I'm preaching this morning on the ten lepers, Luke 17:11-19.
When Jesus tells the ten to go show themselves to the priests, Leviticus chapter 14 lies in the background.
Why, for example, is a cleansed leper to find...
two live clean birds and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop be brought for the person to be cleansed. 5 Then the priest shall order that one of the birds be killed over fresh water in a clay pot. 6 He is then to take the live bird and dip it, together with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water. 7 Seven times he shall sprinkle the one to be cleansed of the defiling disease, and then pronounce them clean. After that, he is to release the live bird in the open fields.
8 “The person to be cleansed must wash their clothes, shave off all their hair and bathe with water; then they will be ceremonially clean.
After this they may come into the camp.
For an explanation, go here - John Goldingay, An Introduction to the Old Testament, pages 108-109.See also John Walton's notes on Leviticus 14, in the NIV Cultural Background Study Bible. There were zones of purity in the camp of Israel. Each zone had its own rules of purity and accessibility.
For information on the Samaritans go here.
