Cleansing of a Leper

In what appears to be an odd order, after dealing with leprosy in clothing God told Moses and Aaron what to do on the day of the cleansing of a leper. The first thing that they are to do, before dealing with the person himself, is to take two birds along with cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop. The priest is to kill the one in an earthen vessel over running water. The other living bird is then dipped in the blood of the first bird along with the cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop and is then released. God is giving a picture of substitutionary atonement. In order to be cleansed from our leprosy, it was required that another was sacrificed in our place and it is by being covered by the blood of Jesus that we can be cleansed of our sin.