to him, let him come to the priest, who can discern; for he himself is not simply a priest. This is clear from what Paul wrote again to the Colossians: "Greet Nympha and the church in her house." For many, out of zeal and piety, set up house churches and received in them teachers and ministers of divine things, and also those who gathered for communion and their rejoicing. Such a one, then, will go to him who bears the figure of the true priesthood, such as were Peter or Paul or Timothy, and the others who kept their teaching and virtues, remaining blameless. "For a bishop must be blameless," so that he may for that reason be able to judge the sins of others. "And he shall say: There seems to me to be as it were a stroke of leprosy in the house": that is, the sense of impious doctrine appears in my house church.

"And he shall command that they carry everything out of the house"; or, as the Seventy give it, "And the priest shall command them to uncover the house, and it shall not spread into the whole house": that is, he will command all the people gathered in it to withdraw. This is the roof of the house, or its structure, as we have often shown. And he commanded them to depart, that is, to show by deed that they are strangers to the evil that has appeared in the church, and do not share the penalty that must be inflicted on the impious. That is why Moses too, when he was about to bring Dathan and Abiram to punishment and discernment, commanded the rest of the multitude to withdraw so that they should not be made partakers of the penalty; for this is what he says: "lest everything in the house become unclean." "And afterwards the same priest shall go in to consider the leprosy of the house. And when he sees in its walls as it were hollows, disfigured with paleness or redness": the walls of the house are rightly said to be those who hold it together, that is, the orders, [of which] the church truly consists, and not, as some think, of wood and stones. Hence Moses too, when he was commanded to gather the church, called together not wood and stones and the like, but the people, the elders, and the Levites. By the same reasoning James and Cephas and John were called pillars of the church. So the walls are rightly the ministers of holy things and the teachers, since they themselves prop up the stability of the church and in a way gather the people within themselves. And what and of what kind the pale (or, as the Seventy have it, greenish) and red spot is, the interpretation of the preceding enactment showed sufficiently; for it showed that it is vainglory and pride. From these above all the walls of the church and the body of those who minister holy things and of the teachers break out into evil, wicked and impious doctrines.

If, then, he sees the appearance of the walls having hollows or pits, that is, if he perceives the opinion of those who minister holy things or of the teachers lower and in a way growing pale from the sin that has seized them, "he shall go out of the door of the house and at once shut it up seven days," bringing upon the church a moderate rebuke, by which, through repentance, it obtains pardon and is absolved. So the number seven signifies the pardon of sin. "And returning on the seventh day he shall consider it: if he finds that the leprosy has grown, he shall command the stones in which the leprosy is to be taken out and thrown outside the city in an unclean place." And this, because he did not find the spot spread nor the impiety abounding: that is, he pardons those who have sinned, as penitents and as sinning from weakness. But the doctrines and writings in which there is spiritual leprosy, namely the spot of impiety, these they rightly throw not only outside the house but outside the city, casting them out not only from one church but from the universal church. For the universal church is Jerusalem, the city of the living God, which contains the church of the firstborn enrolled in heaven. And therefore they also throw them into an unclean place, namely among the conventicles of the heretics; for this is an unclean place, because it receives all doctrines of impiety.

And what after this? "And the house itself to be scraped within round about, and the dust of the scraping to be scattered outside the city in an unclean place." They scrape the house who are eager to understand and discern the church's books carefully, so that they themselves, searching out all wickedness diligently and … the teachers sitting in perverse books, shaking them out with the scraper of judgment, may allow no remnants of impiety to remain in it; and what they have scraped off they rightly carry to the unclean place mentioned, as unclean and found among the unclean. "And other stones to be put in place of those taken away, and the house to be plastered with other clay." That the stones must be understood as the doctrines and writings of those who expound the divine law, … it is said: "Holy stones are rolled upon the earth"; and again: "Whoever builds upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones." And the dust, the interpretation and teaching that is shared, Moses the lawgiver himself signifies, according to the Seventy. For when he delivered Deuteronomy to the sons of Israel, he said this to us: "And it shall be, on whatever day you have crossed the Jordan into the land which the Lord your God will give you, you shall set up great stones, and plaster them with dust, and write upon the stones all the words of this law." Then, handing on the force of the stones, he added more plainly: "And you shall write upon the stones all this law very clearly." But a stone does not explain the law; what explains it is the doctrines and writings of those who expound it, and the shared interpretation; the one he signified by the stones and the other by the dust. Hence the Lord too commanded the apostles to shake off even the dust of their feet against those who did not receive their word and teaching: "Whoever does not receive you or hear you, when you go out from there shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them." Mark relates the Lord commanding this in these words. For divine Scripture understands by feet the gospel books, because in them the teachers make their journey; hence it says, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of peace." It rightly took the dust under their feet, namely the interpretation of the gospel books, because of its great fineness. So when he says that the stones are scraped out and other dust brought in, [he means] that doctrines purged of every evil, and teaching, are brought in place of those evil ones, and the church is plastered without any doubt; for the consideration of the law shows us this plainly.

Did not Paul too, seeing the leprosy of doctrines in the teachers at Antioch, report it to James as to a great priest? Because, when the known doctrines of the perverse teachers had been scraped away, removing the stones, he anointed the church by adding in their place the most correct letter of the church of Jerusalem, and the dust, namely his own teaching, and cured what had happened. Yet he did not enact, in what follows, that it should be left even so without examination; for wickedness quickly returns to those who are affected by the disease of perverse doctrines. And therefore he says: "But if, after the stones have been taken out and the dust carried away and other earth plastered on, the priest goes in and sees that the leprosy has returned and the walls are sprinkled with spots, it is a persistent leprosy, and the house is unclean." For if, after the evil doctrines have been cast out and others of sound teaching brought in, the very teaching of impiety is found sprinkled again, that is, spread or abounding, then the priest knows, not from hearsay at a distance but by his own inspection, that the affliction of impiety is lasting, and that church of ministers and teachers in which impiety has been sprinkled or spread is rightly discerned unclean, as what follows will show. For he says: "They shall at once pull it down, and throw its stones and timber and all the dust outside the town into an unclean place." That is, they now condemn not only the doctrines but the very men in whom they were found, and those by whose impious speech the church had been formed, and they pull down the whole church itself. "For I have hated," he says, "the assembly of the wicked, and I will not sit with the impious," as David said. So it is shut out also from the city established in heaven, the living and true one, and is counted with the unclean heretics.

"Whoever enters this house while it is shut up": that is, while it is subject to a penalty. Whoever has entered, sharing with it in any conventicle, "shall be unclean" until he repents. And much more "he who sleeps in it"; for he is not received otherwise than if he has washed the spiritual robe with tears. And by sleeping in it we understand one who rests in its words and does not turn aside in its counsels for the sake of some custom. "And he who eats in it": namely the mystical food like that of the law, and it has obtained … the same right …: because he presumed to partake of the mysteries of that church which the priest pulled down, finding it acting impiously and having evil doctrines, that is, wood, hay and stubble. Hence he threw out not only its stones, for they were not precious, but also its timber, as joined with hay and stubble.

Verses 48–53. "But if the priest goes into the house and sees that the leprosy has [not] grown after it has been plastered again, he shall purify it, its soundness being restored. And for its purification he takes two sparrows, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. And when one sparrow has been sacrificed in an earthen vessel over living water, he takes the cedar wood and the hyssop and the scarlet and the living sparrow, and dips them all in the blood of the sacrificed sparrow and in the living water, and sprinkles the house seven times; and he shall purify it both with the blood of the sparrow and with the living water, and with the living sparrow and the cedar wood and the hyssop and the scarlet. And when he has let the sparrow fly away freely into the field, he shall pray for the house, and it shall be duly cleansed."

Of what these sacrifices of which the lawgiver speaks bear the image, we shall expound in detail in what follows, since he commanded them to be taken in the case of each leper too. This is said of necessity, because it plainly appears that the lawgiver rather rebukes that wickedness of those who teach the church which is in doctrine, and in the dispensation of him who