Leviticus 13:59
This is the law of the plague of leprosy in a garment of woollen or linen, either in the warp, or woof, or any thing of skins, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean. This is the law of the plague of leprosy in a garment of woollen or linen, either in the warp, or woof, or any thing of skins, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean.
This is the concluding rule for examining a suspected leprous plague in a garment of wool or linen, whether in the warp or woof, or in anything of skins, to pronounce it clean or to pronounce it unclean. In connection with cloth and garments, the warp runs lengthwise through the cloth, the woof runs crosswise, and the woven piece is the weft. The cleansing required in Leviticus 12-15 was a visible, physical cleansing that had to occur before the sanctuary's cleansing by blood, distinct from moral defilement that required the sanctuary's atonement.
The verse belongs to hygienic and sanitary regulations intended to protect physical health from leprosy and other contagious or infectious diseases and germs. Chapters 12-14 give guidance about these conditions, including germs that may remain in buildings. Such health regulations remain useful because human physical needs have not greatly changed, and care is especially important amid increased disease and epidemics. The laws about leprosy in garments reflect the need for proper precautions, even though God is the healer.
Leprosy, a horrible disease dealt with in the laws about uncleanness, serves as a fitting type and picture of sin. Like leprosy, sin is a spreading disease that cannot be cured by human means, consumes its victim, has its chief seat within, pollutes the source of life, and brings outward shame. Like leprosy, sin is a moral disease that does not heal by itself, spreads contamination, and can lead others into sin. As leprosy needed cleansing, sin needs cleansing with help from the great Physician, whose blood cleanses from sin.
When the infection was so deep that washing could not remove it, the garment was to be burned. The rule illustrates the need to reject clothing marked by pride and vanity, so Christians do not imitate worldly fashions or wear the world's uniform, since doing so misrepresents the Lord and can spread pride and vanity among weaker believers. As leprosy required healing, sin must be removed by letting pride and the old self die, putting off the old self, putting on the new, and receiving God's kingdom with childlike humility.