Laws, Lepers, and Love

 Leviticus 13:18-44 and 45-46 

[picture from American Leprosy Missions]

Verses 18 to 44 simply describe other possible scenarios that may have been leprosy and needed diagnosis. These included skin boils (vs. 18-23); burned skin (vs. 24-28); head or beard infections (vs. 29-37); bright skin spots (vs. 38-39); and baldness (vs. 40-44). All these could possibly be leprosy infection. Then the last two verses of the passage (vs. 45-46) give a general comment as follows:

“As for the leper who has the infection, his clothes shall be torn, and the hair of his head shall be uncovered, and he shall cover his mustache and cry, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ He shall remain unclean all the days during which he has the infection; he is unclean. He shall live alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp.”

Thoughts on the Passage

Currently, as I write this, the world is dealing with Coronavirus 19 and thousands of people are living their lives behind masks thinking they can avoid catching it. Millions of others are in quarantine in China where the whole thing broke out. It has the power of ruining nations as well as the global economy.  I find solace in the fact that I know my God is fully aware of the situation, He’s in control, and this is neither a surprise nor a snag for His plan for mankind.  We press on.

The images portrayed in the last two verses of the passage above certainly reminded me of the reality we face today with Covid-19 as the virus is referred to.

But what was God saying in these two verses? More importantly what can we glean from the passage for today?

Clearly, for the Jews of the O.T. and for Jews of Jesus’ days, leprosy was a big thing. We can read what was expected of them in the days of Moses in the passage above. However, in the first century A.D., David Guzik says the Jews and their rabbis went much further. He writes:

“Many Jews thought two things about a leper: You are the walking dead and you deserve this because this is the punishment of God against you. Jewish custom said that you should not even greet a leper, and you had to stay six feet away from a leper. One Rabbi bragged that we would not even buy an egg on a street where he saw a leper, and another boasted that he threw rocks at lepers to keep them far from him. Rabbis didn’t even allow a leper to wash his face.”

It sounds like the inhumanity of the clergy was alive and well in those days as it often is today.  But as Christians, we are not to stuck there. We don’t have to stick with the laws put in place for the Jews to keep them from being eliminated by sickness or a plague after they left Egypt.  Nor can we rely on what rabbis proposed in the days of Christ.  No, instead we must look at Jesus himself as the role model in how we treat those with such infirmities.  Guzik continues:

“But Jesus was different. He loved lepers; He touched them and healed them when they had no hope at all (Matthew 8:1-4 and Luke 17:11-19).”

Here’s the good news, at least for North Americans, according to Guzik:

“Because of modern drugs and treatments, leprosy is almost unknown in the western world – the United States’ only two leper colonies have been shut down. But worldwide there are some 15 million lepers, almost all of them in third-world nations.”

For an excellent more recent update than Guzik’s on leprosy (and yes there are still two places you can find some lepers in the U.S.), take a few moments to check out this clip: Leprosy Update 2016.

The lesson for us? While you and I may not be able to heal lepers unless the Holy Spirit wants us to, we still have a responsibility to behave like our Lord did towards them.  Think Mother Teresa.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.