King James Bible

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Leviticus

14

:

49

And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:

Lexicon

Verse part Definition: Part of speech: Strong's: Hebrew: Transliteration:
to cleanse cleanse Verb H2398 לְחַטֵּ֥א le·chat·te
the house court Noun H1004 הַבַּ֖יִת hab·ba·yit
And he shall take accept Verb H3947 וְלָקַ֛ח ve·la·kach
two both Noun H8147 שְׁתֵּ֣י she·tei
Analysis:

Two: Two divergent opinions

The classic example for the number "two" is found in Matthew chapter 26. There, Yeshua says to His disciples,

"You know that after two days comes the Passover, and the Son of Man will be given over for crucifixion."  Matthew 26:2

The phrase "after two days" is somewhat meaningless because after two days can mean three or more days. The period is unspecified. The reason for such ambiguous language is because the purpose of the number two in this passage is not solely numerical. This means that the text is not intending to provide the reader with some definite information concerning a time period. Rather, the purpose of the number two in this context is one of the numerological meanings of the number two.  Often the number two relates to two divergent opinions. In the aforementioned verse, the author wants to inform the reader that there are two very different understandings for this coming Passover. Yeshua wants to emphasize that He is going up to Jerusalem in order to die as the true Passover sacrifice. Even though Yeshua states this emphatically, the disciples did not receive this. In fact, the disciples did not perceive at all what was going to take place during Passover in regard to Yeshua. In other words, Yeshua and the disciples have two divergent opinions concerning the Passover.

This same principle is also found in the Hebrew Bible (Old Covenant). In the book of Amos one reads,

"Can two walk together without them having agreed" Amos 3:3

The word which was translated into English with the phrase "them having agreed" is נועדו. The root of this word is יעד, which relates to a specific destination. The word which precedes this word is בלתי and in this context the word implies a change to the condition. In other words, had there not been a change in the condition, then the two could not walk together, i.e. they could not have arrived at the common destination.

The concept of divergent or different is also seen in the book of Genesis. In speaking about the sun and moon one reads, "And God made two great lights…" (Genesis 1:16). Obviously the sun and moon are very different, as one is a source of light, while the latter just reflects light. Also in the book of Genesis, one encounters the account of the flood. Here Noah is commanded to bring onto the ark two sorts of each type of animal. In this passage, the two relates to two different (or divergent) kinds of the same sort, i.e. male and female. 

Likewise, two angels came to Sodom, demonstrating that the people of Sodom had a very different way of living from that of the Law of God. Once again, the reader should not assume that every occurrence of the number two in the Bible demands this interpretation. However, one will find in a great majority of Biblical passages, the reader will be assisted in arriving at the proper interpretation, when he considers this divergent quality for the number two. 

Loveisrael.org - Baruch Korman, Ph.D. - All Rights Reserved - Used with Permission 2016 

birds bird Noun H6833 צִפֳּרִ֑ים tzip·po·rim;
and cedar cedar Noun H730 אֶ֔רֶז e·rez,
wood carpenter Noun H6086 וְעֵ֣ץ ve·'etz
scarlet crimson Noun H8144 וּשְׁנִ֥י u·she·ni
and hyssop hyssop Noun H231 וְאֵזֹֽב׃ ve·'e·zov.

Parallel Verses

Removed text
Added text
King James Bible And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:
Hebrew Greek English And he shall take to "To cleanse the house then, he shall take two birds, birds and cedar wood, wood and scarlet, a scarlet string and hyssop:hyssop,
New American Standard Bible 1995 And he shall take to "To cleanse the house then, he shall take two birds, birds and cedar wood, wood and scarlet, a scarlet string and hyssop:hyssop,