Troublesome Topic: THE TREATMENT OF LEPERS PART TWO

In the previous lesson, I covered the first two spiritual lessons that were taught through the treatment of those who had been struck by God with a visible abnormality. Here are several more spiritual lessons from the regulations about God-inflicted skin conditions.

LESSON # 3  Respect life.

Blood does more than represent life, it is life. The life of the body is in the blood (Lev 17:11 & 14). The emphasis on the blood, as seen in the regulations about something being unclean if it was deeper than the skin and if it had raw flesh in it, taught that they (and we) should respect life. The Law used various means to teach God’s people to respect life.

 Today’s followers of Jesus need to hear this emphasis over and over again because of our culture is pushing the opposite direction through abortion and euthanasia primarily.

LESSON # 4 Reject that which is contrary to God’s design.

White or yellow hair on the body or head of a person whose normal hair color was black, brown, reddish or brunette, was abnormal. One of the characteristics of this skin disorder was that the color of the hair in the sore was different than what was normal for the people of that part of the world. The priest knew something was amiss when he saw what or yellow hair because such characteristics did not fit the norm.

This principle applies to us as well. We should not seek to change the way God has made us. We should learn to be happy the way we were made.

Leviticus 13:12-13 gives an explanation that, at first glance, seems very strange. If the entire body was covered with whiteness, (and we can assume that there was no raw flesh present and it was not messing with the layers deeper in the flesh -where there is blood) then the person was pronounced clean! I believe the lesson being taught there was that this condition is no longer contrary to God’s design because the whole body is the same color, albeit a new color.

We should seek to understand God’s design for us and then follow it.

LESSON # 5. Evil spreads by its very nature apart from the working of God.

Evil is contagious, but holiness takes self-discipline.

While the physical condition we are discussing was not contagious, the spiritual condition being punished was contagious. Attitudes like rebellion, arrogance and self-centeredness are very contagious and we should not mimic people like that.

God wanted to show His people that, while sin sometimes looks good, it is actually a nasty, gross, ugly thing. Also, there are serious consequences for sin, so take sin seriously.

LESSON # 6  Embrace your God-given identity

Leviticus13:33 and 14:8-9 say that, for the person to be pronounced clean, they had to shave all the hair off their body, including their eye brows (but excluding the hair in the rash per 13:33). In the Bible, hair was part of someone’s identity; a man’s beard and a woman’s long hair were important because they clearly showed the man or woman’s identity. The message sent by shaving off all their hair was that they were now a new person with a new identity. When the priests were ordained as priests, they also had to shave their entire bodies and the reason was the same – a new identity.

LESSON # 7  Dedicate the time necessary for spiritual cleansing

Although God intended this condition to be temporary because He wanted the “recipient” to repent, the process of becoming clean again would take time. It was usually a 14 day process starting from the time the person presented himself to the priest. During this time, he should seek God’s face and prove that his attitudes had changed.           

The Law anticipated that some people would repent, and it gave the priests detailed instructions for what to do in order for God to demonstrate that they had repented. Leviticus, which includes the name Levi, was the instruction manual for the tribe of Levi. The primary involvement of the priests regarding skin disorders was to determine if it was sent by God or not. Quarantining was not used to keep them from contaminating the public, it was an experiment to see if the condition would spread.

LESSON # 8  If it can only be sent by God, it can only be removed by God.

The 10 lepers Jesus cleansed still had the visible signs of the condition when they found Jesus (Lk 17:14). But they were obviously repentant, for a rebellious person would not seek Jesus.

If they had repented, why did Jesus heal them miraculously? They were going to be healed anyway.

It was a miracle of timing, based on genuine repentance, which Jesus could see because He can see the heart. He did this in part, to return them to work and family quickly. The priest would see no sign of the skin condition and therefore no need for two weeks of quarantine.

But the primary reason Jesus healed these 10 men who were already going to be healed was this. If it can only be sent by God, it can only be healed by God! This was proof that Jesus was God wearing human skin! People who heard about this would say, “He did what? No human can undo what only God can do. This must mean that ordinary-looking fellow called Jesus is actually God!” This was big stuff. This was huge.

“Healing” lepers quickly, without the required time of waiting, was proof that Jesus was God in human skin.

LESSON # 9  Don’t jump to conclusions!

There were other things that looked similar to God’s supernatural judgment, but they were simply natural consequences.

The priests were given detailed instructions on how to discern the difference between a skin condition that was a supernatural punishment from God, and skin conditions that were natural. This would prevent people from jumping to conclusions.

We likewise need to guard against jumping to conclusions. We can ask, what is the supernatural punishment that God uses in our day? But answering that with any degree of certainty is very difficult. I would say that we should only call it direct and supernatural punishment from God if the sin was clear and extreme, and if the punishment is obviously supernatural. Also, all the cases of the condition in view must fit both of the above.

That makes it almost impossible to call something like AIDS a supernatural punishment from God because it is possible to catch it through means that do not involve sin. For those who sinned it is a consequence, but it is not a supernatural punishment.

Another example seems to be the sinking of the Titanic. It was referred to as the unsinkable ship. During boarding, a crew member who was asked if it was indeed unsinkable. His response was, “Even God himself cannot sink this ship.” Because of such arrogance, when it did sink, it is not unrealistic to call it a supernatural intervention. But, was everyone that drown that night guilty of horrendous sin? Was it a direct punish for all of them?  We cannot know for sure. My point here is that we should not be too quick to assume something fits the category of special punishment.

LESSON # 10  God demonstrates perfect balance.

To us it seems like God was being downright mean to people with those skin disorders. Even if it wasn’t “true leprosy” and even if it wasn’t permanent, expelling someone from the camp was a pretty strong consequence. 

God is both holy and loving at the same time, and there is no conflict in Him between the two. It seems to us at times that holiness and love are in opposition to each other. The problem, however, is with our perception; it is not an issue of inconsistency in God.

The balance between God’s holiness and his grace was shown by the chamber in Solomon’s temple especially for lepers.

Solomon’s temple (and Zerubbabel’s temple) had a special room for people who had been struck with this visible abnormality. This may have been where they would come to be inspected by a priest and also where they waited during their time of quarantine. Therefore it may have a number of smaller chambers inside the larger one. However, there are some indications that the priest sometimes went outside the camp to where they were. In my mind the text of Leviticus 13 makes it sound like the affected ones went to the priest at the tabernacle or temple and shout “unclean, unclean” as they moved through the city. They could also enter the temple and worship without mingling with the other worshippers. There were several side entrances to the temple and Ray Vanderlaan thinks the chamber of lepers had its own entrance that was just for them. God made provision for these people to join in worship and in the sacrificial system while they were in the slow process of restoring their relationship with Him. He gave them a chance to take steps toward Him; He kept them in mind during the planning of the temple, and He ordered Solomon to make special provision for them.

On the other side of that coin is God’s holiness. It appears that God’s primary concern was to teach His people to be holy—to be separate from the rest of the world, unique, set apart for Him.

God’s treatment of those who were being punished for rebellion demonstrated that His holiness and His compassion are perfectly balanced.

LESSON # 11  Lessons in holiness are not easily learned.

Lessons in holiness seem to be lessons that we learn more slowly and with more difficulty than some of the other lessons in life.

I consider two of the most prominent characteristics of God to be His holiness and His love. Of these two, the Bible speaks much more often of His holiness than of His love. In fact, the Bible uses the words “love, lover, loved, loving” etc. a total of 557 times, while it uses the words “holy, holiest, holiness, make holy,” etc. a total of 785 times. Obviously, a majority of the references to holiness are directly related to God or what He demands from His people, while a large number of the references to love refer to the love of a man for a woman, man’s love of the world or of material things etc. Simply looking at the numbers we can tell that the Bible emphasizes holiness more than love, although they are equally important. If they are equally important, why the lack of balance in the presentation of the two? This is because we learn quickly that God is love and what that means for us; we learn slowly that God is holy and what that means for us. Yet God’s love and holiness go together. We could even say that in God, love and holiness are two parts of the same thing, rather than being different characteristics.

My inability to fully grasp the make-up of an atom does not change what the atom is made of. If I slam my fist into a concrete wall it is hard to believe that there is a great deal of “open space” in the atoms of that wall, yet it is true. Likewise, our inability to understand how God’s holiness and His love can be wrapped up in one big ball and can function together without the seeming conflicts that we observe, does not negate the fact that it is so.

God had to be harsh, or the people would not have learned about holiness. Hard lessons are learned through tough situations. The harsh treatment of those with certain types of skin conditions was a stark reminder that God wants purity of heart.

LESSON # 12   Sin is associated with death.

Here we need to go to the story of Miriam and Aaron who spoke ill of the leadership of Moses and were punished for it. Miriam must have been the instigator of it because she was the only one who was struck by “leprosy.”

Here are the ways that Numbers chapter 12 describes her condition.

Verse 10 says she was white as snow – her skin lacked the characteristic pink hue that comes from blood vessels just under the skin. When someone dies their skin loses its pinkness and looks ghastly white. So the first part of the description is that of one who lacks blood, or whose blood flow is far too low. The life of the body is in the blood, so a lack of blood will bring death to the cells that do not get blood.

Then in numbers 12:12 her condition is described as “like a dead one, when it comes from its mother’s womb with its flesh half consumed.” Here the picture is that of a baby that has died in the womb and has not been expelled from the womb in a timely fashion, rather the mother has continued to carry this dead child even while the process of putrefaction has been in motion. (In reality, if it were to go on as long as this verse describes, the mother’s life would be in grave danger as well.) The lesson that the sin of rebellion is inseparably linked to death was clearly and powerfully communicated. Not only does sin cause spiritual death (i.e. separation from God), it also begins to eat away at our physical body as well, destroying any quality of life. The Barnes commentary on Numbers 12:12 says that leprosy was “nothing short of a living death.”  This should remind us of the words of Paul in Ephesians 2:1:

The next lesson in the full on Covenants is: “Leprosy” in a Garment.

The next lesson in Why Is That in the Bible? is: The Food Laws Taught Three Major Truths