Treatment of Dwellings Contaminated with Tzaraath

(Leviticus 14:33 - 14: 57)
Jehovah then told Moses and Aaron: "When you arrive to settle in the land of Canaan, which I am bestowing upon you as a possession, I may cause some of your dwellings to become contaminated with tzaraath.  In such cases, the owner should go to the priest and report, 'There is some kind of mold contamination in my house!'  Before the priest inspects the house, it must be emptied so that nothing remains in it that could be deemed ritually impure.  The priest will then enter the house, make his inspection, and examine the mold contamination.  If there are greenish or reddish spots in the mold and the contamination seems to go deeper than the surface of the wall, the priest should leave the house, seal the door, and quarantine the house for 7 days.  The priest should return on the seventh day and re-inspect the house.  If the mold has spread on the walls, he should order the affected stones of the wall removed and dumped in a ritually impure area outside of town.  He should have the inside walls of the house scraped, with the scrapings similarly disposed of.  New stones should be set to replace the contaminated ones that were removed and the house re-plastered.

"If the mold reappears after the stones have been replaced and the walls scraped and re-plastered, then the priest must return and re-inspect the house.  If the mold has spread throughout the house, then the house has been contaminated with tzaraath and is ritually impure.  The priest must order the house to be torn down, with all its stones, timbers, and plaster dumped in a ritually impure place outside of town.  Anyone who has entered the house while it was closed up will be ritually impure until evening.  And anyone who has slept or has eaten in the house must wash his clothes.

"If, however, the priest makes his inspection after the house has been re-plastered and finds that the mold has not reappeared, he may pronounce the house ritually pure, for the tzaraath is clearly gone.  Then, to purify the house, the priest should take two birds, a length of cedar wood, some scarlet yarn, and a hyssop branch.  He should sacrifice one of the birds over an earthenware vessel filled with fresh water.  Then he should dip the cedar wood, the scarlet ribbon, the hyssop branch, and the live bird into the blood of the sacrificed bird and into the fresh water.  The house should be sprinkled with this blood and water seven times.  With the bird's blood, the fresh water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop branch, and the scarlet ribbon the house will thus be purified.  (The live bird will then be released in an open field outside of town.)  Through this ceremony the priest will obtain atonement for the house and it will thereafter be ritually pure.

"These comprise the instructions for dealing with the varied incidences of tzaraath, whether it manifests itself as mold in cloth or on the walls of a dwelling, or as sores, rashes, swelling or discolored areas on the skin. These are the procedures for determining whether skin diseases and molds are ritually impure or not.  These are the regulations concerning tzaraath."

Notes 
1.  We hear of another form of tzaraath, that of mold or mildew contaminating dwellings.  (How absurd seem the many translations that refer to this as "leprosy.")  This is referencing a problem that does not yet exist, for the Israelites are still dwelling in tents at the supposed time that Jehovah makes these communications to Moses and Aaron and lays out these instructions.  Jehovah, if not omniscient, is at least prescient, although he gives the impression that the tzaraath contaminates houses according to his will.  Is tzaraath, even of the house mold variety, some sort of divine punishment inflicted upon the unholy?  Should sinners mend their ways for fear their bedroom walls might become moldy?

2.  One assumes that Canaan, even in ancient times, enjoyed a fairly arid climate.  It seems strange then that mold (or mildew), which thrive on moisture, would be so major a problem in homes that structures would have to be torn down because of it.  (I have concluded that mold is a more likely contaminant than mildew and is probably what is referred to.)

3.  The stone walls of dwelling would probably have been stuccoed on the outside and plastered on the inside, but there is really no difference between traditional plaster and stucco (basically lime, sand, and water -- Portland cement and gypsum plaster are fairly recent refinements). 

4.  It is interesting that something like mold on the basement walls should be considered to be under the purview of a priest.  But it should be remembered that the ancients, except for a few Greek philosophers, believed that all that happened in the world was due to supernatural agencies.  Religion, therefore, touched everything.  (In contrast, most people today believe that everything happens through natural agencies, a view that is just as inaccurate and that results in just as many errors of understanding.)