Leviticus 14
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge


  • Verse 4


    two birds
    or, sparrows. The word tzippor, from the Arabic zaphara, to fly, is used in the Scriptures to denote birds of every species, particularly small birds. But it is often used in a more restricted sense, as the Hebrew writers assert, to signify the sparrow. Aquinas says the same; and Jerome renders it here the sparrow. So the Greek [strouthia] in Matthew and Luke, which signifies a sparrow, is rendered by the Syriac translator tzipparin, the same as the Hebrew tzipporim. Nor is it peculiar to the Hebrews to give the same name to the sparrow and to fowls of the largest size; for Nicander calls the hen [strouthos katoikados] the domestic sparrow, and both Plautus and Ausonius call the ostrich, passer marinus, "the marine sparrow." It is evident, however, that the word in this passage signifies birds in general; for if the sparrow was a clean bird, there was no necessity for commanding a clean one to be taken, since every one of the species was ceremonially clean; but if it was unclean, then it could not be called clean.
    1:14; 5:7; 12:8
    6,49-52; Numbers 19:6
    Hebrews 9:19

  • Verse 5


    earthen vessel
    50; Numbers 5:17; 2 Corinthians 4:7; 5:1; 13:4; Hebrews 2:14

  • Verse 6


    the living bird
    John 14:19; Romans 4:25; 5:10; Philippians 2:9-11; Hebrews 1:3; Revelation 1:18
    dip them
    51-53; Zechariah 13:1; Revelation 1:5

  • Verse 7


    Numbers 19:18,19; Isaiah 52:15; Ezekiel 36:25; John 19:34; Hebrews 9:13,19,21; Hebrews 10:22; 12:24; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 John 5:6
    seven times
    51; 4:6,17; 8:11; 16:14,19; 2 Kings 5:10,14; Psalms 51:2,7; Ephesians 5:26,27
    16:22; Daniel 9:24; Micah 7:19; Hebrews 9:26
    into the open field
    Heb. upon the face of the field.

  • Verse 8


    wash his
    11:25; 13:6; 15:5-8; Exodus 19:10,14; Numbers 8:7; Revelation 7:14
    wash himself
    8:6; 1 Peter 3:21; Revelation 1:5,6
    and shall
    Numbers 12:15
    seven days
    8:33-35; 13:5

  • Verse 9


    shave all
    Numbers 6:9; 8:7
    wash his flesh
    Lictenstein states that "among the Koossas, (a nation of South Africa,) there are certain prevailing notions respecting moral [ceremonial] uncleanness. All children are unclean till they are admitted among grown-up persons (which happens with the males through the various ceremonies attending circumcision); all lying-in women are unclean for the first month; all men who have lost their wives, for a fortnight, and all widows for a month; a mother who has lost a child, for two days; all persons who have been present at a death, the men returning from a battle, etc. No one may have intercourse with such an unclean person, till he has washed himself, rubbed his body with fresh paint, and rinsed his mouth with milk. But he must not do this till after the lapse of a certain time, fixed by general consent for each particular case, and during this time he must wholly refrain from washing, painting, or drinking milk."

  • Verse 10


    eighth day
    23; 9:1; 15:13,14
    he lambs
    1:10; John 1:29; 1 Peter 1:19
    ewe lamb
    4:32; Numbers 6:14
    of the first year
    Heb. the daughter of her year. three tenth.
    23:13; Exodus 29:40; Numbers 15:9; 28:20
    a meat offering
    2:1; Numbers 15:4-15; John 6:33,51
    log of oil