Leviticus Chapter 13
One of the unfortunate results of the sin nature in our world is sickness and diseases. One day God is going to take all of this away in the new heaven and the new earth. We look forward to the day when there will no longer be any sickness, pain, disease nor death. God will make it all new and it will be glorious as He intended our lives to be.
In ancient times one of the most dreaded diseases was leprosy. It caused degradation of the skin and in later stages deformity of the body and then decay. Leprosy was considered to be highly contagious, although they were not sure that it actually was. The disease eventually gave the victim a repulsive appearance and so people did not want to be near them. The people who were diagnosed with leprosy were declared unclean and they had to live outside the community. A permanent quarantine.
Leprosy, and many other diseases are a picture of sin. “Every man by nature is like a leper, loathsome in his person, infected in all his actions and in all that he does; he is incapable of fellowship with God’s people, and he is shut out utterly and entirely by his sin from the presence and acceptance of God.” [Spurgeon]
“In the light of these considerations, we remember that there came in the fulness of time One Who could not only look at, but touch the leper – One Who could cure. That is also the story of His dealing with sin.” [Morgan]
Let's Reflect
1. The priests had the job of being a type of public health officer. There were all types of sicknesses that people acquired and had to be observed by the priests. What did the priests command the people to do, when they observed any type of disease of their skin disorder to determine if it was leprosy beginning or not?
2. While the priests were not medically trained, the Lord God gave them some specifics to look for in making a determination of a skin disorder. What was one of those signs that led a priest to declare a person to be unclean with leprosy?
3. As you read the various conditions of people you can see that many were afflicted with simple skin conditions, but the priests erred on the side of caution and had the people temporarily quarantined. There were probably many skin diseases that were “diagnosed” as leprosy that were not leprosy at all. Did you recognize a description of a common skin ailment?
4. What was the person who had leprosy required to do when passing by someone else?
5. If disease had spread into a garment they would wash the garment twice. If this did not take care of the problem, what were they to do?
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