Commentaria in Leviticum
he could not (be cleansed), but only declared him healed, and then the man who had been a leper he legally
2. This is the rite of the leper, when he is to be cleansed—as if to say: This ceremony I command to be used, when the leper—that is, one who had before been judged a leper by the priest—afterwards appears clean of leprosy, either because the priest judged wrongly, or because he was cured of leprosy naturally or miraculously, as many were cured by Christ. Note: “is to be cleansed” means is to be legally expiated and restored to the communion of other men. Whence leprosy is presupposed to be already healed, as is plain from verse 3. For the Aaronic priest did not cure leprosy but purified, and restored to the society of men and to the tabernacle. Greater is the power of Christ’s priests, who can cure and abolish spiritual leprosy, that is sin, in the Sacrament of Penance. So St. Chrysostom, book III On the Priesthood.
4. That he offer for himself two living sparrows, which it is lawful to eat (1).
so the just dwell in mind not on earth but in heaven. Secondly, the just man is called a sparrow for temperance, as to the concupiscible power. For the sparrow is not easily entangled in snares, nor deceived by the greed of food through gluttony of the belly: so the just do not indulge in food, but mortify the flesh by fasting. Thirdly, for patience, as to the irascible power: for, as the Philosopher says, the sparrow turns white only in sickness; so the just grow white in adversity: for “power is made perfect in infirmity.” Fourthly, Christ and the just man say with David: “I have watched, and am become as a sparrow all alone on the housetop.” For he withdraws from the life of the world into the secrecy of conscience, prayer and compunction. Fifthly, he says with the same: “Our soul hath been delivered as a sparrow out of the snare of the fowlers,” namely of demons and persecutors. So the soul of the martyr is snatched by martyrdom from the snares of the devil, says St. Augustine on that verse of Psalm cxxiii, 7.
5. And he shall command one of the sparrows to be immolated—that is, slain: for this was not properly a sacrifice offered to God, since it was done outside the camp, far from the altar; but this killing of the sparrow was done only to receive its blood, that the leper to be expiated might be dipped with it. Hence this killing was done not by the priest but at the priest’s command, as is plain from the word “he shall command.”
Over living waters—that is, fountain or river waters, which move and flow: for since in living things motion is a sign of life, hence by catachresis waters that move and flow are called living; on the contrary those that do not flow but stand are called dead, as marshes and pools. The sparrow of expiation of the leper is therefore commanded to be immolated over living waters, in an earthen vessel, because these are purer, and so more fit for purification.
Verses 6 and 7. But the other (sparrow) alive, with the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, he shall dip in the blood of the sparrow immolated, wherewith he shall sprinkle him that is to be cleansed, seven times. This sprinkler with which the leper was expiated was of this kind: to the top of a cedar rod the living sparrow was bound, so that the tail projected at the end, while the head was turned away, toward the handle; to this rod, together with the sparrow, the scarlet and the hyssop were bound; thus the top of the rod, that is the tail and wings of the sparrow with the scarlet and hyssop, were plunged into living water tinged with the blood of the slain sparrow; then this top of the rod was drawn out, and the man to be purified was sprinkled with it.
which it is lawful to eat—in Hebrew is tehorot, which here seems to mean healthy ones, or birds affected by no disease.
You will ask, what do all these things signify, literally and symbolically?
I answer, first, that cedar wood is used here because it is incorruptible: hence it fittingly signified that the leper had been cleansed from the corruption of leprosy; so, secondly, the worm, or scarlet twice dyed (and, as the Septuagint add, twisted), which is of a most lively red colour, signified that blood and health were restored to his flesh; thirdly, the same was signified by the living sparrow that was let fly away, namely that life was restored to the flesh, and the man, made free from leprosy, was now admitted to the company of the living and the clean. Fourthly, hyssop was used, because it is most apt for the sprinkling of blood, which was to be done here.
You will ask, secondly, what this sprinkler signifies allegorically?
I answer: Leprosy is sin; this is expiated, allegorically, first, by the cedar wood, which is most strong and incorruptible, that is, by the cross of Christ, which conquered and overcame all things; secondly, by the scarlet, that is, by the blood of Christ’s passion; thirdly, by the hyssop, which is of good odour, that is, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, who is the co-operator of our cleansing; fourthly, by the living sparrow, that is, by the divinity of Christ; fifthly, by the dying sparrow, that is, by the humanity of Christ immolated: for by His death the sinner is given life; sixthly, by the living waters of baptism. So Hesychius, Radulphus and Theodoret, Question 19. Whence Jansenius on Psalm 50:9, embracing all these and applying them to Christ crucified: “Christ,” he says, “bound to the wood of the cross by the bond of charity, is the true hyssop, bound to the cedar wood by a scarlet thread; for Christ by His humility heals the swelling of our heart, as the lowly herb hyssop helps to purge and heal the vitals: this hyssop, dipped on the cross in His own blood, sprinkles by faith those who believe in Him, according to that of Isaias 52:15: He shall sprinkle many nations; hence David also prays: Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed; desiring, namely, to be perfectly cleansed: for in the old law the unclean were purified either by sprinkling or by washing.” So far Jansenius.
You will ask, thirdly, what this sprinkler signifies tropologically?
I answer: Hyssop is faith, cedar is hope, scarlet is charity, the living sparrow is humility, the dying sparrow is mortification, the living waters are the tears of the penitent; by these we are cleansed from the leprosy of sin. So St. Augustine, Question XXXIII on Numbers, Radulphus and Rupert. For hyssop is a humble herb and clings by its roots to the rock: whence it aptly signifies faith, which rests on God and on the infallible truth of God; the cedar raises itself very high; hence it is the symbol of hope; scarlet is red like fire: such is charity. Moreover all these are dipped in blood, because by the power, efficacy and memory of Christ’s passion all these virtues are stirred up. So Radulphus. Truly did Abbot Pastor say in the Lives of the Fathers: “Humility is the earth in which the Lord commanded sacrifice to be made”; and Abbot
Tropologically, the sinner washes his garments when he sanctifies his outward conduct; he shaves the hair when he cuts off the desires of the flesh; he washes his body when he gives no consent in conscience to unlawful works. So Radulphus and Rupert; so too Isychius: “To shave the hair,” he says, “is to shut out all old thoughts; to wash the garments, to cleanse one’s actions.”
13. In the holy place—in the court of the tabernacle, by the altar of holocausts, before the Holy. For as the sin-offering, so also the trespass-offering belongs to the priest; it is a holy of holies. This is a hysterologia, or inverted order; for it gives the cause of what precedes, namely why the victim for trespass must be slain and immolated in the holy place.
And being purified he shall come into the camp, yet so that he tarry without his tent (his house) seven days. This is lest, if perhaps some leprosy still lies hidden, he communicate it to others, especially to his wife by the use of marriage, or by any other contact. The cause is this: because the victim for trespass is a holy of holies. These things are therefore to be arranged and connected thus, as if to say: I will have the victim for trespass immolated in the holy place, because it is a holy of holies, that is, most holy: whence I will have it, like the victim for sin, eaten by the priest, not by laymen, as was done in the peace-offering.
Verse 9. And on the seventh day he shall shave the hair. This is the second shaving, as the washing; for the first was done at verse 8. That this is so is plain from chapter vi, verse 25, where exactly the same, in the order already stated, is said of the victim for sin: “This,” he says, “is the law of the victim for sin: in the place where the holocaust is offered it shall be immolated before the Lord; it is a holy of holies: the priest that offereth it shall eat it in the holy place.”
Verse 10. He shall take two lambs without blemish, and a ewe lamb of a year old without blemish, and three tenths of fine flour, etc., and a sextary of oil. Note: the leper is commanded in his purification to offer three little sheep, the first for trespass, the second for sin, the third for a holocaust. Hence he is also commanded to offer three tenths, or three gomors, of fine flour; for since with each animal one tenth, or one gomor, of fine flour was to be offered in the mincha, that is, in the meal sacrifice.