Leviticus 14:19-32 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Leviticus 14:19-32. With a humble heart, see what sticks out to you in this passage. Is there a verse, a phrase, or a lesson you think the Holy Spirit may be highlighting for you in this passage? After you’ve thought about the passage yourself a bit, read the GAME sharing below. Let’s go!
Leviticus 14:19-32 (NIV)
19 “Then the priest is to sacrifice the sin offering and make atonement for the one to be cleansed from his uncleanness. After that, the priest shall slaughter the burnt offering
20 and offer it on the altar, together with the grain offering, and make atonement for him, and he will be clean.
21 “If, however, he is poor and cannot afford these, he must take one male lamb as a guilt offering to be waved to make atonement for him, together with a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, a log of oil,
22 and two doves or two young pigeons, which he can afford, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.
23 “On the eighth day he must bring them for his cleansing to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, before the LORD.
24 The priest is to take the lamb for the guilt offering, together with the log of oil, and wave them before the LORD as a wave offering.
25 He shall slaughter the lamb for the guilt offering and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.
26 The priest is to pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand,
27 and with his right forefinger sprinkle some of the oil from his palm seven times before the LORD.
28 Some of the oil in his palm he is to put on the same places he put the blood of the guilt offering–on the lobe of the right ear of the one to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.
29 The rest of the oil in his palm the priest shall put on the head of the one to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before the LORD.
30 Then he shall sacrifice the doves or the young pigeons, which the person can afford,
31 one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, together with the grain offering. In this way the priest will make atonement before the LORD on behalf of the one to be cleansed.”
32 These are the regulations for anyone who has an infectious skin disease and who cannot afford the regular offerings for his cleansing.
On verses 19-32: Leviticus 14:1-
Verses 10 through 18 talk about the sacrifice that the now restored leper is to bring, consisting of two male lambs and a one year old female lamb (also called an ewe). But what if the leper was poor and could not afford two male lambs and a female lamb? Verses 19-32 allow the leper instead to bring one single male lamb and two birds (either doves or pigeons) as the leper’s sacrifice. The one single male lamb would serve as the leper’s guilt offering (v21) and the two birds would serve as the leper’s sin offering and burnt offering (v22).
Just as Leviticus 14:19-32 describes the leper who couldn’t afford to bring a required sacrifice to God, so the Bible tells us that we too could not afford the sacrifice required to pay for our sins and to bring us back into community with God. As Psalm 49:7-9 says:
7 No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him–
8 the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough–
9 that he should live on forever and not see decay.
The reason “no man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him” (Psalm 49:7) is because no human being is perfect, without sin and able to fully pay for another person’s sins. That is why God sent His Son Jesus Christ to be our perfect provision, so that through Jesus Christ a sacrifice could still be brought on our behalf even when we couldn’t afford it.
Praise God! As with so much of the book of Leviticus, Leviticus 14 is pointing to what Jesus Christ would do for us.
Heavenly Father, thank You that when I couldn’t afford to give you the sacrifice You required, You offered Your Son Jesus, and provided on my behalf. Thank You! In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
copyright © 2022 Justin Lim. All rights reserved.
