Leprosy, like sin, is tenacious. It will not only inflict individuals; it can get into homes, too.
Have you ever had a house inspection? It isn’t just done for new construction; it also occurs when we buy a used residence. The inspector checks for everything from termite damage to roof rot, and from leaky gas lines to lead paint. He tests for dangerous wiring and radon gas in your basement. So it can be a matter of life and death, although it’s usually not that dramatic! But in Israel, when leprosy was a constant danger, it wasn’t enough to inspect persons. Houses also had to be examined. What a tragedy if one was infected because the plague was in his house! Leviticus 14:33-57 explains the process to be used once they arrived in the Land (v 34) and had permanent dwellings. If someone detected a problem in the walls of his house, he was to say to the priest, “It seems to me that there is some plague in the house” (v 35). The priest would direct them to first clear their goods out, because if the house was locked up, they would have no access to their clothes and cooking utensils. If the priest saw “ingrained streaks, greenish or reddish, which appear to be deep in the wall” (v 37), the house was quarantined for a week. After that, if the problem had spread, that section of the wall was removed and dumped into “an unclean place outside the city” (v 40). Then all the walls of the house were scraped, and the dust removed to the same unclean place. New mortar and stones were used for the repair. If, after that, the plague returned, the whole house was demolished and removed. The bottom line of all this? It was “to teach when it is unclean and when it is clean” (v 57). Let’s ask ourselves: If the Lord Jesus was coming for a visit to my house, would I make some changes? Maybe it’s time for a spiritual home inspection.