Homilies on Leviticus — Homily 8 (Lev. 12–14 — childbirth; leprosy and the purifications of the leper)
Latin source: Origen's Greek homilies on Leviticus, surviving only in Rufinus of Aquileia's Latin translation (c. 403–405), from the reading text of W. A. Baehrens (ed.), Origenes Werke VI (GCS 29, Leipzig, 1920), pp. 280–507. This English translation is released into the public domain.On what is written: "Whatsoever woman shall have conceived seed and borne a male, she shall be unclean seven days", and on the varieties of leprosy and the purifications of the leper.
1. That our Lord Jesus Christ is called a physician in the divine Scriptures we are fully taught by the sentence of the Lord himself, as he says in the Gospels: "They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Now every physician compounds medicines beneficial to bodies from the juices of herbs or of trees, or even from the veins of metals or the natures of living creatures. But if someone should chance to look upon these herbs before they are compounded according to the reasoning of the art, then indeed, if they are in the fields or on the mountains, he tramples them underfoot and passes them by as worthless grass. But if he sees them set out in order within a physician's school, though perhaps they give off a bitter and harsh odor, nevertheless he will suspect that they contain something of healing or remedy, even if he does not yet recognize what or of what kind is the power of health and cure that is in them. These things we have said concerning common physicians. Come now to Jesus, the heavenly physician; enter into this station of his medicine, the Church, and behold there the multitude of the languishing lying about. There comes a woman who has been made "unclean" by childbirth; there comes "a leper" who has been separated "outside the camp" because of the uncleanness of leprosy; they seek from the physician a remedy, how they may be healed, how they may be made clean; and because this Jesus, who is the physician, is himself also the Word of God, he seeks out for his sick not medicines of herb-juices, but of the sacraments of words. And if anyone should see these medicines of words to be, as it were, scattered somewhat unkempt throughout the books as through fields, being ignorant of the power of the several sayings, he will pass them by as worthless things having no cultivation of speech. But he who has learned in some part that the medicine of souls is found with Christ will surely understand that from these books, which are recited in the Church, as from fields and mountains, each person ought to take up the healing herbs — that is, the very power of the words; so that, whatever languor there is in the soul, it may be healed not so much by the outer foliage and bark as by drinking in the power of the inner juice. Let us see, then, against the uncleanness of childbirth and the contagion of leprosy, how diverse and how varied are the medicines of purification that this present reading provides.
2. "And the Lord spoke," it says, "unto Moses, saying: Speak unto the children of Israel, and thou shalt say unto them: Whatsoever woman shall have conceived seed and borne a male, she shall be unclean seven days." First let us consider according to the history, whether it does not seem to be added as though superfluously: "the woman who shall have conceived seed and borne a male," as if she could bear a male otherwise than by seed conceived. But it is not added superfluously. For to distinguish her who "conceived and bore" without seed, the lawgiver added this word for the sake of the other women, so that he might designate as "unclean" not every woman who had borne, but her who "had borne with seed conceived." To this may also be added that this law, which is written concerning uncleanness, pertains to women; but concerning Mary it is said that "a virgin" conceived and bore. Let the women, then, bear the burdens of the law, but let the virgins be held immune from them. But if someone clever should come up against us and say that Mary too is named "a woman" in the Scriptures — for so the Apostle says: "But when the fullness of the times was come, God sent his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, that he might redeem them that were under the law" — we shall answer him that in this the Apostle named her "a woman" not for corruption, but as an indication of sex; so that, since he was saying that "God's Son was sent," he might at the same time also set forth that he had come into this world by the common entrance of all. Moreover, this word is also one of age — namely, of that age at which the female sex passes beyond the years of puberty and crosses over to that time at which she seems fit for a man. Just as, on the contrary, he is called a man who has passed beyond the time of adolescence, even if he does not yet have a wife of whom he may be said to be the husband; by which name are also wont to be called even those whom no stain of feminine union has touched. If, then, a man is rightly called a man for the sake of virile age alone, even he who has known union with no woman, how should not, by the same consequence, a virgin also, who has remained undefiled, be named a woman for the sake of maturity of age alone? Finally, when Abraham sent the servant into Mesopotamia to the house of Bethuel, that "he might take from thence a wife for his son Isaac," and the "servant" inquired the more carefully, "he said unto him": "But if the woman will not be willing to follow me, shall I bring back thy son thither?" — and he did not say: but if the virgin will not be willing to follow me. Let these things, then, be said by us concerning what we observed to be written, that the lawgiver did not add superfluously "if a woman shall have conceived seed and borne a son," but that there is a mystical exception, which sets apart Mary alone from the rest of women, whose childbearing was not from the conception of seed, but from the presence "of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Most High."
3. Now, then, let us also inquire into this: what is the cause that a woman, who furnishes a ministry to those being born into this world, is said to be made "unclean" not only when "she has received seed," but also when "she has borne"? Whence also for her purification she is commanded to offer "young pigeons or turtledoves for sin at the door of the tabernacle of testimony," that "the priest may make propitiation for her," as one who owes a propitiation and a purification of sin for the fact that she furnished a ministry to a man being born into this world. For thus it is written: "And the priest shall make propitiation for her, and she shall be cleansed." I dare say nothing in such matters, yet I perceive that certain hidden mysteries are contained in these things, and that there is something of a latent secret, on account of which even "the woman who shall have conceived of seed and borne" is called "unclean" and, as though guilty of sin, is commanded to offer a victim "for sin" and so to be purified. But even the very one who is born, whether of male or female sex, the Scripture pronounces concerning him that he is not "clean from filth, even if his life be of one day." And that you may know there is in this something great, I know not what, and such as has come into the mind of none of the saints, no one out of all the saints is found to have kept a feast day or a great banquet on the day of his birth; no one is found to have had gladness on the birthday of his son or daughter; only sinners rejoice over a nativity of this kind. For we find indeed in the Old Testament Pharaoh, king of Egypt, celebrating the day of his birth with festivity, and in the New Testament Herod. Yet both of them stained the very festivity of their birthday with the shedding of human blood. For the one beheaded "the chief of the bakers," the other the holy prophet John "in prison." But the saints not only do not keep a festivity on the day of their birth, but, filled with the Holy Spirit, they execrate this day. For neither would so great and such a prophet — I mean Jeremiah, who was "sanctified in the womb" of his mother and "consecrated a prophet unto the nations" — have set down anything emptily in books that were to remain forever, unless it contained something secret and full of vast mysteries, when he says: "Cursed be the day in which I was born, and the night in which they said: Behold a male. Cursed be he that told my father, saying: A male is born to thee. Let that man be glad like the cities which the Lord overthrew in fury, and repented not." Does it seem to you that the prophet could have imprecated things so grave and so burdensome, unless he knew there was something in that bodily nativity which both seemed worthy of curses of this kind, and on account of which the lawgiver would arraign so many uncleannesses, upon which he would consequently impose fitting purifications? But it is a long matter, and one for another time, to explain the testimonies which we have taken up from the prophet; because now it is set before us to discourse not on Jeremiah, but on the reading of Leviticus. But Job too, speaking not without the Holy Spirit, "cursed the day of his nativity, saying": "Cursed be the day in which I was born, and the night in which they said: Behold, a male. Let that night be darkness, and let not the Lord seek it again, neither let it come into the days of the year, nor be numbered among the days of the months." But if it does not seem to you that Job speaks these things by the divine and prophetic Spirit, consider from these things which follow; for he adds: "but let him curse it who cursed that day, in which he shall slay the great whale." You see, then, how in the Holy Spirit he foretold concerning "the great whale" which the Lord "was to slay," of which that "whale" of Jonah was a type. Whence the Lord too, who "was to slay" that whale, the devil, says: "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so must the Son of man also be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." But if it pleases you to hear what the other saints also thought concerning that nativity, hear David saying: "In iniquities," he says, "was I conceived, and in sins did my mother bear me," showing that whatever soul is born in the flesh is polluted with the filth "of iniquity and sin"; and that on this account was said what we have already mentioned above, that: "No one is clean from filth, not even if his life be of one day." To these things this too may be added, that it be inquired what is the cause that, whereas the baptism of the Church is given for the remission of sins, according to the observance of the Church baptism is given even to little children; when indeed, if there were nothing in little children that ought to pertain to remission and indulgence, the grace of baptism would seem superfluous. "Whatsoever woman," then, "shall have conceived seed and borne a male, she shall be unclean" "seven days," just as she also who, "according to the days of her purification," is separated from all clean things "for seven days." For she spends seven days "in unclean blood," but "in clean blood thirty and three days." But this is in the nativity of "a male"; for she spends double the days in the nativity of "a female." She begins, then, to be in clean blood from the eighth day, and she is in clean blood for thirty-three days, that is, three decads and three monads. And when she "who has borne" has begun to be in clean blood, then the infant is circumcised: "For on the eighth day," it says, "thou shalt circumcise the flesh of his foreskin." This is the law of the letter, but do you inquire what circumcision the Apostle preaches, which he commands us both to receive and to have. "For we are the circumcision," he says, "who serve God in the spirit." But also what he says in the Psalm: "The sinners are estranged from the womb," consider whether he does not say this concerning those who receive that circumcision by which the Apostle forbids us to be circumcised, and it is then that "the sinners are estranged from the womb," when they are circumcised not in the spirit but in the flesh. For "they who are circumcised in the law are fallen from grace." Therefore "the woman is said to be made "unclean" "who has borne a male with seed conceived"; but "she who shall have borne a female" will not only be unclean, but doubly unclean. For she is written to remain "twice seven days in uncleanness."
4. But meanwhile she "who has borne a male," "on the eighth day" both the one who is born is circumcised and she is made clean. It is a matter of great labor for these things to happen in this brevity of time, yet, that we may say something in passing, this week may be seen as the time of the present life; for in a week of days the world was completed. In which, so long as we are set in the flesh, we cannot be pure to the point of clarity, unless the eighth day come, that is, unless the time of the age to come be present. On which day, however, he who is a male and has acted manfully is at once purified in the very coming of the age to come, and at once the mother who bore him is made clean; for she will receive the flesh purged of vices out of the resurrection. But if it had nothing virile in itself against sin, but was slack and effeminate in its acts, whose sin is such that it "is not remitted either in this present age or in the age to come": this one passes both one and the other week in his uncleanness, and only at the beginning of the third week arising is he purified from the uncleanness which he contracted by bearing a female. But the victims which are commanded to be applied for uncleanness of this kind are distinguished in two ways. First "a lamb" is commanded to be offered, "a yearling without blemish for a whole burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove for sin." But a second victim is enjoined: "if," it says, "her hand find not what may suffice for a lamb, she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a whole burnt offering and the other for sin." Whence it also seems marvelous that Mary's offering did not have the first victim, that is, "a yearling lamb," but the second, as one whose "hand did not suffice" for the first. For thus it is written concerning her: there came, it says, her parents, "that they might offer" for him "a victim, according to that which is written in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons." But in this too is shown to be true that which is written, that Christ Jesus, "whereas he was rich, became poor." Therefore for this reason he both chose a poor mother, of whom he would be born, and a poor fatherland, of which it is said: "And thou, Bethlehem, art the least among the thousands of Judah," and the rest. But we are compelled to run through these things briefly and not to examine each thing that is written, since indeed we are hastening to treat also something of the laws of leprosy, which have been recited.
5. We find, then, that six kinds are set forth concerning the leprosy of men, which six kinds are described in this manner. For either "in the skin of the body there comes a scar and a whitish sign in the skin of his body, the contagion of leprosy." Or "the leprosy flowering shall flower, and shall cover all the skin with the contagion from the head even to his feet." Or the third kind: "in the skin of the flesh there comes an ulcer and it is healed; and in the very place of the ulcer there comes a white scar." Or "in the skin of the flesh there comes a burning of fire, and" after these things "the healed burning shall be shining white, or bright with redness." The fifth kind, "when in a man or a woman there comes on the head or in the beard the contagion of leprosy." But the last kind is written, "when in baldness or in forehead-baldness there comes the contagion of reddish leprosy," which is "leprosy flowering in the baldness or in the forehead-baldness." These things, that we may use brevity of exposition (since indeed it is now our purpose to admonish the hearers briefly from those things which have been recited, nor is there time to examine each single thing to the point of clarity), seem to me to be referred to each single kind of sins, and in these the stains of the soul which befall it from sins are to be beheld. It must be said, then, first, that by these are designated the sins which, set in this life, we commit; of which some can now be cured, but others cannot. But secondly it must be understood that concerning those very sins which pass over with us after this life it is signified that there are in them also certain things so fixed in souls that they cannot be abolished; but that there are others which can receive purgation according to the inspection and judgment of that high priest from whom hidden things cannot lie concealed, and who will dispense the souls of individuals according to this, that he shall have seen in them the stains of leprosy to be either expiable or inexpiable. To gather the differences of this matter from the present reading and to search out, one by one, according to the indication of this Scripture, the things which can move us — this off-the-cuff discourse, as I have already said above, does not permit. For scarcely could these things, digested into many volumes, be composed by those from whom the Lord has drawn away "the veil" over the reading of the Old Testament. We therefore, according to our powers, as much as it is fitting to bring forth into the open, will pursue, with the Apostle Paul opening for us the way of understanding, in which he says "that the law has a shadow of the good things to come, not the very image of the things"; and according to this, that those things which seem to be written concerning oxen in the law he declares are to be attended to not concerning "oxen, for whom God has no care," but concerning the Apostles. In which, surely by consequent reasoning, we are taught that those things too which are written concerning leprosy are a "shadow" having in other things the image of the truth. Therefore let us apply first, if it seems good, the very "shadow" of Scripture, and then let us inquire concerning its truth. In the wounds of bodies, after they have been cured, there remains sometimes the sign of the wound itself, which is called a scar. For scarcely is there anyone who is so cured that no indication of the wound received seems to remain. Pass now from that "shadow of the law" to its truth, and behold how the soul which has received the wound of sin, even if it be cured, nevertheless has "a scar" remaining "in the place of the wound." Which "scar" is seen not only by God, but also by those who have received from him the grace by which they can discern the languors of the soul and distinguish which soul is so cured that it has cast off in every kind the trace of the wound inflicted, and which is indeed cured, but still bears in the very trace of the scar the indications of the old disease. But that there are certain wounds of the soul, Isaiah teaches, saying: "From the feet even to the head there is no wound nor bruise nor inflamed sore," speaking these things without doubt concerning the sins of the people, that there are some to whom a poultice of medicine can still be applied. But that others are sinners to such a degree that not even a cure can be applied to them, the same prophet designates in this manner: "There is," he says, "no poultice to apply, neither oil nor bandages." But that "contrition" and "a sore of pain through chastisement" are imposed on the soul for the sake of cure, Jeremiah teaches, saying: "Thus said the Lord: I have raised up contrition, thy sore is with pain, there is none that judges thy judgment, thou art cured with pain, there is no profit in thee. All thy friends have forgotten thee, nor will they now inquire concerning thee; because I have smitten thee with the wound of an enemy, with strong chastisement, for all thy iniquity, since thy sins are multiplied. Why criest thou out over thy contrition? Thy pain is violent, because of the multitude of thy iniquities thy sins have prevailed and have done these things to thee. Therefore all who devour thee shall be devoured, and all thine enemies shall devour their own flesh; and those who afflicted thee shall be in affliction, and all who devastated thee I will give over to plunder; for I will recall thy health, and from the pain of thy wound I will recall thee, said the Lord." Remember more diligently what you have heard from the prophet said concerning wounds and concerning scars and concerning swellings. For these things will be necessary to us for the exposition of the scars or wounds or other things of this kind which are mentioned in the inspections of leprosy. Yet we will add further what the same Jeremiah in another place mentions, in these words, concerning the wounds of the soul and the cures, in which nevertheless traces of the wounds have remained after the scar has closed over: "Behold, I will bring on its scar, and I will heal them together and manifest to them peace and faith; and I will turn the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Jerusalem." If, then, we have learned sufficiently from the prophet concerning the wounds and scars of souls and the cures and healings which are brought about with God as physician, behold now that soul concerning which God says that "I have brought on its scar." After wounds, without doubt, "he brings on a scar and health." "And I have healed them, and I will manifest to them peace and faith." If, then, after the knowledge and medicine of God, if after "the manifestation of peace and faith" which we have received through Christ, again in that scar some indication of the former sin should rise up, or some sign of the old error be renewed, then "there comes in the skin of" our "body the contagion of leprosy" to be inspected by the high priest, according to those things which the lawgiver has set forth.
6. But the second kind of leprosy is, if "it shall have flowered," it says, "in the skin, so that it covers all the skin of the body from the head even to the feet, throughout all things whatsoever the priest shall have inspected." When, then, it shall have covered over "all the skin of the body," then the priest pronounces him to be "clean" from the contagion. But "on whatsoever day there shall appear in him living color," again "he is judged unclean" through this, that "living color has appeared in him" which he did not have before. Concerning this some even before me have said that "living color" indicates the reason of life which is in man; and while this reason is not yet set in the soul, if any of that sin be done, it is not reckoned, for the reason that he who transgresses seems not yet capable of reason; but when reason has found place and time in him, if he now does anything against reason, he is rightly seen to be culpable. But we, considering more diligently the things which are written, judge that these things are rather to be taken concerning those whose sense has been occupied or oppressed by frenzy or madness or in whatever way, and who act against reason. These, then, are called clean from leprosy, that is, immune from sin, because their act or motion has no sense. But if perchance "living color" of the body "shall appear in him," that is, if the health of his sense be repaired in him, and after these things he does anything against the reason of the right and the just, sin is said to be reckoned to him from that part in which "living color," that is, the sense of living reason in him, "appeared."
7. The third law concerning lepers is, "when in the skin of the body an ulcer is formed, and in the place of the ulcer a white scar with redness is found." But the cause of an ulcer is when in the body a filthy and noxious humor abounds. So then also in the soul are understood as ulcers those things which boil up from unclean desires or filthy thoughts. And if perchance these have been cured through the grace of faith and the remission of sins, and the soul has been made whole, nevertheless there remains "a scar," and that "scar" does not have a color like that of the body, but is "whiter," it is pronounced to be "leprosy." For a desire is so shining and clear that even to those who look further it shows the indications of the sin residing in it, and perhaps of such a "sin" as is "unto death"; and therefore it is described not only to be "a white scar," but also "reddish." But as to his saying that the scar itself "appears lower," it is certain that a stain of sin of this kind makes the soul lowly and cast down.
8. The fourth was the law, where it is said that "if in the skin there comes a burning of fire," and after these things, "when the burning has been healed, it itself becomes shining and white with redness, or certainly whitish, and the appearance of it is lower than the rest of the skin": and this he says is "the leprosy which has flowered in the burning." See, then, whether "a burning" is not in every soul whatsoever that receives "the fiery darts of the evil one"; or whether everyone who burns in carnal love is not "scorched by fire." These, then, are the "burnings" and kindlings of "fire." But also he suffers "a burning" who is set ablaze by desire of human glory, and who is inflamed by the heats of anger or fury. But if perchance the soul be cured of these wounds through faith, and after health received, despising him who said: "Behold, thou art now made whole, sin no more, lest something worse befall thee," it begins to bring forth the fruit of the old vice from the scar that had closed over, and the scar is not made even with the skin of the rest of the body, but is "lower" and still retains that color which it had at the time of leprosy: his "leprosy has flowered again in the burning," and therefore he is judged "unclean" by the priest.
9. The fifth kind of leprosy is when "a contagion is formed on the head or in the beard of a man or a woman, so that the appearance of the contagion itself is lower than the skin of the body; and this is the leprosy of the head or of the beard." See, then, whether it can happen that "leprosy of the head" be thought to be in him who has not "Christ as his head," but some other — for example, Epicurus, who preaches pleasure as the highest good; does not both the head and the beard of such a man seem to you unclean? But also he who, whereas he ought to be a man and to act as one perfect, if perchance he is easily and as a boy overcome by sin, he too must be said to have "leprosy of the beard," because, whereas he ought to overcome the evil one and to proceed with priestly honor, which is designated in the beard, hindered by the vices of adolescence, he suffers "leprosy of the beard." But that in the Scriptures the soul is indicated as a woman which can not so much bring forth the seed of the word as receive it, has often been said; and this soul is designated to have "leprosy" "on the head," if it has the man, who is "the head of the woman," that is, the teacher, polluted and unclean, following either Marcion or Valentinus or someone of that kind.
10. Now the sixth and last kind of leprosy is set down, which "comes in baldness or forehead-baldness"; which things, as far as they are in themselves, are clean. For thus also the law says: "If any one's," it says, "hairs of the head have fallen off, he is bald, he is clean. But if they have fallen off from his forehead, he is forehead-bald, he is clean." And these things are suitably referred to the soul, so that, when it casts off and lays aside those things which are dead by their own nature, it is said to be clean. But after this, if those things which had first been purified shall be seen to sprout up again, filthier and lower than the dignity of purity requires, they will render the soul unclean and leprous. From this now, generally, concerning every leper in whom there shall have been "the contagion of leprosy" and it shall appear "lower than the rest of the skin" — for every vice of the soul is lower than its remaining virtues — the law, which "is spiritual," decrees certain such things: "Let his garments," it says, "be unstitched, and his head uncovered, and his mouth covered over." By which it designates that he who is leprous in soul, that is, who is fixed fast with sins, ought not to sew coverings upon himself and to cover over the baseness of sin. For just as he whose "garments are unstitched" bears the baseness of his body naked and uncovered, so ought he who is hedged about with some sins to cover his evils and disgraceful deeds with no sewn-on words, with no veils of excuses; so that he may not become "a whited sepulchre, which outwardly indeed appears beautiful to men, but within is full of the bones of the dead and of all uncleanness." The divine law wills, then, that the sinner not only not sew on "garments," but also not cover "the head," so that, if there is any sin of the head, that is, if anything has been committed against God, if there has been sin against the faith, not even these things be held covered over, but be made public to all, that by the intervention and chastisement of all he may be amended and merit pardon. Yet this leper is commanded to cover only his "mouth": what is this, that he is enjoined to have all the parts of the body naked, and only the "mouth" he is commanded to cover? Is it not plain and set in the open that to him who is in the leprosy of sin speech is closed, the "mouth" is closed to him, so that the confidence of speech and the authority of teaching are shut out? For "to the sinner God said: Why dost thou declare my righteous acts, and takest up my covenant through thy mouth?" Let the sinner, then, have his "mouth" closed, because he who has not taught himself cannot teach another; and therefore he who by acting evilly has lost the freedom of speaking is commanded to cover his "mouth." "He shall be unclean," it says, "and shall sit separated outside, his dwelling shall be outside the camp." It is clear that every "unclean" one is cast out from the assembly of the good and separated from the company and camps of the saints; and therefore it says that: "his dwelling shall be outside the camp." But if perchance he shall have been made clean, he does not indeed come of his own accord and by himself to the priest, but is offered, it says, by another, nor does he enter into the camp. For neither was it fitting that "on the same day on which he was made clean," before those things which were suitable were done for him, "he should enter into the camp." On account of which "the priest," it says, "shall go out to him outside the camp." For always to him who cannot yet "enter into the camp" there "goes out" that one who can "go out outside the camp," who says: "I went out from God and came into this world." "The priest goes out," then, "to him" and considers whether he now receives health, whether he is being purged from the contagion of leprosy. But when the priest shall have seen him, he commands that "there be taken two living hens for him who is being made clean, and cedar wood and twisted scarlet and hyssop." It seems to me that here too these "two hens" have a certain likeness of the two goats, of which one is offered to the Lord and the other is sent forth "into the wilderness"; for so here also, of the two hens, one is immolated and the other is let go "into the field." He, then, who is being purged of leprosy gives here too some part which is cast away "into the wilderness"; but the other part is offered to the Lord for him. Yet not yet does this one, who is being purged of leprosy and offers the hens, offer at the altar even that very hen which is offered for him to the Lord, as "turtledoves or doves." For not yet "on the same day" is he who is being purged of leprosy made worthy of the divine altar. On account of which the lawgiver commands that "on the same day on which he is purged, two hens be taken" for his purification. But I think that here too the meaning of that hen is latently held, through whom the purification of the sinner is effected, concerning which it is written: "How often would I have gathered thy children, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and thou wouldest not!" Yet he who is purified has need also to be purified through "cedar wood." For it is impossible that the leprosy of sin be able to be purged without the "wood" of the cross, unless there be applied also the "wood" in which the Savior, as the Apostle Paul says, "stripped off the principalities and powers, triumphing over them in the wood." Yet there is joined to the cleansing of this leprosy also "twisted scarlet," and there is associated also "hyssop." The "twisted scarlet" contains the figure of the sacred blood, which was wrung out from his side through the wound of the "lance." "And hyssop." Physicians report that this kind of herb has a nature such that it dilutes and cleanses out, if any of those filths from the corruption of a noxious humor have settled in the breast of men. Whence also necessarily in the cleansing out of sins the figure of this kind of plant has been taken up. But that scarlet has often been taken up for the aids of salvation, we find recounted in the divine volumes, as in the childbearing of Tamar, when, it says, "one first put forth his hand. But the midwife, taking scarlet, bound it on his hand, saying: This one shall come out first." But also Rahab the harlot, when she had received the spies and received from them a pact of safety, they too said to her: "And thou shalt set as a sign a little scarlet cord, and shalt bind it in that window, through which thou didst let us down." Yet observe also this, that the priest himself is not said to immolate the hen; for not yet is this one, who was a leper, worthy that the priest himself immolate for him. On account of which neither is the blood of the hen offered at the altar, but it says that "the hen shall be slain in an earthen vessel, in which vessel living water has been put," so that both water may be taken up for purification and the fullness of the mystery be completed in "water and blood," which is said "to have gone out from the side" of the Savior, and no less in what John sets down in his epistle and says, that purification is made "in water and blood and spirit." Whence here too I see all these things fulfilled. For there is the "spirit" of that hen which is slain, and the "living water" which is in the vessel, and the "blood" which is poured out over it; not that we should think the grace of baptism is to be repeated through these things, but that every purification of sins, even this which is sought through repentance, has need of the aid of him from whose side "water" proceeded "and blood." See, then, how both the "living hen and the cedar wood and the twisted scarlet and the hyssop are dipped in the blood of the young bird and in living water," so that from this, sprinkled and purified from the "water and blood" in which that "hen" too was dipped which is sent forth "into the field," and sprinkled "seven times toward the Lord," he who is being purified may be made clean from all the uncleanness by which he had been possessed from the contagion of leprosy.
11. But note also this, how, whereas above he had said: "This is the law of the leper; on the day on which he shall have been made clean," now he adds to all these things and says: "and he shall be clean." For if the leprosy having once been cast off he "has been made clean," how shall he still "be clean"? But see that, even if anyone be made clean from sin and be no longer in the act of sin, nevertheless the very traces of the crime committed need purification, both that which we have expounded and, no less, others which are commanded in what follows. For we have observed that to this — that it is written concerning leprosy: "on the day on which he shall have been made clean" — after these things, among the other things which are commanded, it is said a third time: "and he shall be clean," and again at the last it is written: "and he shall be cleansed." Whence it seems to me that there are certain differences even in the purification itself, and, so to say, certain advances of the purgations. For it can be said even of him who ceases from sin: "and he shall be clean," but not immediately will he so be seen as "clean" that he has attained to the summit of purity. Finally he adds to those things which he had said, "on whatsoever day he shall have been made clean": "and the living hen," it says, "shall be sent forth into the field, and he who is being purified shall wash his garments"; but after these things, "he shall shave," it says, "every hair"; and he adds: "and he shall be washed in water"; and after these things is added: "and he shall be clean." For neither is it enough that in the sprinkling he had said: "he shall be clean," unless he had also added these things. This one, then, who is being purified from leprosy, had filthy garments until now, even after the sprinkling, and now he is commanded to "wash" them. Yet these garments do not seem to me to have been in all respects of evil weaving: otherwise he would command them rather to be cast away than washed. In which is shown that his manner of life had neither been in all respects alien from God, nor purely and wholly kept in the Lord. For he would not wash the garments, unless they had been filthy, nor again would he use them once washed, if they had been of a weaving alien in all respects. But as to his being commanded to "shave off every hair," I think that everything whatsoever of dead work that has sprung up in the soul set in sins — for this is now what the hairs are called — he is commanded to cast off. For the sinner, everything that has been born in him whether in counsel or in word or in work, it is expedient, if he truly wishes to be purified, that he shave off and cast away, nor suffer anything to remain. But the holy one ought to keep every hair, and, if it is possible, "iron ought not to go up upon his head," lest it be able to cut off anything of his wise thoughts or words or works. Thence, finally, it is that of Samuel too it is said that "iron did not go up upon his head"; but also of all the Nazarites, who are the righteous, because the righteous man, as it is written, "in all things whatsoever he shall do, they shall prosper, and his leaves shall not fall." Hence also of the disciples of the Lord even "the hairs of the head" are said "to be numbered," that is, all their acts, all their words, all their thoughts are kept with God, because they are righteous, because they are holy. But of the sinners every work, every word, every thought must be cut off. And this is what is said: "that every hair of his body be shaved, and then he shall be clean." But observe also this, that it is not enough for him after purification either to have "washed his garments" or to have "shaved every hair," unless he has also "been washed in water." For he ought to cast off all filths, all uncleanness, not only from his garments, but also from his own body, so that no stain of the extinguished leprosy remain in him. A third time, then, now purified, he is thus at last made worthy "to enter the camp" of the Lord; yet he is not immediately permitted to enter his own house, but it is said that he "remain outside his own house for seven days, and shave every hair of his head and beard and eyebrows"; as though it had not been enough that he had first "shaved every hair," now it is added that he "shave every hair of his head and beard and eyebrows." For the same thing seemed to have been said in that he had said "every hair was to be shaved." But this repetition does not seem to me to be empty. For he wills, after the sinner shall have been made clean, after he shall have received through repentance the remission of sins, to admonish him concerning the purgation "of the head and of the beard and of the eyebrows," as if he were saying to him: "Behold, thou art now made whole," see that thou contract no further guilt of the head. For "the sin of the head" is to think otherwise concerning the divine doctrines than the faith of the Church holds. But in the beard, that he remember that he has laid aside the sins of virile age and be converted and become as an infant. But in the eyebrows he casts down arrogance and bends to the humility of Christ the ill-raised eyebrow. A second time, then, in this manner "every hair of the body is shaved." And just as these things are doubled, so also it does not suffice to have "washed the garments" once in the first purification, but a second time it is enjoined, "that he wash his garments and his body with water," and then a fourth time is added: "and he shall be clean." But these things happen when he is indeed set within the camp, yet still "outside his own house." For it says after seven days: "on the eighth day he shall take to himself two lambs." Now not another "takes," but he himself "takes to himself." "Two lambs," it says, "without blemish, and one yearling ewe without blemish, and three tenths of fine flour sprinkled with oil, and one cyathus of oil," so that after these things, purified by a fifth purification, he may be brought to completion. Of these "two lambs," then, one indeed is immolated and is said to be "for the trespass": "in the place," it says, "in which he is slain for sin, and where the whole burnt offerings are made, in the holy place." Behold, now he is made worthy to offer sacrifice, who was able to arrive at the fifth purification, and his victim becomes "the holy of holies." But the other lamb is made "a whole burnt offering," in which also "the priest is said to make propitiation for him, that he may be purged." Therefore the first "lamb," which is "for the trespass," seems to me to hold the form of that very virtue which he took up who was in sins, through which he was able to drive away from himself the affection for sinning and to bear penitence for his old evils; but the second "lamb" to hold the figure of that virtue now recovered, through which, all vices being cast off and driven far away, he offered himself whole and wholly to God and stood forth worthy of the divine altars. But the "ewe" which is taken up after the lambs, as far as we are able to conjecture in places so difficult, I think designates the fecundity of him who is converted from sin and has offered himself wholly to God, by which, after all things, he makes use of the offspring of good works and abounds in the fruits of innocence. Into three parts, then, the reasoning of this purification, that is, of conversion from sin, is divided. The first is the victim by which sins are loosed; the second is that by which the soul is converted to God; the third is that of fecundity and of the fruits which he who is said to be converted shows forth in the works of piety. And because these victims are three, therefore he subjoins also that "three measures of the tenth of fine flour" are to be taken up, that everywhere we may understand that purification cannot be made without the mystery of the Trinity. But see that here, in the fifth purification, meal is not taken up, but now this one who is being purified from sins has "fine flour"; "fine flour" is ascribed to him, whence he may now have clean bread, and this is "sprinkled with oil." But also his "oil" is divided to two uses; one, with which "the fine flour is sprinkled," the other, of which the priest takes "the whole measure of the cyathus," as it says. In which, as I perceive, both his bread is made rich for mercy, and the oil, by which the true light and the fire of knowledge are kindled, "is placed upon his head through the hands of the priest." For thus it says: "And the priest," it says, "who makes him clean, shall set him in the sight of the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of testimony." See that it belongs to the priest to "set" him who is converted from sin, that he may be able to be stable and no longer to waver nor "to be moved by every wind of doctrine." He sets him, then, not only within the camp, but "at the very door of the tabernacle of testimony before the Lord." And after, according to those things which were said above, the victims are offered for purification, he applies, it says, also "the cyathus of oil" and separates it "before the Lord." "And the priest," it says, "shall take of the blood, and shall put it upon the tip of his right ear and upon the extremity of his right hand and upon the extremity of his right foot." And after these things, it says, "the priest shall take" not the cyathus of oil itself, but "of" it, and "shall pour it out," it says, "into his own left hand, and the priest shall dip his finger in the oil which is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle it seven times before the Lord"; and again: "of that which remains in his left hand, he shall put it upon the right ear of him who is being purified, and upon the extremity of his right hand and upon the extremity of his right foot"; and after these things: "that which shall have been left of the oil, the priest shall put," it says, "from his hand upon the head of him who is being purified." You see how it belongs to the last and highest purification that the ear be purified, that the hearing may be kept pure and clean, and the right hand, that our works may be clean and nothing unclean and filthy be mingled with them. But also the "feet" are to be purified, that they may be directed only to good work and no longer incur the lapses of youth. But "seven times the priest sprinkles toward the Lord of the oil." For after all things which were celebrated for the purified one, after he was converted and reconciled to God, after the victims immolated, it was in the order of things that he should also invite upon him the sevenfold power of the Holy Spirit, according to him who had said: "Render unto me the gladness of thy salvation, and strengthen me with a princely spirit." Or certainly, since the Lord in the Gospel testifies that the hearts of sinners are besieged by "seven demons," fittingly "seven times before the Lord the priest sprinkles" in the purification, so that the expulsion of the "seven evil spirits" from the heart of the purified one may be declared "by the oil shaken off seven times with the fingers." Thus, then, to those converted from sin purification indeed is given through all those things which we have said above, but the gift of the grace of the spirit is designated through the image of "oil," so that he who is converted from sin may be able not only to obtain purgation, but also to be filled with the Holy Spirit, whereby he may be able both to receive back the former "robe and ring" and, reconciled in all things to the father, to be restored into the place of a son, through our Lord Jesus Christ himself, "to whom be glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen."