(Leviticus 14:1 - 14:32)
Jehovah instructed Moses further: "This is the procedure for those seeking ritual purification from tzaraath: One who has been healed of disease must be presented to a priest, who will examine him at a place outside of camp. If the person has indeed been healed of tzaraath, then the priest should order brought to him, on behalf of the one who is to be purified, the following items: two ritually pure live birds, a length of cedar wood, some scarlet yarn, and branches of hyssop. The priest will first order that one of the birds be sacrificed over an earthenware vessel filled with fresh water. Then the live bird, the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn, and the hyssop branches should be dipped in the blood of the bird sacrificed over the fresh water. The priest will then sprinkle the blood of the dead bird seven times upon the person to be purified from tzaraath. He will then be pronounced ritually pure. (The live bird may be released into an open field.)
"The person to be purified will then wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and take a bath, to be declared ritually pure. He may then return to camp, but must remain outside his tent for a period of 7 days. On the seventh day, he must shave again, removing all the hair from his head, his beard, and eyebrows. He must wash his clothes and take a bath, to be ritually pure.
"On the eighth day he must get together two male lambs and a yearling ewe, all without defect, and for a grain offering, three tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil and a log of olive oil. The officiating priest will present the person seeking purification and the aforesaid offerings before Jehovah’s altar at the entrance to the Tabernacle Sanctum. The priest will take one the male lambs and the olive oil and present them as guilt offerings, raising and waving them above the Sacrificial Altar. He will slaughter the male lamb in the area before the Sanctum where guilt and burnt offerings are sacrificed. (As with a sin offering, the guilt offering, by divine right, belongs to the priest.) The priest will dab blood from the guilt offering on the lobe of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the big toe of the right foot of the person seeking purification. He will then pour some of the log of olive oil into the palm of his own left hand. He will dip his right forefinger into the oil and sprinkle it seven times before the altar. He will apply the oil from his palm over the blood on the lobe of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the big toe of the right foot of the person to be purified. The remaining oil in his palm the priest should use to anoint the head of the one seeking to be purified. Through this ritual and through the sin offering, the priest will seek atonement with Jehovah on behalf of the one cured of tzaraath and seeking purification. The priest will then slaughter the burnt offering and lay it upon the altar along with the grain offering. Atonement will thus be obtained for the one who has been purified.
"If, though, one is poor and cannot afford all these offerings, one may instead bring a single male lamb to be the guilt offering waved above the altar for atonement, a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil for the grain offering, a log of oil, and two turtledoves or young pigeons, such as one may afford -- one for the sin offering and one for the burnt offering. On the eighth day of the purification ritual, one should bring them to the priest at the altar in front of the Tabernacle Sanctum. The priest will take the lamb and the olive oil and present them as guilt offerings, raising and waving them above the Sacrificial Altar. He will slaughter the lamb of the guilt offering and dab its blood on the lobe of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the big toe of the right foot of the person seeking purification. He will then pour some of the log of olive oil into the palm of his own left hand. He will dip his right forefinger into the oil and sprinkle it seven times before the altar. He will apply the oil from his palm over the blood on the lobe of the right ear, the thumb of the right hand, and the big toe of the right foot of the person to be purified. The remaining oil in his palm the priest should use to anoint the head of the one seeking to be purified, in order that he may obtain atonement with Jehovah. Next, the priest will offer for sacrifice the turtledoves or young pigeons (whatever the person can afford), one being for the sin offering, the other for the burnt offering, along with the grain offering, all through which the priest will obtain atonement with Jehovah for one being purified. --- These are the instructions for one who has been cured of tzaraath but cannot afford the normally required offerings."
Notes
1. Three-tenths of an ephah would be a little more than 6 quarts. A log is equivalent to two-thirds of a pints.
2. Save that they be dipped into the blood of the sacrificed bird, it is not explained what is done with, or the significance of the length of cedar wood, the scarlet thread, or the hyssop branches in the ritual, although one may assume the hyssop branches are used to sprinkle the blood about. Maybe the thread is used to bind the birds. The cedar wood -- ?
3. The person who is cured of tzaraath and is being purified may return to camp, but he can't sleep in his tent for 7 days. Does he sleep on the ground outside his tent? One hopes the nights weren't too cold or a good sleeping bag was available.
4. The text is unclear as to whether the bird is be slaughtered over an earthenware vessel filled with fresh water (as I have rendered it) or over running water above the vessel (as is the most common translation). It is hard to visualize where the running could come from since the sacrifice was to be made at the Sacrificial Altar in front of the Tabernacle Sanctum. There wasn’t a tap handy. Water, of course, could be poured, but the sacrificed bird is described as being over the earthenware vessel, and if water were poured out of it upon the bird, it would be below the vessel.
5. Shaving all the hair from one’s body was a common rite of purification in ancient religions. The Egyptian priests regularly did so, and perhaps this custom was acquired by the Hebrews during their sojourn in Egypt.
6. The bathing and washing of clothes to restore ritual purity reminds the modern reader of our washing to disinfect and prevent disease. No ancient people, though, had any concept of illness being caused by micro-organisms. Some peoples, such as bath-crazy Greeks and Romans, may have regarded bathing as being beneficial to health, but if they believed it prevented disease, they wouldn’t have known why. And their custom of bathing, as a public function, seemed intended more for recreational and social than sanitary purposes.
7. The repeated reference to turtledoves or young pigeons reflects a stipulation that the birds be rather small. The turtledove (streptopelia colombidae), native to Europe, Asia, and Africa, is a small species of the dove family, measuring as little as 8 inches. Most pigeons are larger, but a young pigeon, presumably smaller than an adult, would be of comparable size to a turtle dove.
8. Those who can't afford the usual sacrificial offerings are given a pass of sorts, but they still have to come up with a lamb, some flour, and a couple of pigeons. If the person suffering from tzaraath is forced to live alone outside of camp, how would he be possessed of any wealth? Would others tend the flocks he once owned or hold his possessions in trust? And if one could not afford even the reduced rates, would he be deprived of purification altogether? Would a wealthier member of the community pay the fare for him, or did the priests ever do work pro bono?
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