“When a person with a discharge has become free of it, he is to count seven days for his purification. Then he is to wash his clothes and bathe his body in running water; after that, he will be clean. On the eighth day, he is to take for himself two doves or two young pigeons, come before Adonai to the entrance of the tent of meeting and give them to the cohen. The cohen is to offer them, the one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering; thus the cohen will make atonement for him on account of his discharge before Adonai”-Leviticus 15:13-15
We are continuing on with our study of what a male is to do when he becomes UNCLEAN due to an ABNORMAL discharge from his male organ.
What I find interesting is that in spite of how greatly contagious this form of UNCLEANNESS is, the afflicted man is not sent away from his home or family, nor is he required to be quarantined.
Once his discharge stops, the steps he takes to restore his CLEANNESS are relatively simple as follows:
First, he must wait seven days until his discharge stops.
Second, after the 7-day purification, he must bathe himself in living water to purify himself.
Third, he takes two birds, which are the least valuable and cheapest (monetarily speaking) of all the sacrifices to the officiating priest at the Tabernacle.
Fourth, the officiating priest will sacrifice one of the birds as a HATTA-AT or Purification Offering.
Finally, the officiating priest will sacrifice the second bird as an OLAH or Burnt Offering.
I need to say a quick word about the HATTA-AT or Purification offering.
Most Bibles will call this a “sin offering”, but I have chosen to call it a “Purification Offering”.
The context makes it clear that no sin has been committed.
What is happening is that the bearer of the source of contamination could defile the sanctuary.
Hence, he needs to purified.
You can read more about this by clicking here.
Now I want you to notice something interesting.
Notice that contrary to normal procedures, the first sacrifice offered up is the HATTA-AT.
It is offered up first after the man has been restored to a state of CLEAN by means of living water.
Once the HATTA-AT or Purification Offering is offered up, the man is now HOLY.
He is now a fully restored member of Israel.
Only then, can he now approach the Lord with his “gratitude gift” in the form of the OLAH or Burnt Offering.
Hence, we can see that even the sequence of the sacrificial offerings holds tremendous significance.
In other words, FIRST one is made HOLY, and then after that, one is allowed to approach the Lord.
Keep in mind that Yeshua also was crucified OUTSIDE THE CAMP as our HATTA-AT or Purification Offering (again most Bibles will use the misleading translation of “Sin Offering” for HATTA-AT).
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“The high priest carries the blood of animals into
the Most Holy Place as a purification offering,
but the bodies are burned outside the camp.
And so Yeshua also suffered outside the city gate
to make the people holy through his own blood.”
-Hebrews 13:11-12
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