Wesley Corpus

Into the open field - The place of its former abode, signifying the taking off that restraint which was laid upon the leper. All his hair - Partly to discover his perfect soundness; partly to preserve him from a relapse through any relicks of it which might remain in his hair or in his clothes. Out of his tent - Out of his former habitation, in some separate place, lest some of his leprosy yet lurking in him should break forth to the infection of his family. All his hair - Which began to grow again, and now for more caution is shaved again. Oil is added as a fit sign of God's grace and mercy, and of the leper's healing. A log is a measure containing six egg - shells full. Maketh him clean - The healing is ascribed to God, Lev 14:13, but the ceremonial cleansing was an act of the priest using the rites which God had prescribed. A trespass - offering - To teach them, that sin was the cause of leprosy, and of all diseases, and that these ceremonial observations had a farther meaning, to make them sensible of their spiritual diseases, that they might fly to God in Christ for the cure of them. The priest shall put it - To signify, that he was now free to hear God's word in the appointed places, and to touch any person or thing without defiling it, and to go whither he pleased. The oil - As the blood signified Christ's blood by which men obtained remission of sins, so the oil noted the graces of the spirit by which they are renewed. Before the Lord - Before the second veil which covered the holy of holies. Upon the blood - Upon the place where that blood was put. The priest shall put the blood - Upon the extremities of the body, to include the whole. And some of the oil was afterwards put in the same places upon the blood. That blood seems to have been a token of forgiveness, the oil of healing: For God first forgiveth our iniquities, and then healeth our diseases. When the leper was anointed, the oil must have blood under it, to signify that all the graces and comforts of the spirit, all his sanctifying influences are owing to the death of Christ.