This research paper by Angel DiDomenico Flippen, submitted to Dr. John D. Currid for OT508 – Genesis–Joshua at Reformed Theological Seminary – Charlotte, analyzes the ritual cleansing of those healed from skin disease in Leviticus 14:1–7. Flippen argues that the ritual, though strange to modern readers, reveals deep theological truths about holiness, impurity, and reconciliation with God. Each step of the cleansing process symbolizes restoration from death to life and reentry into fellowship with God’s people.
Flippen explains that the priest’s inspection outside the camp underscores God’s holiness and humanity’s separation due to impurity. The materials—cedarwood, scarlet yarn, hyssop, running water, and two birds—represent beauty, life, cleansing, and divine renewal. The slain bird’s blood mingled with “living water” signifies death’s purification, while the released bird symbolizes freedom and restoration. Drawing parallels to the scapegoat ritual on the Day of Atonement, Flippen interprets the ceremony as a physical enactment of spiritual truth: impurity must be carried away for fellowship to be restored.
The paper concludes that Leviticus 14:1–7 reveals God’s holiness and the necessity of cleansing before worship. The ritual anticipates Christ’s ultimate atonement, where His blood secures eternal purification. Just as the healed person is brought from isolation into the camp, believers are brought from death into life through Christ, the true source of cleansing and communion with God.
Course and semester: OT508 Genesis–Joshua — Fall 2017
