Vayikra 14:36

36 Then the kohen shall command that they empty the bais, before the kohen go into it to examine the nega, that all that is in the bais be not made tamei; and afterward the kohen shall go in to examine the bais,

Vayikra 14:36 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 14:36

Then the priest shall command that they empty the house
Clear it of all persons and things; everybody was obliged to go out of it; and all the furniture of it, all the household goods in it, were to be removed from it: before the priest go [into it] to see the plague, that all that [is] in
the house be not made clean;
as would be the case should the priest view it, and pronounce it unclean before the removal of them; agreeably to which is the Jewish tradition ^F11, before a priest comes to see the plague, not anything in the house is defiled; but after he is come to see it, even bundles of sticks, and of reeds, are defiled, which are not reckoned under the uncleanness to be removed: so that this was a kindness to the owner of the house, that his loss might not be so great as it otherwise would be, if he did not take care to get his goods out previous to the inspection of the priest: and afterward the priest shall go in to see the house;
to examine it, whether the signs of leprosy are in it.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F11 Misn. Nagaim, c. 12. sect. 5.

Vayikra 14:36 In-Context

34 When ye be come into Eretz Kena’an, which I give to you for a possession, and I put the nega tzara’at in a bais of the eretz of your possession;

35 And he that owneth the bais shall come and tell the kohen, saying, It seemeth to me there is as it were a nega (plague) in the bais;

36 Then the kohen shall command that they empty the bais, before the kohen go into it to examine the nega, that all that is in the bais be not made tamei; and afterward the kohen shall go in to examine the bais,

37 And he shall examine the nega, and, hinei, if the nega be in the walls of the bais with depressions, greenish or reddish, which in appearance are deeper than the surface of the wall,

38 Then the kohen shall go out of the bais to the entrance of the bais, and quarantine the bais seven days;