Verse 15 leaves off with how the priest is to take a log of oil (less than one-half of a pint) and pour it into the palm of his own left hand. Verse 16 states that the priest will then dip his right finger in the oil that's on his left hand and sprinkle some oil with his finger seven times before the Lord. / ( The only thing I'm really getting out of this is how the number seven represents God. ) Verse 17 says that some of the oil gets put on the tip of the right ear of the person who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of the right hand, on the big toe of the right food, and on the blood of the trespass offering. (I'm asking to myself now, what if the person doesn't have a big toe or thumb on his right side? Would this then mean that the priest can't complete this ritual? I don't really know and I don't even have an answer to those questions. The Bible hasn't been that absolutely clear so far apart from speculation, and I'm not really going to go there for now. )
Verse 18 states that the rest of the oil that is on the priest's hand will be put on the head of the person who is to be cleansed. After doing so, the priest is then ready to make atonement for him before the Lord. / ( I know I've said this a few times on the very little occasions I've tried writing about the Bible, but I'm so glad that Jesus is the high priest that anyone can go to for atonement of sins without having to bother doing these old-time sacrifices. ) Verse 19 states that the priest does the sin offering and then makes atonement for the person who is to be cleansed from uncleanness. After this, the priest kills the burnt offering. / ( I'm just loosely thinking about how the Mayans and Aztecs engaged in some crazy human sacrifices, like how in the movie Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, this one evil looking guy with a skull cap ripped out the heart of a man in a cage, before he was sent to his doom. This is unlike the Bible because instead of humans being sacrificed, it was animals. I'm sure in these days, some vegetarians who form PETA would detest these type of practices. Why is it that vegetarians don't detest to killing plants for energy? They are practically living things too. )
(Who knows? ) Verse 20 talks about the priest offering burnt offering and grain offering on the offering table, which is called an altar! "So the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean." Verse 21-22 says that if the man who is assumed to have all his fingers and toes can't pay for the sacrifices, he takes one male lamb as a trespass offering to be waved for being made atonement. / (From just having gone through a disease and being declared unclean, is the person unrighteous before the Lord's sight? I don't think it's because of that. It's more like it's a constant, spiritual battle and because of human pride, we are not going to seek out for God's help when we should really be confessing our daily sins. ) Furthermore, the person to be cleansed takes about 1/2 of a gallon of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, about less than one-half pint of oil, and two turtledoves or two young pigeons, whichever he can afford. Of the birds, one is going to be sin offering and the other a burnt offering. (/ This is interesting in that for the person to have been considered clean after doing the ritual of being cured of leprosy, one bird dies and the other is set free in the wild after being dipped in the dead bird's blood. In this case, after doing a cleansing ceremony from being cured of leprosy, another ritual has to be taken place to be cleansed of sins. This seems very plausible because from the guy with leprosy not being let inside the camp, the priest wouldn't be able to make atonement for him. This seems really symbolic to how being a sinful person, it can separate us from God by like being sent off into the wild and how God gives us over to our own sins to whip us back into shape, but won't let go of us. It's like God keeps us at a distance because we are His children.) Verse 23 states that the person to be cleansed after having been declared clean from being cured of leprosy, on the eighth day, those items become brought to the priest at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, before the Lord. (/ After being declared clean by the priest, it looks like the person who had to be outside of camp from leprosy is allowed back in to his or her possessions. One question I really need to ask, is if all of these rituals only apply for men. I mean I'm sure women and children were also susceptible to leprosy. Would they have been treated differently by the priests? Also the Bible translates it a little with the old English standard, so it does seem to be a little confusing here. Somehow, it would probably be like a great celebration for friends and family to see their loved one again and just maybe, if the person was poor, others wouldn't mind giving some items for sacrificing maybe for a favor in return later on. )
Academy of Scrappy Credible Undergraduate Desire
