Yesterday we started reading about the rituals needed to be cleansed from a skin disease. Today we will see the rest of the process.

10 On the eighth day he is to bring two unblemished male lambs, an unblemished ewe lamb a year old, a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with olive oil, and one log of olive oil. 11 The priest who performs the cleansing shall present the one to be cleansed, together with these offerings, before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

12 Then the priest is to take one of the male lambs and present it as a guilt offering, along with the log of olive oil; and he must wave them as a wave offering before the LORD. 13 Then he is to slaughter the lamb in the sanctuary area where the sin offering and burnt offering are slaughtered. Like the sin offering, the guilt offering belongs to the priest; it is most holy.

14 The priest is to take some of the blood from the guilt offering and put it on the right earlobe of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. 15 Then the priest shall take some of the log of olive oil, pour it into his left palm, 16 dip his right forefinger into the oil in his left palm, and sprinkle some of the oil with his finger seven times before the LORD. 17 And the priest is to put some of the oil remaining in his palm on the right earlobe of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on top of the blood of the guilt offering.

18 The rest of the oil in his palm, the priest is to put on the head of the one to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before the LORD. 19 Then the priest is to sacrifice the sin offering and make atonement for the one to be cleansed from his uncleanness. After that, the priest shall slaughter the burnt offering 20 and offer it on the altar, with the grain offering, to make atonement for him, and he will be clean.

21 If, however, the person is poor and cannot afford these offerings, he is to take one male lamb as a guilt offering to be waved to make atonement for him, along with a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering, a log of olive oil, 22 and two turtledoves or two young pigeons, whichever he can afford, one to be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering.

23 On the eighth day he is to bring them for his cleansing to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting before the LORD. 24 The priest shall take the lamb for the guilt offering, along with the log of olive oil, and wave them as a wave offering before the LORD.

25 And after he slaughters the lamb for the guilt offering, the priest is to take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the right earlobe of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. 26 Then the priest is to pour some of the oil into his left palm 27 and sprinkle with his right forefinger some of the oil in his left palm seven times before the LORD. 28 The priest shall also put some of the oil in his palm on the right earlobe of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot—on the same places as the blood of the guilt offering.

29 The rest of the oil in his palm, the priest is to put on the head of the one to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before the LORD. 30 Then he must sacrifice the turtledoves or young pigeons, whichever he can afford, 31 one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, together with the grain offering. In this way the priest will make atonement before the LORD for the one to be cleansed.

32 This is the law for someone who has a skin disease and cannot afford the cost of his cleansing.”

REFLECTIONS

More sacrifices! And to make it really obvious that we can only be spiritually cleansed through a sacrificial death, this time the blood of the sin offering is smeared not on the altar, but on the unclean person. But once again, Jesus tops that. If you’ve come to Jesus and given him your life, you are now dressed in spiritual robes that have been washed in Jesus’ blood … which means they are the purest white, forever (Revelation 7:14).