Leviticus 14:33 - Meaning and Application

This is the law about leprosy in a house. At this point Israel was still in the wilderness, living in tents and not in houses. So this law is really an added note to the earlier laws about leprosy, because it looks ahead to their life after they settled in the land.

House leprosy is as hard to explain as leprosy in clothing. If we cannot find a natural cause, we should remember the power of God, who says, “I put the leprosy in a house” (Leviticus 14:34). His curse is also described as entering a house and consuming its timbers and stones (Zechariah 5:4).

First, we should notice that even in Canaan, the promised land, their houses could be struck with leprosy. A holy land would not protect people from this plague if many of its inhabitants were unholy. In the same way, a place in the visible church and a public name among God’s people will not protect wicked people from God’s judgments.

Second, the owner of the house was supposed to tell the priest as soon as he had reason to suspect leprosy. He would say, “It seems to me that there is something like a plague in the house” (Leviticus 14:35). Sin is a plague in a house when it rules there, just as it is a plague in a heart. Family heads should watch for the first signs of serious sin in their homes and quickly put it away from them, as Job 22:23 says. They should have a holy concern for everyone under their care, so that sin does not spread and harm many people.

Third, if the priest examined the house and found that leprosy had spread into it, he had to try to stop it by removing the infected part of the building (Leviticus 14:40-41). This was like cutting off a gangrened limb to save the rest of the body. Corruption should be removed early, before it spreads, because a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off.

Fourth, if the disease still remained, the whole house had to be torn down, and all its materials carried away to the dump (Leviticus 14:44-45). The owner would be better off without a house than living in one that was infected. The leprosy of sin, if it stays stubborn under attempts to cure it, will at last destroy families and churches. If Babylon will not be healed, she will be left and abandoned, and, like the leprous house, no stone will be taken from her for a corner or a foundation (Jeremiah 51:9, Jeremiah 51:26).

The remaining sin and corruption in our mortal bodies are like this leprosy in the house. After all our efforts to scrape and repair, we will never be fully free of it until the earthly house of this tent is taken down. Only when we die will we be free from sin, and not before (Romans 6:7).

Fifth, if removing the infected stones cured the house and the disease did not spread, then the house had to be cleansed. It was not enough just to air it out so it would be healthy. It also had to be purified from ceremonial uncleanness, so it could again be fit for an Israelite to live in. The cleansing ceremony was much like the cleansing of a leprous person (Leviticus 14:49 and following).

This showed that the house had been struck for the man’s sake, as Bishop Patrick says, and that he should see himself as spared by God’s mercy. Israelite houses were said to be dedicated (Deuteronomy 20:5), because they belonged to a holy nation. For that reason, their homes should be kept free from ceremonial uncleanness, so they would be fit for the service of the God to whom they were devoted. We should take the same care to reform whatever is wrong in our families, so that we and our houses may serve the Lord (Genesis 35:2).

Some have thought that the leprosy in the house pictured the idolatry of the Jewish church, which strangely clung to it. Even though some reforming kings removed the infected stones, the problem kept coming back, until God, through the Babylonian captivity, tore down the house and carried it into an unclean land. That became an effective cure for their love of idols and idol worship.