Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to
be
cleansed
The command is by the priest, the taking is by any man, as Ben
Gersom observes; anyone whom he shall command, the leper himself,
or his friends. Aben Ezra interprets it, the priest shall take of
his own; but he adds, there are some that explain it, the leper
shall give them to him, namely, what follows: two birds
alive, [and] clean;
any sort of birds, to whom this description agrees; for not any
particular sort are pointed out, as "sparrows" F23, as
some render the word, or any other; because either they must be
clean or unclean; if unclean, then not to be used; if clean, then
this descriptive character is used in vain. These were to be
alive, taken alive with the hand, and not shot dead; and this
also excepts such as were torn, as Jarchi, or any ways maimed and
unsound, and not likely to live; and they were to be "clean",
such as were so according to a law given in a preceding chapter;
they were to be none of those unclean birds there mentioned; and,
according to the Misnah {x}, they were to be alike in sight and
height, and in price and value, and to be taken together; and, by
the same tradition, they were to be two birds of liberty, that
is, not such as were kept tame in cages, but such as fly abroad
in the fields, These birds may be considered as a type of Christ,
who compares himself to a hen, ( Matthew
23:37 ) ; and "birds" may denote his swiftness and readiness
to help his people, his tenderness and compassion towards them in
distress, and his weakness and frailty in human nature, and his
meanness and despicableness in the eyes of men; and these being
"alive", the character well agrees with him, who is the living
God, the living. Redeemer, the Mediator that has life in himself,
and for his people; and as man, now lives, and will live for
evermore, and is the author and giver of life, natural,
spiritual, and eternal. And the birds being clean, may denote the
purity and holiness of Christ, and so his fitness to be a
sacrifice, and his suitableness as food for his people: and the
number two may signify either his two natures, divine and human,
in both which he lives, and is pure and holy; or his two estates
of humiliation and exaltation; or his death by the slain bird,
and his resurrection by the living bard, of which more hereafter:
and the cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop;
a stick of cedar, as Jarchi; it was proper it should be of such a
size, as to be known to be cedar wood, but was not to be too
heavy for the priest to sprinkle with it, as Ben Gersom; and the
same writer observes, it ought to have a leaf on the top of it,
that it might appear to be cedar: according to the Misnah
F25, it was to be a cubit long, and the
fourth part of a bed's foot thick: "scarlet" was either wool dyed
of that colour, or crimson, so Jarchi; or a scarlet thread or
line with which the hyssop was bound and fastened to the cedar
wood; and, according to the above tradition F26, the
"hyssop" was to be neither counterfeit nor wild, nor Greek, nor
Roman, nor any that had any epithet to it, but common simple
hyssop; and, as Gersom says, there was not to be less than an
handful of it. The signification of these is variously
conjectured; according to Abarbinel, they have respect to the
nature of the leprosy, and as opposite to it; that as the two
live birds signified restoration to his former state, when he had
been like one dead, so the cedar wood, being incorruptible and
durable, showed that the putrefaction of humours was cured; the
scarlet, that the blood was purged, and hence the true colour of
the face returned again, and a ruddy and florid countenance as
before; and the hyssop being of a savoury smell, that the
disagreeable scent and stench were gone: but others think there
is a moral meaning in them, that the cedar being the highest of
trees, and the scarlet colour coming from a worm, and the hyssop
the lowest of plants, see ( 1 Kings 4:33
) ; the "cedar wood" may denote the pride and haughtiness of
spirit the leprosy is the punishment of, as in Miriam, Gehazi,
Uzziah, and the family of Joab: and the worm that gives the
scarlet colour, and the hyssop, may signify that humility that
becomes a leper that is cleansed, so Jarchi: but they will bear a
more evangelical sense, and may have respect either to Christ;
the cedar wood may be an emblem of the incorruption of Christ,
and of the durable efficacy of his death; the scarlet, of his
bloody sufferings, his flaming love to his people, expressed
thereby, and the nature of those sins and sinners being of a
scarlet die, for whom he suffered; and the hyssop, of the
purgative nature of his blood, which cleanses from all sin: or
else to the graces of his Spirit; faith may be signified by the
cedar wood, which is in some strong, and in all precious and
durable; love by scarlet, of a flaming colour, as strong love is
like coals of fire, that give a most vehement flame; and hope by
hyssop, which is but a lowly, yet lively grace; or faith may be
set forth by them all, by the cedar wood for its continuance, by
scarlet for its working by love, and by hyssop for its purifying
use, as it deals with the blood of Christ.