Double House Inspection

In Leviticus 14:33-57 details the procedures for house leprosy. If the owner of the owner of the house thinks the house may have leprosy, then he goes to the priest and the priest inspects it. If it seems to be below the surface, then the priest comes back on the seventh day to inspect it again. If it is indeed house leprosy, the house is torn down.

James Jordan has connected this to God’s house. We can go further with this insight.

The two temple “cleansings” in the NT have presented a historical difficulty. The Synoptic Gospels give us one temple inspection at the end of their Gospels. John gives us two: one at the beginning and one at the end of Jesus’ ministry.

As we move through the canon by the time we get to the end of Luke, we are comforted (a little) that Jesus has inspected the temple only once; there is still time for repentance. Then comes John. John’s Gospel turns us on our head when we read about Jesus’/YHWH visit/coming to the temple at the beginning of the Gospel and at the end. When we read of that first temple visit we realize that the three temple visits in the previous Gospels were actually the second inspection after which comes destruction.

Leviticus 14 may also help us with 70 A.D. The Priest who inspects the house is the one who is supposed to destroy the house. Jesus comes in 70 A.D. and does precisely that.

There are also two temple visitations in the major prophets. Jeremiah visits the temple in chapter 7 and Ezekiel in chapter 8. Once again, we don’t know about the second visit until we get to Ezekiel.