Why is a clean house still cursed after הִסְגִּ֣יר quarantine - in Leviticus 14?

Question

In Leviticus / Vayikra 14, we read that a priest can declare a plastered house clean after the home owner's quarantine. - Yet the clean house still requires a ritual atonement.

Why is a clean house still cursed after הִסְגִּ֣יר quarantine - in Leviticus 14?

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Vayikra 14:48 "But if the kohen comes and comes again and looks [at the lesion], and behold, the lesion did not spread in the house, after the house has been plastered, the kohen shall pronounce the house clean, because the lesion has healed." ( וְאִם־בֹּ֨א יָבֹ֜א הַכֹּהֵ֗ן וְרָאָה֙ וְ֠הִנֵּ֠ה לֹֽא־פָשָׂ֤ה הַנֶּ֨גַע֙ בַּבַּ֔יִת אַֽחֲרֵ֖י הִטֹּ֣חַ אֶת־הַבָּ֑יִת וְטִהַ֤ר הַכֹּהֵן֙ אֶת־הַבַּ֔יִת כִּ֥י נִרְפָּ֖א הַנָּֽגַע )

• Yet Vayikra 14:49-53 states The-House הַבַּ֔יִת is not completely cleansed.

Vayikra 14:53 "He shall then send away the live bird outside the city, onto the [open] field. He shall thus effect atonement for the house, and it will be clean." ( וְשִׁלַּ֞ח אֶת־הַצִּפֹּ֧ר הַֽחַיָּ֛ה אֶל־מִח֥וּץ לָעִ֖יר אֶל־פְּנֵ֣י הַשָּׂדֶ֑ה וְכִפֶּ֥ר עַל־הַבַּ֖יִת וְטָהֵֽר )

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• Why is this additional cleansing required for a clean house?

[https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/9915/jewish/Chapter-14.htm]

Answer 1

This is a two-step procedure. Horizontally, the priest inspects the house to make sure there is no more spreading of the lesion (Vayikra 14:48). Followed by vertically, the house owner performs a sacrificial atonement (Vayikra 14:53).

Why is a clean house still cursed after הִסְגִּ֣יר quarantine - in Leviticus 14?

The word "cursed" is not in Leviticus 14.

A similar 2-step procedure applies to leprosy.

First, the priest inspects in Leviticus 14:3

and the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall look. Then, if the case of leprous disease is healed in the leprous person,

Step two is a sacrificial ritual:

4 the priest shall command them to take for him who is to be cleansed two livea clean birds and cedarwood and scarlet yarn and hyssop. ...

This procedure continues to Jesus' time.

Matthew 8:1 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2A man with leprosy a came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

3Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. 4Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

In Leviticus / Vayikra 14, we read that a priest can declare a plastered house clean after the home owner's quarantine. - Yet the clean house still requires a ritual atonement.

Right, in order to complete this horizontal-verticle two-step procedure.