Leviticus 13:52
He shall therefore burn that garment, whether warp or woof, in woollen or in linen, or any thing of skin, wherein the plague is: for it is a fretting leprosy; it shall be burnt in the fire. He shall therefore burn that garment, whether warp or woof, in woollen or in linen, or any thing of skin, wherein the plague is: for it is a fretting leprosy; it shall be burnt in the fire.
The verse belongs to the laws in Leviticus 13:48-59 for identifying and dealing with leprosy in garments and other materials. In that law warp means the lengthwise threads, woof means the crosswise filling, and weft means the woven cloth. A garment of wool or linen, whether warp or woof, or anything of skin or leather, wherein is a spreading, destructive, persistent and deep-seated plague that washing cannot remove, must be burned in the fire. The law is sanitary instruction concerning leprosy and the control of contagious diseases, addressing garments and materials that may retain infectious germs. The rule illustrates that physical uncleanness had to be removed before the sanctuary's cleansing by blood, with the object made visibly clean before the deeper moral cleansing represented by the atonement. The verse is part of the cleansing laws given to ancient Israel, grouped with instructions about clean vessels and bodily purity as cleansing truths Israel was to obey.
The horrible, dreadful disease of leprosy in the chapter is a fitting type, picture, and prefigure of sin as a terrible moral disease, an object lesson emphasizing the exceeding sinfulness of sin and the need to be healed. Like the plague in cloth or skin that must be burned, sin is an incurable, infectious disease that never gets well by itself but spreads, consumes its victim, and pollutes the inner source of life as well as the outward person, so that the sinner contaminates the very atmosphere, introduces pollution where all before was comparative purity, and by his society leads others to sin. That contaminating influence of sin is more to be feared than infection from a leper. Human means cannot cure this disease; cleansing comes through Christ, the great Physician, whose blood cleanses those who repent and believe.
Spiritually applied, the burning of dress infected with a persistent plague teaches Christians to put away dress infected with pride and vanity, obeying God's directions about clothing rather than following worldly fashions. Wearing such fashions misrepresents the Lord and can spread pride and vanity among weaker believers. As one of Israel's cleansing truths, the verse teaches Christians not to turn away from health reform and other cleansing truths. The destructive fretting leprosy supplies an image for Sunday laws spreading through California, presenting religious domination as a worse and more dangerous affliction than measles.