Leviticus 14:36

36 The cohen is to order the house emptied before he goes in to inspect the infection, so that everything in the house won't be made unclean; afterwards, the cohen is to enter and inspect 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Leviticus 14:36 In-Context

34 "When you have entered the land of Kena'an which I am giving you as a possession, and I put an infection of tzara'at in a house in the land that you possess,

35 then the owner of the house is to come and tell the cohen, 'It seems to me that there may be an infection in the house.'

36 The cohen is to order the house emptied before he goes in to inspect the infection, so that everything in the house won't be made unclean; afterwards, the cohen is to enter and inspect the house.

37 He will examine the infection; and if he sees that the infection is in the walls of the house, with greenish or reddish depressions that seem to go in deeper than the surface of the wall,

38 he is to go out of the house to its door and seal up the house for seven days.