Leviticus Chapter 14 verse 15 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerses 15-18. - And the priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand. This ceremony is altogether peculiar to this purification. The joint use of blood and oil is not singular (see Leviticus 8:30), but elsewhere there is no sprinkling of the oil... seven times before the Lord, and in the consecration of priests there was no anointing of the different members with oil as well as with blood. The Mishua (as before cited) continues the description of the ceremony as follows: - "The priest now takes from the log of oil and pours it into the palm of his colleague, though if he poured it into his own it were valid. He dips his finger and sprinkles seven times towards the holy of holies, dipping each time he sprinkles. He goes before the leper, and on the spot where he had put the blood he puts the oil, as it is written, 'Upon the blood of the trespass offering.' And the remnant of the oil that is in the priest's hand, he pours on the head of him that is cleansed, for an atonement; if he so puts it, he is atoned for, but if not, he is not atoned for. So Rabbi Akiba. Rabbi Jochanan, the son of Nuri, saith, This is only the remnant of the ordinance, whether it be done or not, the atonement is made; but they impute it to him (the priest), as if he had not made atonement." The double sprinkling with blood and oil betokened dedication as in the case of the priests, the blood specially denoting reconciliation, and the oil the strengthening power of God by which the new life was to be led.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(15) Shall take some of the log of oil.--This he had to do with his right hand, which is actually expressed in the ancient Chaldee paraphrase.And pour it into the palm of his own left hand.--Better, and he shall pour it into the palm of the priest's left hand, that is, the priest who has hitherto performed the ceremony of cleansing the leper now takes some of the log of oil, and puts it into the left hand of his fellow priest. This is not only distinctly declared in the canons which obtained during the second Temple, but is expressed in the text, which is seen from the literal translation we have given of the clause in question. The same priest, however, was allowed to pour it into the palm of his own hands. To express this view, which the translators of the Authorised Version espoused, they omitted the word priest, which is to be found in the original, and substituted his own, which is not in the original.