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I. In the first bird let us see the SAVIOUR.

1. The bird was to be "clean." Christ perfectly holy.

2. A bird's being chosen in this rite may point us whence our Saviour came — from heaven.

3. The bird was slain. Christ tasted death for us. This shows —

(1)  The evil of sin.

(2)  The certainty of its punishment.

(3)  God's unspeakable love.

4. As to what bird it was, we do not certainly know, but commentators tell us all the birds prescribed by Moses were common and accessible. So the Saviour is not far off, but near at hand.

5. The "earthern vessel" reminds us of the Saviour's humanity. And the fact that it contained not only blood but also clear water, may remind us that He saves by His Spirit as well as by His blood — that His salvation includes sanctification as well as justification.

II. Let us see in the other bird the BELIEVER.

1. That the Christian is represented by a bird, just as the Saviour is, may teach us —

(1)  That Jesus in some sense makes the Christian equal to Himself; and

(2)  That every Christian should seek to be Christlike (see 1 John 3:4).

2. That the Christian is represented by a clean bird teaches —

(1)  That the man who believes is justified from all things; and

(2)  That the Christian's effort should ever be after cleanness of character as well as of condition.

3. That this bird was dipped in the blood of the slain bird shows us plainly the way of salvation — by faith.

4. That the bird on being dipped was then let loose into the open field, teaches the blessed freedom, the glorious change which immediately takes place on a man's believing.

5. May we not also learn that while the Christian is free, yet he will always use his liberty as the bird does, not to sink earthward, but to soar heavenward?

III. As the living bird seems to have been dipped into the blood of the dead by means of a cedar staff, to which, along with a bundle of hyssop, it was attached by a band of scarlet wool, we take this staff as a representation of the GOSPEL, through the foolishness of preaching which it pleases God to save them who believe. Doing so, we learn from 1 Kings 4:30, that cedar-wood and hyssop were regarded as the two extremes of vegetable creation; and so the gospel is

(1)  adapted to the two extremes of men;

(2)  addressed to the highest and lowest;

(3)  to the best and the worst.

(D. Jamison, B. A.)

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KJV: This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest:

WEB: "This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest,