And after reading verse after verse about this supernatural disease, how it is a curse from God, and how only a priest can cure the person with a certain sacrifices (a couple of birds, a bit of red wool, some water, and two types of wood, for example), we can sometimes miss that there is a second kind of supernatural curse of tza'arat mentioned in verses 14:34-14:57, the curse against the homes of the Canaanites (and not the people), and that those houses also need atonement.
Here's the gist of it:
The Hebrews are told that they will go into the land of Canaan and take it over. The term "land of Israel" is used after the book of Joshua, so "land of Canaan" is speaking of the same bit of real estate.
After they will take it over, and the land is divided up, and the people take over certain spots, whatever dwellings were left there will belong to the new residents. And it is the responsibility of the new residents to check the walls of the house. If the walls are marked with dark reds and greens in a pattern known as she'ka'arurot (שקערורת), a term that nobody is in agreement upon, (recessed, streaks, hairlines, etc.), they need to empty out that house and call their local priest.
Why empty out the house?
Because if the priest calls the house "infected", then anything in it will also be infected. But if you get the stuff out beforehand, then they won't be included in the "infected" category.
That's because the disease doesn't exist until the priest says that it does.
Now, the diseased house is to be quarantined for a week. If anybody goes in there during that time, then he or she will be temporarily infected, but that will disappear at sunset. And the clothes will apparently retain some of the infection, so they need to be washed.
After a week, the priest returns and looks for a sign known as a mameret (ממארת). This is one of those words in the Torah that is rarely used, and cannot be determined by context (like the word, Shilo). It is used a couple of times in the last parashah (13:51-52), this one (14:44), and in Ezekiel (28:24).
Now, if the priest doesn't see it, the owner can plaster over the markings. The priest will come back again, and if the marks cannot be seen, especially, that horrible mark, then the house is considered "healed of the affliction" (נרפא הנגע) - verse 14:48, but it still needs to atone.
So the same ritual with the two birds, water, two kinds of wood, a bit of red wool is done to the house. And after that, the text says that the priest will provide atonement for that house and it will be purified. (14:53).
A few points
First of all, there are those rational people who will try to say that this was just some sort of nasty mold. Except that the verse specifically says that God cast this curse upon those houses, and only a priest can determine if it is cured or not. If not, and if the priest cannot atone for it, then it needs to be "killed" (taken apart) and put outside of the city. The Biblical description doesn't fit the mold hypothesis.
Verse 14:41 is in the hiphiel form (causative) but is usually translated as though it is in the niphal form (reflexive). The other problem is that all of the other verbs has a plural suffix ("they"), while it is missing from this one, and most translations don't show that either. According to Israel Drazin, "Does this signify an error in our Torah text? Certainly not." Since we have many examples where a letter is dropped due to scribal errors, that may or may not be true.
According to Midrashim, God marked the walls of the houses to show the Israelites where the original residents hid their valuables, because when they would remove the stone or the plaster covering, the booty would be exposed. So it was a curse upon the house, but a blessing for the new owners.
There are those who claim that this never happened. Chazkunee wrote that since it says "land of Canaan", it never happened in Israel. He ignores the fact that the land of Canaan and Israel were one and the same. But this is a similar apologetic as the commandment to kill the disobedient son: "it never happened". So why is it in the text? According to the Tosefta of Negaim 6:1, God had these verses inserted so that those who would study them to understand their ethical teachings would merit a reward in the World to Come.
And like the curse upon the metzora person, a curse that seems to have disappeared, so to has this curse as well (no archaeological digs have encountered any infected walls - but to be fair, they wouldn't recognize what a mameret is!)
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