Leviticus 14:17

17 And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put on the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass-offering.

Leviticus 14:17 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 14:17

And of the rest of the oil that [is] in his hand
That was either in the hand of the priest that was cleansing, or in the hand of his fellow priest; such of it as was left after some of it had been sprinkled seven times before the Lord:

shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to
be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great
toe of his right foot;
signifying that these parts in the leprous sinner need to be sanctified by the grace of the Spirit of God, comparable to oil, with which all the Lord's people are anointed, and is that unction they receive from the Holy One, their great High Priest; by this the ear is sanctified so as to hear the word, so as to understand it and mix it with faith; and the thumb of the right hand having oil put on that, may signify that the actions of good men are influenced by the Spirit of God, who works in them both to will and to do, and without whose grace they can do nothing in a spiritual manner; and the great toe of the right foot, the instrument of walking, being anointed with the same, may denote that it is through the grace of God saints have their conversation in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, and as becomes the Gospel of Christ: the oil was to be put,

upon the blood of the trespass offering;
that is, upon the place of the blood of it, as in ( Leviticus 14:28 ) ; which is, as the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it, the place in which he put at first the blood of the trespass offering: for the Jewish writers observe F26, that the log of oil depended on the trespass offering; for if the flood of the trespass offering was not first sprinkled, the sprinkling of the oil was of no avail: this shows that the blood of Christ, is the foundation of men's receiving the grace of the Spirit, and that it is owing to that it is bestowed upon them; the application of his grace follows redemption by the blood of Christ, who gave himself to redeem them from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works; and for whomsoever expiation is made by the blood of Christ, they are sanctified by the Spirit of Christ.


FOOTNOTES:

F26 Bartenora in Misn. Zebachim, c. 4. sect. 3.

Leviticus 14:17 In-Context

15 And the priest shall take of the log of oil, and pour it into his, the priest's, left hand;
16 and the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before Jehovah.
17 And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put on the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass-offering.
18 And the remainder of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall put upon the head of him that is to be cleansed, and the priest shall make atonement for him before Jehovah.
19 And the priest shall offer the sin-offering, and make atonement for him that is to be cleansed from his uncleanness; and afterwards shall he slaughter the burnt-offering.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.