Israel in the Land
Under the Law of Moses when Israel came into the land of their inheritance and Yahweh had placed the "plague of leprosy" in a house then a specific course of action was proscribed in order to identify the problem, and subsequently perform either the reparations of the house or its destruction as the means of cleansing. Whatever the problem that the house suffered from that was termed the "plague of leprosy" the house had to be cleansed – no alternative was provided for under the Law. The Law that covered this problem is given in Leviticus 14:32-57Leviticus 14:32-57 32 This is the law of him in whom is the plague of leprosy, whose hand is not able to get that which pertaineth to his cleansing. 33 ¶And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 34 When ye be come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the plague of leprosy in a house of the land of your possession; 35 And he that owneth the house shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague in the house: 36 Then the priest shall command that they empty the house, before the priest go into it to see the plague, that all that is in the house be not made unclean: and afterward the priest shall go in to see the house: 37 And he shall look on the plague, and, behold, if the plague be in the walls of the house with hollow strakes, greenish or reddish, which in sight are lower than the wall; 38 Then the priest shall go out of the house to the door of the house, and shut up the house seven days: 39 And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and shall look: and, behold, if the plague be spread in the walls of the house; 40 Then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean place without the city: 41 And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclean place: 42 And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other morter, and shall plaister the house. 43 And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plaistered; 44 Then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house: it is unclean. 45 And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the morter of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place. 46 Moreover he that goeth into the house all the while that it is shut up shall be unclean until the even. 47 And he that lieth in the house shall wash his clothes; and he that eateth in the house shall wash his clothes. 48 And if the priest shall come in, and look upon it, and, behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house was plaistered: then the priest shall pronounce the house clean, because the plague is healed. 49 And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: 50 And he shall kill the one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water: 51 And he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times: 52 And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet: 53 But he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open fields, and make an atonement for the house: and it shall be clean. 54 This is the law for all manner of plague of leprosy, and scall, 55 And for the leprosy of a garment, and of a house, 56 And for a rising, and for a scab, and for a bright spot: 57 To teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean: this is the law of leprosy. , and concludes with the purpose of this law, and this is most important, "To teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean: this is the law of leprosy".
So the whole purpose of the law of leprosy was to teach the people when something, a house, garment or some other item, was unclean or clean. Thus it is obvious that the item itself is of less importance than the lesson it was intended to teach. There may well have been very good health and safety reasons for the law concerning these items but as we have seen that was secondary to what it was intended to teach.
What could be clearer than that the house that was defiled by leprosy under the Law was a type of the ecclesia of Yahweh.
Why, then, was the intended teaching so important? When we consider the New Testament teaching regarding the ecclesia then it becomes clear. In 1 Corinthians 3:16 we read "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?", and in Ephesians 2:19-22 "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." What could be clearer than that the house that was defiled by leprosy under the Law was a type of the ecclesia of Yahweh.
If there was, or indeed is, therefore, anything in the ecclesia that is suspected of being leprous (a type in itself of sin and death) it must be thoroughly examined and if found to be a problem that would spread as a canker (gangrene) to the remainder of the body it was to be dealt with by the proscribed means of complete removal. Jesus warned his disciples of the leaven of the Pharisees and Paul warned both the Corinthian and Galatian ecclesias that "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump".