Leviticus 14:36

36 The priest will order that the house be emptied before he comes to examine it so that nothing else in the house will become unclean. After that, the priest will come to examine the house.

Leviticus 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.

Leviticus 14:36 In-Context

34 When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving to you as a possession, and I put an infection of skin disease on a house in the land you possess,

35 the homeowner must come and tell the priest, "I think some sort of infection is in my house."

36 The priest will order that the house be emptied before he comes to examine it so that nothing else in the house will become unclean. After that, the priest will come to examine the house.

37 If he examines the infection, and the infection in the walls of the house consists of greenish or reddish depressions, which appear to be deeper than the surface of the wall,

38 the priest will exit the house, go to the front door, and quarantine the house for seven days.