Leviticus 14:4
Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:
This law belongs to the Mosaic ceremonial procedure for the examination and cleansing of a person healed of leprosy, requiring two living clean birds with cedar wood and scarlet and hyssop. The priest had to examine the person and judge the disease before the cleansing rite, certifying complete recovery and freedom from disease before accepting the offering. Leprosy cut the sufferer off from family and society and excluded him from the congregation of Israel. That priestly examination and declaration that he was free of disease allowed him to return to family and friends.
The cleansing ceremony was a shadow pointing to Christ, and His death revealed its meaning as type met antitype. The living bird, dipped in the blood of the bird slain over flowing water and then released, is a symbol of atonement, in which pardoning blood is inseparably joined to resurrection and life. The flowing water pictures the ever-present cleansing power of that blood, by which people are washed clean from every stain of sin.
After healing a leper, Jesus directed him to show himself to the priest and present the offering Moses commanded for one to be cleansed. That direction affirmed the Mosaic requirement and showed that His healing did not set aside or oppose the law of Moses and the Jewish code, but respected it. It countered the false charge that He or His teaching was opposed to the law. The required priestly certification of the cure and presentation of the offering made the healing a public testimony to the cure and to Jesus' divine power and love. The priests' examination of the healed man thus gave them an opportunity to recognize the truth.