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14:39
The consideration of the circumstances will exhibit the
importance and the propriety of the Mosaic ordinance on the
subject of the house leprosy. 1. Moses ordained that the
owner of a house, when any suspicious spots appeared on the
walls, should be bound to give notice of it, in order that
the house might be inspected; and that person, as in the case
of the human leprosy, was to be the priest, whose duty it
was. Now this would serve to check the mischief at its very
origin, and make every one attentive to observe it. 2. On
notice being given, the priest was to inspect the house, but
the occupant had liberty to remove everything previously out
of it; and that this might be done, the priest was empowered
to order it ex officio; for whatever was found within a house
declared unclean, became unclean along with it. 3. If, on
the first inspection, the complaint did not appear wholly
without foundation, but suspicious spots or dimples were
actually to be seen, the house was to be shut up for seven
days and then to be inspected anew. If, in this interval,
the evil did not spread, it was considered as have been a
circumstance merely accidental, and the house was not
polluted; but if it had spread, it was not considered a
harmless accident, but the real house leprosy; and the stones
affected with it were to be broken out of the wall, and
carried to an unclean place without the city, and the walls
of the whole house here scraped and plastered anew. 4. If,
after this, the leprosy broke out afresh, the whole house was
to be pulled down, and the materials carried without the
city. Moses therefore, never suffered a leprous house to
stand. 5. If, on the other hand, the house being inspected
a second time, was found clean, it was solemnly so declared,
and offering made on the occasion; in order that every one
might know for certain that it was not infected, and the
public be freed from all fears on that score. By this law
many evils were actually prevented--it would check the
mischief in its very origin, and make every one attentive to
observe it: the people would also guard against those
impurities whence it arose, and thus the health be preserved
and not suffer in an infected house. These Mosaic statues
were intended to prevent infection by the sacred obligations
of religion. Ceremonial laws many keep more conscientiously
and sacredly than moral precepts.
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14:39
Pada hari
Im 13:5
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