(49-53) And he shall take to cleanse the house.--The same rites are prescribed for cleansing the house which were performed in cleansing the healed leper (see Leviticus 14:3-7), with the exception of the sacrifices which the man brought afterwards, and which were necessarily absent in the case of the restored leprous house.
14:33-53 The leprosy in a house is unaccountable to us, as well as the leprosy in a garment; but now sin, where that reigns in a house, is a plague there, as it is in a heart. Masters of families should be aware, and afraid of the first appearance of sin in their families, and put it away, whatever it is. If the leprosy is got into the house, the infected part must be taken out. If it remain in the house, the whole must be pulled down. The owner had better be without a dwelling, than live in one that was infected. The leprosy of sin ruins families and churches. Thus sin is so interwoven with the human body, that it must be taken down by death.
And he shall take to cleanse the house,.... The priest, or by his fellow priest, as Aben Ezra, though some interpret it of the master of the house; in Leviticus 14:49, an account is given of the manner of cleansing a leprous house, which is the same with that of cleansing a leprous man, see notes on Leviticus 14:4-7,
Two birds. The birds here indeed are not described as "alive and clean", Leviticus 14:4; but both are plainly implied and the house is said to be cleansed with the blood of the slain bird, as well as with the living bird; and it was the upper door post of the house which was sprinkled seven times with it, but there were no sacrifices offered; in this case, as in the cleansing of the leper, the atonement for it was made by the other rites, which were sufficient to render it habitable again, and free for use, either of the owner or any other person:
and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. See Gill on Leviticus 14:4.
Two birds. The birds here indeed are not described as "alive and clean", Leviticus 14:4; but both are plainly implied and the house is said to be cleansed with the blood of the slain bird, as well as with the living bird; and it was the upper door post of the house which was sprinkled seven times with it, but there were no sacrifices offered; in this case, as in the cleansing of the leper, the atonement for it was made by the other rites, which were sufficient to render it habitable again, and free for use, either of the owner or any other person:
and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop. See Gill on Leviticus 14:4.