Leviticus 13:1 says, And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying, Verse two adds, When a man shall have in the skin of his flesh a rising, a scab, or bright spot, and it be in the skin of his flesh like the plague of leprosy; then he shall be brought unto Aaron the priest, or unto one of his sons the priests: A person with a sore on his arms was to be brought to Aaron to determine if it was leprosy, which is referred to as a plague. This is all written from a masculine perspective, but I am certain it applied to women as well. Matthew Henry says this is not leprosy as we know it today but was a much more severe disease that was also associated with sin. That is why the priest was called on to judge if it was leprosy or not. Verse three continues, And the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh: and when the hair in the plague is turned white, and the plague in sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy: and the priest shall look on him and pronounce him unclean. If the hair around the sore had turned white and the sore was below the skin, it was to be considered leprosy and the priest was to pronounce the person unclean, Verse four states, If the bright spot be white in the skin of his flesh, and in sight be not deeper than the skin, and the hair thereof be not turned white; then the priest shall shut up him that hath the plague seven days: If the spot had not gone deeper than the skin and the hair had not been turned white, the man was to be isolated or quarantined for seven days. This might sound familiar to us today with the coronavirus restrictions. Verse five adds, And the priest shall look on him the seventh day: and, behold, if the plague in his sight be at a stay, and the plague spread not in the skin; then the priest shall shut him up seven days more. If nothing had changed after seven days, the priest was to shut the man up for another seven days. I am sure this was hard on the individual, but it was done to prevent the spread of the leprosy. Verse six continues, And the priest shall look on him again the seventh day: and, behold, if the plague be somewhat dark, and the plague spread not in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean: it is but a scab: and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean. If, after fourteen days the spot had turned dark and had not spread, the priest was to pronounce the person clean and he was to go and wash himself. Verse seven declares, But if the scab spread much abroad in the skin, after that he hath been seen of the priest for his cleansing, he shall be seen of the priest again: If, after the man had been pronounced clean by the priest the sore place began to spread, then the man was to see the priest again. There was no surefire test that the priest could give the person so the priest might occasionally be wrong about whether or not the person had leprosy. There is no surefire test to prove if a person is plagued by sin today, but God will let us know if we have allowed sin into our lives as His followers, and if we have, then we must ask His forgiveness to be spiritually clean once more. Verse eight adds, And if the priest see that, behold, the scab spreadeth in the skin, then the priest shall pronounce him unclean: it is a leprosy. If the sore spot had spread, the priest was to pronounce it leprosy and pronounce the person unclean. I believe this was more of a physical uncleanliness, but it would also have spiritual ramifications. When we are guilty of sin today, it is spiritual situation, but it can have physical ramifications as well. Verse nine continues, When the plague of leprosy is in a man, then he shall be brought unto the priest; Verse ten says, And the priest shall see him: and, behold, if the rising be white in the skin, and it have turned the hair white, and there be quick raw flesh in the rising; Verse eleven adds, It is an old leprosy in the skin of his flesh, and the priest shall pronounce him unclean, and shall not shut him up: for he is unclean. If a person had leprosy and was brought to the priest after another outbreak, he was to be declared unclean without waiting the seven or fourteen days to do so. After we accept Jesus as our Savior and Lord, if we give in to sin once more, we don't have to wait to know that we are guilty, and we should immediately profess our sin and ask God's forgiveness once more so we can be spiritually clean.
No comments:
Post a Comment