When It Comes to Being Declared Ceremonially Clean, the Rules Have Changed and I'm Glad

Clean or Unclean? It’s the Priest’s Call.

Leviticus 13:9-17 

⁹ “When the infection of leprosy is on a man, then he shall be brought to the priest.¹⁰ The priest shall then look, and if there is a white swelling in the skin, and it has turned the hair white, and there is quick raw flesh in the swelling, ¹¹ it is a chronic leprosy on the skin of his body, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean; he shall not isolate him, for he is unclean. ¹² If the leprosy breaks out farther on the skin, and the leprosy covers all the skin of him who has the infection from his head even to his feet, as far as the priest can see, ¹³ then the priest shall look, and behold, if the leprosy has covered all his body, he shall pronounce clean him who has the infection; it has all turned white and he is clean. ¹⁴ But whenever raw flesh appears on him, he shall be unclean. ¹⁵ The priest shall look at the raw flesh, and he shall pronounce him unclean; the raw flesh is unclean, it is leprosy. ¹⁶ Or if the raw flesh turns again and is changed to white, then he shall come to the priest,¹⁷ and the priest shall look at him, and behold, if the infection has turned to white, then the priest shall pronounce clean him who has the infection; he is clean.

Thoughts on the Passage

In this part of Leviticus 13, we see that the fate of someone infected with leprosy depends on two things. First, the progress of the infection on his/her body and second, the accurate and fair diagnosis of the Priest doing the inspection. It is thus one is deemed to be “clean” or “unclean”.  You don’t isolate an ‘unclean’ person. Isolation is for remedial purposes and there’s no chance a chronic leper will heal.

There is an interesting twist in verse 12, however.  Here the indication is that if the leprosy is deemed to have covered the entire body, the infected person is to be cleaned, while the skin remains white, and he is deemed ceremoniously ‘clean’.

Verse 14 describes the serious physical situation of the appearance of “raw flesh” in which case the individual is definitely unclean and a leper.  Verse 16 offers the opportunity for such raw flesh to change color and become white, thus after further examination by the priest, the individual may be pronounced ‘clean’.

What strikes me in this passage is, as mentioned above, one’s “ceremonial cleanliness” for the Israelites in the wilderness depended on the condition of one’s skin and/or the judgement of the Priest examining them. And that decision had an incredible impact on how that individual would live the rest of his/her life.

But thank God that today we know that only the blood of Jesus Christ and His grace and mercy can make as ‘ceremonially’ and ‘spiritually’ clean. The condition or color of our skin does not matter one iota.  Neither does what a local priest or pastor or anyone else may think of us.

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