Baldness. Today's passage begins with the good news that if a man was bald he was clean! The serious part was when there was a reddish-white sore up there. If the priest determined that it was an infectious disease, then the poor chap had to cover up, shout loudly that he was "Unclean! Unclean!" and move outside the camp. That would be tough, but probably necessary to prevent the spread.
Textiles (woven fabric, leather, woolen knits, linen) could become contaminated by mildew. If a greenish or reddish growth appeared on such an article, the priest would examine it and isolate it for seven days. Then he'd look at it again to see whether the growth had spread or not. If so, the article was burned. If not it would be washed, isolated for another week, and inspected again. If after all that the mildew was still there, the article was burned. If the mildew didn't reappear, the article was washed again and pronounced clean.
When a person was healed of their infectious disease a ceremonial cleansing needed to be done. I imagine this process would have made the formerly infected person more acceptable to his friends and family. He would be formally pronounced as "clean" by God. The ceremony required two live clean birds, some cedar wood, red yarn, and hyssop. One bird was killed over a clay pot filled with water. The priest took the live bird the cedar and the hyssop together and dipped them into the blood of the other bird and sprinkled the person to be cleansed seven times and pronounced him clean and released the bird. The person still had work to do. He was to wash his clothes, shave all his hair and bathe. Then he was allowed back into the camp but he had to stay outside his tent for a week. After that he had to shave all his hair - even his eyebrows - and bathe again. On the eighth day he was to bring 2 male lambs, 1 ewe lamb, fine flour and a log (about 2/3 of a pint) of oil to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting as a guilt offering, a sin offering, and a burnt offering. The animal for the guilt offering was slaughtered and some of the blood would be put on his right ear, right thumb, and right big toe. On top of the blood the priest would put some oil. Next the priest would sacrifice the sin offering and finally the burnt offering together with the grain offering and make atonement for him and he would be clean.
Those too poor to afford so many animals for the offerings could bring 1 lamb and a log of oil for the guilt offering, plus two birds, one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering. The blood of the guilt offering was placed on the right ear, thumb and big toe as before, followed by the oil. Then the birds were sacrificed along with the grain offering and he would be clean.
The mildew inside the house sounds like toxic mold. The house was emptied and the priest inspected the inside. If he found the greenish or reddish growth he closed up the house for 7 days. After that, the priest returned and if the mildew had spread the infected parts were removed, the walls scraped, and all the contaminated bits were dumped in an unclean place outside of town. New stones and plaster replaced the old. If the mildew reappeared then the house would be torn down and dumped in the unclean place. If it was fine then the priest pronounced it clean and the house was purified in the same manner as the skin infection cleansing was done. Anonement was made for the house.
Tomorrow read Leviticus 15-18:18
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