What Does Leviticus 14:18 Mean?
And the rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall pour upon the head of the one being cleansed. And the priest shall make a covering for him before the face of the LORD.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And the remnant of the oil that is in the priest’s hand he shall pour upon the head of him that is to be cleansed: and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD.THE KEY
The oil left in the priest’s hand becomes part of the cleansing, while the act called atonement carries the root sense of covering.
THE MEANING
The verse holds cleansing and covering together: the oil still in the priest’s hand is poured onto the head of the one being cleansed, and the priest’s act before the LORD is named with the root of covering. For you now, what remains still has a place in the completion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that what remains after cleansing begins is useless: the remaining oil belongs to its completion.
THE ROOT
וְכִפֶּר
ve-kipper
GROWS FROM
כפר
k-p-r
To cover or smear over; in this form, to perform the act rendered “make an atonement.”
The word translated “make an atonement” grows from a root of covering. The verse places that covering beside the oil poured on the head of the one being cleansed, joining cleansing with a covering before the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
kopher: Pitch or coating; also a ransom in other contexts.
כֹּפֶר
In Genesis 6:14, this word names the pitch that coats the ark, letting the root’s concrete sense of covering show through.
kapporet: The cover of the ark, called the “mercy seat” in the KJV.
כַּפֹּרֶת
This cover belongs to the same word family, echoing the covering named in the priest’s act before the LORD.
THE PATTERN
Oil placed on a person marks restoration as something received in the body.
You lay out a table before my face, in full view of those who press me. You make my head rich with oil; my cup is soaked full.And they cast out many demons, and rubbed with oil many who were without strength, and healed them.THE THREAD
Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; make nests in the ark, and cover it within and without with pitch.The verb translated “make an atonement” in Leviticus and the word for “pitch” in Genesis share the K-P-R root. In Genesis the ark is covered with pitch; here the priest performs a covering for the one being cleansed.
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