LEPROSY
Leprosy is also known as "Hanson's disease", after the
Norwegian physician who discovered that it was a rod-shaped bacterium
which caused the disease. Leprosy attacks the skin and the nerves,
causing the skin to swell and become lumpy and discoloured. It
also weakens the victim, making him more likely to contract other
diseases. The nerves that are most damaged are those of the face,
arms and legs, causing a loss of sensation, so that people injure,
burn, even cut off body parts without realising it. Paralysis
of the feet and hands can also occur, producing a characteristic
claw-hands or feet.
There are two types of leprosy: tuberculoid leprosy, which produces
patchy spots, and which is seldom spread to other people, and
lepromatous leprosy, which causes a general thickening over most
of the body, especially on the face and ear lobes. Facial lines
deepen, eyebrows fall out and nodules appear on the skin. This
type is spread more easily because many bacilli are present in
the skin and nose.
Leprosy can be a mild disease and may even stop without treatment.
But the damage is severe if the disease is not checked.
ANOTHER BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE
But there is possibly another perspective on God's treatment of
leprosy that I would like to examine, one that transcends the
mere physical concerns that we might have about the disease. For
example, there are at least three occasions on which God immediately
afflicts people with leprosy. It certainly gets their attention.
Let's look briefly at these.
The first is found in Ex 4:8, where God instructs Moses to show
several wonders to the Egyptians, including turning a rod into
a snake, placing his hand into his coat, upon which it turns leprous,
and returning the hand into the coat to restore it again. This
of course is not an example of affliction due to any sin of Moses,
but to the sin of Egypt.
MIRIAM'S LEPROSY
This example has often been used to warn God's people to never
question the action of their shepherds, putting them in a similar
office to that of Moses. But is this the point of this incident,
and is it valid to compare the position and status of Moses-to
whom God spoke directly-to those who are not in Moses' position
and who do not receive direct revelation from God?
GEHAZI'S LEPROSY
Elisha learnt of this and sent a servant to question him as to
why he had torn his clothes and then instructed him to send Naaman
to him, not just for the purpose of healing him, but also so that
"he may learn that there is a prophet in Israel" (v
8).
Naaman turnd up at Elisha's place expecting him to make a major
pronouncement that would result in his healing, but instead Elisha
told him to go and wash seven times in the Jordan River. Naaman
was furious-apparently he wanted a greater spectacle to attest
to and to accompany this miracle-but his servants convinced him
to go ahead with it, and he was healed of his leprosy. Naaman,
both grateful and impressed, wanted to leave lots of gifts for
Elisha, but the prophet refused (refer to Ge 14:24 where Abram
would not accept anything from the king of Sodom.)
Gehazi, one of Elisha's servants, then hatched an idea as to how
to obtain for himself some of this wealth that Naaman was offering
and that Elisha was refusing.
Lev 14:7 "And he shall sprinkle it seven times on
him who is to be cleansed from the leprosy, and shall pronounce
him clean, and shall let the living bird loose in the open field."
CLEANSING BY BLOOD
Lk 4:18-28 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because
he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent
me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight
for the blind, to release the oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year
of the Lord's favor." 20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave
it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in
the synagogue were fastened on him, 21 and he began by saying
to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words
that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?"
they asked. 23 Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote
this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your
hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'"
24 "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet
is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were
many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut
for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout
the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to
a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there
were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet,
yet not one of them was cleansed--only Naaman the Syrian."
28 All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard
this.
The disciples of John the Baptist came to confirm Christ's identity,
and this is what Christ instructed them:
The mention of the word "leprosy" conjures up all sorts
of images: of contagion, death, decay, deformity and ugliness.
It is the prime example of all that people imagine the worst disease
to be, partly because it damages one's appearance in a devastating
manner.
From a biblical perspective, we've often viewed the discussion
of leprosy as purely health-related: the separation of infected
people from others, special inspections of lesions, washings,
etc. These are set out in Lev 13, where a distinction between
active lesions and inactive lesions is made with respect to cleanness
or uncleaness, and to whether separation from the camp is required.
Another is the story of Aaron and Miriam, which is found in Numbers
12.
Nu 12:1-2 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses
because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. 2
"Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?" they asked.
"Hasn't he also spoken through us?" And the LORD heard
this.
God appeared before the tabernacle in a cloud in the shape of
a pillar, and stated how He indeed spoke directly before Moses,
unlike the manner in which He spoke to others:
Nu 12:8-13 "With him I speak face to face, clearly
and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were
you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" 9 The
anger of the LORD burned against them, and he left them. 10 When
the cloud lifted from above the Tent, there stood Miriam--leprous,
like snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had leprosy;
11 and he said to Moses, "Please, my lord, do not hold against
us the sin we have so foolishly committed. 12 Do not let her
be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother's womb with
its flesh half eaten away."13 So Moses cried out to the
LORD, "O God, please heal her!"
The leprosy was lifted, but God commanded that she be confined
outside the camp, as one defiled, for seven days.
Another example is that of the leprosy of Gehazi, found in 2Ki
5. This incident involved Naaman, the chief-of-staff of the Syrian
king, who suffered from leprosy. His wife had a captive maid from
Israel who mentioned to her that if Naaman were to visit her home
in Samaria, his leprosy could be healed by a prophet there. Word
of this got back to the Syrian king, who sent a letter to the
king of Israel requesting that he heal Naaman. At this the king
tore his clothes and ranted: "Am I God that I can heal people?",figuring
that the king of Syria was trying to provoke an incident between
them.
2Ki 5:20-27 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God,
said to himself, "My master was too easy on Naaman, this
Aramean, by not accepting from him what he brought. As surely
as the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from
him." 21 So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. When Naaman saw
him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him.
"Is everything all right?" he asked. 22 "Everything
is all right," Gehazi answered. "My master sent me to
say, 'Two young men from the company of the prophets have just
come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them
a talent of silver and two sets of clothing.'" 23 "By
all means, take two talents," said Naaman. He urged Gehazi
to accept them, and then tied up the two talents of silver in
two bags, with two sets of clothing. He gave them to two of his
servants, and they carried them ahead of Gehazi. 24 When Gehazi
came to the hill, he took the things from the servants and put
them away in the house. He sent the men away and they left. 25
Then he went in and stood before his master Elisha. "Where
have you been, Gehazi?" Elisha asked. "Your servant
didn't go anywhere," Gehazi answered. 26 But Elisha said
to him, "Was not my spirit with you when the man got down
from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to take money,
or to accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, flocks, herds,
or menservants and maidservants? 27 Naaman's leprosy will cling
to you and to your descendants forever." Then Gehazi went
from Elisha's presence and he was leprous, as white as snow.
KING UZZIAH
The next example is found in 2Ch 26 in respect to King Uzziah.
He was a mighty king of Judah, who bolstered the nation's defences,
supplied the army with many weapons, and built fortress cities.
2Ch 26:16-21 But after Uzziah became powerful, his
pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his
God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the
altar of incense. 17 Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous
priests of the LORD followed him in. 18 They confronted him and
said, "It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to
the LORD. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who
have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for
you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the LORD
God." 19 Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn
incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their
presence before the incense altar in the Lord's temple, leprosy
broke out on his forehead. 20 When Azariah the chief priest and
all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy
on his forehead, so they hurried him out. Indeed, he himself
was eager to leave, because the LORD had afflicted him. 21 King
Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate
house--leprous, and excluded from the temple of the LORD. Jotham
his son had charge of the palace and governed the people of the
land.
Each of these last three examples reveal people with purpose and
forethought acting contrary to what they already knew. These are
not cases of ignorance or of mistakes made, but of deliberate
intention to act against the will of God. The leprosy stood as
an immediate symbol of what God thought of their actions. The
symbol-leprosy-is fascinating also in what it "said"
about the action of the individual afflicted by it, and in what
it therefore also says to us as Christians:
SPIRITUAL CLEANSING
In chapter 13 of the Book of Leviticus are instructions to the
priests for recognising and making pronouncements about the relative
appearance of people who had leprosy in terms of their level of
contagiousness and whether not they had to be declared unclean.
But in chapter 14 of the same book we read about the procedure
for declaring clean someone who had suffered from leprosy, but
who had recovered. What we see here is a fascinating and wonderful
extension-a metaphor, like an unfolding play-for a spiritual cleansing
that has, I believe, nothing to do with physical recovery (although
New Age people might look at this a bit differently!):
Lev 14:1-2 (NKJV) Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
2 "This shall be the law of the leper for the day of his
cleansing: he shall be brought to the priest."
In all the examples of Christ healing leprosy, He instructed those
healed to also present themselves before the priest (Mt 8:4; Mk
1:44; Lk 5:14; 17:14). The one to be healed still had/has to do
something.
Nu 14:3-4 "And the priest shall go out of the
camp, and the priest shall examine him; and indeed, if the
leprosy is healed in the leper, 4 then the priest shall command
to take for him who is to be cleansed two living and clean birds,
cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop."
These objects and animals carry rich significance. Clean birds
were often a burnt offering (Lev 1:14). Cedarwood was the main
timber of the future temple-symbolic of Gods throne. Scarlet,
along with blue and purple, was one of the three main colours
used in the temple. They were also the colours of the ephod, the
special garment of the high priest. Scarlet was also the colour
of the cord that Rahab used to let down the spies from the tower
as a means of escape for them. It is also the colour of the robes
in which the woman-the Church-of Prov 31:21 dresses her children
against the snow (leprosy is often figuratively described as
being white as snow), and she has no fear for her household.
Christ was stripped and placed in a scarlet robe after His torture-after
all, scarlet is the colour of royalty! No wonder that the harlot
who acts as a counterfeit to God as described in the Book of Revelation
is found wearing purple and scarlet (Rev 17:3-4) and is brought
to ruin (Rev 18:16). Hyssop (the Syrian marjoram) stands as a
spiritual cleanser from sin. It is a powerful purgative. Because
of its shape, it lent itself well to use as a brush (so was the
blood placed on the lintels of the Israelite homes in Egypt),
and it was used for cleansing rituals like this one, and for those
who had contact with the dead.
Lev 14:5 "And the priest shall command that one of
the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water."
Earthen vessels always had to be destroyed after a single use;
unlike metal vessels, they couldn't be cleaned from the contamination
that food or meat gave them (Lev 6:28; 11:33; 15:12). It was as
though it absorbed the contamination, and was then destroyed.
Lev 14:6 "As for the living bird, he shall take it,
the cedar wood and the scarlet and the hyssop, and dip them and
the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over
the running water."
Let us notice Heb 9:19-22:
Heb 9:19-22 For when Moses had spoken every precept to
all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves
and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled
both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, "This
is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you."
21 Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle
and all the vessels of the ministry. 22 And according to the
law almost all things are purified with blood, and without
shedding of blood there is no remission.
What a beautiful symbol of freedom from bondage and captivity:
to have paid the penalty, and to be set free!
Lev 14:8-9 "He who is to be cleansed shall wash his
clothes, shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water,
that he may be clean. After that he shall come into the camp,
and shall stay outside his tent seven days. 9 But on the seventh
day he shall shave all the hair off his head and his beard and
his eyebrows; all his hair he shall shave off. He shall wash his
clothes and wash his body in water, and he shall be clean."
The levitical priests were not to shave or cut the body (Lev 21:5;
Nu 6:9-12). Hair was a symbol of being separated for service to
God. But if they became defiled-as in touching or seeing death-this
hair was to be cut off, therefore as an atonement for sin. If
they were to enter the tent or tabernacle they had to shave off
their hair (Nu 6:18). Washing the body and clothes with water
was also prescribed for the setting apart of the Levites (Nu 8:7).
Lev 14:10-14 "And on the eighth day he shall take
two male lambs without blemish, one ewe lamb of the first year
without blemish, three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed
with oil as a grain offering, and one log of oil. 11 Then the
priest who makes him clean shall present the man who is to be
made clean, and those things, before the LORD, at the door of
the tabernacle of meeting. 12 And the priest shall take one male
lamb and offer it as a trespass offering, and the log of oil,
and wave them as a wave offering before the LORD. 13 Then he
shall kill the lamb in the place where he kills the sin offering
and the burnt offering, in a holy place; for as the sin offering
is the priest's, so is the trespass offering. It is most holy.
14 The priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering,
and the priest shall put it on the tip of the right ear of
him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and
on the big toe of his right foot."
This is fascinating: the blood of trespass was applied to the
lobe of the ear (leprosy thickens the ear). The ear is the entrance
to the mind. It's what we allow into our minds that sickens!
The thumb is distorted by leprosy. In severe cases, it cannot
clasp or oppose the other fingers. The thumb allows you to do
things. It permits action. So the blood of trespass was applied
to their actions, to what had been done! The toe can also be deformed,
affecting gait and direction. The big toe carries and directs
the weight of the body. So the blood of trespass was placed here
because of the wrong direction in which the individual was heading.
Lev 14:15-18 "And the priest shall take some of the
log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand. 16
Then the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is
in his left hand, and shall sprinkle some of the oil with his
finger seven times before the LORD. 17 And of the rest of the
oil in his hand, the priest shall put some on the tip of the right
ear of him who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand,
and on the big toe of his right foot, on the blood of the trespass
offering. 18 The rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand
he shall put on the head of him who is to be cleansed. So the
priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD."
The oil of anointing was then placed over the blood of trespass-covering
it-and the head was anointed.
Lev 14:19-20 "Then the priest shall offer the sin
offering, and make atonement for him who is to be cleansed from
his uncleanness. Afterward he shall kill the burnt offering. 20
And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering
on the altar. So the priest shall make atonement for him, and
he shall be clean."
Verses 21-32 are instructions about this same ritual for those
who were poor and who could not afford the full offering. Verses
33-57 deal with a dwelling that may have been contaminated with
leprosy ( the NIV renders it mildew!!) The sequence is
very similar, especially in the use of two birds, the cedar wood,
scarlet, and hyssop, and the seven day waiting period.
Lev 14:53-57 "Then he shall let the living bird loose
outside the city in the open field, and make atonement for the
house, and it shall be clean. 54 This is the law for any leprous
sore and scale, 55 for the leprosy of a garment and of a house,
56 for a swelling and a scab and a bright spot, 57 to teach
when it is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law of
leprosy."
It is not a law of chicken pox, malaria, meningitis, rubella,
club foot, psoriasis, pneumonia, brain tumours, hydrocephalus,
but of leprosy. Why? Because it is a metaphor.
"A metaphor suggests what a thing is like by comparing it
to something else. And by the power of its suggestion, it so
fixes a conception in our minds that we cannot imagine the one
thing without the other…" (Postman, p.85)
THE HEALING OF THE MIND
Let's have a look again at some of the dealings Christ had with
leprosy.
Mk 1:40-44 A man with leprosy came to him and begged him
on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."
41 Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched
the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!"
42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured. 43 Jesus
sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44 "See that
you don't tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest
and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing,
as a testimony to them."
Christ provides a parallel between His presence in the lives of
these people and the situation when Elisha ministered in Israel,
and yet only Naaman, a Syrian, was healed of leprosy. What a stunning
comparison!
Lk 7:22 So he replied to the messengers, "Go back
and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive
sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured,
the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached
to the poor."
This involves more than only physical healing. All of this is
a metaphor for the real healing of our minds, our actions and
our direction. For this to happen we have to see, hear, be brought
alive (released like a bird), and be given hope-and to have faith
in the One who brought us this news.
A FINAL WARNING
As we venture then on this new journey "out of Egypt",
it is well for us to keep in mind a warning found in Dt 24:
Dt 24:8-9 "Guard against an outbreak of a leprous
skin disease [let's think in terms of the metaphor] by
being very careful; you shall carefully observe whatever the levitical
priests instruct you, just as I have commanded them. 9 Remember
what the LORD your God did to Miriam on your journey out of
Egypt."
Let us consider the full implications of this warning for us today!