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<p>This is the law concerning the leprosy in a house. Now that they were in the wilderness they dwelt in tents, and had no houses, and therefore the law is made only an appendix to the former laws concerning the leprosy, because it related, not to their present state, but to their future settlement. The leprosy in a house is as unaccountable as the leprosy in a garment; but, if we see not what natural causes of it can be assigned, we may resolve it into the power of the God of nature, who here says, <i>I put the leprosy in a house</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Lev.14.34" href="/passage/?search=Lev.14.34">Lev. 14:34</a>), as his curse is said to <i>enter into a house</i>, and <i>consume it with the timber and stones thereof</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Zech.5.4" href="/passage/?search=Zech.5.4">Zech. 5:4</a>. Now, 1. It is supposed that even in Canaan itself, the land of promise, their houses might be infected with a leprosy. Though it was 1c23 a holy land, this would not secure them from this plague, while the inhabitants were many of them so unholy. Thus a place and a name in the visible church will not secure wicked people from God’s judgments. 2. It is likewise taken for granted that the owner of the house will make the priest acquainted with it, as soon as he sees the least cause to suspect the leprosy in his house: <i>It seemeth to me there is as it were a plague in the house</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Lev.14.35" href="/passage/?search=Lev.14.35">Lev. 14:35</a>. Sin, where that reigns in a house, is a plague there, as it is in a heart. And masters of families should be aware and afraid of the first appearance of gross sin in their families, and put away the iniquity, whatever it is, far from their tabernacles, <a class="bibleref" title="Job.22.23" href="/passage/?search=Job.22.23">Job 22:23</a>. They should be jealous with a godly jealousy concerning those under their charge, lest they be drawn into sin, and take early advice, if it but seem that there is a plague in the house, lest the contagion spread, and many be by it defiled and destroyed. 3. If the priest, upon search, found that the leprosy had got into the house, he must try to cure it, by taking gout that part of the building that was infected, <a class="bibleref" title="Lev.14.40,Lev.14.41" href="/passage/?search=Lev.14.40,Lev.14.41"><span class="bibleref" title="Lev.14.40">Lev. 14:40</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Lev.14.41">41</span></a>. This was like cutting off a gangrened limb, for the preservation of the rest of the body. Corruption should be purged out in time, before it spread; for <i>a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off</i>. 4. If yet it remained in the house, the whole house must be pulled down, and all the materials carried to the dunghill, <a class="bibleref" title="Lev.14.44,Lev.14.45" href="/passage/?search=Lev.14.44,Lev.14.45"><span class="bibleref" title="Lev.14.44">Lev. 14:44</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Lev.14.45">45</span></a>. The owner had better be without a dwelling than live in one that was infected. Note, The leprosy of sin, if it be obstinate under the methods of cure, will at last be the ruin of families and churches. If Babylon will not be healed, she shall be forsaken and abandoned, and (according to the law respecting the leprous house), they shall not <i>take of her a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Jer.51.9,Jer.51.26" href="/passage/?search=Jer.51.9,Jer.51.26"><span class="bibleref" title="Jer.51.9">Jer. 51:9</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Jer.51.26">26</span></a>. The remainders of sin and corruption in our mortal bodies are like this leprosy in the house; after all our pains in scraping and plastering, we shall never be quite clear of it, till the earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved and taken down; when we are dead we shall be free from sin, and not till then, <a class="bibleref" title="Rom.6.7" href="/passage/?search=Rom.6.7">Rom. 6:7</a>. 5. If the taking out the infected stones cu
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